Gestures
The app is operated with one hand, because the other holds the goods. Everything below is reachable with a thumb, and nothing important depends on hitting a small target.
Pulling a row sideways
Section titled “Pulling a row sideways”The main gesture. A row is dragged aside and a coloured panel emerges from under the edge it is pulled towards; releasing it past two thirds of the way carries the action out. Pulling back before releasing cancels it. The row remains under the finger throughout, so the decision can be reversed up to the moment at which it is carried out.
Right is the action that completes; left is the action that undoes. Green on the left edge and red on the right are the conventions already in use, so a row requires no legend.
| Screen | Row | Pull right | Pull left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collecting | the shelf card | take — one piece, or the counting screen for a line of several | undo — put the line back |
| Collecting | a row in the list | take — one piece, or the counting screen for a line of several | undo |
| Collecting | the map, shelf or trolley picture | take | undo |
| Packing | a line of the order | pack — one piece, or the counting screen for a line of several | — |
| Packing | a line inside the box | — | undo — take one piece back out |
| My work | a wave | — | hand back — the wave loses its owner |
| Work to take | a wave | take — it is assigned to this operator and opens | — |
| Print queue | a job | Print it again | cancel — while there is still something to stop |
A direction with no action available does not respond at all.
While the shop is answering
Section titled “While the shop is answering”A row that is waiting for an answer shows a moving line along its bottom edge. It is drawn over the row rather than within its layout, so nothing below it moves and the list does not jump under the thumb. The line is indeterminate deliberately: the answer is a round trip to the shop and back, which cannot be expressed as a percentage.
Why a swipe and not a menu
Section titled “Why a swipe and not a menu”The row to be corrected is the row in front of the operator. Opening a menu, finding the same line again and identifying the correct one increases the risk of undoing the wrong line.
Tapping
Section titled “Tapping”| Where | Tap does |
|---|---|
| The shelf card’s picture, or an article’s thumbnail | opens the article’s pictures full-screen |
| A chip above the list (Map, Shelf, Trolley) | opens that picture |
| A row in the box’s contents | offers the other boxes: Move it to |
| A row on My work or Work to take | opens that wave — the same as the swipe |
| The burger, top left | opens and closes the menu |
| Offline and the count in the bar | opens the list of what is waiting to be sent |
On the counting screen the keys act on press, not on release. A key that waits for the finger to lift is indistinguishable from a key that did not work.
Holding
Section titled “Holding”+ and − on the counting screen repeat while held, faster the longer they are held. The pointer is captured, so sliding a thumb off the key still ends the repeat there rather than leaving it running.
Moving and zooming a picture
Section titled “Moving and zooming a picture”The map and the shelf can be moved and zoomed:
- Drag with one finger to move the picture;
- Pinch with two to zoom;
- Zoom in, Zoom out and Fit to screen do the same without a second finger, because gloves, a cracked digitiser and one-handed operation each defeat the pinch gesture, and the picture must not become unreadable as a result.
The keys sit outside the picture, not on it. A key drawn on the picture also starts a drag, and the abandoned touches accumulate until two of them are read as a pinch, after which the picture responds to a two-finger gesture nobody made.
The trolley picture does not zoom: it is drawn to fit the screen and there is nothing to examine more closely.
The banner that can be acted on
Section titled “The banner that can be acted on”On a wave that has no owner, the red banner at the top of the picking and packing screens can be pulled right to take it. It deliberately has no tap target: a banner that both explains and acts would be pressed by accident when reaching for the list.
A wave that belongs to somebody else shows the same banner without the gesture: there is nothing to offer, because only its owner can hand it back.
Scanning
Section titled “Scanning”The scanner is a keyboard as far as the browser is concerned, so nothing needs focusing and no field needs tapping. What a code means depends on which screen is open, never on a mode that has to be remembered and switched:
| Screen | A scanned code means |
|---|---|
| Collecting | one piece of that line taken |
| Packing | one piece of that line packed and put in the open box |
Packing, code starting BOX- | the carton for this box, or an instruction to close this one and open the next with it |
| Nothing open | a document, for which the app requests the corresponding work |
Codes that do not fit state it: That code is not on this wave., That code is not on this order., No order found for ORD-10042.
Sounds
Section titled “Sounds”- a short beep confirms a scan that was accepted;
- the error sound is played when a piece goes into a box the split did not ask for, when a scan is refused, and when a write is refused because the wave is paused, finished or held by somebody else;
- the finish sound is played when a box is sealed and when a run ends.
Sounds follow the shop’s own settings for the packing scanner, and a device can be silenced from the menu: Mute voice applies to the spoken guidance.
What the app deliberately does not do
Section titled “What the app deliberately does not do”- No long-press menus. Everything is a swipe, a tap or a key.
- No drag-and-drop between lists. Moving a piece between boxes is a tap and a choice, because a drop that lands one row off is a piece in the wrong carton.
- No gesture that cannot be undone. The two actions that end something, sealing a box and finishing a run, are buttons, and both ask for confirmation first.