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I am also thinking about a way to let user know notification events in the near future. Full screen is nice, but users sometimes do care about notifications a lot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by droiiiiid
Ahhhh--very nice. Perfect. Thanks. At first, I was going to the veryv ery top and pulling dwn my notification bar accidentally.
Chuck,
Thanks for the details explanation. I got it. And I tried on several sites. Yes, it seems the build in scrolling system does offer some sort of lockups when you scroll up and down but drifting happens. The scrolling of content is not handled by apps but by the WebView (WebKit) implementation, which is out of app developer's control. There might be somesettings though.
Google has done a good job on this open system in general. However, no always. For example, there is a setting in the webview that allows users to load page in overview mode. But this setting is not public until Android 2.1. However, the stock browser, can access it in pre-2.1 systems. Apparently those APIs are not well planned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuck-fu
The 'swipe down' address bar sounds like a great approach. Looking forward to trying it out.
As for my scrolling request: i'm not talking about adding one of those odd silver tabs that exists for the native contacts app. I'm talking about something a bit different. Hopefully I can explain:
Lets say you visit this site on your phone (i have a Droid). If i want to see the latest post, i'd scroll to the bottom right side of the overall page. Now, if i want to scroll back up for some reason, Safari on the iPhone is very smart about locking in just a y-axis scroll so that the screen doesn't drift left to right as i scroll up. Android browsers (including xScope) seem to have some tolerance built in, so it doesn't drift all crazy on the user, but it doesn't seem as 'locked in' as Safari. As i mentioned earlier, this may be beyond the scope (no pun intended) of what you can do legally or technically. Just an idea for you...
Agreed. It is not easy.
I actually tried to find a way to pull down the notification bar programmatically with no luck. So it seems the only option will be showing up something and let users to choose to handle it or not. If they do choose to handle it, the browser will no longer in foreground. Then users have to manually launch the browser back. (not sure if there is a way to capture event that user's finished handling notification)
Quote:
Originally Posted by droiiiiid
What if a new notification triggered the notification bar to slide back down into view for a moment and then slide away again after a moment?
It's going to be hard to beat the system notification bar in terms of efficiency and polish.
it appears that i may be the only one who is having the going back to home problem after you end a phone conversation. That being the case it must be a settings issue, does any one have any suggestions on what i can do or may be doing wrong?
The notification bar has been brought up and on the Droid I know that if you go Menu -> Windowed it will bring back the notification bar. I don't think that is what was being discussed but yeah... lol
Another thing I've just realized is there appears to be a limit of bookmarks you can set? I might be wrong but when I try to add one, it gets rid of the last one on the list. Another nice thing would be to have "bookmarks" be an option when you click the menu button like the default browser does. Just a couple ideas.
RocknSteve,
It is 5 for Lite, 20 for paid version for now. Thanks. Bookmarking is achieved by toggle the 'Star' in front of address bar.
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by RocknSteve
Another thing I've just realized is there appears to be a limit of bookmarks you can set? I might be wrong but when I try to add one, it gets rid of the last one on the list. Another nice thing would be to have "bookmarks" be an option when you click the menu button like the default browser does. Just a couple ideas.
New Update today (1/24).
1. New GUI. It is even plainer.
2. Added find, copy&paste functions. Address bar is scrollable to select those.
3. Push up to hide address bar or pull down to show.
4. Fixed clearing cache issue.
Thanks for using.
RocknSteve,
It is 5 for Lite, 20 for paid version for now. Thanks. Bookmarking is achieved by toggle the 'Star' in front of address bar.
Thanks
What I was talking about was more of going Menu -> Bookmarks which allows you to choose one of your bookmarks from there to go to. As I'm thinking about it, I guess it's the same amount of work as going "Home" and then choosing the bookmark so I guess this suggestion is just a preference that many might not really share so I guess it's not too big of a deal.
