945050 - Caps lock via double-click not obvious

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox OS Graveyard :: Gaia::Keyboard, defect)

Description

[walter]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:25.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/25.0 (Beta/Release)
Build ID: 20131201175730

Steps to reproduce:

First time user. Buy device. Unpack. Turn on. Prompted to enter a really long all capitals/symbols/numbers wifi password as part of initial device setup.


Actual results:

Had to press shift + letter + watch shift reset (to lowercase) + shift + letter + watch shift reset (to lowercase) + shift + letter + watch shift reset (to lowercase) + shift + letter + watch shift reset (to lowercase) + shift + letter + watch shift reset (to lowercase) ... and so on.


Expected results:

Shift key should toggle from (1) all-letters-are-lowercase (2) next-letter-is-caps (3) all-letters-are-caps ... as per Android (and iOS?), since that's the default most people are familiar with.

Alternatively, but less optimally, let the user know something is different!

Comment 1

[Jan Jongboom [:janjongboom] (inactive)]

In iOS tapping the shift button will switch between uppercase and lowercase, it will never lock caps by tapping. -> same behavior as FxOS

In Android double tap on shift will also lock caps -> same behavior as FxOS.

In Windows Phone, double tap on shift to lock caps -> same behavior as FxOS. Or hold shift key to lock caps.

So Android is the only platform where two single taps will also lock caps. The behavior of FxOS is the same as on all other major platforms.

If anyone has very strong objections please re-open.

Comment 2

[walter]

Thanks for the quick response. I do think this should be reconsidered... it might be interesting to ask some UX people should take a look at it before it is closed again.

Reason 1: As a developing world platform, you have to look at what the user experience is most likely to be.

Is it most likely to be with iOS? No.
Is it most likely to be with Windows Phone? No.
Is it most likely to be with Andoird? Maybe... well, unfortunately, probably, yes.

In short - the users should have some weight here, and they will probably be most familiar with Android's approach.

Reason 2: Nowhere within the entire initial user experience does the fact you can double-click things ever get explained, so the feature IMHO as a real user simply remains undiscoverable. I honestly had to look it up on the internet to figure out how to make it work. I shudder to think how someone non-technical who is squinting at the screen in rural Nepal is supposed to figure it out.

Comment 3

[Jan Jongboom [:janjongboom] (inactive)]

(In reply to walter from comment #2)
> Reason 1: As a developing world platform, you have to look at what the user
> experience is most likely to be.
> 
> Is it most likely to be with iOS? No.
> Is it most likely to be with Windows Phone? No.
> Is it most likely to be with Andoird? Maybe... well, unfortunately,
> probably, yes.
> 
> In short - the users should have some weight here, and they will probably be
> most familiar with Android's approach.
No. They will have experience with Nokia Asha's or other feature phones. Also note that Android has *exactly* the same way to lock caps. The two single taps is additional. F.e. this is the top hit for 'Lock caps Android': http://forums.androidcentral.com/acer-iconia-a500/91853-enabling-caps-lock.html where it will also say double tap quickly.

> Reason 2: Nowhere within the entire initial user experience does the fact
> you can double-click things ever get explained, so the feature IMHO as a
> real user simply remains undiscoverable. I honestly had to look it up on the
> internet to figure out how to make it work. I shudder to think how someone
> non-technical who is squinting at the screen in rural Nepal is supposed to
> figure it out.
Manual?

If you still feel this is a flaw in the keyboard design please needinfo Casey Yee.

Comment 4

[walter]

Nokias .. sure. But they have physical buttons. Wasn't it click-and-hold that enabled caps lock for those?

Maybe it was the icon design on Android which made it more obvious there's some hidden light to turn on and off there, like on a conventional kebyoard.

Honestly, I just found this FirefoxOS one really non-obvious. I do think something's intuitively off with the current design, but I don't have an Android or iOS device here to compare to. Sorry not to have the answers.

Comment 5

[BMO Automation]

Firefox OS is not being worked on