Thread: MI thoughts and requests.

Ive spend some time in The Gimp (Image Editor) and created what I have invisioned. Keep in mind that I don't uses image editing software very often and I am really not that good at using it either. The top bar is just the bottom bar flipped upside down, I am not talented enough to change the text. I shrunk down the size of the "scrollbat in the middle of the page in order to not change the 800x600 resolution. The album art are all 100x100 images. The album art's text (Artist [newline] Album) arent lined up perfectly for all, but this should at least give a good idea of what I have in my head. Don't laugh, I've used image editing software probably a dozen times or less.

Gumby

Thanks for the suggestions. Im glad you have taken the time to think alot of these descriptions through. They are all fairly easy suggestions to bring to the program as far as the coding standpoint. Im going to comment on each of you sections of your post:

xGumby-> When I go into the playlist editor and select to add all from album A, then go into album B directory and choose to add all from album B, all songs from both albums appear in the right hand column. Now the only way I can see for it to play in the actual media/audio screen is to save the playlist or to have chosen New List when I started Either way, a new playlist must be created. Is it not possible to to add two albums to the audio player without creating a whole playlist? Or maybe I am just missing something basic?

Red-> At the point that you have all of the songs on the right, the filepath has only been moved into the list, it doesnt automatically save. For MI to play the songs I could tell it to transfer the file list into a list on the Audio/Video module, then the program could play the files, but when you
exit the program or shut down you will lost the list. I wouldnt want the program to ask to save it before it exits. I think saving it before hand is best.

xGumby-> It seems to me that "Play File" button plays the list that appears on the left column and not what has been added/removed from the right column. The only way to actually play the songs listed in the right column is to create a new playlist. I guess this is great for people who love playlists but no so great for those that don't. Is there any possible way to play what is listed in the right column without creating a playlist? I am guessing that it would take adding more buttons to the mix.

Red-> I actually never use the playlist feature on the program. I put it together how I thought it would work best.

xGumby-> One other thing to note is that when choosing "Save List", and you are typing out what to call the list on the keyboard editor using a touchscreen, its not immediately aparant where what you are typing is getting saved. Is there any way to create a second popup along with the keyboard popup that shows what you are typing? I know that it shows at the bottom of the right column but its not noticable right away especially if the person has their arm blocking the view while typing on a touchscreen. Another option might be to have it appear in different text or with a background colour the same as the keyboard colour.

Red-> Very Good idea, I was thinking of maybe doing a highlight around the box or a section of the skin with a cutout made from the brushed aluminum part or something. Font colors are good too, I will play around with it.

xGumby-> The issue of not having enough button space seems to be a common one. If this is the case now it will probably only continue to rear its ugly head in the future. Something I might suggest is also having a button bar along the top (of the "Play List" page) or possibly even one side, but for asthetics sake the top is probably best. This bar could possibly have the same images as the bottom bar except for now, not all of the images would have icons on them and could possibly be either greyed out a similar shade to the background behind the buttons on the lower bar because you dont have a use for 8 more buttons as of right now. This would also solve the problem with not having a "View Album Art"/"View Directory" problem we have discussed earlier.

Red-> An excellen idea! I would have to work out the logistics of when it would switch back and forth between standard list mode and album art mode. This would allow me to add many additional features that I have thinking about. All I would have to do is create a toolbar and leave open space as part of the skin design and add buttons later when needed.

xGumby-> And for my last request of the evening... lol. Instead of showing the songs filename in the media player is it possible to show its Track Name from its id3 tag. I know this might cause issues for people who dont have their mp3's well tagged, but the majority of people have the tags setup fine. Possibly if a tag cant be read by the program then it just displays the filename.

Red-> Actually right now the program has 2 settings, Setting 1 - it rotates the id3 tag info, song,artist,bitrate,album,genre, Setting 2 - is supposed to be doing what you described. It shows the song title, or at least it should be. We might have found a bug, I hadnt really paid too much attention to it. Wait a sec..., ok, Just checked and Setting 2 is working exactly as described.
I set it up to default to setting 1 on installation, youll find where to change it in the settings module.

xGumby-> Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help any of this along. MI is great and my comments/thoughts are to be taken as constructive not harmful. For every one thing I think can be improved there are probably dozens wich work great and as expected. Keep up the good work and thanks for listening.

