The Contextual Menu Blueprint for AD on iPad.

[MoonaticDestiny]

Please watch the videos below. I made a video about an issue thats happening in the affinity designer v2 ipad app. I cant put it into words because its too much to explain and it doesnt translate well into words. I really need @Ashor anyone from the development team to please watch it. I get it. This issue will not be solved right now, but I just want to start a blueprint for it already for future builds. 

I also want to provide an article from Vectornator that explains more about this contextual menu and how its a better workflow for their users. They call it "Quick Actions."

https://www.vectornator.io/blog/vectornator-4-0-preview-quick-action

Im really sorry about the video quality. I had to upload it at 640x480 and in 2 parts because 720p and 1080p took very long to upload. Watch it in full screen mode. 

[MoonaticDestiny]

So continuing the blueprint for the contextual menu for a future build, Im leaving these images below for reference. All Im doing is removing the icons. I dont want to say "removing." Im just taking them off the UI for right now because theyre going to be placed somewhere else with better design because the current location is bad design. Very bad. I will continue adding to this forum when I have the time. Im going to talk about the actions that need to be on the contextual menu, the ones that go under objects, the ones that go under artboards(because that ones the easiest one), and why those actions need to be on the contextual menu. 

 

[MoonaticDestiny]

So we removed the bottom left and right icons because of workflow disruption. Now lets talk about the contextual menu for artboards because thats the easiest one. 

Sigh. Again, I dont have the adobe illustrator app but please look at it for reference. Theyre doing it right. 

So In adobe illustrator for ipad, when you select an artboard, a contextual menu appears at the bottom of the artboards. On that menu there are 4 actions. A nudge action, a duplicate action, a delete action, and the deselect action. Its that easy and thats all that needs to go on the artboard contextual menu. Let me see if I can mock it up for you. Give me some time.

[MoonaticDestiny]

Heres the mockup of the artboard. Its super simple. Nudge, duplicate, delete, and deselect. In adobe illustrator for ipad, these are the same actions that appear when you select your artboard only here I added the deselect action to go with the other 3 actions. 

 

[MoonaticDestiny]

The artboard contextual menu is done. Its done. This is all you have to do. I already did the dreaming for you. You just have to do the work and  implement it into your app. This is easy. Its the others that need more work and explaining. So artboard contextual menu is done. We can check that off our list. 

[MoonaticDestiny]

Now, we moved the delete and deselect buttons into the new contextual menu. The help button though needs to be placed else where. You probably want to place it next to the edit menu. Thats the only place I can think of where it would be good to place and then what you might want to do is allow users to hide this help button. Just how you allow users to hide the undo/redo buttons, do the same for the help button. Also, those undo/redo buttons shouldnt even be at the bottom right of the interface because they too cause workflow disruption. Its a good thing you can hide them. So let me do a mock up of where the help button should go. Give me some time. 

[MoonaticDestiny]

Heres the mock up of the help button. You take it from the bottom right corner and move it next to the edit menu. Thats it. No more workflow disruption. 

 

[MoonaticDestiny]

The photo above 👆, THIS is how the affinity designer app should look like minus the top bar icons that I removed for the time being. THIS is how its supposed to look like. THIS is what the app should be and its going to look even better once tool and studio customization happens later on. Im literally giving you all the design logic and evidence to make these changes. This is not me making interface changes just because. Theres design logic behind this. We can make this app better for right and left handed users. 

[MoonaticDestiny]

Heres a new image of the interface below with the new contextual menu.

• We removed the help button and placed it next to the edit menu to prevent accidental triggering that caused workflow disruption for right handed users. 
• We removed the deselect and delete button at the bottom left of the interface because they caused workflow disruption for left handed users and theyre now located on the new contextual menu.
• Theres a new contextual menu that appears depending on what object you have selected. Selecting an artboard reveals a contextual menu containing 4 actions. They are nudge, duplicate, delete, and deselect.
• The personas are now displayed for faster toggling into where before it required an extra step for users to toggle into. 

and thats it for now. Thats solves most of the issues. This is just a mock up.  A blueprint to help you for a future build, Serif. 

 

[MoonaticDestiny]

2 hours ago, Red Sands said:

desktop logic

THIS! They did this with the new context menu in v2. Its so upsetting. Im gonna make a whole video about. 

2 hours ago, Red Sands said:

I simply can't stand adjusting FX in the app

I like adjusting FX in V1. Not V2. Adjusting FXs in V2 is SO BAD because of the new context menu being split into two. One at the top and the sliders on the left. Im gonna make a whole video about it as well. Sigh. Theres so much that needs to be done. Im just focusing on this new contextual menu because it needs to happen. 

[MoonaticDestiny]

So I actually made a mistake for the artboard contextual menu. I forgot to add the lock icon. The lock icon because locking an artboard is something that you can do in affinity designer so users should have the ability to lock their artboard QUICKLY if they click on an artboard. So its nudge, lock, duplicate, delete, and deselect. Below is an image of the new artboard contextual menu. NOW we are done with the artboard contextual menu.