Bug 452525 - "Floating Action Button" paradigm on mobile just doesn't really work well
Summary: "Floating Action Button" paradigm on mobile just doesn't really work well
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: frameworks-kirigami
Classification: Frameworks and Libraries
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 5.92.0
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: Not decided
Assignee: Marco Martin
URL:
Keywords: usability
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2022-04-11 22:52 UTC by Jack Hill
Modified: 2022-04-18 14:33 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
NeoChat report bug button (95.31 KB, image/png)
2022-04-12 20:39 UTC, Jack Hill
Details

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Description Jack Hill 2022-04-11 22:52:26 UTC
SUMMARY
Frankly, I don't think most people would expect a sad face in a circle to be a button for reporting bugs. Especially since I can't think of any other circular buttons in KDE desktop apps.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open NeoChat
2. Open settings
3. Click "About NeoChat"

OBSERVED RESULT
There's a circle at the bottom for reporting bugs

EXPECTED RESULT
On desktop, perhaps it would be better if there was a button that said "Report bug..."

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20220409
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2022-04-12 16:28:35 UTC
This is a multi-part bug:

- On mobile, we use icons-only floating action buttons, which are kinda bad in general and we should move away from them
- The "report bug" button in Breeze is a sad face which is maybe not ideal. It should perhaps be a little cockroach icon or something lol

I don't see a bug report in Kirigami about the general issues with FABs (of which this is an example), so let's use this one.
Comment 2 Nicolas Fella 2022-04-12 17:39:26 UTC
This report isn't about whether or not to use floating action buttons on mobile. It's about that when on *desktop* NeoChat shows a FAB in this particular case
Comment 3 Jack Hill 2022-04-12 19:01:42 UTC
Yes, this report was about the desktop Kirigami.AboutPage showing a floating button. That said, I'd like to open it up to include the mobile AboutPage as well, since I think it suffers from the same issue.

Personally I'm not averse to FABs in general so I think it would be better if you opened a separate bug report for that, and keep this report specific to AboutPage.

I've opened 452557 asking for the icon to be changed to a bug. Even if the icon does change, I'd still prefer if
1) the button looks like a normal button, and
2) the button also has text.
IMO icon-only buttons should only be for actions that are used frequently and have no ambiguity. Reporting a bug should not be a frequent action.
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2022-04-12 19:12:41 UTC
Oh, isn't that just the supposedly-already-fixed Qt bug?
Comment 5 Jack Hill 2022-04-12 20:39:59 UTC
Created attachment 148123 [details]
NeoChat report bug button

I don't know what the Qt bug is, but I'm talking specifically about the button used for bug reports on Kirigami.AboutPage.
1) It has an ambiguous icon (bug 452557)
2) It has no text -- IMO icon-only buttons should only used when the meaning of the button is obvious. I wouldn't expect a user to know that the button will start a bug report.
3) It doesn't look like a standard button.
Comment 6 Nate Graham 2022-04-13 17:59:43 UTC
The fact that it shows up at all in desktop mode is a Qt bug IIRC. I can't remember the URL.

If you were in mobile mode where it is currently expected, the bugs with this component would be:
1. It doesn't look buttonlike
2. The "report a bug" icon is bad
3. Icons-only buttons should not be used unless their icons are 100% obvious to everyone
4. The FAB concept in general is bad and should not be used
Comment 7 Jack Hill 2022-04-16 10:46:27 UTC
Ah right. I still don't think FABs are bad in general, so I'd like to keep this report specific to the "bug report" button.
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2022-04-18 14:33:28 UTC
This is one of two bugs:
1. NeoChat's desktop view shouldn't use the mobile "Floating Action Button" paradigm for this. A Qt bug caused this, which has supposedly since been fixed, and I see that you're on Tunbleweed which has an up-to-date KDE Qt patch collection. So it seems like a NeoChat bug. Please report this at https://invent.kde.org/network/neochat/-/issues/new (NeoChat developers have decided not to use Bugzilla for bug reporting)
2. On Mobile where the "Floating Action Button" paradigm is used, it's still no good, because it doesn't look buttonlike, icons-only buttons have bad UX, and the icon used here is bad. Let's use this bug report to track that since I can't find another one for it.