Fill screen vs Fill window

[Tom Crane]

Since the UV switched to using the full screen API I've found that I don't enjoy the user experience at all.

Until the change, If I was idly browsing the Wellcome Library's digitised collections discovering interesting things, I would toggle to the UV because its full page of thumbnails was more useful to me than any of the other differences. Now, I stay in the old Player because its ability to give me control over windowing is more useful to me than any of the other features - i.e., more important than lots of thumbnails.

I tend to switch to full window very quickly I can then size it to fit what I'm doing, look at email, code, etc. in other windows - basically use the long-established windowing model of desktop OSes and treat player instances the same as other applications. I can't do this any more because the UV wants to behave like an app. This works perfectly on my phone but I don't want it on my laptop or desktop.

If I'm in full window I can still use the browser's F11 to get full screen, giving me both options.

[Edward Silverton]

Hmm, valid points. Let's discuss this on the UV call later.

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[Jenn Phillips-Bacher]

Conveniently Tom was working in the Wellcome building when he wrote this, so I was able to see a poweruser in action.

A few thoughts...

In usability testing, users were annoyed that the 'full screen version' button resulted in full window view only. It could be that the mismatch in labelling is the problem, and the happiness could have been increased by relabelling the button appropriately. However, having seen the true full-screen in action, and having it requested by others in the community, I would not want to see the proper full-screen taken away.

Having seen a poweruser (granted, he's a developer) use the multiple windows, I can see that full-window sizing is also of value.

The question is how to offer *both* options: a popular option that matches the mental model of other web viewers (eg YouTube), and a poweruser option (which gives more viewing control, and helps researchers who might have multiple items open at once).

I did two quick sketches (attached) which are total strawmen sketches. Happy to see other ideas of ways we can gracefully handle both.

I'll be on time for the #community-call today.

Jenn

[Demian Katz]

Is there perhaps a better model the be looking at/thinking about than YouTube? I think a key difference here is that YouTube is offering (in most cases, anyway) a completely passive experience: you full-screen the window, then you sit back and watch it. While UV could present video in some cases, it’s usually offering a more interactive experience, where the user is actively moving and resizing things – and so I can see how this would tie in more closely with a desire to also move and resize the entire UV window.

 

I have a feeling that adding a proliferation of controls to offer a fine-grained distinction between full screen and full window may cause more confusion that it alleviates – and that just led me to wonder if perhaps part of the problem is that YouTube isn’t as good a model for our needs as we had thought. I don’t really have a better alternative to propose, but I thought the observation might help somebody else have a brainstorm!

 

- Demian

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[Adam Christie]

I agree that YouTube isn't the best analogy, but I wholeheartedly believe that having the utility to maximise the UV to the whole window is a really nice feature that I could see people using in a situation such as on a shared screen or in a presentation. People work in many different ways, and I am a fan of affording people the option to work in as many of those ways as possible.

The language (including visual language) of the options around this need careful consideration. I like the visual style of Jenn's second example (the boxes and arrows). The naming of the options could be pretty confusing, though. I'd suggest "Fit to Page" rather than "Fit to Window", and "Full Screen" rather than "Fit to Screen", as "Full screen" is more likely to be understood / in general Internet lexicon.

Adam.

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[Tom Crane]

I don't want to lose "full" full screen (F11-style) either. I want both, but not in a way that confuses people - "so there are two full screen buttons now?"

I think something like Jenn's proposal is the answer. Two distinct but related phrases and icons. Any doubt would be cleared up by the user trying them out. Perhaps the button that most attracts the click (bottom right?) is the full screen F11-style, the other a secondary target.

[Edward Silverton]

Just as a left field idea - what if you could click and hold to force "windowed" mode? "Force touch" is now a thing in safari, and we could potentially simulate this in other browsers if/until it becomes available.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/09/web-developers-can-create-custom-force-touch-interactions-in-os-x-10-11/#.vteahey:afMw

We could add it to a wiki page of "did you know" style UV "power user" tips.

[Tom Crane]

How would I discover that? I wouldn't read a manual for a viewer. Also by pushing harder I'd get a smaller viewport, which might feel counter-intuitive. And I have a mouse!

[Edward Silverton]

Click and hold could simulate force touch. I've discovered cool shortcuts and things about software I use regularly by reading blog posts etc.

Alternatively, we could use the web audio api to listen for the user saying "NO" when full screening? (joke)

[Edward Silverton]

https://github.com/UniversalViewer/universalviewer/issues/184

(courtesy of Adam)

[Kiley, Robert]

Although UX issues are clearly outside my area of expertise, as a user of the Player/UV I am going to throw in my 2 pennies’ worth.

 

Might a possible solution be to default to opening the UV in “full window screen” [i.e. what currently happens on the Wellcome Player when you hit the “Full screen version”].  And then, if you want to see it in “full screen” (when it acts like F11) you have an option to view this.  Under this model there is no “normal view” option.

 

This way we don’t have to try to explain what “full window” and “full screen” mean (though it would mean that we would lose “normal” view).

 

Robert

 

Robert Kiley
Head of Digital Services
Wellcome Library
183, Euston Road, London. NW1 2BE
Tel: 020 7611 8338; Fax: 020 7611 8703; mailto:r.k...@wellcome.ac.uk
ORCID: 0000-0003-4733-2558
Library Web site: http://wellcomelibrary.org  

 

 

 

 

From: univers...@googlegroups.com [mailto:univers...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Edward Silverton
Sent: 12 November 2015 16:09
To: Universal Viewer
Cc: jen...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Fill screen vs Fill window

 

https://github.com/UniversalViewer/universalviewer/issues/184

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[Demian Katz]

I think the problem here is that you need “normal” view in embedding situations; if the viewer just tries to take over the whole window by default, that’s going to be a problem when it’s part of a newspaper article (or when you have multiple instances embedded side by side).

 

- Demian

[Kiley, Robert]

Good point – and demonstrates why I should absent myself from such discussions ;-)

R