Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] UI tweeks with mock up

[Martin Jeppesen <d2xdt2 gmail com>]

Okay, very interesting reply!

I need a phrase for when space can not be used for anything, so I call
this "dead space".

> * Moved Search Entry below Track Browser.
> > When something is written it effects only the Track Browser, and the
> > Search Entry should therefore be close to where the changes occur.
>
> If we get rid of the the Show/Hide Browser widget then this could work,
> but I don't really have a strong opinion either way. If we don't remove
> the Show/Hide Browser widget then this will cause more vertical space to
> get taken up, which I personally would prefer not to do.

Moving the Search Entry closer closer (below) the Tracker Browser is
the suggestion I have the strongest opinions about =)

When it is above the 3 browsers, it gives the impression that the
Search is carried out on all 3 browsers.

I don't know why Mozilla choose to have the Search Entry in the bottom
of Firefox, but I would assume that it is for a similar reason?

The way the Hide Browser and Search Entry are placed now causes a lot
of dead space.

Personally do I not think the Repeat and Shuffle should be on the main
UI, but if they must it would make good sense to have them below just
the Track Browser together with the Search Entry.


> * Removed Hide Browser.
> > This is an UI change, and fits better in the menubar->View together
> > with the other UI changes.
>
> I don't know about other people, but I use the Show/Hide Browser widget
> a fair bit - because it is more convenient than using the menu item. If
> some other ideas that have been talked about are implemented then the
> widget will be used for other sources - e.g. an "inline playlist editor",
> basically having the automatic playlist dialog where the library has it's
> browsers.

I have read some of the posts about queue and playlists, but I didn't
knew that the Hide Browser had a part in this and the inline playlist
editor.

Perhaps horizontal tabs should replace the vertical Sources and the
Hide Browser?

If the Sources and Hide Browser were remove the list of tabs could be

Library   Playlist   Tag editor   Shares   Radio   iPod   CD   Burn

Queue would be a special case of a playlist, and could be placed under
the Playlist tab. The Song Info window could be deprecated, as the Tab
Editor tab would show the same information.


> * Removed Horizontalbar.
>
> This makes sense if both the above changes are made, otherwise it's useful
> as a divider between the header (which is visible in small mode) and the
> rest.

I can understand that it is needed with the current design, so let's
get back to it, if the Search Entry and Hide Browser is (re)moved =)


> * Removed Repeat and Shuffle.
> > Once the user have setteled for their state, they are not/seldom
> > changed again. These are also available in the menubar->Controls.
>
> I agree that they don't belong in the status bar, however I don't
> know if we should keep them somewhere in the main UI. There is a patch
> in bugzilla[0] which moves then to the toolbar that the patch adds.
>
> One thing I will bring up again, is that we really need a better way of
> choosing the play order. The Shuffle/Repeat method only gives you four
> choices, of which "shuffle off, repeat off" probably isn't used much, and
> not many people know the different between "shuffle on, repeat off" and
> "shuffle on, repeat on".
>
> Rhythmbox actually has 7 play orders currently defined, but there is no
> UI to choose some of them. A menu would be the obvious method to use, but
> thinking up good short descriptions is hard.

There doesn't seam to be a bug for moving Repeat and shuffle out of
the statusbar. Perhaps it should have a bug of its own?


> * Removed Volume Control.
> > As Rhythmbox is a Gnome only program it would be safe to assume, that
> > the user have the Volume Control in the Gnome Panel.
>
> Multimedia programs generally have a volume control because people may
> want them to be quieter than other programs. Totem also has the same
> volume control.

Good point. I did wonder why it didn't use the Master control =)

> * Removed Size in MB that was left to the Progressbar.
> > This is the only place in where file sizes are written, so this
> > information does not fit.
>
> Although Rhythmbox doesn't currently burn tracks to normal (data) CDs,
> this is handy when you are making a playlist for that - because you
> need to ensure that it will fit on the CD. I would probably be a good
> idea to show the file size in the track information dialog.

But you don't want to burn all your songs when you start Rhythmbox or
carrieing out a search doesn't mean you want to burn very thing that
have a surden word in the title.

> * Moved Progress Slider to the right.
> * Moved Text and Progressbar up.
> > This effects only the Track Browser, and should therefore be close to
> > where the changes occur
>
> CVS has a proper GTK status bar which these are in and the progress bar
> is on the right. I don't think moving them to get a tiny bit more
> vertical space for the sidebar is really worth it.

Great.

> * Added Resize Handle to the bottom right corner.
>
> CVS has this - and it only shows up when the window isn't maximised.

I will look forward to try that =)

Martin