Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] New mockup, new thread

[Daniel Borgmann <spark-mailinglists web de>]

On Sat, 2003-05-10 at 10:51, MArk Finlay wrote:
> > To be honest, I don't think this iTunes design works that well with Gtk.
> > It suffers from lack of color variation[1] and general clumsiness. :)
> > I would like to see something like this actually (gimp mockup):
> > http://server204.serverflex.de/Screenshots/rhythmbox1.png
> > The volume and search labels turned out a bit crappy, but I like the
> > general "flair" of it much better.
> > And while it doesn't look like your typical Gtk application, I'm pretty
> > sure that it doesn't break any HIG rule and that it would work well for
> > both usability and accessability (very well actually). 
> 
> mmm, it's an interesting idea, but i'm not sure about your
> implementation of it ;)
> 
> The one interesting part is the darker color status bar, but it's very
> non-standard

Yay, a reply! :D
What don't you like about the implementation? Let me explain my thoughts
a bit... First of all, having toggle buttons right in between normal
buttons on the toolbar certainly isn't that expected either so I like
the idea to seperate them from the rest. I also like the idea to show
them as checkboxes because this makes their intension clear on first
sight and the label makes them faster to identify than the arrow shapes.
This all fits very well together because those checkboxes fit perfectly
on the bottom bar without making it larger than the status text. The
coloring I don't care that much but I think it looks great and this
isn't a usual "statusbar" anyway, so I doubt that it's a problem to make
it look slightly unusual. In fact, it might be a good thing.
This leaves only the "special purpose" button which IMHO fits perfectly
above the search bar, because it balances the "wings" out very nicely
and having a real button with caption for this changing button certainly
adds to usability.
I absolutely agree that the beveled border is required (or something
similar) to set the areas apart. Just placing everything besides each
other does _not_ increase usability, even if it looks more similar to
gEdit then. ;) As for coloring the playing area, I don't mind that much,
though I still think it would look better to set it apart from the rest
of the top area (this could be flamed about later ;)).

The last hours I tried to get a bit used to Glade and I think I rather
got the hang of it now. :) This is my current favorite:
http://server204.serverflex.de/Screenshots/rhythmbox2.png
Can it be any simpler, does it have to be more complicated?

Everything is layed out very cleanly and easy on the eyes. But that's
just my opinion, I hope you consider it. Attached is this one and one
with icons instead of captions which I don't like that much.

Daniel


P.S.: I always write some garbish when I'm tired and I'm _very_ tired.

mp-spark.tar.gz