ideas and suggestions on improvements to the Preferences panel for v3.0?

[hiccup]

This is about the (old and familiar) preferences panel.
There are often so many options in one panel, that there are inside panes with scrollbars in many places.
And now even some configuration panes themselves are 'scrollable'. (and they do that very slowly b.t.w., almost pixel by pixel, but that is another matter)

Others might feel different about this, but I think it would be good to strive for as less as possible scrolling panes.

For example:
The old and familiar Custom Tags sub pane.
It shows only the first 4 custom tags, and you have to scroll to see 4 others.
To me that has been a little bit annoying since day one.
I would like it much more to have a button 'Custom tags', and then have a new pane displaying all 16 in one view to see what's what, and make possible changes much easier.

Or a solution might be to add an hierarchy from the tabs on the left side.
So, get rid of the 'Layout (2)', Tags (2) entries, and have such choices after pressing 'Layout' or Tags' on the left side.
That would probably also be more user-friendly and intuitive.
After all these years I still don't know whether to select Tags (1) or (2) beforehand when I want to change something there.
Hierarchy would help there.

Thoughts?

[psychoadept]

This is about the (old and familiar) preferences panel.
There are often so many options in one panel, that there are inside panes with scrollbars in many places.
And now even some configuration panes themselves are 'scrollable'. (and they do that very slowly b.t.w., almost pixel by pixel, but that is another matter)

Others might feel different about this, but I think it would be good to strive for as less as possible scrolling panes.

For example:
The old and familiar Custom Tags sub pane.
It shows only the first 4 custom tags, and you have to scroll to see 4 others.
To me that has been a little bit annoying since day one.
I would like it much more to have a button 'Custom tags', and then have a new pane displaying all 16 in one view to see what's what, and make possible changes much easier.

Or a solution might be to add an hierarchy from the tabs on the left side.
So, get rid of the 'Layout (2)', Tags (2) entries, and have such choices after pressing 'Layout' or Tags' on the left side.
That would probably also be more user-friendly and intuitive.
After all these years I still don't know whether to select Tags (1) or (2) beforehand when I want to change something there.
Hierarchy would help there.

Thoughts?

I agree this could use improvement, and I like your ideas.  I'd even go so far as to say get rid of the pop-ups within pop-ups and make as many as possible of the configuration dialogs into tabs, instead.  Much easier for users to browse through and find settings, instead of guessing at which button to push to get the pop-up they need. (Even I'm not always sure sometimes which one is the one - the names are so similar, especially in layout.)

[Bee-liever]

I agree this could use improvement, and I like your ideas.

Me too.

I've also seen a lot of apps are using a folder tree hierarchy (like in the left sidebar) for their preferences panels.

[Pingaware]

I agree this could use improvement, and I like your ideas.

Me too.

I've also seen a lot of apps are using a folder tree hierarchy (like in the left sidebar) for their preferences panels.

I've used a program which does this and I think it works well. Although it can result in options being hard to find, lots of new users have difficulty finding specific options anyway, so I don't think that's a problem.

If Steven agrees and thinks that the preferences could do with an update, do you think we should split away a preferences discussion for everyone to contribute to? I personally feel that the panel could do with a bit of rearrangement.

[hiccup]

I agree this could use improvement, and I like your ideas.

Me too.

I've also seen a lot of apps are using a folder tree hierarchy (like in the left sidebar) for their preferences panels.

I've used a program which does this and I think it works well. Although it can result in options being hard to find, lots of new users have difficulty finding specific options anyway, so I don't think that's a problem.

If Steven agrees and thinks that the preferences could do with an update, do you think we should split away a preferences discussion for everyone to contribute to? I personally feel that the panel could do with a bit of rearrangement.

I think it doesn't have to be too rigorous. I find the current implementation is quite good already, it's just grown out of it's jacket a little bit.
Something like this might already be enough:
(a quick and dirty mock-up, further details and layout can be improved)



It will be probably very easy for Steven to decide how he divides the extra space and possibilities this one extra hierarchy tree will bring.

[ankor]

I agree this could use improvement, and I like your ideas.

Me too.

I've also seen a lot of apps are using a folder tree hierarchy (like in the left sidebar) for their preferences panels.

I think it doesn't have to be too rigorous. I find the current implementation is quite good already, it's just grown out of it's jacket a little bit.

+1

Layout along with Arrange Panels has a lot going on. Maybe it could be stripped out to have its own Layout window w/panels or tabs or tree. In fact the graphic images representing the relative position of each of the panels in the window is nothing short of brilliant. Since the Preferences | Layout (1) panel references these panels, I think it would be more helpful if the graphics were immediately visible with Layout (without having to click "Arrange Panels" button.  It's so much easier to understand the labels and choices with the clarification offered by the graphics.

But I agree that much of Preferences works very well as it exists.

[hiccup]

I'd even go so far as to say get rid of the pop-ups within pop-ups and make as many as possible of the configuration dialogs into tabs, instead.  Much easier for users to browse through and find settings, instead of guessing at which button to push to get the pop-up they need. (Even I'm not always sure sometimes which one is the one - the names are so similar, especially in layout.)

