The media modal and sidebars on phones

Neither the iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. app nor the Android app support proper galleries, yet. They support uploading and publishing multiple individual files but not creating galleries. Our media modal is the only outlet for gallery creation on phones. Our image flow effort is redesigning the media modal. Meanwhile, I experience the following sight every day, over and over. I present it to promote continuous empathy and remind ourselves what we’re working to resolve.

mobile-media-modal

That sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. is lingering desktop bias.

#desktop-bias, #ios, #media, #modal, #phablet, #web

Eliminating the sidebar in the media modal

Killing the sidebar in the mobile media modal seems the key to opening up a good design. Start there and ask questions about selection, particularly multi-select, and access to image detail views that feature full-width, easy-to-discern images.  Selection and image views are the two most important things. They need to be readily accessible, and they must flowFlow Flow is the path of screens and interactions taken to accomplish a task. It’s an experience vector. Flow is also a feeling. It’s being unselfconscious and in the zone. Flow is what happens when difficulties are removed and you are freed to pursue an activity without forming intentions. You just do it.

Flow is the actual user experience, in many ways. If you like, you can think of flow as a really comprehensive set of user stories. When you think about user flow, you’re thinking about exactly how a user will perform the tasks allowed by your product.Flow and Context
. Do we use a selection toggle like the media library’s grid view does? Are image views accessible during multi-select? The media library’s grid view does not make image views accessible during bulk selection, but interfaces like G+ make them accessible with a tap. Should the default action be selection or image detail view? Does this change in different flows? The primary multi-select flow is uploading images from the camera roll, which will likely use the selection mechanism provided by the Android and iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. file choosers. How does this affect our multi-select approach within the media modal?Gallery/camera roll interfaces are not the same as a modal inserting images and galleries into a post. How much can we borrow from these interfaces? Mobile, multi-select, access to big images. These must be solved in a flowful way.

The media library grid view avoids a sidebar via an attachment details modal.

Grid view handles multi-select via a toggle button.

During multi-select, image detail views are unavailable. The G+ app on Kitkat handles this with an overlay on the image thumbnails.

A mockup of the media modal with sidebar eliminated.

 

#desktop-bias, #media, #modal