04-26-2020, 09:59 AM
(04-25-2020, 08:57 PM)swizzle Wrote:(04-25-2020, 12:37 PM)The moodenigo Wrote: Second, the not-so-good-news: Now the option so update the thumbnail cache is gone. I can only regenerate? Why?
The thumbnail cache now updates automatically when you update the mpd library.
I see. I am not 100% sure this is optimal but I understand the rationale for removing the option. It actually reduces the steps I have to do, so even according to my principles it is better ;-) I did not say one should not update the thumbnail cache when the mid library is updated. I just said that the option for refreshing the thumbnail cache should be there, if nothing for the cases where it somehow gets corrupted (it happened to me with my large library).
Quote:Quote:Introducing the "adaptive UI" with the playlist "rising up" from the reduced version at the bottom has been difficult to digest, because it increases the number of steps to go from playlist to file browser or library browser from one to two: first collapse the view, then choose the type of library view. This was bad and until 6.4 I found it painful.
The file browser is a library view and how often do you actually switch between them? Most people stick to one (with the exception of maybe the radio browser). Moode since 6.x remembers where you last left off so you can toggle between the full screen playback and the library view you use with one click without wasting space on a navbar a la moode 3.x.
Some users switch between various views frequently. I am sure I am not the only one. I guess I can live with this as well.
Quote:Quote:Now there is no visual cue. I have to guess that clicking on the cover art will lead me to library view – this absolutely makes not sense, it is not intuitive
There was some debate about this but this is the kind of thing you learn once and then you know it. It’s like the little text on your side mirrors about objects being closer than they appear, useful the first time but forever after just in the way.
No, the is completely illogical and makes no sense. If there is one thing to change is this one. Repeat after me: You have to click on the cover art to go to library view. You have to click on the cover art to go to library view. You have to click on the cover art to go to library view.
This is one of the things it is actually worth "wasting" screen real estate for.
Quote:Quote:AND, to add more lack of intuitiveness, one must choose the view from a button.
It’s a menu actually.
A drop down menu is always attacked to another UI element, in this case a button. I have done UI design in the past.
Quote:Quote:The approach that was there in 3.x (4.x as well IIRC) was: there is a series of "tabs" and one chooses the right one. File browser / library browser / cover view / playlist. Like it is now for the configuration mode. This is the right way to do it.
It may be the right way for you, but this isn’t moodenigo 6.5.
Haha. I know.
Quote:As Tim said the move to the menu was needed because 1) screen space is precious and there isn’t enough room to do it like before if we add any new views ), 2) this lets us declutter the ui by moving some things to the menu (e.g. recently added).
I understand this as well. There should be a different solution though. Putting options on the side in the desktop view perhaps? A button on the left of the search field or of the "m" menu?
Quote:Quote:At the moment I am sticking with moOde only because I do not have to pay for an equaliser (and the parametric one should really have more than 4 bands, since this makes the use with, say, REW, impossible).
Moode is a passion project for Tim and we’re lucky that he’s demented enough to put as much time into it as he does, but reminding him that the only reason you use it is because you don’t have to contribute anything back to the project probably isn’t the right way to win him over with regard to any requests you may have.
I understand, but I want you to understand that there are small issues (and that can probably be easily mitigated) that affect UX significantly. The thing that really sticks out is "click on the cover art to go to cover view" which is a "SRSLY?" thing each time I have to do that.
Quote:Quote:Please reconsider very seriously the insertion of a navigation bar, and restore the ability to go to a "large cover" view of the playlist by clicking on the cover art.
We got rid of the navigation bar on purpose. Most modern music software (e.g. Spotify, Tidal, Roon, etc.) has adopted a similar interface design language and that makes interoperability easier. You’d have to explain what a “large cover” view of the playlist is.
These pieces of software also go to the library upon clicking on the cover view? This is counterintuitive, and there is no reason for following them if they do stupid things.
Quote:Quote:UX is not about changing the UI to make it "cleaner" and new fonts. It is about the actual useability of the UI.
The only font difference is the use of monospace in the dials now iirc. A less cluttered UI is inherently easier to use though it isn’t necessarily easier to do what you want if you get the distinction. You could say moode lacks discoverability in some areas and I’d agree with you but any software has a learning curve and after the first time insisting on having a separate button to press instead of using the much larger cover seems pedantic.
Come on, the fonts comments was just an example.
Yes, I claim lacks moode lacks discoverability in some areas. Discoverability is fundamental in modern UI design. Otherwise we would have only extremely uncluttered views with random operations to go from one mode to the next. This should be improved a bit.
All software has a learning curve but we should not increase it artificially. Otherwise we could just say a CLI is ok for all users, they just have to learn.
I know I sound pedantic, but fact is, I do not really see the logical connection between the cover art and the library. One could indeed claim that the library is where one "browses" the albums looking at their covers, as in an old fashioned record collection. But with ally good will I cannot persuade myself that this makes sense.
I agree that moOde looks beautiful and that aspect has improved with each release. But this should not be the only rationale or a UI choice.
Quote:Quote:(also configuration should NOT need an extra click either, you just go to the last used higher level pane, without the intermediate selection of Audio/Library/Network/System).
The problem with that are the quick link buttons to e.g. mpd configuration or eq settings. While I personally don’t use them and have contemplated removing the dialog as well but ultimately this isn’t swizzle 6.5 either.
I understand. I suggest to reconsider removing that. It is, to be pedantic, repeating myself, an inconsistency. Different part of an application should behave similarly, unless there is a very strong reason to do otherwise. Which I think is missing in this case. The Library does not have such a dialog (and it is obvious, I believe, that it would be wrong to have one) – hence Configuration should also not have one.
Quote:As an aside: elements overlaying the album cover on the playbar was a mobile only thing at first because there I wanted to improve the spacing of the playbar and make the text bigger and there isn’t enough room otherwise (so this is unlikely to change there unless we just get rid of the cover) but it migrated to the larger screen version (and the controls flip-flopped) because around the same time Tim got into Amazon HD and liked how the setup worked there (though iirc they use hover to show the controls which we can’t really do because of touch devices).
I understand, but one should not have a overlaying element for the search. It is done in forums because this leads to a different page, but not here.
I slept over this and I have come to the conclusion that
- Adding a little button to go to library view near the search field or the "m";
- Removing the dialog to enter configuration; and
- Removing the search from the Library menu in tag view and putting it next to the library drop down menu
I think the moOde concept is the best one among linux audiophile distros that run on the Raspberry Pi. I understand the need to rationalise the use of screen real estate. I am myself a person that likes to bring concepts to their extreme consequences - but not only for consistency - also to see where they can fail. In this case, I believe that pushing things to the extreme has failures.
BTW: where is the "large cover art" view now?
