Apps scope sort order is confusing

[Jamie Strandboge]

When navigating the MyApps portion of the click scope, I never seem to be able to reliably find anything. It isn't alphabetical and isn't by click package name, but does seem to change from time to time and I can't figure out why (as a user-- I haven't looked at the code). I have 68 apps installed on my phone and have resorted now to always using SEARCH to find anything-- I think the usability could be improved dramatically by simply making 'My Apps' alphabetical by the string that is displayed to the user (I guess this is taken from the .desktop file).

'Available' currently suffers from the same problem, but there SEARCH seems an appropriate interface and it is my understanding that categories will be introduced to help here. I suggest that alphabetical by the string that is displayed to the user be implemented there too (whether it is a long list or within categories) unless there is some text letting you know why the order is what it is ('Most popular apps based on your search', etc).

[dobey (dobey)]

I agree the installed apps sorting is not great for users. Alphabetical would be a bit better indeed. The new designs are currently specifying that we sort by install time (which is what the scope is doing currently).

The 'Available' list is sorted in the order we get from the server, which is newest first. I think this is reasonable enough, until we get the new store designs implemented.

We'll be getting support for departments in the store soon, so that should help with the store browsing experience.

I'm assigning to our design contact to get some feedback about this.

[Mike Nagle (mikenagle)]

The problem with alphabetical is that it can put heavily used apps dotted throughout the interface. It's also hard for users to find apps if they don't know the exact name (more common than you might imagine). By putting them ordered by install time, the thinking was that the oft used system apps would be first then the user would learn where added apps are one by one.

I don't know for sure, but the fact that that is how it is ordered on other phone systems may help users feel familiar with a new phone - certainly in user testing it has matched expectations. I'm surprised to hear the order sometimes changes though - that would make the whole list unusable as it prevents the user creating that overall knowledge of where their apps are.

The latest designs also ask for department support for installed apps. So, if apps are designed to help the user fulfil a certain task, automatically sorting them by category, should help them find the app they want faster (although of course they;ll have to understand the categories). We do have the ability to also put a nav at the top which would allow the user to change the sort order so that's certainly something we'll consider. We're also exploring the possibility of the user being able to change the order manually.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you as yet but this is something we're currently looking in to.

[Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand)]

If I were to guess why the app order seems to randomly change, it might be because of installing a new version of the app changes the sort order.

The thing with alphabetical is that it is predictable and people will learn what an app is named. They install it, then they see a screen that shows the icon, the name and a button to Open right there. This lets them know how to find it later. With install time it feels totally random. I actually gave it quite a bit of thought and literally had no idea why the order is what it is. Having it by install time also doesn't help with heavily used apps. They are still somewhere down below-- likely at the bottom of the list because a heavily used app might be one of the first apps to install. Also, a heavily used app is a candidate to put in the launcher.

Right now, I have 68 apps installed. The current ordering literally makes no sense to me and I gave up. Now that I know it is by install time, maybe I can say things to myself like "oh, this is probably in the middle of the list", so even then it doesn't help my searching-- I have to remember that for each app (certainly that is harder to remember than the apps name?!), and then do a vague gesture to hopefully scroll down enough to get the icon on the screen, then try to visually scan the screen to (still) find the icon and name. Why not just scan for the name? On things to remember, easy to precisely scroll, etc. In addition, the core preinstalled apps (things which I use all the time)-- settings, messaging, facebook, contacts, dialer, etc are far down the list.

IMO, alphabetical is the only thing that makes any sense unless the user does a search or manipulates the scope in some way. I can imagine, perhaps, the first row (3 apps on my nexus4) could contain the 3 most heavily used apps and the next row (3 apps on my nexus 4) the 3 most recent new installs (not including version upgrades), then the rest are alphabetical. Honestly though, I think this would also be confusing because things move around on the user. Alphabetical is something everyone understands. Different views (orderings) should either be a different section (different from 'My Apps' or 'Available') or opt-in parameter. I can imagine a 'Favorites' section (perhaps the user could flag it somehow) and maybe 'Recently used' (though, still, the launcher is probably the right place for this).

