opening NEW TAB as an empty tab (+ SPED DIAL)

[HHM]

Got this idea while discussing another issue (of locking tabs) here:
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=6612.0

When you want to open a new tab, the default view that loads in it is "Music" (collection). as my collection is big (ca. 90 000 songs), it takes a few seconds to 'load' it and only then I can pick a playlist I need for that new tab.

1. Wouldn't it be better if the new tab was empty?

As for me, rarely I do open a new tab to go to Music, usually I want to go to more specific direction (playlist, folder). So opening Music on deafault is not only illogical (for me at least), but also takes much more time (especially with big music collections).

Think about it as if it was a web browser (as I believe the tab functionality is derived from browsers):
If you open a new tab in Opera/Firefox/Chrome, would you like it to go to your homepage directly or rather have it empty or with speed dial?
It's the same with MusicBee I guess.

2. writing about this I came up with a further idea - how about having a Speed Dial with most commonly used playlists/folders after opening a new tab? It could be customisable as  speed dials in web browsers:
- having shortcuts for mostly used directories based on statistics or option to set directories on your own
- number of speed dial windows (depending on number of diff. directories you use)
- even a cover for each speed dial window (a cover of specific record - especially if the speed dial window is set to go to that record - or any art you want and choose)

[lnminente]

An easy implement could be just draw an empty tab showing the left panel, waiting for the user to select something

EDIT: And drawing a big MB logo in that empty tab could be nice

[SimonBRT]

not sure what issues this may create if implemented but my initial reaction is that i like the idea.  i find i use perhaps half a dozen of my playlists far more often than the rest so a homepage like chromes most visited could be useful...

[HHM]

yep, that's what it all is about:)

btw. is there any reason for loading "Music" in the new tab?

[Steven]

while not disagreeing (or agreeing) with this idea, i just want to point out you can open any node (inc playlists) in the left navigator panel in a new tab using the middle click mouse button or right click/ Open in New Tab

[9cupsoftea]

Speed dial in a new tab would be awesome.

[Steven]

i have changed it so opening a new tab displays a blank screen rather than opening the library, so at least people with large libraries wont get the delay while the library loads like now.
As to the speed dial, i assume you mean something like what firefox does where it displays the most commonly visited links in the new tab panel for you to select from.
While i accept this would be a good feature, it comes with a lot of non-obvious stuff like keeping track of how frequently you visit each left panel node and just seems like my time is better spent on other things for the amount of time it would take.
If it gets some more +1's i would consider doing it though

[9cupsoftea]

i have changed it so opening a new tab displays a blank screen rather than opening the library, so at least people with large libraries wont get the delay while the library loads like now.
As to the speed dial, i assume you mean something like what firefox does where it displays the most commonly visited links in the new tab panel for you to select from.
While i accept this would be a good feature, it comes with a lot of non-obvious stuff like keeping track of how frequently you visit each left panel node and just seems like my time is better spent on other things for the amount of time it would take.
If it gets some more +1's i would consider doing it though

I don't think it would really need to keep track, that would be really sleek, but there aren't that many nodes it would be a problem. A speeddial with a few of the most important nodes (library, podcasts, computer, etc) or that maybe just allows you to pick and choose which nodes to add, and/or perhaps some recently played tracks (WMP does this in the 7 jumplist and start menu) would be cool enough for me.

[Steven]

this has the changed behavior where a new blank tab is added.
If the left navigator panel is collapsed it also pops up the left panel so you can choose a node

[Steven]

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

[HHM]

thx for that!
(but I guess there is a bug - I cannot change fileorder in any playlist!)

as for the speeddial - to avoid keeping additional data (like frequency of using particular directories) speeddial could be set only manually (like in Opera browser).

[Steven]

(but I guess there is a bug - I cannot change fileorder in any playlist!)

i dont know what you mean and if you are refering to sorting then its working fine for me - if you are going to post a bug report can you provide steps you took and what happened vs. what you think should have happened.

[HHM]

didn't want to open a new thread in bug report.

What I mean is: let's say I have 10 songs in a playlist. I found out that the track that was 3rd would work better as a openening track. So till now it was easy to move it on the 1st position in main window. Right now it's impossible, tracks keep their positions ("playlist order" is checked in of course).

[Steven]

the link has been updated with the correction for that:
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

[HHM]

that's an impressive speed! works fine, thx!