Gaia/Design/Patterns

Design Patterns are core sets of interactions that are used repeatedly throughout the UX.

Design Specs

• Gaia_Patterns_20120525_V1.0.pdf (Josh Carpenter, May 25 2012)
  • Version 1.0 of doc. Draft content, annotations needed, many sections not started.

Status & Team

• See: B2G - Milestone 3 Plan

---

Buttons

Characteristics:

• Have two components: visual target and hit target.
• Later is always larger. Has minimum sizes.
• Types:
  • Icon + text
  • Icon only
  • Text only

Contacts Browser

Used for:

• Adding a contact to a correspondence (eg: Email, SMS)

Characteristics:

• Is an example of an Entry Sheet dialogue.
• Opens when user selects “Add” button.
• Presents complete list of contacts.
• “Cancel” closes the Browser without making a select.
• Tapping a contact closes the Browser and adds the selected contact to the selected field.
• Uses index scrolling [ADD LINK]

Contacts Quick Select

Used for:

• Selecting a known contact quickly, without leaving the current view.

Characteristics:

• The user highlights an entry field (eg: To), and the keyboard appears.
• As the user types, the system attempts to draw matches from the contacts.
• If one or matches are found, a small list appears, highlighting the matching contacts.
• To make a selection, the user can tap one of the rows, closing the list and adding that contact to the highlighted field.
  • Alternatively, if the user wishes to clear the list, they can type Backspace until the field is clear, and there are therefore no more matches. The list then disappears.

Dialogues: Alerts

Used for:

• Alerting users to important events, notifications, etc.

Characteristics:

• Modal: occupies the screen and requires user input to clear.
• Consist of
  • Title
  • Body (optional)
  • Dismissal button (eg: “Cancel”)
  • Confirmation button (eg: “Delete”)

Dialogues: Entry Sheet

Used for:

• Editing a single setting that:
• Contains a large number of possible values. eg: Text entry forms, long lists,
• [or] Requires multipe inputs or selections eg: WiFi network connection process.

Characteristics:

• Occupies the full screen
• User should be given impression that they are on the same page, and that the Entry Sheet is merely a temporary modal overlay. They have not navigated one level deeper in the hierarchy.
  • To reinforce this...
  • Valid animations could include slide in from top, from bottom, cross fade, scale in, etc.
  • “Cancel” buttons are used instead of “Back”.
• Every element within the Entry Sheet must be related to adjusting the single setting; Settings Panels should not contain links to other pages or lists.
• Closing:
  • “Cancel”
  • Varies: “Done”, “Join”, “Send”, etc.

Dialogues: Menus

Used for:

• Presenting a list of items, usually actions or links (eg: Edit, Delete, etc).

Characteristics:

• Menus are spawned from buttons, often positioned within Toolbars.
• Present 1 or more items.
• Vary in height, to a maximum of Keyboard component height.
• Titles are optional.
• Are closed by:
  • Selecting one of the items
  • Pressing "Cancel" button (wording may be different)
  • Pressing “OK” button, if available (label may be different)

Dialogues: Popups

Used for:

• Enabling optional shortcuts to contextual actions that might otherwise require stepping one level deeper into the hierarchy. For example, deleting a photo via it's thumbnail, instead of having to open the full image.

Characteristics:

• User presses-and-holds a selectable item (can be a list row, a phone number, a browser link, etc)
• Menu displaying one of more options pops up after X seconds.
• Priority 1:
  • Reused the Menu pattern interface to present the options.
• Priority 2:
  • Menu positions itself immediately above or below the parent object (depending on the amount of available screen space)
  • The parent object element is visually highlighted (e.g.: darken surrounding content, or draw border, etc)
  • User can press anywhere else on screen to change the focus and close the popup.

Dialogues: Toasts

Used for:

• Toasts confirm a user action, and optionally provide a follow up action (eg: Undo).


Characteristics:

• Typically appear after a multi-select edit. eg:
  • Deleting multiple photos from (Gallery)
  • Deleting multiple emails (Email)
  • Moving multiple emails (Email)
• Toasts are positioned at the bottom of—and layered on top of—their associated content view.
• Toasts should be non-intrusive, and never cover up other UI elements (eg: toolbar, tabs, etc).
• Optionally provide opportunity to take related secondary action via button (eg: Undo).

Drawer

Used for:

• Providing access to top level navigation links that may be too numerous for a Tabs pattern, or user-generated, (eg: Tabs, user accounts etc).