I can't stress enough how much of a usabilty issue this is-- I literally *always* use SEARCH now unless it is in the launcher or it happens to have bubbled to the top of the list today and it caught my eye. As a result, I have to remember the name enough to type it in even with the current sorting. I think it is unreasonable to expect a user to remember the install time of an app (along with at least the icon if not the name too in order to tap it in the scrolled to area) rather than simply the name. (One could argue that with alphabetical they could still remember general placement on the list ("I forgot the name-- I do remember it was at the bottom of the list though...")).

[Mike Nagle (mikenagle)]

I don't disagree with much of what you say Jamie - it's certainly a massive
issue with the phone currently. The order of the apps should never change
unless the user explicitly takes an action. We're exploring lots of
different ways of getting to the app you want (assuming of course you know
what app you want and you don't want to see what Games you have installed
for example) - including A-Z. None of them work well across all use cases
however: the best sort order is whatever each individual chooses it to be!
Thanks for the feedback too - always helpful!

On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 2:42 PM, Jamie Strandboge <email address hidden> wrote:

> If I were to guess why the app order seems to randomly change, it might
> be because of installing a new version of the app changes the sort
> order.
>
> The thing with alphabetical is that it is predictable and people will
> learn what an app is named. They install it, then they see a screen that
> shows the icon, the name and a button to Open right there. This lets
> them know how to find it later. With install time it feels totally
> random. I actually gave it quite a bit of thought and literally had no
> idea why the order is what it is. Having it by install time also doesn't
> help with heavily used apps. They are still somewhere down below--
> likely at the bottom of the list because a heavily used app might be one
> of the first apps to install. Also, a heavily used app is a candidate to
> put in the launcher.
>
> Right now, I have 68 apps installed. The current ordering literally
> makes no sense to me and I gave up. Now that I know it is by install
> time, maybe I can say things to myself like "oh, this is probably in the
> middle of the list", so even then it doesn't help my searching-- I have
> to remember that for each app (certainly that is harder to remember than
> the apps name?!), and then do a vague gesture to hopefully scroll down
> enough to get the icon on the screen, then try to visually scan the
> screen to (still) find the icon and name. Why not just scan for the
> name? On things to remember, easy to precisely scroll, etc. In addition,
> the core preinstalled apps (things which I use all the time)-- settings,
> messaging, facebook, contacts, dialer, etc are far down the list.
>
> IMO, alphabetical is the only thing that makes any sense unless the user
> does a search or manipulates the scope in some way. I can imagine,
> perhaps, the first row (3 apps on my nexus4) could contain the 3 most
> heavily used apps and the next row (3 apps on my nexus 4) the 3 most
> recent new installs (not including version upgrades), then the rest are
> alphabetical. Honestly though, I think this would also be confusing
> because things move around on the user. Alphabetical is something
> everyone understands. Different views (orderings) should either be a
> different section (different from 'My Apps' or 'Available') or opt-in
> parameter. I can imagine a 'Favorites' section (perhaps the user could
> flag it somehow) and maybe 'Recently used' (though, still, the launcher
> is probably the right place for this).
>
> I can't stress enough how much of a usabilty issue this is-- I literally
> *always* use SEARCH...

[dobey (dobey)]

Mike, would you not agree what using alphabetical sorting would be a better (even if interim) default than the installed time sorting? I don't think we are going to get any default sorting that covers all use cases, ever. People are used to phones where apps are placed in specific positions on page (as in iOS, Android, and WebOS).

[Selene ToyKeeper (toykeeper)]

If we had a scope where the user could place launcher icons wherever they wanted, and the icons would stay in exactly the same place unless manually moved (especially if they can choose how many rows and columns worth of icons to show), this would make it a *lot* easier to find and launch things. And preferably not just apps, but also items from non-app scopes... but just apps would be a good start.

