Re: [Usability] [jokosher-devel] Play/Pause or Play and Pause buttons in Jokosher

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On Tue, 2007-01-09 at 12:16 -0500, Laszlo Pandy wrote:
> Calum Benson wrote:
> > 
> > The arguments against:
> > 
> > - "Stop" has no real meaning in digital media, "Pause" is sufficient, so
> > you're only ever going to need Play and Pause functions, which are
> > effectively opposite states.  And it's spatially inefficient to have two
> > buttons for opposite states, ergo you only need one button.
> > 
> 
> Well in Jokosher stop kind of has a function. Pause keeps the audio at 
> the current position (so you can hit play and pick up where you left 
> off) whereas stop will take you back to the beginning.

Well, I'd argue it has a function in media player apps like Rhythmbox
and Totem too (e.g. Stop followed by Play should resume playing the
current CD or playlist from the top).  I was just summarising the
counter-arguments as I recalled them.

> I blame apple too. Banshee seems to copy a lot of things from iTunes, 
> and that would include their play/pause button, which totem now uses as 
> well. However Jokosher is different from either banshee, totem or 
> rhythmbox in the fact that we require a stop button. Currently we use a 
> play toggle button just like rhythmbox. Is it worth trying to keep 
> Jokosher's play/pause button consistent with any of these applications 
> since the stop button is already inconsistent with them all?

First I guess we ought to try and settle the existing argument once and
for all, if possible... however much we'd like the HIG to be the final
arbiter, the fact is that some key desktop apps have chosen not to
follow it for some time now, so we have an issue to resolve.

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            GNOME Desktop Group
http://ie.sun.com                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems