Re: [Usability] New Sound Preferences and Volume Control

[Andy Owen <andy-gnome-usability ultra-premium com>]

> (mostly related: IMHO a more important issue is that the volume control
> through the list is not the same as for example Totem's volume control.
> Having to check two places where one application is silenced sounds like
> a bad idea to me.)

Yes, it is bad, but if there was a standard volume control thing for
each window, then an application like totem doesn't need to implement
its own volume slider (so it would probably want an API that could tell
it if it needs to provide a volume slider or not).

> 
> A unified sound management would be nice but *I* would not search sound
> control in the title bar as it - from my point of view - reflects the
> "window management" (meaning the visual appearance (size..) of the
> window, something "meta" to the actual application). I would expect
> controlling actual "content" of an application is done within the window
> and right now i count sound to this "content". Also one simple aspect of
> having the volume control icon in the title bar that makes it less
> discoverable is that the icon smaller in most cases - as it is in the
> mockup. Of course, once used to it, it is probably easier to find in an
> app new to the user and so worse it. 

I think we have different mental models of a window then. I think of
sounds as something coming from windows (even though I can think of
obvious ways to do things so this isn't the case). And as a result of
this, I see the size of a window as the same type of meta-information as
the volume of the sound that is being produced by that window. 


> Do you think it should be accessible through the right click menu of the
> window list?
> 
> Mockup:
> http://static.ludwigf.org/stuff/gnome-use/volume-bar.png

That looks good. I do seem to remember there was some effort to try to
reduce the number of items in that menu though, and given that there is
a whole lot of space on the title bar that is generally unused I put it
there (and it made doing my mockup easier). Your point about the icon
being small is valid, but I also think that everyone manages to find the
'close' button in the window decoration.

> Is sound that important? How many applications do you use that does any
> kind of sound? Asking myself that question I realized: all of them I use
> right now. (assuming it would work for epiphany and all content it can
> embedded) But how often do you change the volume of a single
> application? I'm not sure but it looks to be a non-regular task to me. 

The reason I don't modify the volume of a single application is because
it is a pain at the moment:

Pulse-audio case:
0) I need to install the pulse audio volume control
1) I need to launch the special volume control
2) I need to pick the right tab in this application, then find the
application I want from a list and adjust the volume

Application-specific case: (rhythmbox in Ubuntu 8.10 is my example)
1) Using the scroll wheel over the icon doesn't give visual feedback,
which is even more important because of 2
2) Latency is really bad.

As a result, I tend to just use the system wide volume setting.

If I could modify the volume for an application by moving my mouse over
the volume icon on the title bar and scrolling the wheel on my mouse,
then I would be very happy.

> 
> A side note: If it would be in the right-click menu should it be
> disabled or hidden if the sound doesn't emit any sounds? As hiding
> changes the length of the list I thought its a bad idea but later on
> noticed the "Move to Workspace Right/Left" actually acts like this.
> But... I never noticed until today.

I was thinking that it would only appear for applications that make
sounds. Again, I suspect we would need to have some sort of API to say
"I'm an application that will play sound, but I'm not doing so now". So
by default, an application only gets these items if it would appear in
the pulse-audio application list (and if it disappears from that list,
then it loses its volume controls). Once the developers for the specific
application update it, then the application will request volume controls
at startup, and they will persist. This would also be where the
application could do whatever the sane thing to do is when it has
multiple pulse-audio streams, and also find out if it needs to display
its own volume sliders (in case pulse audio isn't running).

> 
> Florian
> 
> PSS I found a posting about this on brainstorm.ubuntu.com
>     http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/15988/