We can currently do this to some extent with the left-side launcher bar, but it has very limited space. On my Android phone, I have 24 launchers on my primary screen alone, plus four other pages which all have almost as many, with each page (and each section of a page) organized into logically-related groups of icons. The left-side launcher only allows like ten without scrolling, and the one on the bottom isn't configurable (and doesn't really do anything, so why is it even there?). So, nine slots. I'm using eighty-one launcher slots on my primary phone.

[Selene ToyKeeper (toykeeper)]

Something I've seen used to good effect on other platforms is nested icons. I.E. tap a Mario icon and it'll expand into an overlay full of all the games on the device. Then tap a game to start it. Tap a phone icon and it'll expand into dialer, contacts, sms, friends, etc. Tap a newspaper icon and it'll expand to show facebook, twitter, google plus, "news shorts", xkcd, slashdot, and other news feed launchers. Tap a picture of your significant other and it'll expand to a direct link to your SMS history with them, a link to their album in the gallery, a few notes about things related to them, etc. These would need to be user-defined, but we could provide some sane defaults.

[Mike Nagle (mikenagle)]

Hi Selene -"a scope where the user could place launcher icons wherever they wanted, and the icons would stay in exactly the same place unless manually moved ". Yes that's what I was referring to when I mentioned manual order above (though your explanation was much more thorough!). I agree it would be a great option and we're exploring if it's feasible.

[Julia Palandri (julia-palandri)]

I'd love to see something that each user can choose - maybe with options such as "default sorting", "alphabetical", " most used first", "user defined". I know that there's no choice that will make everyone happy, maybe not even one solution that will make one person happy all the time.
By being able to select how apps are sorted - and as Jamie, I'm mostly thinking about Installed apps mainly-, you can solve different needs in different situations.
Maybe, for everyday I'll use "most used app first". When I install something new, instead of searching it the first time, I can switch to default view, so I can easily find it. If I find myself changing the views a lot I might want to choose "user defined", in which case an option to copy the current sorting to a custom user defined sort would be sweet - something like this sorting *almost* does the trick, but I need to tweak it a bit, and not having to manually sort a lot of apps the first time to leave it configured as desired.

[Mike Nagle (mikenagle)]

That's a great idea Julia - I really dislike it on Android where you have
to manually add apps to your homescreens instead of rearranging a list of
all apps. I'm not yet sure how this would combine with app categorisation
(the nested icons Selene refers to) but I'll have a think about it.

On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 9:24 AM, Julia Palandri
<email address hidden>wrote:

> I'd love to see something that each user can choose - maybe with options
> such as "default sorting", "alphabetical", " most used first", "user
> defined". I know that there's no choice that will make everyone happy,
> maybe not even one solution that will make one person happy all the time.
> By being able to select how apps are sorted - and as Jamie, I'm mostly
> thinking about Installed apps mainly-, you can solve different needs in
> different situations.
> Maybe, for everyday I'll use "most used app first". When I install
> something new, instead of searching it the first time, I can switch to
> default view, so I can easily find it. If I find myself changing the views
> a lot I might want to choose "user defined", in which case an option to
> copy the current sorting to a custom user defined sort would be sweet -
> something like this sorting *almost* does the trick, but I need to tweak it
> a bit, and not having to manually sort a lot of apps the first time to
> leave it configured as desired.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1320920
>
> Title:
> Apps scope sort order is confusing
>
> Status in Ubuntu UX bugs:
> In Progress
> Status in “unity-scope-click” package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> When navigating the MyApps portion of the click scope, I never seem to
> be able to reliably find anything. It isn't alphabetical and isn't by
> click package name, but does seem to change from time to time and I
> can't figure out why (as a user-- I haven't looked at the code). I
> have 68 apps installed on my phone and have resorted now to always
> using SEARCH to find anything-- I think the usability could be
> improved dramatically by simply making 'My Apps' alphabetical by the
> string that is displayed to the user (I guess this is taken from the
> .desktop file).
>
> 'Available' currently suffers from the same problem, but there SEARCH
> seems an appropriate interface and it is my understanding that
> categories will be introduced to help here. I suggest that
> alphabetical by the string that is displayed to the user be
> implemented there too (whether it is a long list or within categories)
> unless there is some text letting you know why the order is what it is
> ('Most popular apps based on your search', etc).
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-ux/+bug/1320920/+subscriptions
>

