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ARJWright's Avatar
Posts: 861 | Thanked: 734 times | Joined on Jan 2008 @ Nomadic
#189
Hello and greetings;
Been using OpenRepos (app and service) for a bit, but don't think I've said all that much. I'm pretty hard on UX/UI items, and knowing where things are with the project kind of kept me satisfied for the most part. There was an update to Warehouse today and it provoked a few thoughts and ideas, and so I just wanted to get those down instead of making something longer and harder to parse (hope folks minding this thread don't mind).

Things I Like:
- easy to find apps; search has been nice and fast; I've even lost time just browsing the entire library
- I like how its hooked into the update system already existing on the N9, that's just plain smart UX
- for the most part, apps have sufficient screenshots and descriptions to figure them out; scripts kind of miss out here, but that's to be expected
- no requirement to make a profile to download or get updates; seriously, that just makes sense. I get the repos and call it a day

Things I Don't Like (As Much)
- seems like I see Harmattan and SailfishOS apps at the same time; if an app doesn't fit my system, why do I see it
- the blue bar at the top of the landing page. I get it, its a placeholder for applications. But the UI-guy in me says "why isn't the title 'OpenRepos[beta]' stated there, with the icon alongside, instead of taking up screen space under that for a banner image? There might be something about the UX docs for Harmattan I miss here, but its just extra space which could have been better used; makes more sense to see blue bar on the other panes
- the last button on the bottom row brings up that [ugly to me] menu with submenu items. Can I make a suggestion: Get rid of "exit," move 'settings" to the top of the Profile pane, stick "check updates" into settings as well as in that Profile pane, and only show the "Home" button when you've navigated from the initial "applications" panel - when you navigate to page 2 of the navigation panel, should show the back button, not a home button; back goes 1 page, tapping the top menu bar when looking at "applications" takes you back to the homescreen

Things which would be neat
- if one has a profile, can it be managed from Accounts, not just Warehouse?
- if someone has subscribed to a repo, and that repo has a support contact, be able to download that repo's contact into into Contacts (bonus points if that contact were connected to whatever social media contacts that developer had, and preferred to use for communication to them)
- different default icons for scripts (which usually have no icon) than for apps (makes some of those categories easier to scan/read

Warehouse works very well as an entry point into OpenRepos. As a site, OpenRepos just fits this community too well. I did a bunch of browsing before I would even consider downloading Warehouse, and was quite confident that when I did make that jump, I'd not be putting alpha-ware or abandon-ware onto my N9. Warehouse gives me the apps without the fluff. Its not as marketing-friendly as the Nokia Store, and does a decent job of showing me what I want - the fact that the landing screen shows the latest updated/added apps just works too well for me.

To that end, thanks. And I hope these comments help all of you working on and supporting this project. Its a sign of things this community is capable of. Kind regards.
 

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