Win10 Style [Concepts] [Discussion]

[silvestreccf]

endeavour1934 you know im your fan ..... very nice work


To me the only thing i would remove its that Ugly Musicbee beat bars,

As my Spotfy Zune dream, The thumb browser shown something relevant as a Top 10 list.
But this is a old subject.

[Bee-liever]

@ endeavour1934
really like the vertical icon bar  +1

To me the only thing i would remove its that Ugly Musicbee beat bars

I assume you mean the small Spectrum Visualisations?  If you don't like it, don't display it.  That's already an option.

[endeavour1934]

More refined version of the "left bar/menu"

Extended / Classic




Icon menu (including open submenus)

[Steven]

@endeavour1934, i also like the way you have done the left navigator.
If you are okay to send me the icons (Library ,, Computer and the playlist variations) i will incorporate them. They need to be in a form where the background is transparent so the foreground can be recoloured to the skin.
I am still some way off seriously looking at incorporating some of your ideas but hopefully by late june i will be in a position to do so

[Darwin4Ever]

Why, oh why should every program try to win the Design awards or follow every M$ "invention" ?
Really, the most important thing is the functionality.
Mostly, the less "Design", the more "Functionality", often described as "Complex", but appreciated by many.
Mostly, the less "Wizards", the more "Flexibility", often described as "Complex", but appreciated by many.

Some example
- the Vuze/Azureus Torrent-program which also had in the past a "Design-Upgrade", but the die-hards still continue to use the "old technical" Azureus-UI.
- Music Label. Every time M$ decides to change the UI in Windows or Office, Music Label is reworked to align to it. Stupid, especially because other more important functionality never gets implemented despite many users requesting it.
- Foxit reader leaves the option to choose for the "standard" UI

So, please Steven, don't break MB, and leave the option open for the user to choose for the "old i.e. actual technical for some complex" UI.

Thanks for the great MB

[phred]

I don't think anyone can ask, or even expect, Steven to support two versions.  Or two separate UIs.  If you've read this entire thread, along with this one http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15164.0, you'll understand what Steven is trying to do.  Essentially, each module can be placed anywhere the user wants (or not appear at all.)  Right now, some modules are limited in where they can appear.

If you don't like what the new UI looks like, you always have to option to stay at the now current version, which presents the UI in the way you appear to like.  That being said, I see you're using v2.3.5188, which is more than a year old.  The current version is 2.5.5606.  You should at least update to the latest.  It maintains pretty much the same UI as what you're currently using plus many functional improvements and bug fixes.  You'll need to get to 2.4.x first by downloading from here http://getmusicbee.com/download.html and installing.  Then update with the latest patch.  See my sig for details.

[Darwin4Ever]

Actualized my sig to reflect the latest version in use (since a while), being the "official" latest one on the download page. My sig wasn't the topic of my reply.

Indeed, no one can ask/expect Steven to support two versions, that being said, leave the design of "fancy" UI's (which can be beautiful but often not practical), to the module or skin-designers. Those freaking on such a skin can choose for it.

[Steven]

I am doing these changes because i firmly believe they will be a good improvement on the current GUI that should be easier to use and more obvious for new users, and in general provide greater flexibility to power users - i dont think existing users will lose much of what they can acheive now (except as already mentioned vertical tabs not supported and changes to the now playing panel)
I should make clear not everything in the previous pages will be done and i expect some things will get changed as the fine details of the implementation are considered.

[endeavour1934]

@endeavour1934, i also like the way you have done the left navigator.
If you are okay to send me the icons (Library ,, Computer and the playlist variations) i will incorporate them. They need to be in a form where the background is transparent so the foreground can be recoloured to the skin.
I am still some way off seriously looking at incorporating some of your ideas but hopefully by late june i will be in a position to do so

No problem, but let me finish the full set first.
Also, transparency doesn't render/blend on bitmap skins like in photoshop, so icons look bad unless I add a solid background to them. I don't know if that's a bug. Icons on the left bar look good though.

