New Compact Player Layout

[HHM]

Great thanks for your all works on the compact player, it's really impressive!

1. as for my one suggestion - the whole compact player's look is very minimalistic and skeumorphic, just the way W8 Metro UI is. I like it a lot. Therefore, to stay consistent and logic, there should be no  transparency blending/fading (like in scampbll pic) - at least on default. Transparency maybe yes, but without fadeouts. This fading just doesn't match the rest of solid compact player's style, does it?


2. also +1 for the option of change what is displayed in the track info area for the compact player.

3. track info area could be interactive - with option to f.e. rate tracks.

4. but -1 for the current form of volume indicator, as it requires a click more to change the volume. In my opinion it should look just as it looks after the first click in the arrow, but without a border. This is how I'd find it perfect as a default look


(see there's no additional white border around the volume regulator. this border is unnecessary ornament IMO)

5. It would be also great if there could be dots/indicator field (i mean this: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=5901.0) to choose for managing multiple files in now playing list.

[psychoadept]

Couple more suggestions:

1. Right now, displaying the lyrics really takes away from the elegance of the whole thing (see below).  How about having the lyrics have the same background and font color as the track details, and blend into the artist photo the same way?  The spectrum bar could still go all the way across, too.

2. When you have the lyrics open, the artwork becomes a much more manageable size at the minimum player size (see below).  Could we have it scale the same way even without the lyrics?  That would also help immensely with awkward artwork problems.

[HHM]

and some compliting remarks:

[psychoadept]

I really like the gradient, but I do think it could stand to be smoother, less abrupt at the start.  I would also like to see the background of the spectrum visualizer be faded in, or maybe even be the same as the rest of the player.

[HHM]

of course, there's nothing not to like - it's a matter of individual prefs:)
however what i wanted to underline is that it's out of the rest layout's style (which is solid and with firm borders everywhere else)

[psychoadept]

Yeah, I guess I'm looking at going the other way and having more gradients.  In any case, I know that Steven put that there in part because of my complaints about scaling artist pictures at small sizes, so I'm kind of attached to it. 

[Alexis]

Nice compromise Steven.  Like the blurring and how it compensates.

It would probably ideal to have the option to select what is displayed there separately from what is selected for track details details under 'nowplaying configuration'.

Considering that you have to go back into "classic" view right now if you want to make any changes to that displayed info, I agree it would be a good idea to have separate controls for the compact player.

If you take that step and make changes.. it is still applied to the track details on the main player.  I realize it comes up under the options  when customizing the classic player.. but it is applied across all.. so would like a separation.

[redwing]

Regarding scaling:

Currently when lyrics or now playing list is open, expanding the window enlarges right panel only.

1. If possible, allow users to drag the vertical center border to the left and right to resize the width of both panels. Then resizing the whole window will keep the ratio for both panels.

2. If that's not possible, make it so that expanding with left-side window enlarges left panel, right window for right panel.

[VX]

The bug described in the comments no. 75 and 93 still not fixed.

[Steven]

i will let you know when i have had a look at it

[SimonBRT]

just want to voice support of portrait orientated images now filling the whole area with a fade.  looks great!

[Alexis]

I think that the fade looks perfect for light images as demonstrated in the above post.

[SimonBRT]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before (I have tried to read as much of the thread as possible).

We currently have 'Now playing' and 'Lyrics' tabs.  I would really like to have an 'Artist Bio' tab added also.  I think it would look great and also be one less reason to switch back to the main player.  I know the compact player shouldn't get too feature packed and bloated though...

[VX]

I think that the fade looks perfect for light images as demonstrated in the above (ie. reply no. 130 - VX) post.

Yes, indeed. Implementing the 'Artist Bio' tab as an option seems reasonable as well. Good suggestions, SimonBRT.

Now that the New Compact Player is almost done, I'd like to suggest one simple feature that I guess would be welcomed.
MusicBee is full of features, but still intuitive and user friendly.

A new view is done. I think the View menu is the place where most users would expect to find it.

IMHO, the current solution for launching the New Compact Player View seems far from simplicity and counter intuitive. To enable it you have to go to Edit/ Preferences/ Layout (2)/ compact player
 and switch use classic layout for use 'flat' layout
Don't you think that the option is hidden too deep in the Preferences 
And why it's called 'flat' in there

Instead, I'd rather place this option in the View alongside existing views for easy switching:
- Main Player;
- Main Player (Locked Down);
- Theater Mode;
- New Compact Player - in fact this is something 'compact' between Theater Mode and Classic Player, isn't it 
- Classic Player
- MiniPlayer (aka Bar Player).

What do you think 

[Greb]

A couple of proposals based in my last theater mode 

Layouts here: http://filebeam.com/f386aae54b14b0dff45c0fed2818d470