Dear Developers, let's avoid making more Hubs.

[pakkei]

Dear developers,

As we develop more and more apps, and as the Windows Phone marketplace hit 10,000 apps, I noticed an increasingly annoying trend: Abuse of panoramic hubs.

Yes, I understand that our latest greatest app may be our first important app, but as a user, the app is only one of my many tools in my toolbox, not the center of the universe.

And I understand that a lot of us want our app to be the hub above all other apps, however, let's face it - it's unlikely any third party hubs will be as important as Microsoft's hubs.

While the 6 major hubs in Windows Phone 7 presents some sort of extensibility, a lot of 3rd party hubs don't really do much except the function it is confined to.

A panoramic hub lets developers put different types of list controls in the same page, often for the purpose of showcasing the many depths of the app. However, some apps don't really have much depth, and the usage of panorama in this case feels like 40 pages for table of contents for a 20 page book.

If the app only displays one type of data, a pivot suits a lot better.

And panorama views usually come with a gigantic title, which takes up lots of precious screen space.

Sometimes I noticed that some developers will try to use a background in an app. However, if the app does not have a strong reason to have a background, e.g. dynamic content, I think it's a lot better to let users decide their background colors in their own theme settings. This can save us a lot of Photoshop time, and save users from a lot of text legibility problems.

Just something I'd like to share as both an app developer/designer and a user. Thanks for reading. Peace.

 

[GuestK00306]

I agree with the fact that the panorama is overused where the pivot is in 99% of cases more appropriate.

I definitely don't agree with the background image thing. Two simple points: Brand Image and Individuality. From a developer standpoint you need something that sticks in users' brains - nothing does so more than product branding. And images are an integral part of that. Since a mobile device doesn't have room for giant logos, the best thing to do is move it to the background and let the text sit on top of it.

I agree that the developer should always offer a choice of background and ensure the text is fully legible in all - but Marketplace rules forbid text not to be legible anyway.

Second, for every application in the Marketplace there are 10 more identical in functionality. So why get the user to use your app over the other 10? Make it look better. And you can't make it look better when it's using the same colour scheme and layout.

 

[sensboston]

And panorama views usually come with a gigantic title, which takes up lots of precious screen space.

Modifying panorama's header template u can do whatever you want with the title (even delete!). Also, most important feature of panorama control is a nice looking slightly scrolling background image (that, I believe so, MS borrowed from Android's home screen).

 

[emigrating]

Panorama != Hub

There is currently no way for a third-party developer to create a hub. Just because an app has a panorama view does not make it a hub.

I do agree though, the panorama view is overused.

 

[mupets_revenge]

I'd be interested if you could give an example of an app over using it as I really enjoy it when used well.

Purely from a developers perspective, I'm slightly worried that I may fall in the category of overuse.

 

[evolutionqy7]

I do agree though, the panorama view is overused.

I disagree.

I think panorama apps are great. Instead of clicking and then having to go back you just swipe.

Best example for me was 1800pocketpc app which was a panorama/hub.

And then apps like facebook that are purely panorama are much easier to navigate cause you never need to reach for the back key

 

[snowmandc]

I love the panorama apps i have , its unique to our phones and what makes it great!

 

[GuestK00306]

I disagree.

I think panorama apps are great. Instead of clicking and then having to go back you just swipe.

Best example for me was 1800pocketpc app which was a panorama/hub.

And then apps like facebook that are purely panorama are much easier to navigate cause you never need to reach for the back key

I mean that the Panorama is overused because the Pivot is a much neater way of displaying data imo. I think it separates it out nicely.(Pivot being the Outlook-style swiping to sections)

However, some apps do the panorama justice. Faebook, IMDb, etc. However 3rd party developers rarely use it right.

Sent from my OMNIA7 using Board Express

 

[emigrating]

Don't get me wrong - I love the Panorama view, but some [a lot] apps do misuse it.

I have seen plenty of apps which rather than having a "settings" button to open a new view will create their settings page (and about page) as part of the panorama. That is, IMO, not how you should utilize Panorama.

The same goes for apps where you may search for something to add to your "library", placing the search page on your panorama is wrong. It doesn't belong there.

A panorama should, again IMO, be used to display information that belongs together.

