UI question

[Shun]

Beta 6 runs very well without any issues so far.

When entering characters or pinyin in Dictionary Search, one always has to press the "Done" button to dismiss the keyboard/handwriting input field. Wouldn't it be quicker to allow a tap outside of the keyboard to get a full view of the dictionary results?

 

[mikelove]

The problem is that there's not really anywhere to tap that doesn't have some other function - tapping on a result should take you to that result rather than simply dismissing the keyboard, otherwise we're leaving people worse off.

 

[Shun]

Agreed, but I think there is one place to tap on which does have such a function, namely the scrollable dictionary definition frame. There, you have the choice between scrolling in a relatively small area with the keyboard obstructing the view, or you could tap on this area to make the keyboard disappear. I think the first thing a user wants is to see as much as possible on the screen, scrolling through the dictionary definitions comes second.

Also, when you have entered a word, you usually do not wish to enter anything more, so there is no need for the keyboard to be there. As in other apps, tapping on the Search input field would bring the keyboard back.

 

[mikelove]

Actually, most of the feedback we've gotten from iPad users has suggested they'd rather not have to keep reopening and closing the keyboard in that situation - we even had to make the old menu button accessible on the iPad with the keyboard open (it had originally been unavailable) since people wanted to switch between functions without having to reopen the keyboard upon returning to the dictionary.

As with most of our UI decisions like this, we're open to adding an option to change it if we get a lot of feedback requesting it, but we're very wary of adding new options so it needs to be clear that a lot of people would prefer it this way before we could consider it.

 

[Shun]

Having thought about it, I agree with you. When something unexpected happens on the screen, this can turn users off.