swipe to archive on message in reading pane, not just in message list

Currently the Microsft Outlook app for iPhone has configurable swipes in the message list. This is good.

But in the reading panel, where you can actually see the message contents, the swipe actions are hardwired - scroll in conversation, or go to next conversation. This is less good.

I am a big fan of apps like Zero.app and Triage.app, that allow me to do my most common actions via swipes when I am looking at a screen where much of the message can be read - more than the preview in the message list.

My most common actions are read, dispose of (I archive, not delete), or skip and move to next/previous.

It is easier to swipe, eg swipe up, to archive, which I can do in Triage and Zero, than it is to poke the archive icon. Especially than to poke the tiny icon on my iPhone screen (easier on my iPad), when using Outlook.app in landscape mode with list and reading panes side by side. Or to swipe the current message in the message list (which, by the way, is hard to tell apart from the other messages - you should have a better color scheme. I often end up at giving the wrong message when I have to go back to the message list)

Much easier to swipe than it is to switch back to list on another screen, in portrait mode.

In portrait mode, you should be able to swipe to archive or move on, right on the message which occupies most of the screen.

Think about it: the most frequent operations need to be the easiest to do.  Or, the classic GUI / UI / UX principle of direct manipulation: if I want to archive a message, I want to manipulate it directly, in the message reading panel, not indirectly, in the message list (which may be on a different screen)

In fact, I had completely given up on Outlook.app, and have been using only Zero.app, because I found that I could process my email much faster in Zero.app. Typically one swipe per message in Zero.  But, by my count, 4 taps or swipes in Outlook.app

The only reason I am trying out Outlook.app again are

1) my company no longer allows IMAP access to our Exchange server, so I can no longer use Zero.app for work email, only personal

2) I bought an iPad mini, where tapping to archive button is less error prone.





Along the way: even with the current inefficient interface, I want to be able to archive and move on to view the next message. The current interface in landscape mode often shows a blank message reading pane after I archive, requiring me to painfully select a new message to look at.

You really need to count the number of actions - pokes, clicks, taps, swipes - to get the job of processing email done.   Swipes are about 2x better, or half the cost, of poking or tapping an icon or widget.  Switching screens is about 2x worse than tapping an icon, 4x worse than a swipe. Simple swipes left / right / up / down are fastest; long vs short swipes are almost as good, maybe 10-20% worse than a simple swipe; multiple buttons, one of which must be tapped, is maybe 50% worse, but still better than having to tap an icon or widget that may be far away (the swipe equivalent of context menus)

Krazy Glew's Blog

Krazy Glew's Blog: "I like being able to see my personal and work calendars at the same time"



Interesting:



I really need to be able to see work and personal calendars at the same time. Or else I create schedule conflicts.   I am a shared resource.



But in email, while I would like to be able to read personal and work email in a single place, I have learned the hard way not to - by accidentally forwarding work email to personal.



Idea?: unified email browser that asks "Are you sure", when cross forwarding?



'via Blog this'

Calendar not syncing on replacement iPhone

This just a bug report, to report fix, fr my own memory, and perhaps to help anyone else with similar problem.



Today I had to replace my iPhone 6+.  15 months old, 3 months past the 1-year warranty - no extended warranty :-(.  329$ :-(.  Old phone started "flickering" at the top of the screen, and touchscreen went awry, not working, and/or phantom touches. Flexing sometimes made it go away, but it got worse overnight.  Apparently this is a common problem with iPhone 6+: the Apple Store person says that he sees 3 or more such problems a day.



After connecting the new phone to my Google account, gmail worked, but Google Calendar did not show up in the Apple Calendar app. (It did show up in the Google Calendar app - but, curiously, the Apple calendar app provides more control over Google Calendar features than does the Google Calendar app. Plus, I like being able to see my personal and work calendars at the same time.)



Fix was to go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Gmail, and toggle the Calendars button off (it was already on) / on / off / on multiple times.   Probably needed to delete info from the old instance.





Calendar and Contacts not syncing after iOS 9 u... | Apple Support Communities:



'via Blog this'

Sharing paalettes/UIX between different devices

I bought a refurbished iPad mini, and am currently using Quadro with both iPhone and iPad. This is good.

What is not good is that I cannot copy or move palettes friom iPhone to iPad.  I cannot even share, via the insecure sharing facility.  (If I try to share, I get told "incompatible device').

