Proposal: Make all app displays containers on the Apps Library the same size

[shawncrawley]

Upon feedback from HydroShare members, it is being proposed that the design of the Apps Library page be modified so that the app display containers are all the same size. This modification is intended to give Tethys a cleaner, more uniform, and more organized look. The idea was elicited upon viewing https://appsdev.hydroshare.org/apps/. It seems that the app display containers are dynamically sized based on the length of the app name. Instead, could the display containers be hard-coded to all be one size, regardless of the content?

One obvious issue with hard-coding the size is the case where an app has a relatively long name. For example, on the appsdev page (referenced above), one app title extends over three lines (HydroShare Geographic Feature Viewer). A happy-medium would need to be chosen that allows for relatively long names to be displayed, yet not creating so much space so that the really short names (i.e. "api") look a bit ridiculous with so much white space showing.

If we can come to a consensus on the "happy-medium" then I, myself, have no problem implementing the change. However, it is likely a small enough change that it could be handled by someone else in conjunction with other changes already being made. For now, I propose myself as the one to be assigned to this modification. Also, with such a small change, I propose that it be made prior to the release of version 1.3 so as to be included in the same.

[Dan Ames]

+1 for this modification. I suggest that if the text title of the app exceeds two lines then the last few letters be replaced with and ellipses...

The free size app icons are kind of cool, but all the major app platforms seem to use presized apps. At least Android and iOS. Windows 10 uses specific size panels. 

If a developer chooses to use a long name and then sees the ellipses, then he/she will have to decide whether to shorten it or keep the ellipses. 

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[swainn]

Thank you for the proposal. A gold star for @shawncrawley for submitting the first official proposal. I'd like to post a few thoughts and get some response before voting on this proposal.

The tiles were intentionally designed to be dynamic in size to accommodate app titles of any length, as you've deduced. Although many app platforms have app icons with a standard size, the dynamic tiles were not created in a vacuum. They are actually modeled after Pinterest tiles and I've seen other websites use a similar tiling method. I personally like the effect and I like that it sets Tethys apart from other platforms. 

Taken to an extreme, unlimited title size could result in very long, unsightly app tiles. So, I think having a maximum size is justifiable and a line length of two or three lines for a title seems reasonable to me. However, that could be done without making a standard size tile. One question I have is how do we make the very short titles not look like there is a lot of wasted space if the tile itself doesn't change size? Potentially, there could be a lot of white space above, below, or all around the short title to accommodate apps with longer titles.

There is a practical motivation for having the tiles dynamic as well. It turns out that generating the ellipses automatically via CSS is not as easy as you would think, especially if we are talking about doing it with multiple lines. So, the implementation may not be as easy as you have supposed. I'd like to see a proposal/demonstration for how to generate the ellipsis after the initial first 2 lines as part of this proposal (maybe with a jsfiddle?).

The last concern I have is that the motivations cited for the proposal are sparse. Can you please provide more specific motivations for the change? What are the specific feedback items from the HydroShare group? Were they feedback from end users? developers?

Unfortunately, version 1.3.0 has been locked down and is very near release, so I think the earliest we can get this feature in is 1.4.0.

[sdc50]

I suspect that the motivations for the proposal are purely preference, which is valid but not particularly justifiable. There will always be some that prefer one style and others that prefer another, and still others that prefer something entirely different. While there is no way to satisfy everyone's preferences, I feel like flexibility has been one of the primary objectives in the design of Tethys. I would support a modification that enables standardized app icon size to be an option that is configurable through the Site Settings admin page.

[Dan Ames]

I agree that the suggestion was made out of preference. David Tarboton was the requester, but it wasn't noted as a particularly critical change. I have spoken to Drew and we agree to withdraw or table the proposal for now unless/until more users indicate a strong preference for it, at which point, the optional flag in Site Settings sounds like a good solution. - Dan

On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 4:08 PM sdc50 <scottych...@gmail.com> wrote:

I suspect that the motivations for the proposal are purely preference, which is valid but not particularly justifiable. There will always be some that prefer one style and others that prefer another, and still others that prefer something entirely different. While there is no way to satisfy everyone's preferences, I feel like flexibility has been one of the primary objectives in the design of Tethys. I would support a modification that enables standardized app icon size to be an option that is configurable through the Site Settings admin page.

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[swainn]

I'd be hesitant to make any changes based on a slight preference, but I like Scott's suggestion to addressing this via Site Settings. I do think there is merit into limiting the length of titles of apps to prevent extremely long app tiles. 

The other factor that contributes to the varying length of the tiles is the image size. The image width is set hard at 170 px and the height is allowed to flow accordingly. We could address this through documentation that recommends an images size for app icons (170px X 170px) for a more uniform look.