Since I've done a little grousing (ok, maybe a lot! :D) about how much I dislike the homescreen on the newer firmware, I started thinking about what it would take for me to actually like it and want to use it. And this is what I came up, my wish for a new Kobo homescreen. This is dependent on having only 3 fixed tile sizes and no random sizing between them like the homescreen currently has. That random sizing and placement is what gives it the hodge-podge mess that looks like a little kid failed at playing with blocks to me.
The top row is the largest tile with the 3 most current reads and those are fixed, stationary, never changing, never moving and not put into little annoying boxes. They're full sized covers, there's no need to place them inside a little box that will only shrink the cover size. If you haven't opened up any books yet, it could be filled with the 3 most recently loaded to the reader. But not having the most current reads is one reason why I still prefer the old carousel, I would load up my next books I wanted to read. Kobo would need to keep those cover images the same size though. I'd prefer the uniform look even if a few covers would have a slightly off AR, which really isn't noticeable when you're looking at images only 200 pixels wide, it doesn't distort the images much at all.
Below that there can be some randomness between the small and medium tiles. The medium size tiles are exactly the same height as 2 of the small tiles, so that sizing would keep things aligned nicely. I think the medium size is only used for the Recommended list after syncing or for the Library when you add new books. You could fit 3 medium tiles with 3 small, or 9 small, or any combination between those. Each tile would need to have a set amount of blank space above each tile (the exact same amount above each tile) so that spacing stays neat and even. But even the smallest tiles have room for 3 lines of text for longer Collection names.
There's actually enough space to go 4 small tiles deep under the 3 large book covers so I added a mockup of that as well. I don't think there's a need for that many tiles, but it might useful for when you run into a longer collection name maybe that won't fit on two lines, that might double up the size of that collection to the medium tile. But I'd actually rather see those longer Collection titles just truncated and remain on one line to keep the box size smaller.
I'd love if we could dismiss the Sync tile like others, but I doubt Kobo would ever do that. Some people only sync when there's a firmware update, some not even then (like me on the reader I actually use to read on with 2.4.0). It's silly to keep a tile there that would only be used once every few months for some. And I'd prefer the tiles were all the same color instead of the darker color for Syncing and Recommended reads. Does Kobo think we won't be able to find the sync button if it's not colored differently?
Anyway, I'm still avoiding reading on new firmware because I dislike the disorganization and misalignment of the current homescreen that much, and that everything keeps changing positions after opening up another feature or syncing or side-loading books. It just looks like a huge mess to me with all the random sizes and placement.
Oh, and Kobo would also need to return the cover views in the Library list to the full size and not put them in little boxes there either.
So I'm curious how others would change the homescreen if they could. Or are you completely happy with the current layout (although to me it's a lack of layout)? It honestly just makes me cringe still everytime I unplug and it's again changed, I just can't get used to it.
Edit: Actually, looking at these more, I'd find it livable if they still insisted on jumbling up the bottom half of the homescreen with misaligned staggered tiles jumping all around and changing as long as that top row of the 3 current reads remained fixed and in place. That would give some sense of orderliness to it for me.
And I actually meant to post this in the general Kobo forum, not the Dev Corner, if a mod could please move it for me, sorry and thank you, Dr. Drib.
The top row is the largest tile with the 3 most current reads and those are fixed, stationary, never changing, never moving and not put into little annoying boxes. They're full sized covers, there's no need to place them inside a little box that will only shrink the cover size. If you haven't opened up any books yet, it could be filled with the 3 most recently loaded to the reader. But not having the most current reads is one reason why I still prefer the old carousel, I would load up my next books I wanted to read. Kobo would need to keep those cover images the same size though. I'd prefer the uniform look even if a few covers would have a slightly off AR, which really isn't noticeable when you're looking at images only 200 pixels wide, it doesn't distort the images much at all.
Below that there can be some randomness between the small and medium tiles. The medium size tiles are exactly the same height as 2 of the small tiles, so that sizing would keep things aligned nicely. I think the medium size is only used for the Recommended list after syncing or for the Library when you add new books. You could fit 3 medium tiles with 3 small, or 9 small, or any combination between those. Each tile would need to have a set amount of blank space above each tile (the exact same amount above each tile) so that spacing stays neat and even. But even the smallest tiles have room for 3 lines of text for longer Collection names.
There's actually enough space to go 4 small tiles deep under the 3 large book covers so I added a mockup of that as well. I don't think there's a need for that many tiles, but it might useful for when you run into a longer collection name maybe that won't fit on two lines, that might double up the size of that collection to the medium tile. But I'd actually rather see those longer Collection titles just truncated and remain on one line to keep the box size smaller.
I'd love if we could dismiss the Sync tile like others, but I doubt Kobo would ever do that. Some people only sync when there's a firmware update, some not even then (like me on the reader I actually use to read on with 2.4.0). It's silly to keep a tile there that would only be used once every few months for some. And I'd prefer the tiles were all the same color instead of the darker color for Syncing and Recommended reads. Does Kobo think we won't be able to find the sync button if it's not colored differently?
Anyway, I'm still avoiding reading on new firmware because I dislike the disorganization and misalignment of the current homescreen that much, and that everything keeps changing positions after opening up another feature or syncing or side-loading books. It just looks like a huge mess to me with all the random sizes and placement.
Oh, and Kobo would also need to return the cover views in the Library list to the full size and not put them in little boxes there either.
So I'm curious how others would change the homescreen if they could. Or are you completely happy with the current layout (although to me it's a lack of layout)? It honestly just makes me cringe still everytime I unplug and it's again changed, I just can't get used to it.
Edit: Actually, looking at these more, I'd find it livable if they still insisted on jumbling up the bottom half of the homescreen with misaligned staggered tiles jumping all around and changing as long as that top row of the 3 current reads remained fixed and in place. That would give some sense of orderliness to it for me.
And I actually meant to post this in the general Kobo forum, not the Dev Corner, if a mod could please move it for me, sorry and thank you, Dr. Drib.