Example. You have a DVD collection app; The app is more than welcome to use a panorama as the main page, perhaps it can display "all", "new" and "favorites" on different pages of the panorama. That's all fine. However, adding more pages to display settings, about, search, changelogs etc just gives an awful UX. Add settings/about/changelog as a pivot on it's own page, accessible by a settings button. Add search as a button, either opening a completely new page or an popping up an overlay on the panorama.

 

[Program.X]

Interesting point, and am inclined to agree Panarama views shouldn't be padded with search and settings screens. After all, doesn't the phone sport a physical search button that would be more consistent and allow you to combine your app settings within the phones' main settings for added convenience?

Sent from my HD7 T9292 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

 

[spokanedj]

A panorama should, again IMO, be used to display information that belongs together.

Example. You have a DVD collection app; The app is more than welcome to use a panorama as the main page, perhaps it can display "all", "new" and "favorites" on different pages of the panorama. That's all fine. However, adding more pages to display settings, about, search, changelogs etc just gives an awful UX. Add settings/about/changelog as a pivot on it's own page, accessible by a settings button. Add search as a button, either opening a completely new page or an popping up an overlay on the panorama.

The above is actually incorrect. A pivot should be used when the data of all screens are based on the same underlying data source. Outlook is the perfecet example, as you have all, new, unread which is just filters or views based on the same source: your inbox. The above where you have DVDs should be a pivot as well, since all, new and favorite are based on the single source of your DVD collection.

This is actually where people are making common mistakes with the use of a Panorama control, when it should really be a pivot control. Most users really won't know the difference between the two controls, but developers should to keep the user experience consistent across applications.

The use of a Panorama for a main screen to offer different sections of you applications is a good idea. Be careful to not have too many though. Once you have more than 4-5 sections in a Panorama, the user has the ability to get lost. And remember unlike pivots, the header of each Panorama is seperate from the others (a pivot combines them giving a better hint of the other pages).

Some things to ponder would be in a multi-page settings setup should you use a pivot or a panorama? Since its really not based on data, it should be a Panorama, but a pivot might give a better user experience.

 

[emigrating]

The above is actually incorrect. A pivot should be used when the data of all screens are based on the same underlying data source. Outlook is the perfecet example, as you have all, new, unread which is just filters or views based on the same source: your inbox. The above where you have DVDs should be a pivot as well, since all, new and favorite are based on the single source of your DVD collection.

I wouldn't say it's incorrect. A pivot may have been a better choice, but it was based on an existing app I have installed where the panorama view isn't completely wrong.

I also believe your argument falls when we step into movie details - this should clearly be displayed as a panorama even though it's based on the same data.

Some things to ponder would be in a multi-page settings setup should you use a pivot or a panorama? Since its really not based on data, it should be a Panorama, but a pivot might give a better user experience.

A settings page should, IMO, always be a pivot (if more than one screen is really necessary - often it is better to have a scrollable listview instead). That said, if you manage to keep your settings on a single page, using a panorama view would still work to display the about/support/etc screens.

 

[spokanedj]

I wouldn't say it's incorrect. A pivot may have been a better choice, but it was based on an existing app I have installed where the panorama view isn't completely wrong.

I also believe your argument falls when we step into movie details - this should clearly be displayed as a panorama even though it's based on the same data.

Here is a video from MS that clarifies this. Pivots should be used when displaying different views or filters or data. For the Movie details if you look at the "bad pano" example, around 11:00 it explains why you woulnd't want to do that. Just because another app is using it, doesn't mean you should.

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/jaime+rodriguez/windows-phone-design-days-pivot-and-pano

 

[emigrating]

Here is a video from MS that clarifies this. Pivots should be used when displaying different views or filters or data. For the Movie details if you look at the "bad pano" example, around 11:00 it explains why you woulnd't want to do that. Just because another app is using it, doesn't mean you should.

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/jaime+rodriguez/windows-phone-design-days-pivot-and-pano

?

I pretty much agreed with you that it I presented a bad example. That said, it still works and was nowhere near as bad as many of the apps in the marketplace today.

As for movie details, let's just agree to disagree. Displaying movie details (as opposed to movie listings as discussed above) in a pivot is somewhat counter intuitive and gives a far worse UX than a panorama - I know, I've tried (and had it useability tested by the actual target audience).