Improvements for the client

Daenney

To start with, thanks for creating the Android client. I use it quite a bit in my daily life.



However... I've been using 1Password on my Android a while now and have compiled a list of things I think need some work.

[list=1]

[*]Hi-res graphics. The welcome picture of the lock screen looks horrible, the screws look pixelated and need some sharpening. The "gloss" overlay on the part of the screen below the password entry field is ugly on hi-res devices, it gets stretched basically causing the gradient to tear.

[*]Use Android's native tabs. The one in 1Password look weird and the text changing to yellow on a selected tab is downright ugly.

[*]Stop trying to emulate the iPhone UI elements. Use Android's native scrolling with an A-Z list on the side, like so: [url="http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/10628/android-alphabetical-lists"]http://ux.stackexcha...habetical-lists[/url] with the [url="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/AlphabetIndexer.html"]http://developer.and...betIndexer.html[/url]

[*]Use Android's native toast notification instead of the custom pop-up one get one you select a letter that has no entries that start with that letter: [url="http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/notifiers/toasts.html"]http://developer.and...ers/toasts.html[/url]

[*]Stop trying to emulate the iPhone UI elements. Don't use big blue lozenge buttons like the iPhone, just use the native Android button.

[*]Stop trying to emulate the iPhone UI elements. Don't use custom list views with rounded corners and stuff, just use the native List view: [url="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/ListView.html"]http://developer.and...t/ListView.html[/url]

[*]Stop trying to emulate iPhone UI elements: The Settings, use a native ListView like all default settings systems in Android do instead of implementing your own.

[*]When long-pressing a password to copy it to the clipboard, just copy it, don't also reveal it.

[/list]

By implementing so much custom UI you break the platform experience. I use MIUI as my main ROM which has styled the native elements to look a certain way. Every application that uses native elements ends up looking and working exactly the same way, along the spirit of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines.





1Password reader doesn't respect this platform uniformness which makes using the application a lot less enjoyable as it feels very obtrusive because it does stuff it's own way. It's a bit like getting a Macintosh application which emulates the Windows UI, it just feels weird.

Nik

Thanks for the great feedback!



[quote name='Daenney' timestamp='1318017079' post='52423']Stop trying to emulate the iPhone UI elements.[/quote]

When we do this, people complain that 1Password Reader should look more like the iOS version. =)



[quote]By implementing so much custom UI you break the platform experience. I use MIUI as my main ROM which has styled the native elements to look a certain way. Every application that uses native elements ends up looking and working exactly the same way, along the spirit of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines.



1Password reader doesn't respect this platform uniformness which makes using the application a lot less enjoyable as it feels very obtrusive because it does stuff it's own way. It's a bit like getting a Macintosh application which emulates the Windows UI, it just feels weird.[/quote]

This is a great point, thank you! We definitely want our customers to have the best 1Password experience possible, and you make a great case for not trying emulate the iOS version in Android OS.



Gene (our Android developer) reads these forum posts regularly and is very receptive to constructive feedback. Thanks again!

GeneY

Hello Daenney,



Thank you very much for your feedback. I appreciate your input, it is very interesting for me to know what other developers think about 1Password Reader.



Please notice that 1Password Reader was never intended for use on the non-standard Android UI (I mean MIUI). I'd like to assure you that on my Nexus One phone and all testing phones

we have here at Agile the application looks perfectly fine. In addition, the latest release designed for Android Tab is rendered perfectly fine on all Android Tabs we have in the office.



That is not to say that UI cannot and will not be improved. We will be getting new stunningly looking images and design suggestions from our graphic designers. In the meantime, I am trying to adopt as much of existing iOS images into the application as I see fit. Therefore, I admit that there might be some [b]very slight[/b] inconsistencies on how login screen may look (screws and gloss below the password).

However, going back to the black and white screen just to satisfy Android purists is not going to happen.Ditto for using black and white toast messages

I assume that what is perfectly acceptable for the student project is not the same what is good for the professional application.



I would be very happy to have a vertical a-z link control similar to what iOS has.

