User Experience on Discourse with optional touch-input

UX
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Continuing the discussion from here, here, here, and here…

All the topics linked above have in common that there are issues with Discourse, generally related to UX, when a using Discourse on a system that has touch, but primarily is interacted with via keyboard and mouse. First, it is my understanding (according to @codinghorror) that it is not possible with JS and HTML to detect this type of system, separately from any other system that has a touch input.

With that out of the way, I would like to suggest that this issue as a whole needs to be looked at seeing how the PC market is moving in recent years. When Discourse was first started, you could generally see two types of devices: mobile - like iPads, iPhones, Android phones/tablets, etc. - and desktop, like laptops, workstations, full-size PCs, etc. Today, the device landscape is very different. Thanks in part to a much better adoption of Windows 10 vs Windows 8, more “desktop” devices are coming with touch as an option. Now, touch is an option on most devices purchased from major manufacturers, even in their “business” models, and devices like Microsoft’s Surface, Lenovo’s Yoga, and similar 2-1/convertible designs are becoming much more popular in the marketplace.

Given that there is no reliable way to detect these devices, whether the user has a mouse and keyboard attached, or reliably guess what type of UX the user prefers, I would like to suggest a user setting “toggle” for Discourse. The closest analogous feature I can think of is Windows 10’s Tablet mode, that is user toggleable and makes changes to the UI to make Windows more (or less) friendly to touch. I understand that might not be ideal, as currently Discourse has a fully responsive design, and has purposefully avoided distinguishing “mobile mode” from “desktop mode”, but for users who use a laptop with an attached touch-enabled monitor, or multiple laptops some with and some without touch, it is jarring to have Discourse react differently depending on if the external monitor is connected, or if the device has touch or not.

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We have some precedent now, for iPads we have a “I have a keyboard” user setting

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So I haven’t used a device with touch (other than a phone) in 2+ years. Will see if I can get my hands on a Windows laptop with a touch screen to see the current situation.

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I actually have one, will try it out on Monday

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Didn’t @sam add this for iPad specifically? It could be opened up to everyone at the risk of confusing people.

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I guess that didn’t happen?

What about devices with detachable keyboards like the Surface Pro?

I would like to suggest an “I have a mouse/trackpad” user setting that would function similarly to the “I have a keyboard” user setting.

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It did happen, I made a bunch of amendments, we needed an extra user setting for “I have a keyboard”

Was working really well

Going to test it again to confirm all is still good

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I have a optional touch device again (laptop with touch screen). Been using it semi-regularly, not seeing any major issues. Anything in particular not working as expected @Justin_Vega?

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We have 3 issues @pmusaraj will be investigating on iPad + Keyboard

  1. Overlay getting in the way of showing blue reply button
  2. Keyboard shortcut to reply is not giving composer focus
  3. Tab+Enter is not submitting
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Reminder that the new keyboard/touchpad iPad thingie is not released until May. That’s about two months from now. I know because I tried to order one…

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Of all the topics I linked to in the OP, this is the only one that still seems to be an issue:

In a non-touch device the URL is a text field, default highlighted for copying. On a touch device, like my laptop, it is a hyperlink, not always highlighted. I’d take advantage of an “I has keyboard” (final copy TBD) per-device user preference.

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We should try to fix the sharing issue without resorting to a user preference.

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Absolutely :clap: I am super happy you stripped that setting, there is almost zero value in adding a special magical setting nobody will ever discover.

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Need to keep this open, we’re still tracking User Experience on Discourse with optional touch-input. I removed the off-topic digression.

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I can’t get this to display a link on iOS touch devices, it goes directly to the OS’s share dialog window. Are you on a Windows touch device, Joshua? Like a laptop with a touch screen maybe?

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Correct, Windows 10 laptop w/touch. Android/iOS open the OS share dialog.

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I don’t see this as resolvable @jomaxro so I’m not sure why you reopened it… as Sam said

therefore the only possible solution, add a setting, has been taken off the table. What is there left to discuss?

I could go either way on this myself but I tend to agree that only .00000001% of users would ever find or use this setting if we offered it.

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From

I assumed there was going to be an attempt made to fix this without a site setting…

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