Author Topic: Proposed (optional) changes for simplified layout  (Read 113585 times)

psychoadept

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I think having the status bar only in the main panel, as shown, is a good compromise.
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mikebo

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So as a compromise I am planning to show the status bar in the bottom of the main panel only without the buttons. Possibly i could create an option to show the full status bar but without the buttons, the panels can be flipped using right click/ View/ ...
For me this would make very little difference, as i only have the left panel open, so the status bar would still mostly be there minus toggle buttons, which i actually find useful

This is what i think would work best:
We add a simple hide/show status bar option. When shown it's just like it is now, no changes here. When hidden the status bar is gone but whenever user selects multiple files or there's some notification the status bar would pop up in the main panel with that information. This way we have more space but still get the information when we need it. Total number of files can be easily checked with simple select all Ctrl+A.

Pingaware

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Don't know whether I'll use this view yet, but please don't remove the status bar! Something I use very frequently.
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Steven

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this has the support for the new layout:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/w37hzh4o95mlptj/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

- for existing skins you should see no difference at all (for now), other than the Panel Layout button menu is enhanced to support more layout handling, and the various right click Configure Layout menus consolidated to the Panel Layout menu
- also note that web browsing is no longer supported, other than when automated links based off tags eg. Wikipedia artist lookup in the Playing Track panel
- the new layout is triggered from a setting in the skin. I have included an updated MusicBee Default skin so you can easily see the layout changes
- there are no new configuration settings - all the existing tab orientation settings are supported
- for skin developers these are the new elements (so far - i will add a couple more)
Code
  <element id="UseModernLayout">true</element>
  <element id="CaptionBar.HeaderControl.Default" fg="190,190,190" />
  <element id="CaptionBar.HeaderControl.Disabled" fg="120,120,120"  />

- in summary the layout changes are:
  - when tabs are docked in the caption bar, the search box and panel layout/ toolbar buttons are also docked in the header and the Now Playing header doesnt show. No location bar displays. This is to increase the vertical space available
  - when tabs are docked horizontally, the tabs now span the left and main panel.  No location bar displays
  - when tabs are docked vertically the layout is more or less the same as now
  - the status bar no longer shows buttons and extends from the left panel into the main panel
  - if the player is docked down the bottom, the status bar doesnt show in the right panel

planned to do:
  - support separator bars in the tabs bar like in mikebo's screenshots
  - remove the buttons in the status bar for the skins not supporting the new layout
  - in the artwork layout, fully show the panel configure button wven when the artwork header bar is hidden
Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 08:31:30 PM by Steven

Bee-liever

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just a few things:

"Playing Track Panel" when set to "Show in a Tab", is not remembered on restart.  Have to change to 'bottom pane" and then back to have appear.

Border and colours for caption bar button

no longer working for older skins.  Button has lost curved edge.

As this is no longer an optional change (loss of web browser and direct extraction of mp3 links to "Downloads" in all views) does this mean custom download icons and skin colours can be removed?

FWIW the new horizontal tabs layout looks good. However, the 'tabs in caption bar' (with a few open tabs and several toolbar icons on display), looks really cramped.  The lop-sided status bar, when both left and right panels are open, also looks a bit strange.
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Alumni

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Thanks for the update, still playing around with it.
Here is what it looks like for me, in case anyone is interested:


psychoadept

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Border and colours for caption bar button

no longer working for older skins.  Button has lost curved edge.

The lop-sided status bar, when both left and right panels are open, also looks a bit strange.

Ditto these.  There's a weird top border on the button that wasn't there before.  Without buttons, the left and right status bars really are wasted space; I still prefer having it in the center panel only.  I'd like to keep the button for Playing Track Panel in the bottom panel.  It's already optional in the normal layout, so there's no reason to change how it's handled in this layout.

I'd prefer to keep the search box at the right in the caption bar, partly because without it my toolbar buttons, which exist because I use them a lot, are kind of out of the way.

Otherwise, I'm liking it so far.  Fiddling with the Mellon Remixed skin to see what it can do.
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psychoadept

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Thanks for the update, still playing around with it.
Here is what it looks like for me, in case anyone is interested:

Ah, I see that the right hand status bar goes away if you have the player at the bottom.  If nothing else, I would like for it to be gone when the player is in the right sidebar, too.
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redwing

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- Configure Layout right-click menu for the player bar is gone.
- To avoid a cluttered look of tabs in caption bar layout, consider to add a small button to hide toolbar buttons or make the toolbar buttons visible only when the mouse is over the caption bar.
- Here's my proposal of the status bar. In short, remove it from the left sidebar too and incorporate it into the main panel.


Alumni

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I've noticed that this update drastically slows down MusicBee when starting up.
Just to be sure, I reverted back to the previous version to test it and do a comparison.
Before the update it launches within 2 seconds, after the update, it takes about 10 seconds.
Last Edit: July 02, 2014, 03:03:47 AM by Alumni

redwing

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I've noticed that this update drastically slows down MusicBee when starting up.
Just to be sure, I reverted back to the previous version to test it and do a comparison.
Before the update it launches within 2 seconds, after the update, it takes about 10 seconds.

I don't see any differences. Probably it's some of your settings that cause it.

Alumni

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I've noticed that this update drastically slows down MusicBee when starting up.
Just to be sure, I reverted back to the previous version to test it and do a comparison.
Before the update it launches within 2 seconds, after the update, it takes about 10 seconds.

I don't see any differences. Probably it's some of your settings that cause it.

Well I didn't do anything differently.

redwing

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- Configure Layout right-click menu for the player bar is gone.

OK, I found out the menu is now under Configure Layout button. Personally I don't like this incorporation of all layout menus under one button. Would be great if right-click menus are available with each panel or bar regardless of the button.


psychoadept

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I've noticed that this update drastically slows down MusicBee when starting up.
Just to be sure, I reverted back to the previous version to test it and do a comparison.
Before the update it launches within 2 seconds, after the update, it takes about 10 seconds.

I don't notice a longer time either, but then it's always taken mine a little longer to reboot.
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