Kinda mixed on the new settings UI

[K4sum1]

I know this breaks single issue per topic, but I don't feel like opening a bunch of issues that will just be closed because nobody cares that Material 3 and modern UI are objectively worse. Although unlike some apps none of these are bad enough to keep me using 2.3 until the end of time so eh.

The biggest issue I have with the new settings UI is the animations. I like to have super fast tweaked animations, and HeliBoard 2.3 on a significantly slower phone (Snapdragon 630) with stock Android is just instant, while 3.0-a1 on one of my fastest phones (Snapdragon 835) has a somewhat long animation even at 0.5x Window and Transition animation scale.

HeliBoard 2.3 uses the user specified custom system font in the settings while 3.0 does not. One of my test phones has RR Q and I set it to use the Exo 2 font for the system and then HeliBoard Settings also uses the system Exo 2 font. However with 3.0-a1 it just uses the plain, normal font seen on any other phone. I'm also not sure if I like the bold HeliBoard Settings text at the top.

I'm not sure how I feel about everything being bigger. I don't think I care too much, but I also use my phones at a lower DPI. At stock it would probably be awful.

I feel like keeping the older Material 2 inspired style but making the icons a bit bigger without increasing the size of the list items and having the search would be better. Or maybe a settings style selector with Holo and Material 2 and 3, similar to the keyboard style.

[Helium314]

Material 3 and modern UI are objectively worse

I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't like the new switches, but otherwise on my phones settings pretty much look the same, with darker background color and somewhat increased text size, icon size and padding.

The biggest issue I have with the new settings UI is the animations

Again I don't know what you're talking about. The transition animations between screens are very short, and the animations when settings appear (e.g. when enabling auto-correct) are actually faster than on 2.3.

significantly slower phone (Snapdragon 630)

Significantly slower than what? I did most of the testing on an A3 2017 with Exynos 7870 Octa that's actually slower than a Snapdragon 630 (according to benchmarks).

HeliBoard 2.3 uses the user specified custom system font in the settings while 3.0 does not.

(I would add a PR label if this was a separate issue)

I'm also not sure if I like the bold HeliBoard Settings text at the top.

This is a good example why I put Different theme - not yet final, contributions welcome. in the release notes. I personally do not care about the different font, and things should be handled by people who do care.

Or maybe a settings style selector with Holo and Material 2 and 3, similar to the keyboard style.

Which would mean to add the compose Material 2 dependency, develop a Holo theme, and write some wrapper so all 3 could be used interchangeably. I don't really want to do that. Such effort might be worth it for the keyboad, but not for the settings UI.

[K4sum1]

I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't like the new switches, but otherwise on my phones settings pretty much look the same, with darker background color and somewhat increased text size, icon size and padding.

My main issues with Material 3 are mostly seen outside this app, mostly in the system and other apps which is why I say it isn't so bad here. Every single UI element having rounding, things being gigantic for no reason, features like double tap recents to go back one app being removed, etc.

Here it's mostly the bigger elements which isn't that bad here. I also dislike the new switches and the drag bar selector thing seen when changing the keyboard height.

I also understand I won't spend much time in the keyboard settings, which is why I also say "Although unlike some apps none of these are bad enough to keep me using 2.3 until the end of time so eh." For example I still use K-9 Mail 5.600 from 2018 because I use that app at least once a day. Now if HeliBoard removed the Holo keyboard theme, I wouldn't upgrade because I see my keyboard every day. However it's just the settings here, which I can live with.

Again I don't know what you're talking about. The transition animations between screens are very short, and the animations when settings appear (e.g. when enabling auto-correct) are actually faster than on 2.3.

I mean the transition animations between screens. On 2.3 it's basically instant, on 3.0 they're longer than I'd like. Enabling/disabling switches and stuff is mostly visual as I'm not really waiting on anything to happen. I can just quickly enable a bunch of things in rapid succession and leave the page before the animation finishes without issue.

Significantly slower than what?

"while 3.0-a1 on one of my fastest phones (Snapdragon 835)"

(I would add a PR label if this was a separate issue)

I can put that in a separate issue

Which would mean to add the compose Material 2 dependency, develop a Holo theme, and write some wrapper so all 3 could be used interchangeably. I don't really want to do that. Such effort might be worth it for the keyboad, but not for the settings UI.

Well, in that case, wouldn't it just be easier to (I assume) just kept using the Material 2 dependency instead of making Material 3 UI?

I did most of the testing on an A3 2017 with Exynos 7870 Octa that's actually slower than a Snapdragon 630 (according to benchmarks).

In that case here's 2.3 vs 3.0, left is my fastest phone (Snapdragon 845) first on 2.3, then 3.0, right is my slowest phone that can use the app (MSM8960/Snapdragon S4) on 2.3.

It's also kinda hard to use two phones like that at a 90 degree angle while also recording with another phone, so that's why it's not the best recording.
https://files.catbox.moe/rznb1d.mp4

[K4sum1]

I can put that in a separate issue

#1413

[Helium314]

Here it's mostly the bigger elements which isn't that bad here.

If you want you can do a PR regarding fine-tuning of height and padding. I'm quite open for such changes before 3.0 release.

I also dislike the new switches and the drag bar selector thing seen when changing the keyboard height.

Same as above for the slider. The "thumb" can be adjusted easily by adding e.g thumb = { Text("A") }.
Not sure about the switches. While I also don't like the new ones, I guess users would mostly prefer them...

I mean the transition animations between screens

For some reason the transition animations follow the animator duration scale, not the transition animation scale. Animation duration can probably be changed / manually made to follow transition animation scale in NavHost.

wouldn't it just be easier to (I assume) just kept using the Material 2 dependency instead of making Material 3 UI?

The issue here is the old theme was entangled with the old base used for settings (androidx.preference), which is not flexible enough for some changes I had wanted to do for a while (especially the search function). And I really learned to dislike working with the Android view system, thus the switch to compose (I don't exactly like it, but it's much better to work with).
So after switching to compose and starting from scratch with settings, there is no "keep using the Material 2 dependency" because it's a different dependency copying the looks.
I did some comparison and decided for Material 3 because a. people wanted it and b. startup on my S4 mini was ~25% faster than with Material 2 (compose).