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

I am badly hit by that bug essentially being unable to find an app easily as the sorting feels random. It sounds to me like the simplest and cheapest interim solution would be to sort installed apps alphabetically. Is there any other _cheap_ solution?

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

Alphabetically sorting the list seems the wrong way to go to me. Given we only pull 100 apps (less than one third of the total) by default from the store, it will pin the same apps at the top of the list all the time for all users, and bury end-alphabet apps (YouTube, Weather, uTorch) at the bottom, or even off-screen.

It would make more sense to me to have highly rated apps at the top. Given we don't currently have a 'store' as such, we were always told that ratings and reviews would play a key role in determining what apps get surfaced in the App Scope. Having it arbitrarily sorted by alphabet breaks that.

[dobey (dobey)]

This is only for installed apps. For available apps, we're showing the results in the order the store gives them to us at the moment, but the store scope is currently also getting a major design overhaul, and it will soon be much easier to browse and find apps, including the display of "featured" apps, and similar.

[Mike Nagle (mikenagle)]

Having discussed the various options with all parties, we have decided that in the absence of the user being able to reorder their own apps as they see fit, we will show the installed apps in alphabetical order. Thanks everyone for their input. I'll make sure it's all taken into account as we plan the next phase.

[Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand)]

Thanks for your work on this! Making this change for installed apps will make the phone much more usable for me. :) I can't wait to see the new Available Apps when it lands. :)

[Ruby Hatem (rh-r)]

Is it worth exploring the option of sorting based on download date? The
most recent first?

On 09/06/2014 19:24, "Mike Nagle" <email address hidden> wrote:

>Having discussed the various options with all parties, we have decided
>that in the absence of the user being able to reorder their own apps as
>they see fit, we will show the installed apps in alphabetical order.
>Thanks everyone for their input. I'll make sure it's all taken into
>account as we plan the next phase.
>
>--
>You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to Ubuntu
>UX.
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1320920
>
>Title:
> Apps scope sort order is confusing
>
>Status in Ubuntu UX bugs:
> In Progress
>Status in ³unity-scope-click² package in Ubuntu:
> In Progress
>
>Bug description:
> When navigating the MyApps portion of the click scope, I never seem to
> be able to reliably find anything. It isn't alphabetical and isn't by
> click package name, but does seem to change from time to time and I
> can't figure out why (as a user-- I haven't looked at the code). I
> have 68 apps installed on my phone and have resorted now to always
> using SEARCH to find anything-- I think the usability could be
> improved dramatically by simply making 'My Apps' alphabetical by the
> string that is displayed to the user (I guess this is taken from the
> .desktop file).
>
> 'Available' currently suffers from the same problem, but there SEARCH
> seems an appropriate interface and it is my understanding that
> categories will be introduced to help here. I suggest that
> alphabetical by the string that is displayed to the user be
> implemented there too (whether it is a long list or within categories)
> unless there is some text letting you know why the order is what it is
> ('Most popular apps based on your search', etc).
>
>To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-ux/+bug/1320920/+subscriptions

[Jamie Strandboge (jdstrand)]

Ruby, that is what it is supposed to be doing now (though, it is install time, not download time), and it is mostly unusable. See comment #3. IMHO, while some people might prefer this, it should be something people can opt in to when users can choose how to order things, not the default and certainly not when there is no choice with ordering (ie, now).