Red-> All your suggestions are incredibly helpful. Its user feedback that makes a great program. Keep the comments and suggestions coming.

xGumby-> And for my last request of the evening... lol. Instead of showing the songs filename in the media player is it possible to show its Track Name from its id3 tag. I know this might cause issues for people who dont have their mp3's well tagged, but the majority of people have the tags setup fine. Possibly if a tag cant be read by the program then it just displays the filename.

Red-> Actually right now the program has 2 settings, Setting 1 - it rotates the id3 tag info, song,artist,bitrate,album,genre, Setting 2 - is supposed to be doing what you described. It shows the song title, or at least it should be. We might have found a bug, I hadnt really paid too much attention to it. Wait a sec..., ok, Just checked and Setting 2 is working exactly as described.
I set it up to default to setting 1 on installation, youll find where to change it in the settings module.
-----------------------------

xGumbyx-> what I meant by the viewing of songs id3info was that the CURRENT playlist (on the main media/audio page) that has the black background and not the top-middle blue bar between the volume controls (which is what I think you are referring to when you say it does show the id3info). Currently I have my settings as you suggested to show id3info but that shows it in the top blue bar (in between the volume controls) and not in the current playlist.

Does this make more sense?

Gumby

Originally Posted by xGumbyx

xGumby-> And for my last request of the evening... lol. Instead of showing the songs filename in the media player is it possible to show its Track Name from its id3 tag. I know this might cause issues for people who dont have their mp3's well tagged, but the majority of people have the tags setup fine. Possibly if a tag cant be read by the program then it just displays the filename.

Red-> Actually right now the program has 2 settings, Setting 1 - it rotates the id3 tag info, song,artist,bitrate,album,genre, Setting 2 - is supposed to be doing what you described. It shows the song title, or at least it should be. We might have found a bug, I hadnt really paid too much attention to it. Wait a sec..., ok, Just checked and Setting 2 is working exactly as described.
I set it up to default to setting 1 on installation, youll find where to change it in the settings module.
-----------------------------

xGumbyx-> what I meant by the viewing of songs id3info was that the CURRENT playlist (on the main media/audio page) that has the black background and not the top-middle blue bar between the volume controls (which is what I think you are referring to when you say it does show the id3info). Currently I have my settings as you suggested to show id3info but that shows it in the top blue bar (in between the volume controls) and not in the current playlist.

Does this make more sense?

Gumby

So you would want it to show on the Playlist editor screen? Or show in a different location on the Audio/Video player? Maybe a screenshot would be better, you seem to be able to put a picture together pretty well.

Not the playlist editor, but the the list of songs added to the current playlist ie: what is playing NOW on the main audio screen. So not the image I previously made (the "playlist editor" screen) but the screen that shows what is being played. I dont have a lot of time right now so a quick edit of a photo will show a red circle around where I mean. Instead of the actual file name, it would look better if the songname was grabbed from the id3tags info and put there instead. For example, instead of "02 - Dam That River.mp3" being displayed, "Dam That River" would be shown assuming that the is3info had "Dam That River" as its songname.

Alice In Chains! Koolllll! LOL

Originally Posted by xGumbyx

Not the playlist editor, but the the list of songs added to the current playlist ie: what is playing NOW on the main audio screen. So not the image I previously made (the "playlist editor" screen) but the screen that shows what is being played. I dont have a lot of time right now so a quick edit of a photo will show a red circle around where I mean. Instead of the actual file name, it would look better if the songname was grabbed from the id3tags info and put there instead. For example, instead of "02 - Dam That River.mp3" being displayed, "Dam That River" would be shown assuming that the is3info had "Dam That River" as its songname.

I see said the blind man to the deaf mute! Heh heh. Whats that you smell you say, oh yeah those are brain cells burning up!... I totally understand now, sorry for not getting it right away. That sounds really good. I didnt code it that way because I basically didnt have a clear idea on how it could work, but with the work that I have done on the Album Art option, I have a good idea how to accomplish this. I will work on it and see if what kind of time it takes to translate the iD3 tag into a file list for a large song list. Im making very good progress on the program with these suggestions. I will keep everyone posted. Thanks again for all the info.

Red, I have another suggestion.
Seems that most of the time there is no need for a cursor outside of the web browser.
Would it be possible to have the cursor show only on the web module??? Or in the hide cursor option of the settings have it override that when on web browser?

Originally Posted by MobiTekLink

Red, I have another suggestion.
Seems that most of the time there is no need for a cursor outside of the web browser.
Would it be possible to have the cursor show only on the web module??? Or in the hide cursor option of the settings have it override that when on web browser?

Sure, that would be very easy.