Characteristics:

• Provides access to top level navigation links that are usually user-configurable (eg: accounts in Email and Calendar, or tabs in Browser).
• Is also a great place to tuck secondary or power-user features, such as links to app Settings.
• Position: Should be positioned on left side of screen, but can be positioned on right in rare circumstances (eg: Browser).
• Open: should be opened via standard "Drawer" button, but other buttons can be used in rare circumstances (eg: numeric tabs button in Browser).
• Close: can be closed by tapping viewable area of the primary interface. And in future versions by swiping horizontally from bezel.
• Traditionally visually depicted as being one layer below the primary interface, and sliding in from the side via animation.
• Width: variable, but must always leave sufficient room for the "Drawer" button on the primary interface to remain fully visible.

Filters

Used for:

• Secondary Navigation
  • Filters can provide a second set of tabs, where tabs are already present.
• Data Filter
  • Filters can be used to enable the user to view a single set of data in a different lens.
  • eg: in Calendar, the filters they allow user to view time in different scales, from Day to Month).

Characteristics:

• Horizontal sequence of buttons.
• Only one button is Focused at a time.
• Best practice is to place filters within Toolbars, so they do not flow with the content.
• Left, Middle and Right buttons can be styled uniquely.
• Width: variable, depending on number of filters required within a single set (see Numbering). Should establish a maximum width, however.
• Numbering: minimum 2, maximum 5.
• Can be populated with icons or text, but not both. Because of the smaller height of a filter (versus a tab), text is the best practice.

Headers

Used for:

• Labeling the active view.
• Providing top-level navigation and inputs for the active view.

Characteristics:

• Horizontal full width bar that appears at top of screen in most apps
• Floats above content, with option to flow with content in some rare cases (eg: Browser).
• Heading text provides name of current view.
• Optional: heading text string can include text (eg: current unread email count)
• Present in most applications

Input Areas

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• ...

Lists

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• Varying heights (1—3 rows)
• Varying contents (from text only to image + text + button)
• Are composed of rows, and section headers
• Types:
  • Action row (click anywhere to trigger input)
  • Status indicator row
  • Button row
  • Link row

Multi-Select

Used for:

• Enables user to perform “bulk actions”, such as deleting 6 emails from a roll of 20, or selecting 3 photos to email to a friend.
• Is used on lists of items (eg: vertical list of emails in Inbox, or grid of photos in Gallery)

Characteristics:

• Is entered by...
• Is a “mode”, not a section. Animation and visual design should give user the impression that they are in a temporary mode within the original view, not that there are in a differerent view.

Can be called “Edit” or “Select” mode, depending on the use case. Header text should indicate action being taken (eg: “Select photos”). Once an item has been selected, text should update to “X selected”, where X = quantity of selected items.

• Closes once the user:
  • ...completes one of the available actions (eg: “Delete”).
  • ...or taps “Cancel” button.
• Closing resturns user to the previous view.
• If user has taken action (eg: delete 3 message threads), a Toast should appear, confirming the action.

States

• Normal
• Focused
• Disabled

Progress & Activity Indicators

Used for:

• Providing user with visual feedback that a process is active.

Characteristics:

• May include an animated visual element, a text label, or some combination of the two.
• Types:
  • Progress
    • Displays a loading animation that goes from 0 to 100 percent, communicating the current process status.
  • Activity
    • Displays a looping animation, communicating to the user that the process is active.

Scrolling

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• Types:
  • Scrollbar
  • Index scrolling

Seek Bars

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• Consists of track and knob (button w/ normal and pressed states)
• Optional images for left and right values
• Can be horizontal or vertical

Settings

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• ...

Switches

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• Presents two mutually exclusive choices or states (used in table views only).
• Types:
  • On/Off toggle
  • Radio
  • Checkbox

Tabs

Used for:

• ...

Characteristics:

• Fill the full horizontal width.
• Number between 3—5.
• Positioned at bottom of screen.
• Can contain various elements (buttons, filters, indicators, etc).
• Versions:
  • Text + icon
  • Icon-only

States:

• Normal
• Focused
• Disabled

Tool Bars

Used for:

• Contains actions, indicators, and navigation associated with the current view. eg:
  • Delete selected items (button)
  • Refresh content (button)
  • Enter “Edit” mode (filter)
  • View “Favorite” contacts only (filter)

Characteristics:

• 100% width. Fixed height.
• Does not scroll with content. Floats above.
• Should be positioned at the bottom of the screen unless Tabs are also present. In that case, should be positioned at the top.
• Can contain various elements (buttons, filters, progress/activity indicators, etc).

Value Selectors

Used for:

• Provides a way for the user to select one of more values.
• Most commonly associated with forms, but also used elsewhere.
• Interface conventions are flexible, and new Types can be added to the list below.

Characteristics:

• Types:
  • Date
  • Time
  • Single-select list
  • Multiple-select list