Antennapod: Introduce 'Swipe to refresh' (pull to refresh)

[keunes]

Quite a few proposals have been done to make AP more Material Design-like. Since the developers have little time available, not much attention goes to 'facelifts'. One aspect of MD that would greatly enhance functionality, however, is 'swipe to refresh' (commonly known as 'pull to refresh', as is present in many other apps; see Google's Design guideline).

(This functionality was proposed earlier, cf https://github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod/issues/711#issuecomment-89810272, but it deserves a separate issue.)

[mfietz]

Why would this enhance functionality? In every view we could introduce pull-to-refresh, there also is a refresh button in the action bar. Don't see why we should have a second mechanism for doing that.
Just because people feel cooler that way?

[keunes]

Like many issues: it's a matter of convention. Pull to refresh is - see it as unfortunate or not - the standard nowadays and follows users' interface metaphors. Call me stupid, but I have quite often (in the beginning) tried to 'pull to refresh' feeds.

It enhances functionality because it follows users' habits. Isn't inteded to make people feel cooler.

Though I haven't mentioned it in my initial post, IMHO this should _replace_ the refresh button and not add 'a second mechanism'. As an additional bonus this cleans up interface and creates more space.

[domingos86]

I saw myself in the same situation a few times as well, although here the mechanism is slightly different, because after an update is triggered we're getting items in the queue little by little, as they are downloaded, and in most instances they go to the bottom of the queue, which goes against the intuitive idea of pulling down in order to see new items appear on the top.

On the other hand, it might make much more sense to do it on the feed view or new episodes view.

Also, the bonus of creating more space sounds appealing, especially now that I'm working on chromecast and the connection button looks much nicer on the toolbar (it only shows when it detects devices in the network).

[mfietz]

We had a lengthy discussion about this in #633

As not every user will be familiar with pull-to-refresh and a lot of current users are accustomed to it (backward compatibility), removing the refresh button from the action bar is not an option to me.

Only option would be to add pull-to-refresh additionally. As it seems to be triggered unintentionally quite easily, some users would probably ask for a way to disable it. Then we would have to ask ourselves why we even have it when we have that perfectly fine button in the action bar...

[keunes]

Thanks for the link to the other discussion.

removing the refresh button from the action bar is not an option to me

I really don't see why this wouldn't be an option: I really wonder how strong the 'users are accustomed to it' argument is nowadays (such a long time after initial introduction), especially when start announcing changes after updates.

In any case, IMHO it's still better to have the two options. This would also allow for a transition period in case developers in a year decide to remove the refresh button when most people are accustomed to swipe to refresh.

As it seems to be triggered unintentionally quite easily, some users would probably ask for a way to disable it.

Seems? Some users will probably? Doesn't sound like a strong case for blocking this FR:

• The people complaining about swipe to refresh were talking about its implementation, not the feature as such (https://github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod/issues/441):
  
  
  
  • no access to other screens during refresh process (I guess it should be possible not to have this problem, right?)
  
  
  • triggered accidentally when scrolling a list (this is a matter of setting the right 'threshold' [required pull distance] and providing good visual feedback that pulling further/releasing will lead to refresh)
  
  
• One of the two people that requested the removal of swipe to refresh, came back on their earlier statement:
  
  
  
  • _A while ago I has asked for the removal of pull-to-refresh as it caused problems for me. However pull-to-refresh seems to be part of this Material stuff that is coming everywhere so put it back in._ (https://github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod/issues/633#issuecomment-76831386)
  
  

some users would probably ask for a way to disable it

Again: probably not if implemented right.

why we even have it when we have that perfectly fine button in the action bar

See previous comment: because for some it's easier (they are accustomed to) to swipe than to hit a button.

PS. In case you're really afraid of offering two options, one could even introduce a setting "Use swipe to refresh" with the description "Enable swipe (pull) to refresh and remove the refresh buttons." (but that sounds like a whole lot of unnecessary work to me)

[shbach]

I think this really should be implemented as NOT having pull to refresh is more of an exception nowadays among apps and the majority of users would actually expect this UI convention.

[tonytamsf]

I have tried to pull down to refresh multiple time, and ended up hitting the circle instead

I vote for implementing this.

[ducatimaus]

The inability to reach the buttons in the menu bar when using a phone one handed because of the growing size of phones made it necessary to change the mechanism - that is all that's behind pull to refresh - a GUI enhancement. I find myself pulling the episodes list all the time. Since I own a phone with a screen > 6" myself, I would love to have this enhancement!