Author Topic: Expandable View in the Artwork layout  (Read 111058 times)

Pingaware

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This isn't something that I'd ever have begged for, but it looks absolutely beautiful. It's also significantly smoother and faster than the iTunes implementation (hardly surprising, but I thought it was worth noting!) And as a bonus, it makes syncing whole albums minus the odd track here and there to a device significantly easier.

It seems inadequate to simply say thanks again, but here it is - thanks very much Steven! I swear that I'll donate when I finally get some spare money. MB's revolutionised my music library.
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Alumni

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Cool feature, thanks!

I have a few requests:
1. option to display sort album artist instead of album artist
2. option to hide artwork
3. option to turn off color matching (background color based on alternating color maybe?)
4. option to turn off color overlay for artwork
5. option to disable the mirror effect below artwork
Last Edit: April 23, 2014, 10:15:44 AM by Alumni

Steven

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http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_4/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

- drag/ drop of multiple files should work now
- tweaked panel blending for the album cover displayed
- bug when turning off the expanded view setting should be fixed now

Sigma

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I don't know if this by design, but when you use the A-Z  jump list, when you click on a letter, MusicBee automatically opens the expanded view for the first album that begins with that letter.

Personally, I would rather it not do this, as it just takes up more room on screen, plus that would only be useful if I was going to actually play that particular album and I'm far more likely to choose a different album starting with the same letter.

Steven

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yes i agree thats not desirable behavior, so i have changed it:
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_4/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

also i have added a right click/ Configure Layout option to disable the auto-colouring, and made some tweaks to improve the colour detection speed and improved the reflection when displayed

Sigma

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Awesome! I still can't believe how quickly you fix things based on user feedback.

Disabling the auto-colouring looks better with the skin I'm using, so thanks for that.

Sigma

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One other thing: -

With this feature disabled, when you single-click click on an album, the album art is highlighted with a white box.

With the feature enabled, clicking on an album causes the white box to appear, but disappear again in the blink of an eye. I don't know whether the intended behaviour is for the box to remain visible until you click on a different album, but if so, that's not happening.

EDIT - Also, I think this latest version is a little less snappy. Clicking on different albums to open the expanded view is basically instant, but clicking to close the view seems slower, like there's a slight delay before it closes. There's also some flicker that I didn't notice previously.
Last Edit: April 24, 2014, 06:31:53 PM by Sigma

psychoadept

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I've been recovering from a hard drive crash for the past couple of months, so you have my sympathy.
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Steven

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the reason its slower when you close the expanded view by clicking a picture is because MB needs to wait and see if you are actually double clicking.
Clicking the X button in the expanded view should be instant.
For the next update I have changed the click frame effect to show for longer when panel colouring is disabled

Steven

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this should fix a few GUI glitches i found with scrolling, now always aligns the picture position when scrolling with the mouse wheel with the expanded view open and also better mouse handling for drag/drop operations

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_4/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

Sigma

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This is pretty much perfect for me now. Thanks a lot for updating it so quickly!

I have one more somewhat picky suggestion for the scrolling, if this can be implemented: -

Let's say that you're here: -

http://i.imgur.com/LxYcM0n.jpg

....and you scroll down with the mouse wheel 1 notch. It would be nice if it took you to the next full row of albums: -

http://i.imgur.com/YgXbIJj.jpg

....but currently it scrolls by the same height as 1 row of albums, so you get this: -

http://i.imgur.com/2bAa2SA.jpg

...so you get part of the expanded window at the top.

It's good as it is though, but that would be better I think. It might be a ball ache to sort out though, as scrolling by 1 row regardless of whether that expanded view is open or not works OK now, but trying to get it to work the way I said, you would have to take into account whether the expanded view is open or not.

It might be better to just leave it as it is, lol.
Last Edit: April 26, 2014, 12:05:24 AM by Sigma

redwing

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Looking great! But this expanded view could work for artist and composer grouped setting as well. That would not only make browsing and navigating a lot more convenient but also add some unique elements that could distinguish MB from iTunes. Here's a mockup of what I'm proposing.

This is artwork view grouped by album artist. If you select an artist, you get the album list of the artist, sorted by release year:



If you select a specific album, you get the track list just like album grouped setting:



I didn't add, but the view above should have "go back" button that returns to the previous album list view.

Steven

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@redwing, yes thats an excellent idea. I would probably do it slightly tweaked where clicking an artist opens a single row of album covers only without the artist picture in the expanded area. Clicking on one of those album covers would extend the expanded area to include the album tracks

redwing

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@redwing, yes thats an excellent idea. I would probably do it slightly tweaked where clicking an artist opens a single row of album covers only without the artist picture in the expanded area. Clicking on one of those album covers would extend the expanded area to include the album tracks

Sounds great! Feel free to make any tweaks you think would work better. I'm looking forward to the update!

SimonBRT

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Thats an excellent idea @redwing.  Excited to see that implemented!