For me, the primary use of the mobile app is to get ideas and reminders/todos down as quickly as possible, e.g. in meetings, on public transport, when taking a walk...
If one wants to get down multiple todos at a time, the current interface feels quite slow and tedious. I wanted to put out three possible ideas on how this could be improved, for which I also made prototypes.
Idea 1: Input field on top of notes list
Workflow:
- Use action button in notes view
- Opens an input field on top of the notes list
- Enter note title, press go/enter
- Note/todo is added to list
- Can use the field to add another note
Idea 2: Refresh gesture
Workflow:
- Open notes view
- Pull down from top: "refresh gesture"
- New todo is created
[GIF missing: sorry, I am only allowed to add 1 per post].
Idea 3: Swipe left in note view
- Open a note
- Swipe left ("forward"/"next")
- Opens a new note/todo for editing
[GIF missing: sorry, I am only allowed to add 1 per post].
Discussion
General:
- These are not finished, e.g. 2&3 need better visual indicators when swiping
- They are somewhat orthogonal. One could have 1 or 2 plus 3.
Idea 2:
- Users could expect the gesture to work more like "refresh" rather than "add" (but I guess some other apps have a similar "add" gesture?)
- It does not seem clear to me how useful a dedicated "refresh" gesture would be in Joplin
- Should the input box be styled like a note item?
Idea 3:
- This feature would be most intuitive if the app would also allow to go back and forth between notes:
- Swipe left: "next"/"create", go forward in history, or create note when at most recent item
- Swipe right: "back", go backward in history
- In this way, the functionality could really help to note down scattered but connected ideas quickly
- Users might have different expectations of swipe gestures