One thing that I would like to strongly suggest is redoing the bookmarks page. Something more like the default browser does (square blocks that have a preview of the page, etc) as I feel that would make it much easier to navigate. By default, the homepage where it lists all my bookmarks has tiny font and makes it harder to select the right one. But I trust that you'll find someway to make it even better! Keep up the good work!
FYI I'm about to buy the full version to help support!
EDIT: The paid version's homepage has, by default, bigger links. So that's better. Not sure why it changes between the two but it's a very minor problem. Just thought I'd mention it. And xScope I don't mean to be ripping on you if it's coming of that way! I'm just pointing out things to help improve. And I find even the minor things, when they work well together, help make a good application a great one. Like I said earlier, keep up the good work!
EDIT (again lol): I noticed how you redid the search bar and now that I'm thinking about it, adding a similar, light gray gradient to the main URL bar would probably and drastically change the "looks over functions" crowd's opinion of the app. I friggin love you xScope.
Last edited by RocknSteve; January 24th, 2010 at 05:52 PM.
I will redo the favorite list. (Most likely happen next weekend). It will be like what's in Google chrome so that you can choose either list, or blocks style(taking most recent picture from visited site). Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by RocknSteve
What I was talking about was more of going Menu -> Bookmarks which allows you to choose one of your bookmarks from there to go to. As I'm thinking about it, I guess it's the same amount of work as going "Home" and then choosing the bookmark so I guess this suggestion is just a preference that many might not really share so I guess it's not too big of a deal.
One thing that I would like to strongly suggest is redoing the bookmarks page. Something more like the default browser does (square blocks that have a preview of the page, etc) as I feel that would make it much easier to navigate. By default, the homepage where it lists all my bookmarks has tiny font and makes it harder to select the right one. But I trust that you'll find someway to make it even better! Keep up the good work!
FYI I'm about to buy the full version to help support!
EDIT: The paid version's homepage has, by default, bigger links. So that's better. Not sure why it changes between the two but it's a very minor problem. Just thought I'd mention it. And xScope I don't mean to be ripping on you if it's coming of that way! I'm just pointing out things to help improve. And I find even the minor things, when they work well together, help make a good application a great one. Like I said earlier, keep up the good work!
EDIT (again lol): I noticed how you redid the search bar and now that I'm thinking about it, adding a similar, light gray gradient to the main URL bar would probably and drastically change the "looks over functions" crowd's opinion of the app. I friggin love you xScope.
The updated UI is fantastic. And Google News links launch new tab! You're my hero.
Couple of things, though.
One is that I seem to be experiencing a bug with zooming on Google's standard search page. If I zoom in and scroll around a bit, the zoom resets to default. This only seems to happen on Google's search pages, though, and not News, for instance.
The other thing is that now, with the new menu options, we have "Favorites" and "Home." But they both bring you to the same page. Seems redundant. I know you said you will be reworking the bookmark page soon, so maybe this is just temporary. Do you plan on having a "home page" button that brings you to a specified page, and another "favorites" button that brings you to the bookmarks page? I think this would make sense.
Again, thanks for your excellent work and keep it up!
The updated UI is fantastic. And Google News links launch new tab! You're my hero.
Couple of things, though.
One is that I seem to be experiencing a bug with zooming on Google's standard search page. If I zoom in and scroll around a bit, the zoom resets to default. This only seems to happen on Google's search pages, though, and not News, for instance.
The other thing is that now, with the new menu options, we have "Favorites" and "Home." But they both bring you to the same page. Seems redundant. I know you said you will be reworking the bookmark page soon, so maybe this is just temporary. Do you plan on having a "home page" button that brings you to a specified page, and another "favorites" button that brings you to the bookmarks page? I think this would make sense.
Again, thanks for your excellent work and keep it up!
Calbruc,
Favourites and Home are two separate buttons because that will allow you to set your home page as something esle if you should so desire.....but still have access to favourites. IMHO, what Xscope has done is correct and not redundant.
