Some More Feature Requests #2

[marc3]

... and here's the second batch of my thoughts/ideas for further improvements/feature requests.


#1: Play Albums Directly When Cover Clicked

I see that in the latest version clicking on an album cover in the Album Song List View will now follow the Song Actions preferences - e.g. clicking the cover might be set to play the whole album from the start. Would it be possible to implement this everywhere an album cover appears so they can be played directly without the extra step of going into the Album Song List View? - seems a little unnecessary if all you want to do is play the album.

Presumably this would necessitate the album cover being separately selectable from the track details to the right of it which would retain the current function. Is this sensible/possible?

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#2: Highlight Screen Media Controls On Touch

Would it be better to give some kind of visual/haptic feedback when operating the on-screen Media Controls - might make the player feel more 'responsive'. Sometimes it doesn't seem very obvious when a button has been clicked successfully, especially if there is any kind of delay or lag in response.

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#3: Shuffle Media Control Colour Represents Current Shuffle State

Instead of using a separate icon to indicate the current shuffle state would it be simpler just to change the colour of the relevant media control? One side effect to current arrangement is that when in landscape mode the album cover shifts to make way for the icon when it appears and shifts back again when it disappears.

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#4: Embedded/External Album Cover Precedence Option

Would it be possible to allow users an option to prevent embedded album covers/artwork taking precedence over externally provided artwork? Personally I use artwork separate to the music files and remove any embedded artwork but sometimes it is still hiding there and replaces my high quality external images. Could an option be added to change the precedence?

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#5: 'Style Sheet' For Textual Elements (Font Size, Colour, etc.)

An ability to change font size/colour, use capitals, italics, etc. throughout the player interface would be a significant improvement - perhaps it could be done along the lines of an html style sheet with users assigning available attributes to each of the types of textual element in your interface, e.g. <h1>,< h2>,< h3>, etc.

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#6: Queue Layout Improvement

I think this has already been discussed but changes to the layout of the Queue Tab so that albums are more clearly distinguishable from each other would be a significant improvement - the best I can get it at the moment is by using the Queue->Ignore Tags = YES preference which shows file/folder name underneath the track name. This is OK but would it be possible to use colour or perhaps indent track names underneath their parent album/folder?, e.g.

Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
01. 01 Speak To Me
02. 02 Breathe
...
10. 10 Eclipse

Animals - Pink Floyd
11. 01 Pigs On The Wing (Part 1)
12. 02 Dogs
...
15. 05 Pigs On The Wing (Part 2)

[GoneMAD]

Mar 17, 2013 13:18:23 GMT -5 marc3 said:

... and here's the second batch of my thoughts/ideas for further improvements/feature requests.


#1: Play Albums Directly When Cover Clicked

I see that in the latest version clicking on an album cover in the Album Song List View will now follow the Song Actions preferences - e.g. clicking the cover might be set to play the whole album from the start. Would it be possible to implement this everywhere an album cover appears so they can be played directly without the extra step of going into the Album Song List View? - seems a little unnecessary if all you want to do is play the album.

Presumably this would necessitate the album cover being separately selectable from the track details to the right of it which would retain the current function. Is this sensible/possible?

-----------------------------------------------------------

#2: Highlight Screen Media Controls On Touch

Would it be better to give some kind of visual/haptic feedback when operating the on-screen Media Controls - might make the player feel more 'responsive'. Sometimes it doesn't seem very obvious when a button has been clicked successfully, especially if there is any kind of delay or lag in response.

-----------------------------------------------------------

#3: Shuffle Media Control Colour Represents Current Shuffle State

Instead of using a separate icon to indicate the current shuffle state would it be simpler just to change the colour of the relevant media control? One side effect to current arrangement is that when in landscape mode the album cover shifts to make way for the icon when it appears and shifts back again when it disappears.

-----------------------------------------------------------

#4: Embedded/External Album Cover Precedence Option

Would it be possible to allow users an option to prevent embedded album covers/artwork taking precedence over externally provided artwork? Personally I use artwork separate to the music files and remove any embedded artwork but sometimes it is still hiding there and replaces my high quality external images. Could an option be added to change the precedence?

-----------------------------------------------------------

#5: 'Style Sheet' For Textual Elements (Font Size, Colour, etc.)

An ability to change font size/colour, use capitals, italics, etc. throughout the player interface would be a significant improvement - perhaps it could be done along the lines of an html style sheet with users assigning available attributes to each of the types of textual element in your interface, e.g. <h1>,< h2>,< h3>, etc.

-----------------------------------------------------------

#6: Queue Layout Improvement

I think this has already been discussed but changes to the layout of the Queue Tab so that albums are more clearly distinguishable from each other would be a significant improvement - the best I can get it at the moment is by using the Queue->Ignore Tags = YES preference which shows file/folder name underneath the track name. This is OK but would it be possible to use colour or perhaps indent track names underneath their parent album/folder?, e.g.

Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
01. 01 Speak To Me
02. 02 Breathe
...
10. 10 Eclipse

Animals - Pink Floyd
11. 01 Pigs On The Wing (Part 1)
12. 02 Dogs
...
15. 05 Pigs On The Wing (Part 2)

1) yea id like to do that at some point
2)i get this alot, i'll eventually do it. just hasnt been a high priority
3) the album art only shift if a line wraps, the icon makes the text area slightly small which could cause the wrapping. In your button color suggestion.. how do you show that its off?
4) ive had this request a few times. maybe now that i made a good way to "order" items for preferences i can do that
5)if the textview widgets support styled html this might be doable for the custom lines.. i would have to look into it
6) the queue is not necessarily sorted by albums so this would look really bad on a shuffled queue

[marc3]

#3: OK. The colours might be as follows:

Shuffle Off=WHITE (As currently)
Shuffle Queue=SKIN COLOUR (Half of media control button only)
Shuffle Collection=SKIN COLOUR (Whole of media control button)

This is illustrated in screen shots attached.

A similar approach might be taken for the repeat icon as well.

Alternatively maybe the button icons could vary in shape/design (if these are available), rather than by colour.

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#6: Yeah - I see the problem now - shuffling the queue, etc. would split up any albums making such a scheme pointless.

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