Re: Queue UI again (was Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] Last.fm Integration Patch #5)

[Charles Schmidt <cschmidt2 emich edu>]

On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 08:18 +1000, Jonathan Matthew wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2005 at 03:54:17PM -0500, John Drouhard wrote:
> > On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 08:44:45 +0200
> > Ruben Vermeersch <ruben Lambda1 be> wrote:
> > 
> > > On Mon, 2005-09-19 at 08:12 +1000, Jonathan Matthew wrote:
> > > 
> > > The whole "I want it as a big box" vs "I want it as a playlist" thing?
> > > Instead of permanently hiding the Now Playing playlist, why not only
> > > hide it when "Show queue" has been selected (thus you can easily
> > > toggle between both UIs). But that's something for another thread :-)
> > > 
> > 
> > Why make it a playlist, when you can just add another pane to the
> > sidebar that has a list of songs in it as the queue. Like so:
> 
> > [tabdamage elided]
> 
> http://j.kaolin.hn.org/rhythmbox-queue-with-details.png
> (screenshot does not imply I currently have working code - this is
> several months old, from the arch --merge branch)
> 
> This is the approach I preferred last time.  There are two main
> arguments against it:
> 
> - it clutters the UI
> - it gets awkward to use when you queue up more songs than can be shown
>   in the sidebar
> 
> and my only response to both of those is "yes, but I don't mind".
> I think the only way we'll resolve this is by allowing you to switch
> between the two.

What if the queue RBSource (that appears in the sourcelist on the left)
uses the same model as the small view ("queueview") underneath the
sourcelist.  That way, you can manipulate the entire queue via clicking
on the RBSource ("sourceview"), or you can drag a few songs in to the
queueview.  The queuview will always show the currently played song at
the top of itself, and then.. what, maybe 5 songs below that (ie. the
next five songs to be played).   You can reorder inside the queueview
and/or drag songs into it where you want them to be played.

If you open the sourceview you can see the entire thing.

I'm not sure what the impl is like, or if the whole "previously played
songs" bit (ala iTunes Party Shuffle) has been discussed, but if thats a
feature, then the queueview could show the last played song in a dimmer
font or whatever, and then the currently being played & to be played
below that.  The sourceview could show the previous 5 songs or whatever.

Having just thought of this whole idea, I really like it, however do see
a few immediate pitfalls:

Potentially confusing.
Still clutters the UI.

"but I don't mind"

> > That way, people can just drag songs from the music browser into the
> > queue list and it will be appended to the bottom.
> > 
> > Rhythmbox will then check to see if there are any songs in the queue
> > after a song finishes, or after a user presses the skip button. If
> > there is, it will then play the next song in the queue, and continue
> > downwards until there are no more, then go back to playing music
> > normally.
> 
> This is exactly how it works, and I don't think anyone's arguing 
> about this part of it.
> 
> > Sorry about my ASCII art, but it's hard for me to explain what I meant
> > in words.
> > 
> > Oh, and maybe this idea has already been brought up before, I haven't
> > been on the list for very long.
> 
> The idea has been around for a while.  It's good to know that the 
> queue-as-source vs queue-as-sidebar thing doesn't only exist in the
> heads of people who've been told that those are the only choices.

Now you can have both!

-charlie