Order of articles is unclear on a tablet/open foldable when the feed contains articles with and without thumbnails

[9aaron]

Checklist

• I have used the search function for OPEN issues to see if someone else has already submitted the same bug report.
• I have also used the search function for CLOSED issues to see if the problem is already solved and just waiting to be released.
• I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible.
• If the bug only to occurs with a certain feed, I will include the URL of that feed.

App version

2.6.33

Where did you get the app from

Google Play

Android version

15

Device model

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

First occurred

Today (although haven't used the app before)

Steps to reproduce

1. View a feed containing articles with and without thumbnails, for example https://theconversation.com/au/articles.atom on a tablet or opened foldable device

Expected behaviour

Each card takes up the same amount of vertical space on the grid

Current behaviour

Cards of articles without thumbnails take up less vertical space on the grid. This results in the order of articles becoming unclear upon scrolling down.
Screenshot from top of feed:

Screenshot from lower in feed:

Logs

No response

[spacecowboy]

This is a side effect of not wasting in any space.

Making all the items the same size will create weird gaps and unused space because some have images, some dont', and they have different amount of text

[spacecowboy]

You can get closer to what you want by only showing titles in items. This is available in the settings

[9aaron]

Yes, only showing titles helps with order but I prefer to see thumbnails for a visual cue/preview of what the article is about.

Personally, I would prefer a uniform grid even if it introduces some extra space in the form of padding/placeholder thumbnails (perhaps of the feed logo), not sure what others think.

It would even be an improvement to have a setting to display date and time on all articles, not just those published in the past day, to be able to see the order.

Also I would have thought the vast majority of articles (at least for news article-type feeds) would have more than the 'Max lines' setting of lines so each article card would have that number of lines of text.

Thanks for the response anyway, happy for this to be prioritised/deprioritised as you see fit. Just keen to give feedback as I think the app is fantastic and will be my reader moving forward.

[spacecowboy]

Try switching to one of the other article styles and see if you like that better?

[9aaron]

What styles are you referring to? Show/hide thumbnails, show only title etc? I explored those prior to raising the issue. The only setting that helps is setting 'Max lines' to a higher number because it reduces the relative difference between the height of an article card with vs without a thumbnail.

[spacecowboy]

There is a setting that is called Article Style that defaults to Card. It is in the Article list section.

In particular, try Compact Card.

But,... now that I think about it. This setting might be hidden on tables. But I think the Compact Card variant could be a better fit for tablets.

I should enable a subset of the styles for tablets instead of just Card.

[Federico42]

I can confirm the option for Article Style is hidden/unavailable on tablet (Samsung Tab A9, 8.7", Android 14).
The feature would be highly appreciated as it is on smartphone.
Articles' visualization is extremely confusing and distracting, making it almost impossible to use the app (at least for me).

If this is the case and it's just a matter of hidden feature that shouldn't be too much of a trouble to make it available. Right?

[spacecowboy]

Styles will be available on tablets when this #440 is released

[9aaron]

I just got 2.7.3 via Play Store thank you. However I'm not sure if it's working? It doesn't seem to change the look of cards. Screenshotted Card and Compact Card below but it applies to all four styles. I force closed and cleared cache.

Screenshot of 'Card':

Screenshot of 'Compact Card':

[spacecowboy]

Nothing will "fix" it currently. My point was only that some other style might alleviate the issue due to being more consistent in size. Especially Compact Card

But your screenshots show that the style is ignored on tablets still. So bug

[spacecowboy]

#466