Action bar at bottom of Messages List vanished

[andrewilley]

I'm not quite sure when this happened as I've been upgrading my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to a new marshmallow ROM, and so app updates will have occurred too (currently on Android 6.0.1 with AquaMail 1.10.0-403). All my other AquaMail account settings seem to have ported over fine.

Normally, when viewing a Messages list (e.g. Smart Folder) I see an Action Bar at the bottom of the screen with options such as Refresh, and Delete/Mark Read/etc. when appropriate. However now all of those icons are appearing in the account info bar at the top of screen, which is much less convenient as I tend to use my thumbs to quick select stuff from that bar. I've tried Settings > Look and Feel > Navigation Drawer, but that doesn't seem to do anything.

Any thoughts as to how to get back to having the bottom action bar again? Thanks.

Andre

[andrewilley]

Sure, see attached.

Before I upgraded, there used to be a useful action bar at the bottom of the Messages List screen, with Sync and other icons (and when items were selected, the Mark Read/Unread and Delete icons appeared there too). Now these icons are all clustered in the top blue account-title bar instead and I can't work out where the setting is to display the bottom bar.

Andre

[mikeone]

You can enable "Floating Context Bar" in

-> Settings -> Look and feel

[andrewilley]

Thanks, that does display a floating control box after I select any mail items - not to mention an unnecessary floaty icon for 'Compose New Message' (which I had disabled ages ago).

However what I am trying to do is get back to my original layout of having the full controls/action bar permanently located neatly at the bottom of the screen, below the messages list, and including things like Refresh/etc.

You can tell I'm not really a fan of Google's Material Design nastiness can't you? I wish I could have stayed on my KitKat ROM to be honest, but too many of my other apps were no longer supporting it.

Andre

[andrewilley]

So no one has any thoughts as to where and why my bottom action bar has gone, and how I re-enable it?

Andre

[mikeone]

So no one has any thoughts as to where and why my bottom action bar has gone, and how I re-enable it?

Andre

The reason is simply Google's decision to 'improve' the UI of their newer Android OS (5+).

[andrewilley]

The reason is simply Google's decision to 'improve' the UI of their newer Android OS.

But isn't this a third-party app, so meant to be free from Google's tyranny? Most other Google material madness seems to be optional in AquaMail, such as disabling extraneous buttons that float over your content, I assumed this would be too.

Andre

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Since 5.0, in Material themes, Android's code just ignores that an app requests "icon bar along the bottom" (called "splitActionBarWhenNarrow"):

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/37007241

[mikeone]

The reason is simply Google's decision to 'improve' the UI of their newer Android OS.

But isn't this a third-party app, so meant to be free from Google's tyranny? Most other Google material madness seems to be optional in AquaMail, such as disabling extraneous buttons that float over your content, I assumed this would be too.

Andre

Third-party apps are dependent on the operating system (Android) on which they are running.

Fortunately, AquaMail has implemented some nice substitutions. You can find these options in Kostya's thread here:
https://www.aqua-mail.com/forum/index.php?topic=5265.msg30881#msg30881

+ Android 5+: all visual themes now use Material Design. Settings -> look and feel.

Lost: "icons along the bottom" in message list, account list, on Android 5.0+.

Compromise: with "pull to refresh", "pull to select", and "floating action bar for message actions", the loss of "icons along the bottom" seems like an acceptable compromise.

[andrewilley]

Bloody Google and their stupid Material Design. That was the reason I resisted and stuck with KitKat for so long, but several of my apps no longer support updates (which I needed) in Android 4.x so I was forced to downgrade my phone to Google's latest offering.

I have most of the pull and slide features (other than basic scrolling) turned off, I find they are too easy to activate in error. And I have all randomly floating things disabled too, as I find them annoying and distracting. I like control functions to be in one place and stay there.

Oh well, at least I've got my answer now, Google screwed it up.

Andre

[mikeone]

Oh well, at least I've got my answer now, Google screwed it up.

... and in addition to that you have got some nice improvements with AquaMail to compensate Google's 'shortcomings' 

[andrewilley]

... and in addition to that you have got some nice improvements with AquaMail to compensate Google's 'shortcomings' 

Absolutely! I love AquaMail, couldn't go back to a stock mail app now.

Andre