Unfortunately, there is no any and I need to create a custom a-z link, the approach which very many applications adopt. Majority of well written Android applications use image based custom buttons with round corners, I don't see any issue with that. Long click on the password simply copies, clicking on the password reveals a dotted text ( the feature was requested by very many customers). Tabs used by the application are very lightly customized , changing color on the text on active tab to yellow is absolutely acceptable, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Using rounded corners for the non-editable data presentation looks very well and appreciated by very many users.



As for the Android standards, so far I haven't found any clear cut standards of what is acceptable and what is not. If you have certain industry recognized standards on how professional Android application is supposed to look, I will be very grateful if you share them with me. I assume that you don't consider Android API samples as defining standards on how an application should look.



I'd like to let you know that all future releases of 1Password for Android including the stand alone version currently in development will use customized layouts with professionally designed images.One of our goals is to make 1Password for Android looks and feel like an iOS version in order to ensure application consistency across platforms. The feedback regarding the application UI which we are currently getting from 1Password Reader customers is overwhelmingly positive. Therefore, I think we are on the right development track.



The application is in active development, please stay tuned for the updates.

And feel free always to share your suggestions and recommendations on how to make 1Password for Android and other Agile products better.



You feedback is very important for us !



Thank you in advance

Best regards,

Gene

Android developer <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />

Daenney

I'm not an Android purist when it comes to the Android UI. There are parts of the UI I found horrible which is why my phone got a flash to MIUI. I completely understand the value of custom UI elements, up to a certain point.



Regardless of wether we agree on the subject, have a look at the custom toast you have. Firs of all, the rounded corners... I get it, it's an iOS thing but it feels weird on Android, at least square those or use a smaller radius. There's nothing wrong with a bit of roundness but this is very very round imho.



Second, your custom toast notification pops up 3/4 and a bit down the screen. That's usually not where one is looking, your gaze is usually fixed halfway the screen which is also where most other application throw a toast notification.



The same goes for the custom button and list view. I get the why and I understand the logic behind it from a "we want our Android app to look the same as the iOS app to ensure a similar experience" but that still doesn't change it from feeling rather obtrusive, it's too much round, too much gloss. Besides, the experience of an application should be bound to that platform, not to the behavior of a similar application on another platform.



As an example, here's MIUI's settings screen. The reason I'm showing MIUI here is because they've taken a lot of iPhone-esque UI-elements but adapted them to fit Android. The advantage this has is that application which look completely AOSP don't feel out of place on MIUI.

[img]http://www.grantbarker.com/p7mirage/images/ndt_miui_ginger_u.jpg[/img]



As you can see, that screen looks quite a bit like an iOS list view but still integrates nicely in Android. It took elements such as the rounded corners and the arrows but toned it down a bit which make it integrate a lot nicer.



I'm not saying MIUI's UI is the one you should mimic but they've taken a decent stab at an iPhone-esque UI while remaining in the spirit of Android's more toned down UI.



Here's another example with a custom themed button and list view, which though custom don't break the overall UI one comes to expect from Android:

[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--DXHDa6L3gk/ToIzXyz6mhI/AAAAAAAACxs/p9HB2rVZ0Q0/s1600/device-2011-09-28-003333.png[/img]





Compare that to this screenshot from 1Password on the Android Market and I think my point is pretty obvious:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/fxlMf.jpg[/img]



As far as no guidelines, there are quite a few. Though these are a work in progress Google has published them at the Android Develpoers site in the Best Practices section:

[url="http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/index.html"]http://developer.and...ines/index.html[/url]



Of particular interest in the "Designing Seamlessness" article:

[quote]

[..]



Extend System Themes



When it comes to the look-and-feel of the user interface, it's important to blend in nicely. Users are jarred by applications which contrast with the user interface they've come to expect. When designing your UIs, you should try and avoid rolling your own as much as possible.

[..]

[/quote]



I think that clearly states what I've been saying in my opening post, keep the UI close to system and don't overload the user with custom UI elements that break the platform UX.

GeneY

Hello Daenney,



Thank you very much for the detailed feedback , it is very interesting and important to us.



I'd like to mention that the application screenshots which you provided are from the very old release.

Please upgrade 1Password Reader on your phone to the latest version available on Market and give it a try.

I'd like to mention that 1Password Reader was designed exclusively for the standard (not rooted) Android phones and tablets

which vast majority of Android users have.

