Android: Can the navigation bar be optional?

I understand the need that the navigation bar fills for some people, however, for me, it mostly takes up space with things that should really be on the Action bar anyway.

If something is important enough to have it show in every post, it’s important enough to be in the action bar. Share, Save, Text View - those are all better located (at least within the Android UI guidelines) in the action bar and not in a floating bar *and* the overflow menu. They are Frequent, Important, and/or Typical actions that one might take on a post: http://developer.android.com/design/p…
Share is in the button at the bottom of the post, the floating nav bar, AND the overflow menu. It could and should exist in one place instead!

The thing I really do love about the nav bar is the feed read-indicator. And I think that could easily and beautifully be converted to be on the action bar, or even a tiny 1-2px high line at the top or bottom of the reading pane.

That NewsBlur HAS an action bar, but barely USES it is a massive opportunity for a sleeker UI that more fits in with the Android world.

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Well, I don’t play by all the rules on iOS either, and I think the nav bar is a great addition. This is also, by the way, why the nav bar disappears on scroll. But I think text view and send to are common enough actions that I’m willing to make them more accessible.

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By more accessible, do you mean on the action bar where it will always be visible to users, but also not in the way of the post’s content? :slight_smile:

I really have to agree.

Particularly with feed items that have a picture followed by text, these buttons hide the first few lines of text that I use to determine whether I want to read it or not. This requires scrolling down a bit so that the icons fade. Might seem like a minor thing, but doing this dozens of times every time I look at my feed has severely impaired the user experience of the Android app.

Hope you’ll reconsider making this an option.

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I’d prefer them in the top bar too, but I do love the other improvements in the latest version (unsaving! :))

If they definitely, definitely won’t be moving to the empty ActionBar :: as a compromise, could we maybe be able to scroll through these bottom nav buttons? With the latest update I keep finding myself accidentally hitting the done button and being unable to scroll with an upward swipe :slight_smile:
I still vote for them to go in the ActionBar though, find em a bit distracting. Thanks again ojikun/sam/et al.

I tried version 3.0, and can see why some folks would like the new navigation bar. The circular indicator which tells you how much of your feed you’ve read is a neat idea. The “done” button is also a nice touch.

However, the constant appearing and disappearing of the navigation bar as I scroll is a bit distracting. I’ve never been a fan of fading/sliding/hovering controls. Having text or images peaking out between the two buttons just looks ugly. For people who read at the bottom of the screen, this bar constantly covering up text is very annoying. I never noticed that I read at the bottom of the screen until the introduction of this control.

I like Karen’s idea about making the navigation bar part of an actual bar, whether it is one at the bottom, or built in at the top somewhere. Screen real estate is so precious on a phone. More room to read the article!

Alternatively, an option to flat-out disable the bar would be wonderful. I reverted back to 2.5 in the mean time, hoping that the second version of the navigation bar sees some tweaking or the ability to go away.

Thanks for all your hard work on this product. I rarely leave feedback for websites or apps. I enjoy Newsblur too much to not share my thoughts. Please take a moment to consider our suggestions. Thank you!

pk

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