I agree with that too. Those buttons sometimes feel a little bit as "what's behind door number 3?"
(o.k., I might be exaggerating a little bit here)

[Pingaware]

I'm collating a lot of my own personal thoughts on this that I'll try and post at sometime in the next week. Anyone else have strong thoughts on it before I start to flood the topic?

[Alumni]

I agree with these suggestions. The menu could be simplified in several ways, for example the separate sections for Layout and Tags can be merged. It might also be helpful for new users if certain options had tooltips on mouseover to explain what that option does, for instance with the player and device preferences.

Another idea I had is for a more visually appealing look for the whole preferences menu, like the way settings is presented in Windows 10.

[hiccup]

Another idea I had is for a more visually appealing look for the whole preferences menu, like the way settings is presented in Windows 10.

That looks o.k., but it takes up rather a lot of screen estate. The current config panel with it's text tabs on the left are in my opinion already clear and obvious enough with the text only.

[hiccup]

could the discussion on preferences be split into another topic? Its a little bit overwhelming at this stage for me to consider.
Also it might be useful to have in the split topic any improvements to wording eg. the Move Library, and auto-organise being two obvious ones

Some thoughts about improving some wordings and terminologies, so to improve descriptiveness and help to avoid confusion.

These ideas are intended both for changes in MusicBee, as well to suggest uniformity in choosen wordings in the forum, website and wiki.
This for the sake of uniformity, and making it easier helping other users to understand these subjects and not get too confused.


1. Now playing panel

In v2 it was called that, and for v3 I see it is currently renamed to 'Playing tracks'.

Suggestion:
'Playing queue' (more factual than the other two)


2. Library & Library

Currently the same word for both:
- the music tracks that reside on your computer
- the file that references to, and indexes your music tracks.
- the title of the left panel library bar, which could be seen as a library resulting from the two above.

Suggestions:
For the first:
- Keep using 'Library' (which is a very familiar and ancient concept, both for books and music)
- Possibele alternatives: 'music collection', 'music catalogue', 'library content'?

For the second:
- Use 'Library index'or 'Library index file'.

For the third:
I have no suggestions.

Especially in all dialogues referring to saving and moving 'the library', it should be very clear if that means the index file, or the actual music tracks.


3. 'Analyse volume'

'Volume' is not the correct word here. Volume indicates how loud you set your volume knob or slider.
'Loudness' is the better and apropriate wording here. It is about how loud the human ear perceives sound, and how loud different tracks compare to each other.

Suggestion:
Replace 'volume analysis' and 'analyse volume' with 'loudness analysis' and 'analyse loudness'.


4. dB
This is something I am probably a bit biassed about.
The professional audio world, from studio's to broadcasting are using 'LU' indication instead of 'dB' for at least a few years now.
Also the EBU R128/ITU-R BS.1770 algorithm which MusicBee uses strictly uses LU terminology. Not dB's.

- Suggestion: replace all mentions of 'dB' with 'LU'
(some 'educational' reading stuff on the matter: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15833.0 )

But I could appreciate any sentiment similar to BHP vs. kW vs. PS (horse power etc. in relation to cars)
Still, LU is the one that is factually correct here.

 
5. ReplayGain
ReplayGain was an old algorithm, and a sort of brand name for a method analysing the perceived loudness of a track. It is no longer used in MusicBee, nor in most other contemporary software.
MusicBee and most other software now make use of EBU R128 (aka ITU-R BS.1770) for this.

Suggestion:
- remove all references to 'replaygain'.
- depending on the intentional usage in a panel or sentence: replace 'replaygain' either by 'loudness analysis' (when actually analyzing) or 'loudness balancing' (when playing, or when describing the concept.)


6. Auto-organise
I have not given that any thought yet. Can somebody else put his teeth in that one?

[psychoadept]

One thing that I think would vastly improve the user experience is for the Pop-Up windows and the windows they open to have exactly the same caption.  For instance, "Define New Tags" opens a windows called "New Custom Tag Definition" (which is close but not the same, and also inaccurate, since it's for Virtual Tags as well as custom - maybe these should really be separate screens anyway).

Other examples:

Command Buttons: [Customize Layout] - opens "Set Toolbar Buttons"  (all the "Customize Layout" buttons suffer from this to some extend or another - the consistent button is nice, but at least the label next to it and the pop-up should match - and then the compact player says "configure panel" instead)

[hiccup]

I agree on these, but I also agree on what you suggested before:
It would be good to get rid of as many pop-ups to begin with.
As suggested before, a structured 'tree-like' preferences panel I believe would make navigation much easier and understandable, and would allow for more screen-space per settings panel, so pop-ups can be reduced significantly.

The new 'preferences' button that currently resides besides 'search' is very convenient to have while test driving v3, but I feel it would be better to integrate that one in the default preferences panel as soon as most testing is done.
There could always be a toolbar button for that panel.