Xscope......Loving the option for Volume control scroll. I might also agree with Rock n Steve about the looks over form crowd....and I'll be honest.....I'm not a huge fan of the icons within the menu.
I also LOVE the 'add new tab' option in the menu. Allows me to use the 'hide tab if only one left' option way better. Thank you!!!!!
Now..... :-)....everything that I am going to mention from here on is IMHO....and I realize pretty nitpicky.
// Start nitpicking
I think it looks like I am one of the only ones who liked the '3D page curl up'.....just because I thought it looked so cool.....but then again like somebody pointed out...it was a little too big and so it was hard to access any page content in the lower right corner until that 'page curl' disappeared......But I thought it gave the browser a very modern feel.
Also I feel I like the colour icons you implemented in the page curl better than the B/w line icons currently in the menu button.
Am I the ONLY one who like the page curl? Any one??? :-)
// End nitpicking.....for now.
I also LOVE the fact that you update the Market with a version change update. Keep doing that. Before I download an update...I'd really like to know what changes you have made...just a line or two like you do right now.....But very few devs actually do that.
Thanks!
I am liking the updates but trying to understand a few of the icons on top.
1. The find feature (magnifying glass) what exactly does the find feature do as i see if i click it it brings up a text box at the bottom with arrows on each side but when i type something in there is no enter? Am i missing something here and what are the arrows on each side for?
2. The last icon on the right. Looks like two pages of paper. What does that do? Oh never mind I accidentally think I figured it out! It allows to copy text correct?
Love the new update. Seems even faster now. Out of all the paid Apps I have tried this is by far the best money I've spent. Why everyone is not using this browser I have no clue
Calbruc,
Favourites and Home are two separate buttons because that will allow you to set your home page as something esle if you should so desire.....but still have access to favourites. IMHO, what Xscope has done is correct and not redundant.
Yep, I get that this *should* be the case, but it doesn't seem like it's implemented yet? Or am I just missing something? Can you actually set a home page currently?
I agree and hope I didn't come off the wrong way -- I think having separate "home" and "favorites" is great -- it's just that it seemed to me right now they are the same thing, hence redundant.
And a minor nitpick of my own: I think the icon text in the menu should read "history," not "histories." I dig the black and white icons, though!
New Update today (1/24).
1. New GUI. It is even plainer.
2. Added find, copy&paste functions. Address bar is scrollable to select those.
3. Push up to hide address bar or pull down to show.
4. Fixed clearing cache issue.
Thanks for using.
I know this is going to be a dumb question, but..... What is the "find" function for? When i tried to copy text and paste the text to the find box the on screen keyboard covered up most of the find box so i couldnt edit what was copied. and how do you hit enter or search for what was pasted into the find box. sorry for my ignorance, but i just dont get it.
One more question.... what are google news links?
Last edited by smacinskyjr; January 25th, 2010 at 11:31 AM.
I know this is going to be a dumb question, but..... What is the "find" function for? When i tried to copy text and paste the text to the find box the on screen keyboard covered up most of the find box so i couldnt edit what was copied. and how do you hit enter or search for what was pasted into the find box. sorry for my ignorance, but i just dont get it.
One more question.... what are google news links?
+1
I'm having some trouble understanding how the copy, paste and find functions work. I do not see a magnifying glass anywhere.
@Magnus -- Hehe, thanks! My bad! I should have looked harder before posting!
The Copy and Find buttons are in the address bar. Swipe it to the left. Or just turn your phone to view in Landscape.
@smacinskyjr -- The "find" function allows you to search for text on a page. For instance, if you want to find the word "favorites" on this page, use the find function and it will highlight and can step you through everytime that word appears. Same thing CTRL-F does in a normal browser.
Also, Google News links are just the "headlines" on news.google.com. Links to the full articles on their original pages.
