Design/Whiteboards/File Manager

Summary
Design an ODF file manager for Android tablets.

Discussion

 * Discussion with the mentor on the UX Advise List
 * LibreOffice Design List

Personas

 * Ellen: Single mother, happy user of a tablet. When she uses a computer, she's always frustrated that she doesn't know where her files are and has trouble navigating through the myriad of folders that the file manager presents her with.
 * Sarah: College student. She uses Google Docs for most of her productivity needs, though she turns to LibreOffice when she needs to. She's always unhappy that she can't easily browse through her ODF files.

Action bar
Allows the user to view All or one file type, holds the search button and the overflow menu.

Contextual action bar
The CAB would provide actions related to the current selection, and replace the action bar.

Selection
The selection mode would present an overlay that would allow the user to select several items and act on them using the context bar. It would be triggered by long-pushing a thumbnail. This behavior is a copy of Gnome's new behavior and is a boon for touch interfaces, as it doesn't require using the keyboard to select multiple items.

Folder
Tapping on a folder would launch an overlay showing the content. There is only one level of hierarchy

Templates
Every category would house a Templates 'folder', always listed as the first item of the file grid. It would provide quick access to templates and allow the user to quickly convert documents into templates and vice versa, effectively obviating a Templates dialog. Tapping it shows the templates where ordinary files and folders were displayed before. It doesn't use an overlay.

Layouts
The dialog would offer two layouts: list and grid. The layout could be changed under the overflow menu.

Gestures
Pinch zoom to make the documents larger of smaller. zoom from four documents down to two documents.

Categories
The manager would be split into 5 categories, one per each supported file type, and one for all the supported filetypes. The categories would be shown as tabs within the top toolbar. If there was not enough space for the text labels, icons would be used instead.

Static bar
The static bar would be a non-contextual toolbar, appearing on the right of the top toolbar. By default, it would only hold the search button and the overflow menu.

Context bar
The context bar would provide actions related to the current selection, docked at the bottom.

Selection
The selection mode would present an overlay that would allow the user to select several items and act on them using the context bar. It would be triggered by long-pushing a thumbnail.

This behavior is a copy of Gnome's new behavior and is a boon for touch interfaces, as it doesn't require using the keyboard to select multiple items.

Templates
Every category would house a Templates folder, always listed as the first item of the file grid. It would provide quick access to templates and allow the user to quickly convert documents into templates and vice versa, effectively obviating a Templates dialog.

Layouts
The dialog would offer two layouts: list and grid. The layout could be changed under the overflow menu.

Top bar
Allows the user to view All or one file type, search for files, and has a overflow menu

Bottom bar
To create a new document tap the file you want to make.

Static bar
The static bar would be a non-contextual toolbar, appearing on the right of the top toolbar. By default, it would only hold the search button and the overflow menu.

Templates
tap "templates" to switch to templates view. everything is the same in the Template section as in the Document section except the bottom bar.

Gestures
Pinch zoom to make the documents larger of smaller. zoom from four documents down to two documents.

Template "Folder" Appearance
Submit your mockups of what a template folder should look like below. You might want to use this SVG file to craft your mockup.

Relevant Art

 * Gnome Documents
 * QuickOffice Pro HD
 * ThinkFree Office
 * Kingsoft Office