[indicators] Text for SIM status in the panel takes too much space

[Sam Bull]

When there is no signal, the indicator shows the text 'No signal' which takes up far too much space. When 'No Signal' is displayed, the left-most icon can overlap with the 'Search' area at the top-left. Ideally, the width of the indicators shouldn't change during normal operation.

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

See this comment by mpt: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-network/+bug/1262611/comments/7

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

Agreed. I need to discuss this with the design.
It's not just "No Signal", "SIM Missing" also takes a lot of space and we still have to figure out how all this works in a multisim situation.

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

Stock Android on Galaxy Nexus shows just empty cellular strength icon when there is no SIM. Nokia N9 shows a cellular strength icon with a red line drawn across the icon.

We have three situation where we show text instead of an icon:
  - No SIM
  - SIM Locked
  - SIM Error
  - No Signal

Showing text does not scale when number of modems goes up with multisim devices. IMO we need icons to replace the text in the indicator panel and show the textual descriptions in the indicator menu instead.

I would propose the following

No SIM:
show nothing in the panel nor the indicator menu. The user should be pretty aware that he has not inserted a SIM to begin with. The greeter or the dialer app should already show "No SIM - Only emergency calls allowed."

SIM Locked:
show a SIM icon with a padlock. This could also be highlighted with blue color or something to make it more visible. The blue color would go away when the user opens the network indicator the first time.

SIM Error:
Show a SIM icon with X.

No Signal:
Show signal strength icon with X.

I'll attach examples.

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

Oh, just thinking about it. Missing SIM is sort of a SIM error, so if we want to show something when SIM is missing then we should show the SIM error icon and in the indicator menu show "No SIM"

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote on 2013-12-20:
> It's possible that "No service" may change to an icon in future. But it may not,
> and other SIM statuses likely will not, because they're too uncommon for any icon
> to be recognizable. So the same problem could still occur,
> for example, when you had no SIM in the phone at all.

The shape of an SIM card is universal and recognizable. 'X' is common way to indicate "disabled" or "error". Padlock is a common way to indicate either "Locked" or "Secured". The purpose of a panel icon is to notify about state. If we show an icon with a SIM card and "X" the users notices that and then opens up the indicator to see what is the reason for that icon. Thus the strings "No SIM", "SIM Locked" and "SIM Error" would be shown in the indicator menu where there is more space for them.

"X" over the cellular strenght icon is IMO self explanatory for "No Signal".

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Even if "The shape of an SIM card is universal and recognizable", which I doubt, that is less likely in an indicator icon. The two things which distinguish a SIM card from just a rectangle are (a) the microchip, which would be covered or muddled by the X, and (b) the bevel, which would be miniscule at that scale. Having said that, Matthieu is experimenting with different SIM icons, which our usability researchers will test.

Meanwhile, they recently tested recognizability of various other indicator icons. Unfortunately the results aren't published yet, so you'll have to take my word for it, but two results were relevant here.

First, a rectangle with a cross in it, *next to* the normal signal icon, was tested as a possible way of communicating "No signal". Zero out of twelve participants recognized it. This is not quite what you are suggesting, and I don't have data on whether they guessed it was anything else, but I would be surprised if any of them guessed it had anything to do with the SIM.

Second, a padlock emblem in the corner of the signal icon was tested as a possible way of communicating "SIM locked". I don't have exact figures, but the research summary says "The lock made the indicator icon unintelligible". This was probably because the padlock was so tiny, but still covered too much of the signal icon to leave it recognizable.

Shruti Kapur and I are working on the multi-SIM case right now. But remember that someone might buy (or be given) a dual-SIM phone, but use it long-term with only a single SIM. In that case, it would be annoying for them to see either text *or* an icon meaning "No SIM".

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

> Even if "The shape of an SIM card is universal and recognizable", which I doubt, that is less likely in an indicator icon.
> The two things which distinguish a SIM card from just a rectangle are (a) the microchip, which would be covered or
> muddled by the X, and (b) the bevel, which would be miniscule at that scale. Having said that, Matthieu is experimenting
> with different SIM icons, which our usability researchers will test.