Last edited by calbruc; January 25th, 2010 at 11:52 AM.
Find: find text in your page. It will highlight matching texts. (This is where hardkeyboard beats soft ones pants off although not often. With softkey, the viewing area becomes too small).
Copy: once clicked this button, then drag-select text that you want to copy to clipboard.
They are standard features in stock browser.
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by smacinskyjr
I know this is going to be a dumb question, but..... What is the "find" function for? When i tried to copy text and paste the text to the find box the on screen keyboard covered up most of the find box so i couldnt edit what was copied. and how do you hit enter or search for what was pasted into the find box. sorry for my ignorance, but i just dont get it.
Right.
The Google News links are javascripts links that instruct the browser to open page in a new window (in this case, new tab). Outdated xScope can't do this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by calbruc
@Magnus -- Hehe, thanks! My bad! I should have looked harder before posting!
The Copy and Find buttons are in the address bar. Swipe it to the left to reveal the Copy and Find Buttons. Or just turn your phone to view in Landscape.
@smacinskyjr -- The "find" function allows you to search for text on a page. For instance, if you want to find the word "favorites" on this page, use the find function and it will highlight and can step you through everytime that word appears. Same thing CTRL-F does in a normal browser.
Also, Google News links are just the "headlines" on news.google.com. Links to the full articles on their original pages.
nitpickings are welcome, you know
I wonder what is the life span of the volume keys (how many clicks)? Also I think the pressing volume down key should also brings down the address bar if it is already at top.
Quote:
Originally Posted by magnus
Calbruc,
Favourites and Home are two separate buttons because that will allow you to set your home page as something esle if you should so desire.....but still have access to favourites. IMHO, what Xscope has done is correct and not redundant.
Xscope......Loving the option for Volume control scroll. I might also agree with Rock n Steve about the looks over form crowd....and I'll be honest.....I'm not a huge fan of the icons within the menu.
I also LOVE the 'add new tab' option in the menu. Allows me to use the 'hide tab if only one left' option way better. Thank you!!!!!
Now..... :-)....everything that I am going to mention from here on is IMHO....and I realize pretty nitpicky.
// Start nitpicking
I think it looks like I am one of the only ones who liked the '3D page curl up'.....just because I thought it looked so cool.....but then again like somebody pointed out...it was a little too big and so it was hard to access any page content in the lower right corner until that 'page curl' disappeared......But I thought it gave the browser a very modern feel.
Also I feel I like the colour icons you implemented in the page curl better than the B/w line icons currently in the menu button.
Am I the ONLY one who like the page curl? Any one??? :-)
// End nitpicking.....for now.
I also LOVE the fact that you update the Market with a version change update. Keep doing that. Before I download an update...I'd really like to know what changes you have made...just a line or two like you do right now.....But very few devs actually do that.
Thanks!
One is that I seem to be experiencing a bug with zooming on Google's standard search page. If I zoom in and scroll around a bit, the zoom resets to default. This only seems to happen on Google's search pages, though, and not News, for instance.
Can somebody else confirm the zoom issue I'm having on Google pages? Despite what I first thought, it is occuring on Google News. Also Images, Shopping, etc.
Do a Google search, zoom in and scroll around a bit. Do you stay at the same zoom level? (Some times it reverts quickly, sometimes it takes a little longer.)
I think the cut and paste would be better in the menu options. If I'm at the bottom of the page it makes more sense that scrolling all the way to the top of the page just to select the option
I think the cut and paste would be better in the menu options. If I'm at the bottom of the page it makes more sense that scrolling all the way to the top of the page just to select the option
But you don't have to scroll all the way to the top.....you can just 'pull down' the address bar from wherever you are on the page
@Magnus -- Hehe, thanks! My bad! I should have looked harder before posting!
The Copy and Find buttons are in the address bar. Swipe it to the left. Or just turn your phone to view in Landscape.
