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 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...")).
>
> --
> 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
>