Feedback on bottom global NAV

veetid · 03-07-2006, 11:28 PM

Looking for some feedback on the new bottom global nav. First of all we condensed the previous/next and rewind/fastforward buttons. This has started to be common on a lot of devices to hold to rewind/fastword and we felt extra button actions would be more important. Also you get a good feel for where those buttons are and they perform multiple actions... I personally don't fastforward/rewind that much and we felt that having them in the same place made it easier to use...

We also needed the space to add the back button on the far right... This is a quick button back to the main page and once on the main page you can set it to an action of nothing, close, restart, shutdown, etc...

We are curious if the mute speech button in the global nav is something people feel they need or use. How many users that use speech feel this button is necessary? Most mics have a mute button on them themselves...

If this button was to be statically replaced with something what would you, as users, want it to link to? GPS, where you could specify the integrated Destinator or an embedded external app? A quick link to media player?

There is already a quick link to the media manager by clicking the main title area. We also plan to look into adding the menu button to the fullscreen headers so you have access to the shortcut menu in fullscreen mode.

Do many users feel the random button deserves to be in the global nav? I personally toggle it often, but I'm curious about feedback from everyone else.

Or do some wish they still had the independent fastword/rewind buttons seperate and the lose of the two new global actions?

david

If this button was to be replaced, what would

Floatingpi · 03-07-2006, 11:40 PM

I for one think perhaps having the bottom buttons be somewhat configurable would be a great idea. Just like how we can choose what side buttons are.

For me I would like to see the speech button on there as I don't have a mute on my mic. I have no problem with heading into media for changing to visual and shuffle modes, so I don't care that much for those buttons.

veetid · 03-08-2006, 12:07 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Floatingpi

I for one think perhaps having the bottom buttons be somewhat configurable would be a great idea. Just like how we can choose what side buttons are.

For me I would like to see the speech button on there as I don't have a mute on my mic. I have no problem with heading into media for changing to visual and shuffle modes, so I don't care that much for those buttons.

We have considered making the bottom nav configurable, but it for one drastically further complicates the skin, decreases performance due to the painting of dynamic transparent icons, and removes the standardization of a bottom nav...

We still might add this support in the future, but it will not make it into the first final release...

thanks for the input, just what I was looking for...

david

lifeboat · 03-08-2006, 12:22 AM

I like the dual function rew/ffwd buttons. Also see a definite need for a menu shortcut on the fullscreen header. I don't use the random function globally but would want it in media manager at least. I don't use voice at the moment but to me it makes sense to have the mute be global since voice control is itself global.

HoSS · 03-08-2006, 05:12 AM

Don't make it custom if its going to slow CF down. Its a major plus that CF is responsive & stable.

predator1 · 03-08-2006, 05:45 AM

the speech button would be more useful when working like the one of voice command for ppc cause atm it's not useable when playing music, you always have to mute/pause music, enable voice recognition, use the voice command, disable voice recognition, unmute/resume.
voice command for ppc works like this, when you want to give it an order push the voice button, it mutes all audio output, gives you a confirmation sound and awaits your command (without keyword necessary), after the command was recognized it confirms with a sound again unmutes and voice regonition is disabled till you hit the voice button again. of course this way you need to use the button to give orders but it's impossible for the pc to get your voice commands when music is playing anyway and you can assign a h/w-button on your steering wheel or center console to it (if hotkey supported) just like bmw handles it with i-drive.

Frankino · 03-08-2006, 06:44 AM

the dropdown menu needs a configurable timeout, it's a little too slow to disappear once pressed.. I find myself pressing it by accident after I launched an embedded app, and the dropdown menu stays open on top of the application..
by the way I hava noticed a problem on the dropdown menu, both on my carpc and my desk machine.. launch CF, click menu and click media. instead of launching media it launchs mixer which is the button below (I edited the positions)
again I click on mixer and it launches GPS (button below again)
after few times using the menu this issue disappears and it works well
this is not a touchscreen issue, I tried it with my good old mouse.
p.s. what about a semitrasparent dropdown menu? would be really cool..
and the menu button is a little too big for my taste, but I assume this is only a skin feature

Floatingpi · 03-08-2006, 10:36 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by predator1

the speech button would be more useful when working like the one of voice command for ppc cause atm it's not useable when playing music, you always have to mute/pause music, enable voice recognition, use the voice command, disable voice recognition, unmute/resume.
voice command for ppc works like this, when you want to give it an order push the voice button, it mutes all audio output, gives you a confirmation sound and awaits your command (without keyword necessary), after the command was recognized it confirms with a sound again unmutes and voice regonition is disabled till you hit the voice button again. of course this way you need to use the button to give orders but it's impossible for the pc to get your voice commands when music is playing anyway and you can assign a h/w-button on your steering wheel or center console to it (if hotkey supported) just like bmw handles it with i-drive.