@smacinskyjr -- The "find" function allows you to search for text on a page. For instance, if you want to find the word "favorites" on this page, use the find function and it will highlight and can step you through everytime that word appears. Same thing CTRL-F does in a normal browser.
Also, Google News links are just the "headlines" on news.google.com. Links to the full articles on their original pages.
Find: find text in your page. It will highlight matching texts. (This is where hardkeyboard beats soft ones pants off although not often. With softkey, the viewing area becomes too small).
Copy: once clicked this button, then drag-select text that you want to copy to clipboard.
They are standard features in stock browser.
Thanks
Thank you for your reply. The clipboard is the text box that pops up at the bottom correct?
@Magnus -- Hehe, thanks! My bad! I should have looked harder before posting!
The Copy and Find buttons are in the address bar. Swipe it to the left. Or just turn your phone to view in Landscape.
@smacinskyjr -- The "find" function allows you to search for text on a page. For instance, if you want to find the word "favorites" on this page, use the find function and it will highlight and can step you through everytime that word appears. Same thing CTRL-F does in a normal browser.
Also, Google News links are just the "headlines" on news.google.com. Links to the full articles on their original pages.
WOW!!! that is so neat I never knew about the CTRL-F feature. Of course now I sound really dumb!! I promise I'm not as stupid as I sound.
smacinskyjr,
LOL. I have to laugh at you on this one.
It is a transfer board (invisible to user). Say you find sometext in a webpage interesting. You can 'Copy' those text to clipboard and then open your email. There you can 'Paste' so the text in your clipboard will be in your email.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smacinskyjr
Thank you for your reply. The clipboard is the text box that pops up at the bottom correct?
This is a classic situation where things get ambiguous.
In google's example, if you look at its code, it probably has something like 'hey, please display me across your screen 100%'. Fine, you load it and it spans 100%. Now you zoom. Then what? Whatever you zoom, google says it wants to span across your screen. You see? Now it is getting interesting... think about it Should the browser still offer page script to span page across screen or grant user's zoom gesture????
We rarely think about his with PC where zooming is not very often (I can't remember last time I zoomed a page on PC).
Quote:
Originally Posted by calbruc
Can somebody else confirm the zoom issue I'm having on Google pages? Despite what I first thought, it is occuring on Google News. Also Images, Shopping, etc.
Do a Google search, zoom in and scroll around a bit. Do you stay at the same zoom level? (Some times it reverts quickly, sometimes it takes a little longer.)
Awesome update - it's tough keeping up with this thread given all new features you are adding! I have a couple of comments/suggestions:
1) I really like the address bar swipe up and down (and also right to get to the extra buttons). However, one thing is that, as you scroll down a web page, the address bar automatically swipes up and disappears. Someone let me know if I'm just doing it incorrectly.... would it be more convenient to only have the address bar disappear if you put your finger in the address bar area directly and swipe up (just like you have to put your finger in the area to swipe right) rather than auto-disappearing when you scroll down? BAsically have it replicate the address bar behavior when you scroll down via the volume buttons. I feel that I am spending a fair amount of time swiping down to restore the address bar.
2) I'm thinking out loud on this one - first I want to say the volume scrolling by page is great. Do people think it would be useful if, when you long press up or down on the volume key, that it just skips to the top/bottom respectively rather than fast(er) scrolling?
smacinskyjr,
LOL. I have to laugh at you on this one.
It is a transfer board (invisible to user). Say you find sometext in a webpage interesting. You can 'Copy' those text to clipboard and then open your email. There you can 'Paste' so the text in your clipboard will be in your email.
Ahhhh I see said the blind man!! In the immortal words of "The Hang Over" I am a RITARD!!!!!
Soo happy I switched to this! Love all the support! However I would still like the zoom +/- along with multi-touch like dolphin does
Have you tried the pin zoom? I personally like it much better than the +/-. to me it is much more Convenient than the +/- its like multitouch in one finger.