Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] PLUGINS: Add resizable pane to left bar

["James \"Doc\" Livingston" <doclivingston gmail com>]

On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 08:54 +1000, Jonathan Matthew wrote:
> On Mon, May 15, 2006 at 09:26:53PM +0200, Adolfo González Blázquez wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I would like to know if there's anyway to add a vertical resizable pane
> > to the left bar using a python plugin. Something like the Queue Playlist
> > pane...
> 
> It's not possible at the moment, and I don't think it's something
> plugins should really be allowed to do.  What are you trying to do?

Actually, it is possible at the moment (the covert-art plugin does it),
however it is a complete hack, and will disappear as soon as we figure
out a better way. Allowing plugins to add things to the sidebar means it
will get very crowded (sources + queue + cover-art only just fits on my
1152x864 screen).


The problem that needs solving is that plugins want to be able to put
information in the main UI, and we need to figure out the best way of
doing this.

One solution is the one amaroK has, which is adding tab or a menu to
select the current "sidebar contents". This has a number of drawbacks,
notably not being able to have multiple things in the sidebar at once
(sourcelist + queue is useful).

A second possible solution is to have something like Epiphany's toolbar
editor. That was users could add things to their sidebar if they wanted,
put things in the "header" at the top, or even have two sidebars (one on
the left, one on the right). The big downside there is that it would be
complicated to use, and many people may not understand how it works.


I'm not sure what the answer to the problem of plugins adding UI is. If
anyone has any good suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.


James "Doc" Livingston
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