It would be great to have the voice button function more like that.

buurin · 03-08-2006, 11:22 AM

Ideally a config'able global nav but not if it hurts performance.

Definately need FF/RW functionality. I'd say put it on the global nav

Voice Mute does not have to be global. You use voice control so you dont have to look at the screen. As long as Voice Mute can be associated with a hotkey then it can be accessed via a steering wheel control or like you said, via the button on a user's mics.

I do like the ideal of muting to input a voice command. i still think that a 'hardware' buton is better for entering voice mode.

veetid · 03-08-2006, 11:31 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by predator1

the speech button would be more useful when working like the one of voice command for ppc cause atm it's not useable when playing music, you always have to mute/pause music, enable voice recognition, use the voice command, disable voice recognition, unmute/resume.
voice command for ppc works like this, when you want to give it an order push the voice button, it mutes all audio output, gives you a confirmation sound and awaits your command (without keyword necessary), after the command was recognized it confirms with a sound again unmutes and voice regonition is disabled till you hit the voice button again. of course this way you need to use the button to give orders but it's impossible for the pc to get your voice commands when music is playing anyway and you can assign a h/w-button on your steering wheel or center console to it (if hotkey supported) just like bmw handles it with i-drive.

there is an option in settings to auto mute when it hears the keyword, default set to "computer"...

david

Floatingpi · 03-08-2006, 11:44 AM

Even if it isn't turned up very loud that the computer doesn't always pick up the computer keyword.

Its problably more of a poor quality mic problem. When I am using the phone the person on the other end hears themselves so its picking up more then I would like it too...

On a side note I have not been able to use voice yet. I uninstalled my SAPI and tried using the one that came with your installer. I can do the voice training and mic setup no problems, along with setting commands in CF. They just won't work for me. They worked great in 1.5.

cold_fusion · 03-08-2006, 11:49 AM

Personally I like the new "combined" style RW/FF buttons. I didn't quite see the point of haven't 2 seperate buttons. Since you had to hold down the old RW/FF buttons anyway you might as well have them combined as you've implemented it now giving you the extra space - so i say keep those.

As for speech I can't say I use it at the moment...due to the fact that it can't hear you while playing music. If you implemented it as Predator1 has suggested above then i'd see that as a real bonus! By using a hardware button or the global NAV speech button I think people would find it much more handy! therefore making it worth-while keeping it in the global NAV.

Lastly for a configurable button I don't think it would follow the logic of the front-end. If you wish to keep it simple then keep the quick-launch style apps in the same area...being the drop-down menu. Further apps are kept in the main menu area. If you start putting too many routes to applications then things get confusing.

However!! saying that I can think of a similar function for the global NAV - a flip-between-apps function. Rather than have it quick launch an app, have it flip between the current screen and one configurable spp. You can then give that button a set icon (so maintaining performance) but configure the screen it "flips" to. If you click it takes you to GPS, click it again and it will take you back to your original screen. This would always give you one-touch access to that favourite app (I'd have it GPS so i can flip between media and GPS).

Just my thoughts!

buurin · 03-08-2006, 12:00 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by cold_fusion

Personally I like the new "combined" style RW/FF buttons. I didn't quite see the point of haven't 2 seperate buttons. Since you had to hold down the old RW/FF buttons anyway you might as well have them combined as you've implemented it now giving you the extra space - so i say keep those.

The major difference is that if you dont hold the current button long enough the song skips.. and using a touchscreen is difficult to hold the button. i am CONSTANTLY skipping songs by accident now. Its driving me

donde · 03-08-2006, 10:56 PM

I think the bottom global nav is great like it is now. Combining the prev/next buttons with rew/ffw is a smart space saver. I have no problem pressing and holding on my touch screen. The only hard thing to do is double click.

I switch between random/repeat/regular all the time, so that button is very useful to have access to all the time.

I don't know about the usefulness of sapi button since I don't use it, but if it were me I'd take that button out and the visualizations button. I'd make the visualizations activated by pressing and holding the album art/visualization square in media for a second or so (how often do you need to switch in and out of visualizations? They're really only for showing off and if you're using something like gps or obdII you're going to to be watching those apps, not visuals) and I'd use the extra space created in the bottom bar to enlarge the pause and next/last buttons. They're the most commonly used buttons, but are no larger than any of the others. Why should the gamma button, which you may only use a few times a day, be the same size as the next/last buttons?

sivart321 · 03-09-2006, 04:23 AM

The addition of a GPS button would be great. I would like to be able to quickly hop over to the GPS screen, and then hop right back to music with the click of one button.

Edit: I should note I want the button to hop over to Iguidance, not destinator for example.