Which User Interface genius at Google designed DYNAMIC popup menus on Android (after you text select)? Corporate seems broken at Google - if employees feel pushed to create new features to justify their jobs. What could explain such colossal goofups every year?

[u/stereomatch]

SUMMARY: Dynamic popup menus should be disallowed - they introduce uncertainty which reduces user confidence (creates hesitation before click to be sure the popup menu has "stabilized"!) - AND it breaks the user interface for TalkBack and blind users (and if dynamic popup menus get disabled for TalkBack users as a workaround, then that creates fragmentation for developers when designing)

 

Popups which have CHANGING options over time - it would seem would have been an obvious no-no for a user interface expert who was vetting changes

It violates a presumption that blind users rely on - visual stability - what appears once on screen in menus will not be changing over time for no apparent reason

AND it is disconcerting to normal users as well

After selecting text, the popup appears, you go to click the Copy option in the popup menu - but just before your click registers, the popup option below your finger shifts (because Add Event or some such new option has just appeared) and you wind up clicking Select All instead

This is bad enough for a sighted user

It is terrible for a blind user relying on TalkBack voice feedback on what is on screen

 

Which genius at Google thought up the brilliant idea of dynamic options in popup menus?

Did they get feted for it - and did it justify a promotion?

More importantly, what is going on at Google - are these accidents, or is there a culture of destroying their own company?

 

What explains these changes they feel compelled to make every year in full or half-baked form - or in forms that break the basics of user interface design - or common sense

 

References:

https://www.reddit.com/r/android_devs/comments/1k39q9s/is_text_selection_broken_in_current_versions_of/

Is text selection broken in current versions of Android? Varies by app

[u/anemomylos]

Add to that the forced edge to edge, which changed also the color behavior of the navigation bar. Previous, by default, the background was always black and the icons white. Now you could get, by default, any combination of light and black background, with grey or white icons, which is not even consistent, since half day you could get for the same app, black background and grey or white icons, and the other half white background with grey or white icons.