Support for the MIUI and other Android ROMs is out of the scope for the application development.



Please stay in touch and always feel free to share with us your ideas on how to make 1Password for Android and other Agile application better.

Here at Agile we always highly value feedback from our customers and always try to satisfy our customer requests.



Thank you again

Kind regards,

Gene <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />

Daenney

I've already upgraded to the latest version, the UI hasn't changed much.



The buttons have changed from green to blue and the functionality has expanded a bit and the weird old folder-listing is gone.



When it comes to the overall UI though, the screenshot I posted above of the Settings menu is still identical to the settings menu in 1.8.2.1 which is the latest version on the Android Market over here.



It might be worthwhile to update the screenshots on the Android Market though.



The whole point I'm trying to make is that the UI of 1Password Reader is too custom but that doesn't seem to get across at all. Any comparison I've given with other custom Android UI's (which is exactly why MIUI is important, as an example) just seems lost or discarded as "we don't support custom ROM's". Now that, is out of scope.



I'm sure you get positive feedback on the UI but have a look at the comments in the Market, I'm not the only one who considers this UI a "problem", it's described as "ugly", "tragic", "hideous", "over-engineerd" and quite a few more. And I'm certainly not the only person complaining that the UI should be stripped down a bit, back to stock Android look, feel and UX.



Anyway, I tried. Good luck with the development though <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />. Looking forward to be able to sync two-ways.

GeneY

Hello Daenney,



Thank you very much for the detailed information, here at Agile we always highly value our users' feedback and trying to do our best in order to satisfy our customers.

Your feedback as an Android developer is particularly important for me.



I am currently working on new release of 1Password Reader and on stand alone version of 1Password for Android (with two-ways sync).

I am very glad that 1Password Reader attracts so much attention from the development community, it makes me to work even harder.

Please stay in touch and always share with us your suggestions and recommendations.



Best regards,

Gene <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />

vidkun

Just wanted to throw in my opinion. For the most part, I have to agree with Daenney. An application should be consistent with the rest of the phone UI so as to maintain a consistent UX across the platform.



I came from the iPhone (and used the 1password on it too) and am now new to the Android world, running a stock rom on the Galaxy S II. I would have to say that my experience with the reader app so far is pretty consistent with what Daenney has said so far. While the application works properly, the UI is a bit lacking by any standards (Android or iPhone).



Either way, I am anxiously awaiting this stand alone version. I hadn't heard of it until now. Hopefully this will bring the functionality of the iOS version to the slightly lacking UI currently on Android.



Thanks for continuing this application and keep up the great work guys!

GeneY

Hello vidkun,



Thank you for your feedback and good words about 1Password for Android.



I hope you had a chance to upgrade 1Password on your phone to the latest release available on Market.

There were significant UI changes, hope the application looks much better and more consistent now.



User Interface will be improved further in future releases when we get more help from Agile Graphic Designer Team,

please stay tuned for the updates.



Best regards,

Gene

dcreus

Also wanted to share my opinion. Recently made the switch from iOS to android, I am now using a Galaxy Nexus with stock ICS.

ICS is google's attempt to unify android and therefore they have released a design site: [url="http://developer.android.com/design/index.html"]http://developer.and...sign/index.html[/url]

It seems to be the future of the GUI for android apps, and it is as close as you can get in achieving a consistent GUI (not to mention that it also looks very good <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />).

Maybe the design team could take a look at this site, because the current GUI is bit lacking, even for android standards.



Also ICS browser now supports plug-ins, so that opens up the possibility for an app which would be on par with iOS (or even beter) functionality wise.



Thanks for listening, and i'm looking forward to any future upgrades <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

(oh and sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language)

GeneY

Hi[url="user/72899-dcreus/"] dcreus[/url],



Thank you for the info, I also recently got fantastic Galaxy Nexus, looking forward to develop 1Password Stand Alone for ICS,

the framework is much enhanced, hope to benefit from that !



Gene

J.M

Hi,



As a 1Password Windows user since several months, i find the Android app useful but yeah, the UI is a bit flawed right now and the performance is not that good. It lags a lot on my Galaxy Note although it has a 1.4 GHz dual core.



