Re: [Usability] Sound Juicer 2 mockup comments

[Kirk Bridger <kbridger shaw ca>]

Ross,

I'm only too happy to offer suggestions, and please take these comments
as constructive as that is how they are meant.

Here are my impressions:

1 - it is not clear what the checkmark is for in front of the track
number.  My current SJ has a title and separate column "Extract".  This
clarifies for the user what checking and unchecking the box means to
them.  Grip uses this same idea and it works well

2 - individual track progress should be associated with each individual
track, as someone else suggested.  Having a single progress bar
(overall) would be useful as well, but knowing the track progress for
each track is useful too.  Some of the CDs being ripped may trip over a
particular track, stalling and eventually failing.  The user should know
which track is having the problem, so they can then uncheck it for the
rip queue the next time they try.  This may require another progress bar
for each track in the track listing field, or it could have a track
progress bar near the total progress bar.  Or it could even involve the
entire line for the track becoming a semi-transparent progress bar, if
that's possible, overloading the current track listing space.  You
mention that ripping a single track is fast, but this is hardware
dependant, and I don't know if we can assume things will be fast.

3 - shifting the track information over to make space for the "currently
ripping" icon isn't ideal, in my mind.  The info to the user should not
be moved unless it means something useful to the user.  Here it feels
like we just ran out of places to put things, so we shift the text over.
Instead we could dim the checkboxes (since the user can't change these
things while ripping is going on, can they?) and have the icon appear
superimposed over these boxes.  Or perhaps enhance that little cell with
the checkbox somehow, replacing the checkbox with another icon?

4 - play vs pause.  All I care about is that when I pause a track
playing, and come back 3 hours later, I don't start listening to the
track again from the beginning.  Imagine a 2 hour voice track (lecture)
- why would I need to fast forward to my place after I pause?  As long
as the "play/pause" button allows that track resumption, then using a
single button should work fine.  It is a toggle of a state.  This
requires that the "stop" state be irrelevant to the user though
(non-existent in fact).  This means no drive locking or anything else
while paused.

5 - the icons aren't clear as to what they do.  But that has been
addressed I believe by someone else already, and you've mentioned you're
not happy with them already.

6 - The artist and disk title fields would be best served if they were
editable.  I know you've commented that the metadata is almost always
correct, but in my experience I've found the opposite to be true.
Little changes almost always have to be made.  Having these two fields
editable removes a large portion of the bloated dialogue problem as
you've described it.  If we then make the track titles editable, we have
the 3 most important parts of the metadata easily accessible and
changeable all from the main screen.

7 - is having the volume slider totally visible all the time required?
Rhythmbox currently hides it with a click-able expansion control.  Would
this be a better volume control?

8 - getting niggly here, but is CD the best choice for the menu name?
Technically people will be ripping things other than CDs.  Perhaps the
word "Disk" would be more general?  

9 - the label "Time" for the progress bar is not clear as to the time it
is displaying.  Time remaining overall?  Track play progress?


I'm very excited to see where this goes (and am eagerly awaiting ogg
quality support).  I like SJ for its simplicity and look forward to
seeing its future.

Kirk



On Tue, 2005-01-04 at 14:29 +0000, Ross Burton wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Before I get bogged down in the details of coding "Sound Juicer 2", I
> thought I'd best run the design past the usability team first.
> 
> This is the current mockup of the main interface:
> 
> http://www.burtonini.com/computing/screenshots/sj2-mockup-main-2.png
> 
> I purposely copied the Totem interface style (button wise) so that the
> two applications are visually similar.
> 
> At the top there are the disc title and artist labels.  Then there is a
> listview of the tracks, showing the number/name/artist/duration of each.
> Next there is a location bar showing the current position in the song
> (if playing), and then the buttons (Previous / Play / Next / Edit / Copy
> | Volume).  I was planning on having the play button double as a pause
> button, but I understand the HIG advises against this.
> 
> Currently SJ displays a dialog when it is copying a CD -- it would be
> possible to replace it in this design with the "copying" icon in the
> list view (see track 4), and the time slider possibly showing in-track
> progress.
> 
> I'll obviously need a set of decent icons to replace the stock "convert"
> icon at some point, which isn't suitable for SJ.
> 
> The editor window is rather scary and I'm leaving that for now...
> 
> Comments?
> 
> Ross
> _______________________________________________
> Usability mailing list
> Usability gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability