New Compact Player Layout

[Steven]

you can move the window by dragging the top part where the caption bar was.
Also i just reuploaded the link to fix a bug

[ma_t14]

you can move the window by dragging the top part where the caption bar was.
Also i just reuploaded the link to fix a bug

Yes I know. But since visually the caption bar is missing it would be nice to be able to move the window no matter where you click. If that's easy to implement it would be great imo 

[Bee-liever]

Yep. The visualiser

I should have also said, I think it's because the narrow visualiser is to small, in relation to the other elements, for the larger tab view

Thanks Steven for the update
That was it. The taller visualiser in "Playing Track" tab balances it out. Looks great.
Will you be implementing the 'colour change' from the 'Modern' layout for the visualiser or re-implementing the override:
<element id="NowPlayingPanel.SpectrumVisualiser" fg="180,244,168,204" fg2="120,221,245,197" />
at a later date?

@ Steven, taking into account this:

- you can disable automatic colouring so it only uses the skin colour

have you any thoughts on the <element id="NowPlayingPanel.SpectrumVisualiser"/> future or will the custom skin colours from <element id="Player.SpectrumVisualiser"/> be able to be used?

[Alexis]

Steven, this is REALLY very nice.  Thank you so much for implementing this.  Makes the player look sooooooo much 'lighter' and free.

Feedback:
1. It would be nice if the close/maximize buttons were also autohide like the musicbee logo.

2. The outer edge/border of the player is not reflecting the color of the parent skin even when 'change panel color for each displayed picture' is unchecked. For me, it goes to a deep black in dark skins and a gray in lighter skins  that in the case of my skins, I know are not present.    Makes the skinning on the playbar seem off in that respect..

3. Regarding 2 above, I understand that the edge/border color will match the color of the displayed picture when enabled (and I like it), but I think that the parent skin should retain the color of its border around the playbar as indicated below... thus making the playbar seem as a true base and prevent color conflicts.  If it is not east to keep it around the playbar, then let the skin control the color of the entire edge... though I would prefer the former.

[9cupsoftea]

Just a couple of questions about this, because I'd love to try it but I'm a bit confused with all the talk of defaults and such (and the fact the regular beta was updated without a lot of these changes).

If install this version, will my main player settings remain the same? Are all the changes present only for the compact player? Is it still possible to open musicbee by default to the main player?

And to Steven, any idea when this might be released in the Beta releases?

[SimonBRT]

the new option to extend artist picture into the caption bar looks stunning! 

perhaps when checking/enabling this option however it needs to be made clear that it will only work if you have 'skin window borders' checked in the view menu.  i initially didn't and didn't realise why it was not working.  could be confusing for newer users.

[VX]

If install this version, will my main player settings remain the same? Are all the changes present only for the compact player? Is it still possible to open musicbee by default to the main player?

As far as I can tell, 'yes' is the answer for all questions above. You can install the patch with no worries. This view is going to be default one when a new stable version is released (and for new installations only, but I might be wrong about this).

[9cupsoftea]

@VX Thanks, I'll try this out then.

[redwing]

Excellent work! Looks really clean without top bar!

I agree with Alexis on the wishes about
- auto-hide other buttons,
- outer borderline not enclosing player bar,
- coloring outer borderline with skin color when "change panel color" is unticked.

One more wish:
- when "change panel color" is ticked, make all the buttons transparent only to display text, icons and borderlines with mouse-over.

Edit: Well, if other buttons auto-hide too, button colors won't matter much since it's only shown with mouse-over.

[VX]

- when artist pictures are displayed there is now an option to extend the picture into the caption bar so it fills the entire window. It doesnt activate if you have anything displayed in the right panel ie. the Now Playing list, Lyrics and Bio need to be set to auto-hide

Thanks for the update. While enjoying new enhancements I realized that auto-hiding could be smarter.
When Artist picture is in portrait orientation there are usually empty spaces on the sides. Then when you want to unhide Now Playing List or Bio it usually covers an Artist picture partially, leaving empty space on the other side.

I suggest Artist picture to be moved to the side in such cases, so that Now Playing List or Bio don't cover it.

[Steven]

perhaps when checking/enabling this option however it needs to be made clear that it will only work if you have 'skin window borders' checked in the view menu.  i initially didn't and didn't realise why it was not working.  could be confusing for newer users.

forgot about that - i have made a change so it handles windows borders ie. doesnt show them

[sierena]

Just a question, is there anything I can do to make the artist picture change automatically in the main player as it does in the new compact player?

[redwing]

Just a question, is there anything I can do to make the artist picture change automatically in the main player as it does in the new compact player?

Not possible yet natively. But you can run embedded theater views that support gallery element.

[redwing]

With the new no-top-bar mode, displaying lyrics becomes a problem without affecting artist picture. How about supporting floating window for it? Just like right sidebar of main player, double-clicking on the tab floats the window and closing down the window returns to the original panel would be great. 

[Steven]

2. The outer edge/border of the player is not reflecting the color of the parent skin even when 'change panel color for each displayed picture' is unchecked. For me, it goes to a deep black in dark skins and a gray in lighter skins  that in the case of my skins, I know are not present.    Makes the skinning on the playbar seem off in that respect..

i assume you are referring to when the artist picture is extended into the caption bar - i believe its working as intended. Its based on the skin fill colour (which is based on the Playing Track panel colour settings) and the border made a darker shade is so there is a distinct border