Author Topic: Proposed (optional) changes for simplified layout  (Read 113590 times)

hiccup

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The small vertical line left of the search field which indicates were you can drag to resize has been thinned to (I presume) 1 pixel.
It is now very difficult to grab it exactly. Can the grabbing area be made a bit more convenient? (5 pixels?)

Steven

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

- option in Layout(1) preferences to show the left and right open/close panel buttons in the status bar
- for skin authors, when this option is enabled the "AllowStatusBarInPanel" setting is ignored ie. the status bar extends across the entire window. For this reason i would like to get rid of this skin setting but i will see if people still want to keep it. Also note that the skin colouring setting: "Panel.StatusBarControlInPanel.Default" applies when the player is docked in the bottom panel irrespective of whether "AllowStatusBarInPanel" is set or not
- new skin elements:
Code
override the artwork panel scrollbars:
Content[Artwork].ScrollBarThumb
Content[Artwork].ScrollBarBackground
Content[Artwork].ScrollBar

Panel.StatusBarControlInPanel.Default - fg only, overrides the colour of the open/close panel buttons when the player is docked down the bottom
- i have further updated the MusicBee Default skin to use all the new settings. I can provide the source skin if anyone needs it


psychoadept

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The source skin would be helpful, thanks.  I need to get the wiki updated with these new elements.
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Xyzzy

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- the bottom bar with the open/close buttons and the file summary stats to not display. The operation for opening/closing the panels would need to be done via a menu

This is a total no-go :/ Is there a way to have them back again?

Steven

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is already been addressed if you check your wishlist request

holuschi

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I really  like how my old skin (my mixture of DarkRED Flat and FineTuned Dark) works in new MB version: I have enough space for my tabs in caption bar and below  I have searchbar and toolbar with the show right and show left panel buttons (marked in red), so that I do not longer miss the status bar. But it is a good idea to show left and right sidebar buttons as an option in preferences.



With new default skin I would use the statusbar, because it is no option for me to open the new show toolbar button and then open or close my sidebars (do not use auto-open). And it is also no option for me to use the new Tab Bar – Horizontal version, it is too crammed for the way I like to use MusicBee:


Steven

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

as an experiment, i have forced the skin setting so that when tabs are docked in the caption bar then all skins now use the new layout. I know there are at least a couple of skins where the existing colouring doesnt work but i am doing this to see whether it works generally
Also the status bar activity text now aligns with the left margin of the main panel when the player is docked down the bottom. I think this works better with some skins and perhaps not so well with some skins where the left panel blends with the main panel - comments welcome


Pingaware

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You know my opinion on that as I reported it already! However, I'm probably going to modify Honeycomb to see if I can improve it for the new layout, and it may look better there.
Bold words in my posts are links unless expressly stated otherwise.

psychoadept

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I much prefer the status bar text aligned with the main panel.
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Bee-liever

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as an experiment, i have forced the skin setting so that when tabs are docked in the caption bar then all skins now use the new layout. I know there are at least a couple of skins where the existing colouring doesnt work but i am doing this to see whether it works generally

It seems not to work on most of the the dark skins

Also the status bar activity text now aligns with the left margin of the main panel when the player is docked down the bottom. I think this works better with some skins and perhaps not so well with some skins where the left panel blends with the main panel

I think this is my preferred option for all skins



Would you please also consider moving the tabs in Horizontal (main & left+main) up by 1px and re-instating the bdr attribute from
<element id="TabsBar.Tab.Highlight" />
I think it helps to tie the tabs to the panel, especially when using left+main.
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together


Steven

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Would you please also consider moving the tabs in Horizontal (main & left+main) up by 1px and re-instating the bdr attribute from
<element id="TabsBar.Tab.Highlight" />
I think it helps to tie the tabs to the panel, especially when using left+main.
that wont be possible as the tabs bar not extends across the entire main panel. Is there any reason you dont just set "MainPanelTopBorder" to true?
If its just that it needs a different colour (it would be using the panel border colour i think) then i can look at adding tbat

Bee-liever

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that wont be possible as the tabs bar not extends across the entire main panel. Is there any reason you dont just set "MainPanelTopBorder" to true?
If its just that it needs a different colour (it would be using the panel border colour i think) then i can look at adding tbat

If I set "MainPanelTopBorder" to true, then add the bdr attribute to <element id="Panel.Body.Default" />, you don't just get that one single line under the tabs, you also get a whole contrasting border to the panel.
If you could provide an override for just the top border colour, than that would be a great workaround to achieve the older "TabsBar.Tab.Highlight" border look.
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Steven

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

- i am not planning to make any further changes with this
- the toolbar config dialog now has the options to show all toolbar buttons; grouped into one button; and for when tabs are in the caption bar and you have a lot of buttons you can set the buttons (and search box) to display at the top of the main panel (like the older versions of MB worked)
If I set "MainPanelTopBorder" to true, then add the bdr attribute to <element id="Panel.Body.Default" />, you don't just get that one single line under the tabs, you also get a whole contrasting border to the panel.
i have added "MainPanelTopBorderColour" bdr="90,90,90"

Steven

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to summarise all the changes made:
- location bar changes:
      - the location bar is no longer editable and only shows when tabs are not displayed or vertical
      - the refresh button no longer displays - create a toolbar button or use the F5 key if you use this a lot
- tabs bar can be configured to show:
      - Caption Bar
      - Horizontal (Main Panel)
      - Horizontal (Left + Main Panel)
      - Vertical
      - Not Displayed (default)
      - when tabs are shown in the caption bar, the search box also shows in the caption bar and the panel header bars are removed, creating some extra vertical space
- tool buttons can be configured:
      - show all buttons
      - grouped under one button
      - when tabs are in the caption bar, show all buttons in the main panel (use if you have a lot of buttons but this restores the header bar so losing the vertical space saved)
- the Panel Layout button in the main panel now centralises all panel positioning functions
- options to customise a particular panel can be acheived by right clicking on the panel/ Customise Panel or from the Layout(2) preferences dialog
- status bar changes:
      - status bar buttons have been removed
      - the left and right panel open/close buttons can be restored from the Layout(1) preferences
      - the Library explorer can be shown/ hidden from the Layout(1) preferences dialog or right click on the left sidebar/ Customise Panel Settings/ Show Library Explorer
      - when the player is not docked on the bottom ie. the status bar is the bottom most panel, then the summary text is centred
      - the minimise/ restore button functionality for the playing track panel can be acheived by creating a command button or from the Panel Layout button/ Playing Track menu
      - now playing queue length now displays in the status bar
- the 2px gap between panels for some of the older skins is no longer supported (because of the tab bar changes) - the panels are now separated by a single px border line
- Internal web browser for blogs is removed but the functionality can be restored with a plugin
- new skin elements - http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=2499.msg80322#new
Last Edit: July 20, 2014, 11:59:41 AM by Steven