Why, oh why should every program try to win the Design awards or follow every M$ "invention" ?
Really, the most important thing is the functionality.
Mostly, the less "Design", the more "Functionality", often described as "Complex", but appreciated by many.
Mostly, the less "Wizards", the more "Flexibility", often described as "Complex", but appreciated by many.

Some example
- the Vuze/Azureus Torrent-program which also had in the past a "Design-Upgrade", but the die-hards still continue to use the "old technical" Azureus-UI.
- Music Label. Every time M$ decides to change the UI in Windows or Office, Music Label is reworked to align to it. Stupid, especially because other more important functionality never gets implemented despite many users requesting it.
- Foxit reader leaves the option to choose for the "standard" UI

So, please Steven, don't break MB, and leave the option open for the user to choose for the "old i.e. actual technical for some complex" UI.

Thanks for the great MB

It's not about losing functionality, it's the opposite. Right now there are a lot of new Windows computers (laptops, convertibles, tablets) that have touch input and/or use HiDPI scaling because they have hi resolution displays, and they deserve some basic support.
But yes, supporting them sometimes may require some compromises to both mouse and touch inputs.

There are another couple of considerations. Ease of use is one of them. Some features should be easier to discover. Some options should be less buried in menus, etc. I think it's too early to be against changes that Steven hasn't even decided yet. It may end being different, but it shouldn't be worse.
The interface for online services (soundcloud, xbox music, etc) also needs more polish. They are really big right now, so musicbee should provide a great experience for them, and even maybe more functionality ( eg. indieshuffle.com, which basically is "autodj for soundcloud" )

[cartman005]

Why, oh why should every program try to win the Design awards or follow every M$ "invention" ?
Really, the most important thing is the functionality.
Mostly, the less "Design", the more "Functionality", often described as "Complex", but appreciated by many.
Mostly, the less "Wizards", the more "Flexibility", often described as "Complex", but appreciated by many.

Some example
- the Vuze/Azureus Torrent-program which also had in the past a "Design-Upgrade", but the die-hards still continue to use the "old technical" Azureus-UI.
- Music Label. Every time M$ decides to change the UI in Windows or Office, Music Label is reworked to align to it. Stupid, especially because other more important functionality never gets implemented despite many users requesting it.
- Foxit reader leaves the option to choose for the "standard" UI

So, please Steven, don't break MB, and leave the option open for the user to choose for the "old i.e. actual technical for some complex" UI.

Thanks for the great MB

I completely disagree that a complex program is preferable to a well-designed one. If you like Musicbee the way it is now, don't update, but  I think what Steven is doing makes a lot of sense. Also, it makes me cringe every time I see someone write "M$". Do people still think that is somehow edgy or clever? Or should a company like Microsoft not have the goal of earning money?

[silvestreccf]

Microsoft to me its a great company...I also dislike when someone says M$, its a company that change the world, many things what we do now in computer, comes from MS. Microsoft its working hard in his W10 and Windows Phone. (I love windows phone too)

About the new UI, Its a great step to the future os this incredible player, We spend lots of time making nice skins try to geeting close to the beauty of MEtro UI. endeavour1934 work harder, its no a easy job.

People complains but see all software Ui....(Spotfy, Tidal, Zune,  so on)










 

[vpsaxman]

It seems that every time there's change, some folks fight tooth and nail to resist it WITHOUT actually spending the time to inform themselves as to why the changes are being made, and how they could benefit from them. I see this happening each time there's a new version of Windows coming out. Windows 10 is fantastic, yet some folks would like to bring back Windows 7, are already talking about using Classic Shell instead of the redesigned Start Menu (which works great) etc. People jump to conclusions and reject anything that doesn't look like what they're used to. It's really tiring.

Of course, some things change for the worse (utorrent anyone?), but I see a lot of things that make sense here with the new MB approach. The reasons behind the UI change, what it will allow in the future have been made very clear on this forum.

Functionality without a clear UI, a clear design, is pointless. If features are buried in hard to find places, no one will use them. I see this with the iOS third party keyboard "NinType". Great concept but you have to work very hard to learn how to use it, learn to customize it because the options menu is horrible and features aren't made obvious.

