Keep the track details (artist + title) centered in the main player

[scapehips]

It'd be awesome if when "show track rating" is turned off, the track details (artist + title) don't shift to the left but stay centered.

As of now this occurs when the track rating is hidden.



One approach would be to display it upon mouse hover and have it automatically hide.

[phred]

I don't know if what you're suggesting is doable, but your request should go on the thread for the skin that you're using so the developer of that skin can see it and perhaps reply.

[scapehips]

I'm using one of the dark finely-tuned skins that comes preinstalled with MusicBee. I don't think that this is skin related, it's a part of the Musicbee panels/layout itself.

[Mayibongwe]

It'd be awesome if when "show track rating" is turned off, the track details (artist + title) don't shift to the left but stay centered.

You are looking at it from an aesthetical point of view, which is understandable.
But on the development side of things, that's not gonna be doable I'm afraid (well it technically can, but doing so might mess up elsewhere)

Each of those elements in the player panel have to be anchored to something in order to prevent overlaps and to display correctly irrespective of window size, font type & size, etc.

When the star ratings are enabled, the left hand side of the track text has to anchor to the far-right of the ratings.
When disabled, the track text has to anchor to the left-most side of the progress bar.

[scapehips]

I'm not a developer but can we add an empty element in place of the star rating when it is turned off?

[hiccup]

Each of those elements in the player panel have to be anchored to something in order to prevent overlaps and to display correctly irrespective of window size, font type & size, etc.

That's very true.
But know that when creating a bitmap skin (.xmlc), you can use so called 'replacement elements' that you can use to create an offset.
So you could make it so that when 'rating' is not displayed, the song title stays exactly where it is when 'rating' is displayed.
(these replacement elements are usually at the very bottom of skin.xml)

The reason for the current behaviour is probably this:



It is making optimal use of the available space for titles.

[scapehips]

IMO for tracks with a certain length of artist + title text, it should stay centered regardless of whether the rating is turned on or off. When the text becomes long, it should then shift to the left to make use of the available space.

[hiccup]

IMO for tracks with a certain length of artist + title text, it should stay centered regardless of whether the rating is turned on or off. When the text becomes long, it should then shift to the left to make use of the available space.

That will be a matter of opinion.
Is the center in the middle of available space for the title, or is the center in the middle of the progress bar?
Or is the center between the left side of the progress bar and the left side of the time/duration?
Or should the center be in the middle of the whole MusicBee panel?

This is something that probably many will have different opinions on.
It is also concerning only one of the available display option for the player panel.
Since I am assuming this is not something other users or the developer considers an issue, it will probably be best for you to create a skin that handles this to your personal preference.
You could then place the time/duration, and the rating left and right of the progress bar, and the text would always be centered in the middle of the progress bar.

(or look for skins that are already have such a design)