A revamp of the "Now Playing".

[Steven]

I actually liked the "Playing track" since it let me view track information and lyrics along with some nice related pictures.

i felt it was too cluttered and messy the way it was before and have never been happy with it. But i will definitely look to add back the lyrics as an option.
If anyone wants to do a mockup i might be willing to accomodate any ideas but keep in mind the general shape of the panel is a rectangle that is much wider than it is high

[Bee-liever]

edit:
actually i probably am against that because i think when you have the music library panel open the main activity is searching and finding files, so it should remain the larger panel. I might just get rid of the "Theater" panel for all nodes except the Now Playing panel - its too hard to get it working well with a single artist picture on such a narrow strip

I would agree. I don't think it works well when it's at the bottom of the panel

I actually liked the "Playing track" since it let me view track information and lyrics along with some nice related pictures.

i felt it was too cluttered and messy the way it was before and have never been happy with it. But i will definitely look to add back the lyrics as an option.
If anyone wants to do a mockup i might be willing to accomodate any ideas but keep in mind the general shape of the panel is a rectangle that is much wider than it is high

Same as paq, I liked having the track info and the lyrics, but I also didn't like that any artwork displayed, obscured the picture.
Always thought the pics should have started from the RH edge of the artwork, not from the the LH side of the panel.

So in light of that, this is my two-cents worth of mock-up

IMO the waveform and the spectrum should be in the tabs at the bottom of the screen

and the main panel could have large artwork centered, with all track details available for display on RH side and lyrics that can toggled on/off on LH side.
The artwork could have on option to do a slideshow of all embedded/saved artwork and be replaceable with an artists picture.

And Steven, I've also gotta take this opportunity to thank you again for MB. You just keep coming up with great ideas that improve and enhance your amazing software

[mikebo]

Not sure how i feel about the whole theater thing, but one thing i definitely don't like is the panel swapping. It's a little confusing and when you minimize the bottom panel which now has the playing list it swaps again.

But I have a suggestion for the wave bar and visualizer. Maybe a better place for them would be in the player bar. This could be similar to itunes, with a button that switches between different views (seek bar > wave bar > visualizer).

[Steven]

i also am not happy with the way the panels switch when the Theater tab is selected and i think what i will do is return the older "Playing Track" but with some changes to how the artwork and track info displays.
for the new "Theater" tab, it would be available as a tab when the Track And Artist panel is docked as a separate tab - it would look pretty much how the Theater tab looks how it does now in the Now Playing list node and would include a small list of files in the Now Playing list.
@mikebo, that is a good idea for the wave bar

[Bee-liever]

maybe the navigation bar could be extended across the entire screen, same as the player.
the LH & RH panels reduced slightly in height so they come in under the navigation bar, and the bit of space gained used for the wavebar/spectro à la mikebo, itunes and winamp

[mikebo]

I think this would be a worse layout. I have highlighted the panels to show you why

current layout:


your layout

[paq]

If the "Theater" tab would show the Theater Mode in a tab, it would open up for more flexibility and customization regarding the look.

[Bee-liever]

I have highlighted the panels to show you why

but, if your idea of keeping the tabs over the main panel is implemented, your layout would like this

very similar to how having a side-panel open in a browser works

[mikebo]

No that's not what i want. I only want the tabs to be aligned with the main panel.

[Bee-liever]

if your idea of keeping the tabs over the main panel is implemented, your layout would like this

I only want the tabs to be aligned with the main panel.

I included that because, unless your idea is implemented, the tabs in the caption bar won't always line up and keep the central blue section together

[Nixander]

... and the bit of space gained used for the wavebar/spectro à la mikebo, itunes and winamp

it looks very nice with the spectrum/wavebor in the now playing panel

[Steven]

i havent had time to consider the wavebar, but this includes (i think) a much improved Playing Track Details tab that changes the layout when the Track and Artist panel is docked as a separate tab. It currently only displays the wavebar and spectrum visualiser when docked in the bottom panel.

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2_1/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

[Bee-liever]

Looks good.
Artwork in bottom LH corner when as a tab, IMO works better than the original

(sigh...had my fingers crossed for the album art slideshow, guess I'll just have to keep wishing    )

[Steven]

(sigh...had my fingers crossed for the album art slideshow, guess I'll just have to keep wishing    )

remind me how you think that would work - all pictures in the music folder?

[cartman005]

It looks really cool with the album artwork at the bottom overlapping with the artist picture.