OK. Good.

> First, a rectangle with a cross in it, *next to* the normal signal icon, was tested as a possible way of communicating "No signal".
> Zero out of twelve participants recognized it. This is not quite what you are suggesting, and I don't have data on whether they
> guessed it was anything else, but I would be surprised if any of them guessed it had anything to do with the SIM.

"No Signal" has nothing to do with the SIM. Could you please test an icon I've proposed: Cell tower strenght icon with an X on top of it. It would also be consistent with out no-connection wifi icon which is wifi strength icon with an X.

> Second, a padlock emblem in the corner of the signal icon was tested as a possible way of communicating "SIM locked".
> I don't have exact figures, but the research summary says "The lock made the indicator icon unintelligible".
> This was probably because the padlock was so tiny, but still covered too much of the signal icon to leave it recognizable.

Then make the padlock bigger, or replace the padlock with a large key :)
Isn't fact that the signal strength icon might become unrecognizable less o if a problem as the real primary element should be the padlock or the key. As with any of the indicator-network status icons the sole point of the icons is to draw the attention of the user that *something is up*, which can be done by just having anything out of the ordinary showing as an icon. When we have gotten the attention of the user it's then the indicator-menu that will give the more verbose diagnostics to the user even though the icon itself would not be clear to everyone.

> Shruti Kapur and I are working on the multi-SIM case right now.

I would love to have a chat with you both. :)

> But remember that someone might buy (or be given)
> a dual-SIM phone, but use it long-term with only a single SIM. In that case, it would be annoying for them to see either
> text *or* an icon meaning "No SIM".

Yes, see my original proposal. I indeed proposed that we would show nothing in the panel if the SIM is missing. We could show the text "SIM Missing" inside the indicator-menu, though. Or only have visible it in cellular settings.

Also, please consider using the blue notify color on the most important status icons: sim locked, no signal.
Or some other color like red, if your overall design allows to use other colors than blue in the icons.

[Sam Bull (dreamsorcerer)]

> Also, please consider using the blue notify color on the most important status icons: sim locked, no signal.

Surely, the blue notify colour indicates the system is waiting for the user to do something, like responding to a notification or unlocking the SIM. If so, then it should be used for SIM locked, but not for no signal, as there is nothing for the user to do in response to losing signal.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

The same icon research tested the understandability of two blue icons: the envelope for new messages, and the battery for completed charge. Only 4/11 participants understood why the envelope icon was blue; and 0/11 (nobody at all) understood why the battery icon was blue. That bodes ill for a blue SIM icon, though it might prompt people to open the menu.

Separately, *one* of the many options we are considering for dual SIM is to use a persistent color for the signal/status of each SIM. For example, green for SIM 1 and blue for SIM 2.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Specification updated. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Networking?action=diff&rev2=219&rev1=218> If the phone contains zero SIMs, "No SIM" should be displayed only once; and if none of them are connected to a network, "No service" only once. It will still be possible for "SIM locked" or "SIM error" to show up twice, but that will be incredibly rare, and not worth making those states harder to understand for the case where they happen with only one SIM.

[Sam Bull (dreamsorcerer)]

I originally reported this bug with a single SIM in mind, and it seems to have mutated. The solution involves zero changes to the experience of a single-SIM user.

The bug was originally that 'No Signal' takes up too much space, even with only one SIM. When 'No Signal' is displayed, the left-most icon can overlap with the 'Search' area at the top-left. Ideally, the width of the indicators shouldn't change during normal operation.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Sorry Sam, I didn't notice that Antti had altered this for dual SIM. The design change I made makes dual SIM seldom worse than single SIM, so that part at least is no longer relevant...

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

...And this has now been fixed instead by abolishing the "SEARCH" from the top left. That had several problems, of which this was only one.