@meta I hear what you’re saying. It may seem a bit ambiguous that the (x) simply closes the menu bar and has no impact on the data. As you point out, iOS uses it, but it also has the effect of (x) to close windows, such as safari or finder. Again, ambiguity. X can discard, or X can close. It’s interesting to think about how best to construct a UI that is intuitive, yet simple enough not to clutter the limited screen real estate on the iphone app. I would be curious to know what the developers considered and why they decided on what they did…
That being said. Creating the note seems to be where the hazard of saving or discarding the data rests within the app. When in the app, (+) > [New item] Text brings up the initial text input, but, crucially, it has not created a file yet, since the next step is to chose the file type “rich text” “formatted note” etc.
This is the point where I originally found the save/delete confusion. Initially, I assumed (admittedly I did not spend much time reading the manual), that by selecting (+) Text that I was already writing to the database and there was no need to be concerned with saving or discarding. I thought the (<) arrow would just bring me back to the previous screen. However, this is where one encounters the message “You have unsaved data. Keep or Discard.” Here the (<) also functions as a delete/discard, although necessary to click the prompt. To “save” the data, one has to select (>) and choose the file type. Once that happens the file is created, and at this point, since this is a database application, I would now certainly expect that any changes I make to the file are being directly written without a need to explicitly save/delete (unlike word processors eg. MS Word).
Once the file is created the (< Back) button has no impact on the data. And the (x) button pertains to the editor menu.
In the DT desktop program. Clicking on the (+) actually begins by creating the file. So the discard can only be done manually by moving to trash using a separate function.
However, the OS level menu bar icon (the DT shell icon) will call a note app. In this case it is possible to delete the note without ever creating a file in the database, similar to the app. One has to chose the file format and click (apply) before the data is written. Otherwise clicking on the (reverse loop) bottom right will remove the data. However, there is no prompt when clicking the (reverse loop) that data will be removed, unlike in the app where there is an explicit prompt.
Anyway, it’s interesting to consider UI design, and what the user finds most intuitive vs streamlining the appearance and functionality of the app. Overall, I haven’t had a problem with losing data in DT. And I generally find I can quickly get used to the UI changes. One of the reasons I keep using this app is the DT development team and moderators here are very responsive and do take care to listen to users, even if they don’t implement changes based on all of our concerns.
A bit longer than I anticipated! But thanks for prompting this interesting discussion.