Samuel,
Nice work implementing the search functionality into the Android NewsBlur app! It’s a handy feature, for sure.
With most people being right-handed, it is my opinion that the navigation buttons that are used the most should be positioned closest to the right side of the screen. Would you agree?
The first button from the right is the standard context menu; no arguments there.
I think the “Mark all as read” button should be the next item in the navigation, as opposed to the “Search” button. I have been using the latest version of the Android app for nearly a week now. I find myself continuously hitting the search button instead of the MAAR button from muscle memory. I use the MAAR button dozens of times a day, but haven’t used the search button more than once this week. I imagine that most users will use the MAAR button far more often than the search button. Hence, I think it makes more sense to restore the MAAR button back to its original location next to the context menu button, and place the new search button to the left of the MAAR button. This way users are not “going past” an infrequently used button to get to a frequently used button.
What do you think?
Thanks for all your hard work,
PK
Original button alignment
Current button alignment
Proposed button alignment