Tablet mode UX with 1Password 7 Beta
This weekend I was tempted over to the dark side, and I picked up a new Surface device after my MacBook gave up its life. After 5 years on a MacBook, there are some teething issues as expected, but nothing that can't be fixed or relearnt.
One of my biggest irritants so far is the UX when in tablet mode. I'm not having a go at you guys because I know tablet mode isn't the easiest to work with when developing apps; and you are stuck somewhat in the confines Microsoft set. However I wanted to paint a picture of the experience for those not familiar with this, and to offer up a couple of minor changes that you may be able to do in a future update.....
So here I am in Edge with tablet mode enabled. I want to login to this site.....
I tap the 1Password Mini button and tablet mode throws me over to a new desktop for the new window that has appeared...
1Password Mini is there, behind the keyboard, but being in tablet mode, the on-screen keyboard was kicked in because 1Password Mini has set focus on the master password field. If I dismiss the keyboard for a second you see 1Password Mini...
After tapping the master password field again to bring up the keyboard, entering my master password, I can then select which login to use...
Tapping the login, then causes 1Password Mini to close (as expected), but thanks to tablet mode, I'm left with a blank screen and I need to switch back to Edge manually...
And after doing so, my credentials have been entered as expected.
So to summarise, the real pain points are:
- 1Password Mini launches in the bottom right corner, behind the on-screen keyboard.
- After selecting the login entry, 1Password Mini closes and leaves me on a blank screen.
Regarding #1, I know 1Password Mini relocates itself to the mouse cursor when triggered. It does this in desktop and in tablet mode if I press Ctrl + Alt + \. But if 1Password Mini is triggered by touching the 1Password icon in the browser, it seems to default its position to the bottom right of the display. Assuming this is something you control, could this be changed to position to the top right instead? Maybe this could be conditional on detecting tablet mode is enabled so it doesn't break the flow for other users? By positioning to the top right if the mouse wasn't used, you have just popped up 1Password Mini right where Edge/Chrome's extensions appear on the right of the address bar.
This little change would put 1Password Mini closer to their fingertip; and solve the issue of the on-screen keyboard getting in the way.
As for #2, and I'm not sure this can be done (but I may try a demo app later), but 1Password Mini knows which application is it pasting the details in to, so is there a Windows API call that can cause that window to be brought back in to focus? Again for compatibility, possibly only when tablet mode is detected as on.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Maybe I have just suggested a couple of ideas that you've already tried and dismissed; but if not, I hope these help in making 1Password even better than it already is. :)
1Password Version: 7.0.558
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Windows 10 1803
Sync Type: Teams & Families
Comments
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@AndyMDoyle: First off, welcome to the party! I started on on Windows myself, but have also been using a Mac for many years now...yet I love my Surface! I just wish I could run all the OSes on it! So, believe me when I say that I feel your pain — on so many levels. :tongue:
Unfortunately while this is an issue we're (painfully) aware of, there isn't a solution for it really, at least not on our end, in 1Password for Windows. And I can't even blame Microsoft! Windows is being very consistent here, even if this is not desirable in this unique cause: when you click the 1Password button (or use the keyboard to open 1Password mini), Windows switches to the 1Password desktop app, since the browser no longer has focus. The positioning and keyboard situation are also a side effect of going from the fullscreen app to another desktop app. Personally, I use my Surface almost exclusively in desktop mode because of this, and I can't say that there's a strong case for Microsoft to change how this works given that in every other case I can think of this is just fine.
However, you might not be a fan of desktop mode there, so, fortunately, there's another thing that might help since you're using a 1Password.com account: 1Password X, which works solely within Firefox or Chrome — no separate app. To be clear, you're on Windows, so you can totally still use the app. What I mean is that in the browser, using a self-contained extension like 1Password X means there will be no context switching between them.
But yeah, if we can find a way to work around the tablet mode weirdness in the future, I'll be very happy too. :)
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Thanks @brenty.
I understand the issue going from the browser to 1Password in fullscreen, but when it does that, I can grab the 1Password Mini window and drag it to wherever I want. Is it not possible to "automate" that action when Mini loads with tablet mode enabled; and effectively drag that window to the top of the screen so it caters for the on-screen keyboard popping up?
1Password X is really nice and I used to run that on MacOS in Chrome. I'll certainly give it a try, but I'm trying to give Edge a good run instead of dismissing it for Chrome at the first hurdle. Are there any plans to bring 1Password X to Edge? I assume that toolkit from Microsoft for porting Chrome extensions won't cut it for something as complex as 1Password!
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Hi @AndyMDoyle,
Is it not possible to "automate" that action when Mini loads with tablet mode enabled;
No, there is no API at all to know when we're in tablet mode, there is not much we can use to automate anything without the ability to know when you're in this state.
Even in the normal desktop mode, we have trouble getting 1Password mini focused on top of the browser. Windows have a very strict and long list of requirements for allowing a background process to bring up an unexpected window (mini) stealing your focus. There is no data or UI in 1Password desktop browser extensions, it sends a call to our background process to bring up the UI/data.
Are there any plans to bring 1Password X to Edge? I assume that toolkit from Microsoft for porting Chrome extensions won't cut it for something as complex as 1Password!
Yes, we'd love to bring 1Password X to Edge.
Correct, the toolkit won't be enough, Edge does not have all APIs yet either.
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Hi @MikeT,
Ah so that's another thing Microsoft probably keep for the UWP platform then; and don't let others get in on the party.
If it helps, I've used this registry key before to detect tablet mode:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\TabletMode
It isn't perfect as it doesn't distinguish between a user in desktop mode touching an element (like UWP API's can do); but you can see if tablet mode is enabled through Action Center or not.
Thanks for the clarification on 1Password X. Let's hope Edge catches up and doesn't end up as the next IE ;)
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Hi @AndyMDoyle,
It was mostly designed for UWP apps since they don't rarely split into multi-window (new UWP feature in Windows 1803 update or the next update, I can't recall exactly off my head) but I don't think they don't prevent it, they just don't document everything for desktop apps. We often get surprised with different information when we do hear back from Microsoft about a few things that's missing for us.
Registry is usually discouraged, it's not something we should be checking constantly.
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