However, i understand that it's a rough draft and that the standalone version will eventually come.



I'll wait patiently <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

GeneY

Hi J.M,



Thank you for the feedback.



Could you clarify what exactly is not performing well ? Do you mean Dropbox sync or application navigation ?



I have more than 720 items in my testing keychain,some of them really huge notes (thousands of lines of text).

Dropbox sync works perfectly fine on my Wi-Fi, I can get all my items in less than 7 min. The speed is the same as on my

iPod Touch when I do sync with 1Password for iOS. Of course, everything depends

on network capability, on Mobile sync will probably be slower.



As for navigation, it is really a snap on my old Nexus One (let alone new Nexus or tabs) whatever I am trying to do.

Of course, password decryption takes a second or so, but that is exactly what decryption algorithm is doing (it slowing

response). Otherwise, anything I do on all my devices is almost an instant.



It is a good idea for me to get a keychain of several thousands items and do a performance testing, however, I don't think

the case is practical.



I recommend you to take a look how much free memory your device have, there may be so many applications running in the background

and it slows 1Password.



Best regards,

Gene

JohnSmith

Apple UI clones suck under all non-apple OSes, just accept it. Guys who love mac style should stick to iphones, and not dictate their preferences to win\android platforms.



And there is a number of things to improve right away:

- vertical letter bar, you'll fit more letters that way, inmost cases removing the need to scroll the index bar

- show only used symbols on the index bar, that'll be even more useful

- make top tabs (logins-accounts-identities) scrollable, removing the MORE tab, listing all tabs in one line. allow user to reorder them in settings. E.g., many users use mobile version to look up logins and wallet items, not Identities. If they could swap Wallet items and Identities tabs, they'd be able to access the necessary page with a single click instead of two clicks. One might argue it's no big deal, but every extra click where there's no need for one is a big nuisance, particularly for mobile devices.

GeneY

Hi John Smith,



[b]I completely share your point of view on Apple UI cones on Android ![/b]

I just forwarded your opinion to every member on our team.



Building iOS clone is exactly what we want to avoid with the new 1Password for Android app.



Now we have an experienced Android graphic designer who is dedicated to building Android specific design

which in the same time will be consistent with 1Password branding.



In particular: there will be no vertical A-Z link which is iOS specific and is not expected on Android

Alphabetic scrolling will be done in Android way. There will be no huge heavy images,backgrounds and icons,

the application will be fully confirming to the new Google guidelines for Android framework.



Thank you and please stay in touch, your feedback is very important for us !

Best regards,

Gene

Android developer

JohnSmith

Hi, GeneY!



Glad to hear that; this will make our 1password experience a lot better.

Also, wonder if there's any way to "steal" a feature from keypassdroid or somesuch:

- when the user taps on a card, two notifications appear on the notification bar: username and password; once the user switched to his target app, he can drag the notification panel down, tap username notification, this results in username copied to clipboard (notification is cleared, naturally); he pastes it into the relevant field, then repeats the procedure with the password notification.

This will help immensely as under android switching back and forth between applications is a time-consuming ordeal. Using such approach, you only to need switch once - afterwards, you can use the notifications which is much faster.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the suggestion, we'll certainly take it into consideration but as always we can't promise if or when feature requests may make it into 1Password for Android's future.

peter.seidl@outlook.com

Hi,



i'd like to call some attention to the Windows Phone Client. As a former Android User i had the same view on the graphical user interface as Daenney. Now on the Windows Phone Client i see the same problems as described in this thread. So please stop converting the iPhone GUI to other platforms and start using the given gui guidlines of Android and Microsoft.



I really like your software, but the interface is really ugly. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_sweating.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='(sweat)' />

khad

Welcome to the forums, Peter! Thanks for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate your feedback. An all new Android app is already in alpha testing. Feedback has been great so far. Please stay tuned. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

peter.seidl@outlook.com

Hi Khad,



great for Android, but i was asking for a windows phone client not that ugly like all the other clients despite the iphone client. I hope you are doing something, because the "suggestions" were made in 2011 !

khad

Sorry for the confusion. This is the Android forum, and you posted in a thread about the Android app. I'll reply to your other post in the Windows Phone forum.