[indicators] add active call hint in indicators

[Rachel Liu]

Current situation
No active call hint available

Design solution
Introduce active call hint in the indicators

20/01/14: Latest updated designs for active call hint to accommodate for UX and visual requirements:
https://docs.google.com/a/canonical.com/document/d/18Gk__rGcg7UVxrmw4HIBnhAL6ek3exQJNbXbkT8J87o/edit#heading=h.lo6wjg7251og

[Michał Sawicz (saviq)]

We need to discuss how do we do this while allowing 3rd parties ($voip_app) to integrate.

We might say integration via telepathy is the only way, though.

Does unity8 talk to telepathy directly or does the messaging indicator proxy that through?

[Nick Dedekind (nick-dedekind)]

As far as I know unity8 doesn't know anything about telepathy.
And I'm not sure that indicator-messaging knows anything about a current call.

If the telepathy support was in the indicator, all indicators would need to support this "hint" behaviour, it can't really be a custom thing. Which could possibly be a good thing (eg a "running timer" for datetime indicator?),
Either that, or telepathy should be integrated directly into unity8.

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

How about letting indicator-network to show the call icon? The information is coming from the modem anyway.

Then again, this icon is only useful on a situation where the phone-app is not the actively showing. how about having a standalone indicator which is only visible during a phone call and offers quick access to call controls?

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Rachel, that link takes me to a login page. Is there a reason for the design to be private?

[Rachel Liu (rachelliu)]

Sorry, the design was shared within just Canonical but should all have read-only access now.

The active call hint should be for 3rd party apps in the future and showing it through the network indicator will not be prominent enough for the user to quickly return to their call.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Thanks Rachel. Some things I can think of that will need including in a full spec:

- Is the hint shown even when the call is in the foreground? The wireframe and video suggest so, but it's not clear why.

- Does the call icon temporarily replace any of the existing indicators, or is it additional?

- If the call icon is leftmost, as shown in the wireframe and video, what happens if there isn't enough room for it? The current overflow design assumes that the leftmost indicators are hidden, so this would need to be an exception. (The transitions video assumes no SEARCH label and therefore no overflow, which would be excellent.)

- Can you dismiss the expanded hint without returning to the call, or is it like a notification bubble in that you need to wait for it to go away?

- What happens if the call fails while it is in the background? Does the hint stick around, so you can call back? If so, for how long?

- Is it possible to be in two calls at once, for example a phone call and a Skype call, or a Skype call and a Google Hangout? If so, how is that shown in the hint? And if not, what prevents it API-wise?

- Should the same kind of hint be used for indicating that a background app is using the microphone (bug 1224756) as is used for a call? If so, presumably it should have a different icon. And if not, we'll need a different design for that, which would be tricky because you might be recording the call as well.

Incidentally, I find the transition in the video rather disorienting, mostly because tapping the status bar causes it to move down while stuff appears both above *and* below it. It would be easy for it to do just one or the other.

[Rachel Liu (rachelliu)]

Feedback referring to new designs based on MPT's comments:

- Is the hint shown even when the call is in the foreground? The wireframe and video suggest so, but it's not clear why.
No

- Does the call icon temporarily replace any of the existing indicators, or is it additional?
No need for icon now it has a separate bar above the indicators

- If the call icon is leftmost, as shown in the wireframe and video, what happens if there isn't enough room for it? The current overflow design assumes that the leftmost indicators are hidden, so this would need to be an exception. (The transitions video assumes no SEARCH label and therefore no overflow, which would be excellent.)
Not applicable anymore

- Can you dismiss the expanded hint without returning to the call, or is it like a notification bubble in that you need to wait for it to go away?
One tap to return to call

- What happens if the call fails while it is in the background? Does the hint stick around, so you can call back? If so, for how long?
Call will end so not active call anymore so no hint required

- Is it possible to be in two calls at once, for example a phone call and a Skype call, or a Skype call and a Google Hangout? If so, how is that shown in the hint? And if not, what prevents it API-wise?
3rd parties should be allowed to use it like Skype/etc but need to see test if this technically can happen on iOS and Android first

- Should the same kind of hint be used for indicating that a background app is using the microphone (bug 1224756) as is used for a call? If so, presumably it should have a different icon. And if not, we'll need a different design for that, which would be tricky because you might be recording the call as well.
Possibly, we need a pattern for this in general but need to see if this is the right pattern to use as we are only allowing access to for call related activities because it has maximum priority (incoming communication has this priority due to being a communication device on the phone)

Incidentally, I find the transition in the video rather disorienting, mostly because tapping the status bar causes it to move down while stuff appears both above *and* below it. It would be easy for it to do just one or the other.
Not applicable anymore

[Nick Dedekind (nick-dedekind)]

Is the call hint persistent in fullscreen mode?