Author Topic: Few minor ui improvements  (Read 44386 times)

mikebo

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I did a quick mockup to illustrate what i mean

http://i.imgur.com/36MJg.png

1. Give the search and address field a 1px rectangular border.
2. Get rid of the icon for 'now playing' list. It's unnecessary and when you open 'now playing' in the main panel the icon in the right panel stays even though there's no 'now playing' list anymore.  as ma_t14 pointed out it serves a function
3. Make the headers of track browser (and now playing list) look like the headers below it.
4. If there is nothing to scroll hide the scrollbars.
5. Make the selection in navigator panel full-width.
6. Replace those expand buttons with arrows.
7. Get rid of the now playing/selected bar. Instead change it through right-click menu (same in lyrics panel).
8. Display a notification with remaining time if user activates the auto-shutdown. (also can you add a option to shutdown when a current song finishes, this would be very handy for lengthy podcasts)

Good ideas? Bad ideas?
Last Edit: May 08, 2012, 09:42:35 AM by mikebo

ma_t14

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2. Get rid of the icon for 'now playing' list. It's unnecessary and when you open 'now playing' in the main panel the icon in the right panel stays even though there's no 'now playing' list anymore.

The icon acts as a toggle for auto-dj, so no, its not unnecessary.

4. If there is nothing to scroll hide the scrollbars.

Makes sense and space is conserved. +1

5. Make the selection in navigator panel full-width.

Looks better +1

6. Replace those expand buttons with arrows.

I like this idea, it certainly looks more elegant that way. +1


7. Get rid of the now playing/selected bar. Instead change it through right-click menu (same in lyrics panel).

I don't agree with this. I want to know immediately and at any time whether the artwork/details are for the playing or selected track

8. Display a notification with remaining time if user activates the auto-shutdown. (also can you add a option to shutdown when a current song finishes, this would be very handy for lengthy podcasts)

+1



Overall I think most of your ideas are great. Good work!   :)
Last Edit: May 07, 2012, 06:43:59 PM by ma_t14

Steven

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just regarding 5, i have tried this and its easy enough to do - the reason i didnt go ahead with it is it really needs a different set of colours for quite a few of the skins and some of the skins are no longer being updated.
I guess what i could do is make the full width selector a skin setting so that way it will only be set by the skins that are being maintained


mikebo

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4. If there is nothing to scroll hide the scrollbars.

Makes sense and space is conserved. +1
I don't want the scrollbars to be hidden completely. Just the arrows and the thumb, like in the mockup, this way we avoid reformatting of the columns.

ma_t14

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4. If there is nothing to scroll hide the scrollbars.

Makes sense and space is conserved. +1
I don't want the scrollbars to be hidden completely. Just the arrows and the thumb, like in the mockup, this way we avoid reformatting of the columns.

Oh, okay.. Yes that makes more sense

Steven

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i've done 5 as a skin setting
  <element id="FullNodeSelect">true</element>

Steven

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this has
4 - scrollbar is now not displayed when there is nothing to scroll (i only have time for a small amount of testing so its possible its not working in all cases, so let me know if it doesnt work in all cases)
5 - full width selector bar on the left navigator panel when set in the skin
<element id="FullNodeSelect">true</element>
not yet done for the Library Explorer

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

mikebo

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Looks great. One tiny thing though: in track browser when switching between views where the visibility of the scrollbar changes, musicbee flashes the regular window scrollbar next to its own.

edit: also the area behind the scroll thumb is a little darker http://i.imgur.com/O8JpP.png
edit2: the scrollbar issue seems to be due to ScrollBarMargin set to value other than 0
Last Edit: May 09, 2012, 05:58:34 PM by mikebo

Steven

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i would think the scrollbar flashing has always been there and i've put in some handling so it should no longer flash (at least for the scenario i found it happened - there might be other scenarios, so if you find it still happens can you give me detailed steps)
I will post a update later


Steven

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ma_t14

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I really like the idea of having arrows instead of plus signs in the computer node. It looks far more elegant and modern that way. I find the plus signs don't blend well with darker skins.

Steven is that change on the cards?  :)

Iowaseven

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Thanks for the improvements, Steven! How about as a quick one, the option to hide the navigation bar/search box area, for those of us who don't use it?
Regarding the auto-dj icon button; wouldn't it be a lot neater just to have it as a button in the player controls?
Last Edit: May 10, 2012, 07:27:13 PM by Iowaseven