Of course, the other side of it is if MB stripped features in favor of a re-design that'd be a problem, but it's actually quite the opposite that is planned.

[phred]

It seems that every time there's change, some folks fight tooth and nail to resist it WITHOUT actually spending the time to inform themselves as to why the changes are being made, and how they could benefit from them. I see this happening each time there's a new version of Windows coming out. Windows 10 is fantastic, yet some folks would like to bring back Windows 7, are already talking about using Classic Shell instead of the redesigned Start Menu (which works great) etc. People jump to conclusions and reject anything that doesn't look like what they're used to. It's really tiring.

Of course, some things change for the worse (utorrent anyone?), but I see a lot of things that make sense here with the new MB approach. The reasons behind the UI change, what it will allow in the future have been made very clear on this forum.

Functionality without a clear UI, a clear design, is pointless. If features are buried in hard to find places, no one will use them. I see this with the iOS third party keyboard "NinType". Great concept but you have to work very hard to learn how to use it, learn to customize it because the options menu is horrible and features aren't made obvious.

Of course, the other side of it is if MB stripped features in favor of a re-design that'd be a problem, but it's actually quite the opposite that is planned.

Well said!!

[Darwin4Ever]

It seems that every time there's change, some folks fight tooth and nail to resist it WITHOUT actually spending the time to inform themselves as to why the changes are being made, and how they could benefit from them. I see this happening each time there's a new version of Windows coming out. Windows 10 is fantastic, yet some folks would like to bring back Windows 7, are already talking about using Classic Shell instead of the redesigned Start Menu (which works great) etc. People jump to conclusions and reject anything that doesn't look like what they're used to. It's really tiring.

Of course, some things change for the worse (utorrent anyone?), but I see a lot of things that make sense here with the new MB approach. The reasons behind the UI change, what it will allow in the future have been made very clear on this forum.

Functionality without a clear UI, a clear design, is pointless. If features are buried in hard to find places, no one will use them. I see this with the iOS third party keyboard "NinType". Great concept but you have to work very hard to learn how to use it, learn to customize it because the options menu is horrible and features aren't made obvious.

Of course, the other side of it is if MB stripped features in favor of a re-design that'd be a problem, but it's actually quite the opposite that is planned.

Indeed, well said, fully agree and at last a reply with "content"
I'm just missing one thing in it : it's not only a matter of "stripped features" but also preserving equal usability on ALL platforms and by ALL kind of users with special (physical) needs.
The examples I see show the opposite.

[Ulf]

It seems that every time there's change, some folks fight tooth and nail to resist it WITHOUT actually spending the time to inform themselves as to why the changes are being made, and how they could benefit from them. I see this happening each time there's a new version of Windows coming out. Windows 10 is fantastic, yet some folks would like to bring back Windows 7, are already talking about using Classic Shell instead of the redesigned Start Menu (which works great) etc. People jump to conclusions and reject anything that doesn't look like what they're used to. It's really tiring.

Of course, some things change for the worse (utorrent anyone?), but I see a lot of things that make sense here with the new MB approach. The reasons behind the UI change, what it will allow in the future have been made very clear on this forum.

Functionality without a clear UI, a clear design, is pointless. If features are buried in hard to find places, no one will use them. I see this with the iOS third party keyboard "NinType". Great concept but you have to work very hard to learn how to use it, learn to customize it because the options menu is horrible and features aren't made obvious.

Of course, the other side of it is if MB stripped features in favor of a re-design that'd be a problem, but it's actually quite the opposite that is planned.

Most of your message is about Windows, an those who dislike the 'changes' Microsoft have made to their OS since  Win7.  As it is
now some time since Win.8/Win 8.1 were launched, it seems the overwhelming  majority of Microsoft users are still not convinced
by the 'changes' MS made to their OS. Win.8 was a disaster, Win.8.1 was not much better, and many are determined to stay with
Win.7, which still has the majority of users years after it was released (some are even still using Win.XP). So I wouldn't say Microsoft
is a good example for MB to follow. You even admit that yourself...