[system-settings] Settings application should run only in portrait

[Ondrej Kubik]

Is there particular reason for Settings application to run in landscape mode?
While it looks pretty in portrait mode, it's not pretty in landscape mode.

In portrait mode settings provides view to most common items without need to scroll, while in landscape mode real estate of the screen is wasted, having very limited usage without need to scroll.

Either redesign landscape mode, or lock it to portrait only.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Ondrej, System Settings runs in landscape mode because it's useful -- for example, if you need to change some settings while watching a video -- and there's no reason to prevent it.

Can you be specific about it being "not pretty"? It's true that it wastes a lot of space in landscape mode, but it wastes a lot of space in portrait mode too; that's a toolkit problem, not specific to System Settings.

[Ondrej Kubik (ondrak)]

About prettiness: for example "Orientation lock" and "Flight mode" could be easily put on same row, making space for other icons.

About need to rotate itself. Here I'd answer with question, why don't we rotate indicator bar then? Because you can argue that indicator bar is probably first place user will go to check and change basic settings, especially movie related (brightness, volume), using settings application for more complex tasks, when rotation won't be anymore hindrance anyway.
Few more points to support the idea of not rotating:
 - as it happens setting from first page of the settings application is landscape mode are all accessible from indicator bar
 - just the process to task away from one application and to start/task to Settings application will probably make user to rotate the phone anyway, since gestures will not be in natural place....

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

The indicator bar is supposed to rotate; that's bug 1210199.

"Orientation Lock" and "Flight Mode" might just about fit beside each other in English, but I doubt they would in every language. Do you have any other suggestions? I understand it's difficult to be precise about prettiness, but that's what we need to do to make design changes.

[Alberto Mardegan (mardy)]

Note that Online Accounts can be created from the System Settings, and that often involves opening some pages from the web inside our UIs. Sometimes -- depending on the website -- it's much more convenient to view such websites in landscape mode.