Loading Profile...
Simplified UI
Im using the default feather... and i must say. its a very Nice, Clean UI. But there are some simple changes the default, Gonzo, feather would benefit from. Like my awesome bar recommendation (http://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/t...), i've made a photohopped image.
Here are my changes and why:
1) Put the playing controls on top. Im not sure why we have alot of the useful controls on the bottom, but it seems reasonable that if that were the case, we'd have the app's title bar and the menus down at the bottom too, along with tabs... beyond me... who cares if it looks like iTunes... We can skin our app and they can't, so what ever... Alternatively we can extend the black portion and put high contrasting play/pause next prev buttons that match the seek bar and it won't look like iTunes at all...
2) By default, on the library, the back/forth navigation buttons are disabled... they are available in the library and it serves no purpose but to be confusing... Good in theory, but not in pratice. I don't understand why we should be able to navigate our recent library navigation only to find what we were last looking at... so they're disabled in the library tab to help avoid confusing betwen the back/forth button and the next/previous track button.
3) the now playing data is right above the awesome bar... maybe a reference for searching.
4) Volume sticks out a little better... its got is own black area and i did a horrible job comming up with whats supposed to be a speaker to mute or unmute music... The slider matches the position slider to keep things uniform... and i added % so you can relate the position on the bar more acurately and detect small changes better when you fine tune it.
In hind sight, we could have had the precentage on the left like the time data on the position bar to keep things more uniform... i wasn't thinking clearly i guess...
5) 2 buttons on the right stay there, and theres room to add more... like a crossfade button in the future. If we want to further expand this area, we can add a 3rd black area and collapse the position bar.
6) I've used my awesome bar recommendation in building this shot...simple, standard, and fits in naturally just moved the bottom stuff above it.
7) "Now selected" becomes "Now playing"... If you shuffle songs, you can look at the album art and have a good idea whats next... who cares what the album looks like when we select a track... If we wanted to go that route (and we do) i'll draft up an idea on how we should view albums & tracks by a single artist.
Another reason for this change is i've been listening to a few songs now... and because i have a song selected... i got the same picture... it doesn't fit at all. that and i can't figue our how to not select anything... so its the same picture over and over again. Changing the picture makes the user feel like song bird is doing its job... its read, analyzed and displaying/play my song actively.
8) Other details like playlist come second, because changing these change the main windows contents... so if we change displays, we can offer something more active in this new space (such as the ablum art, Artist, Album, Song, Track details) in a list... I'll draw another yet another pic.
9) i think thats all my changes.
Here are my changes and why:
1) Put the playing controls on top. Im not sure why we have alot of the useful controls on the bottom, but it seems reasonable that if that were the case, we'd have the app's title bar and the menus down at the bottom too, along with tabs... beyond me... who cares if it looks like iTunes... We can skin our app and they can't, so what ever... Alternatively we can extend the black portion and put high contrasting play/pause next prev buttons that match the seek bar and it won't look like iTunes at all...
2) By default, on the library, the back/forth navigation buttons are disabled... they are available in the library and it serves no purpose but to be confusing... Good in theory, but not in pratice. I don't understand why we should be able to navigate our recent library navigation only to find what we were last looking at... so they're disabled in the library tab to help avoid confusing betwen the back/forth button and the next/previous track button.
3) the now playing data is right above the awesome bar... maybe a reference for searching.
4) Volume sticks out a little better... its got is own black area and i did a horrible job comming up with whats supposed to be a speaker to mute or unmute music... The slider matches the position slider to keep things uniform... and i added % so you can relate the position on the bar more acurately and detect small changes better when you fine tune it.
In hind sight, we could have had the precentage on the left like the time data on the position bar to keep things more uniform... i wasn't thinking clearly i guess...
5) 2 buttons on the right stay there, and theres room to add more... like a crossfade button in the future. If we want to further expand this area, we can add a 3rd black area and collapse the position bar.
6) I've used my awesome bar recommendation in building this shot...simple, standard, and fits in naturally just moved the bottom stuff above it.
7) "Now selected" becomes "Now playing"... If you shuffle songs, you can look at the album art and have a good idea whats next... who cares what the album looks like when we select a track... If we wanted to go that route (and we do) i'll draft up an idea on how we should view albums & tracks by a single artist.
Another reason for this change is i've been listening to a few songs now... and because i have a song selected... i got the same picture... it doesn't fit at all. that and i can't figue our how to not select anything... so its the same picture over and over again. Changing the picture makes the user feel like song bird is doing its job... its read, analyzed and displaying/play my song actively.
8) Other details like playlist come second, because changing these change the main windows contents... so if we change displays, we can offer something more active in this new space (such as the ablum art, Artist, Album, Song, Track details) in a list... I'll draw another yet another pic.
9) i think thats all my changes.
I’m Hoping people like my idea, beacuse I would kill for this layout.
4
people like this idea
I like this idea!
Tell me when this idea gets some attention.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The company has not planned to implement this.
-
Inappropriate?1.) Is already possible. In Menu: View -> Player Controls -> Display at Top
2.) Hm, I don't know. The current behavior is the default behavior for many programs. I understand your point, but I don't think these buttons should be behave different here. I use the back/next buttons in library all the time.
3.) I don't understand, what you mean here.
4.) That's all about taste... I would prefer the current solution, but it can be easily changed by feather-developers.
5.) Why not? If cross-fading comes, this will be a good place for a button.
6.) You're awesomebar is great, would love to see it, maybe as an add-on to start with. But pretty difficult to code, i guess. Until then, I have Ubiquity as an (different) replacement.
7.) Is already possible, too: just click on the label "Now selected" and it will change to "Now Playing" (and back)
8.) I would love more customization with this, too!
9.) Okay, that were just my 50 Cent :-)
4 people think
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?PS: I just figured out an easy way to put the albumart to the top, like in you mockup :-)
I will add it as an option in the next Version of my Power Tools add-on.
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Wow, thanks i didn't realize you could do that with the player controls and the "now playing" album art.
Stuff like this should be the *standard* layout... Just an opinion.
And your right about the volume thing... that was just a preference of taste and having it like it is seems to fit better anyways... not sure what i was thinking, i guess i really wanted the controls up top.
And thanks for your help... ...you just completely destroyed my idea, but im glad that most of my preferences will be met through customization... and here is what i was talking about in regards to the "awesome bar"
http://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/t...
CHAMP