Now, I know that the GUI properties are different. The iPad has a bigger screen, etc.  But function code should be identical, and also colors.  Possibly icons would be different, but one can hope that that may npt be the case.

But I was hoping that I would be at least able to have the iPhone palettes on the iPad, as a starting point.

Unfortunately, it looks like I will have to recreate every function, every pad design and color, from scratch.   

This sucks, and is a very big reason why I have written my own UIX extender - or, rather, ported an old UIX that I wrote ears ago to Mac's GUI scripting.    Mine is not as pretty as Quadro, but it allows backup, reuse, and version control.

Quadro says:

DisclaimerAlthough we are already working on a better multi-device palette support, which will have different modes and automatic management for the pads layout, for the moment it's still up to you to create palettes that span across multiple devices.

I get this.  But I want to emphasize that Quadro should add the ability to copy pads, with functions, colors, labels, and possibly icons, between different devices as soon as possible.   Do not delay that for more complete automatic management, etc.

I say again:  not having the ability to reuse pads between different devices is a veery big reason not to use Quadro at all.

---

As for different GUI properties:

The iPhone app "Keypad" allows a keypad layout to be scrolled horizontally and vertically   This allows reuse between portrait and landscape rotations on the phone.

Security Implications of Sharing Palettes · Quadro

Quadro - UI extension software that allows an iPhone or iPad to be used as a touchscreen extension for a Mac or Windows PC, with common commands mapped to touchscreen "pads" - allows the "palettes" of macro-pad-definitions to be shared.



It looks like a shared pad is visible to the entire web.



I hope not writeable...



I, and Quadro, really need to think about the security implications of such promiscuous sharing.



Obviously should not share any palette definitions that contain passwords, e.g. passwords to log into ... wifi nets, apps, etc.



Perhaps slightly less obvious, but should be apparent to anyone who thinks in the slightest about security and privacy: palette/pads that automatically save to particular folders, e.g. in email or  web browser, may themselves be security/privacy exposures:  the very NAME of the folder corresponding to a company-secret project may be a secret.   Or, similarly, the fact that an engineer is doing web.research on a particular topic may disclose new product directions.



Similarly, many companies dislike having employee email addresses unnecessarily exposed.  So palette/pad shortcuts that forward to particular email addresses are an exposure.



If you don't like thinking about company security, think about personal privacy. Imagine that the user is researching some deeply private and/or embarrassing medical condition.



---



Is this a real risk?   Well, the unique part of the URL that is provided for sharing seems to be no more than 5 ascii letters - and possibly less.  E.g. 5*8=40 bits of (in)security.  Quite likely to be brute forceable,



Q: does Quadro have an intrusion detection system, looking for bad guys probing all combinations of 5 ascii letters?



---



What happens if you have accidentally shared a palette with a password or other sensitive information?  



I cannot see any way to delete a shared palette from the Quadro company servers once it has been shared.



---



Wishlist:  allow a user to tag particular pads as being sensitive, unshareable.  And prevent any palettes holding such a tainted pad from being shared.



But the main wishlist would be to use much longer URLs, long enough to discourage brute force attacks.   Possibly with length selectable - short URLs for sharing of non-sensitive palettes, long URLs for sharing of sensitive palettes (at the cost of being much harder to type).



With the wsih after that being to do proper challenge/response,





---



How to cope with the insecurity of this palette sharing?



The only thing that I can really imagine is to try to be ver strict about

Bug or (Mis)Feature: Move Pads on top of each other

I cannot tell if this is a bug or a feature.  If it is a feature, I cannot figire out what it is good for.



Usually when I drag a pad nearly on top of another pad, the pad being moved onto is moved away.



However, when I very carefully position the pad that I am dragging exactly on top of the other pad, then the new pad occupies the space, and the other pad is hidden. But I can later drag the "top" pad away, and the pad underneath is revealed.



Is this intended behavior?



I hope not - I must admit that I became a bit panicky when I first saw this happen, thinking that the hidden pad (a group) had just been deleted.  But fortunately it could be revealed.



Move Pads · Quadro: "Move Pads
To move a Pad inside the Palette enter Edit Mode and perform a long tap on the pad to drag it around. Leave the finger once is placed in the desired position."



'via Blog this'

Security and Dynamic Keypad / User Interface Elements (Quadro, Keypad)

I obviously like the idea of "dynamic user interface devices" in general, and Quadro in particular: use a tablet, iPad or iPhone, to provide a more pleasant user interface to legacy PC apps.