More > JRiver Media Center 30 for Mac
Possible MC Improvements for Mac
blgentry:
I've been a customer of MC for Mac since version 20; 11 full versions and I just bought version 31. In that time I've seen a lot of feedback from customers. I've answered quite a number of questions, many of them Mac specific.
I see a few recurring requests for MC that are Mac specific. I thought I'd outline 3 of them to see if maybe Bob wants to tackle one or more of them.
1. Scrolling. If you scroll, using the mouse wheel, in an album cover view or similar, you will notice that it is jerky and jumpy. The Windows version of MC is buttery smooth.
2. Full screen behavior and window sizing. Grabbing the window resize handles (at the 4 corners of the main window) is very difficult. It sometimes takes me 3 or 4 tries to get the handle. Resizing behavior is inconsistent and can also reposition the window in the process. Double click on the title bar generally maximizes the window. I do this almost exclusively because resizing is so inconsistent.
Maximized works well for me. However quite a few customers have asked for a full screen view that works like other Mac apps. Native Mac Apps with Full Screen open a new space and put the window in this new space by themselves. This is accessible using Mission Control and the various hot keys built-in to MacOS. Adding this would make MC for Mac look and feel much more native.
3. Diacritical, accented, and special character handling. Work has recently been done on this. I'm guessing that Bob has several man-days of effort into it. However, I don't think it works like native Mac programs. I only say this because one or two customers keep talking about it. I'm often surprised by how many of MC's customers are not native English speakers and use MC primarily with a different language, many of which include diacritical characters. I think this would be very welcome to that community.
For me #1 is the most visible thing that could be improved for Mac.
Thanks for reading. To Bob especially: I appreciate the effort you have put into MC for Mac. On the off chance that we ever meet, I owe you a round of whatever beverage you like best.
Brian.
bob:
--- Quote from: blgentry on April 28, 2023, 08:37:35 am ---I've been a customer of MC for Mac since version 20; 11 full versions and I just bought version 31. In that time I've seen a lot of feedback from customers. I've answered quite a number of questions, many of them Mac specific.
I see a few recurring requests for MC that are Mac specific. I thought I'd outline 3 of them to see if maybe Bob wants to tackle one or more of them.
1. Scrolling. If you scroll, using the mouse wheel, in an album cover view or similar, you will notice that it is jerky and jumpy. The Windows version of MC is buttery smooth.
--- End quote ---
Did a bit of playing with this. As far as I can tell there's nothing wrong with the drawing behavior, it's has to do with the scrolling wheel sensitivity.
With an Apple Magic Mouse or the trackpad on a Mac laptop I get the same behavior as on windows, perfectly smooth.
This is because the Mac mouse wheel API returns precision deltas for Apple devices.
But with a generic device, like my Logitech mouseman wheel, the API won't provide a precise delta and so we are multiplying by a fixed amount.
It just seems too sensitive.
I could reduce the fixed amount or add a configuration option for it.
--- Quote ---
2. Full screen behavior and window sizing. Grabbing the window resize handles (at the 4 corners of the main window) is very difficult. It sometimes takes me 3 or 4 tries to get the handle. Resizing behavior is inconsistent and can also reposition the window in the process. Double click on the title bar generally maximizes the window. I do this almost exclusively because resizing is so inconsistent.
Maximized works well for me. However quite a few customers have asked for a full screen view that works like other Mac apps. Native Mac Apps with Full Screen open a new space and put the window in this new space by themselves. This is accessible using Mission Control and the various hot keys built-in to MacOS. Adding this would make MC for Mac look and feel much more native.
--- End quote ---
With the skin I'm using, I compare grabbing and resizing to other apps, like say the terminal app. It seems pretty much the same, maybe a bit narrower (perhaps because we aren't taking retina into account?)
The fullscreen code in MC is very complicated. I'm a bit hesitant to mess with it. It would be easy to break.
--- Quote ---3. Diacritical, accented, and special character handling. Work has recently been done on this. I'm guessing that Bob has several man-days of effort into it. However, I don't think it works like native Mac programs. I only say this because one or two customers keep talking about it. I'm often surprised by how many of MC's customers are not native English speakers and use MC primarily with a different language, many of which include diacritical characters. I think this would be very welcome to that community.
--- End quote ---
Everything is pre-composed UTF-8 now. There shouldn't be any issues with display any more unless files are tagged improperly.
Entering diacriticals is still only done with the "hold key" method because of the way MC gets characters from the Mac API (one at a time). This MAY be possible to change going forward.
--- Quote ---For me #1 is the most visible thing that could be improved for Mac.
Thanks for reading. To Bob especially: I appreciate the effort you have put into MC for Mac. On the off chance that we ever meet, I owe you a round of whatever beverage you like best.
Brian.
--- End quote ---
Sounds good :) If we are every in the same place at the same time :)
bob:
A little more testing. Even if the scroll multiplier is changed, it's never going to be as smooth as with an Apple device. The API simply doesn't provide the same amount of events with a generic device.
I can see this even in included apps like Safari.
blgentry:
--- Quote from: bob on April 28, 2023, 12:00:33 pm ---A little more testing. Even if the scroll multiplier is changed, it's never going to be as smooth as with an Apple device. The API simply doesn't provide the same amount of events with a generic device.
I can see this even in included apps like Safari.
--- End quote ---
I have to grudgingly agree. Scroll using the trackpad on my MacBook is pretty smooth on MC. It's not perfect as the display seems to judder a bit at low speeds. But it's pretty good. I tried turning down scroll speed to the minimum in preferences (for my mouse) and in LogiOptions (Logitech enhancement software for their mice). This didn't really do anything.
I also tried scrolling in Safari and I see what you see: Judder and jerk with Logitech mouse. Pretty darned smooth with track pad. Darn.
Thanks for looking,
Brian.
blgentry:
--- Quote from: bob on April 28, 2023, 11:17:27 am ---With the skin I'm using, I compare grabbing and resizing to other apps, like say the terminal app. It seems pretty much the same, maybe a bit narrower (perhaps because we aren't taking retina into account?)
--- End quote ---
I disagree on this one. Other apps have a title bar, so grabbing to move is very easy. With MC there is a very narrow area to grab the window to move it. I know I talked about resizing (and I will again below). It's all of the window handling that's odd.
Resizing is hard in MC. There are very narrow areas to grab. Try doing a radical resize. Go fast and move a lot. Try it a few times. You should end up finding that MC snaps to one edge of the screen at some point, even if you started no where near the edge. When you you move the window, try moving it rapidly. At some point you should find that one of two things happens:
A) The app suddenly maximizes
B) Spotlight activates 1 or more times.
I'm certain that skins have some influence on this. But I think there are some behaviors that are independent of the skins. Like the window moving and resizing oddities that I just outlined.
Thanks,
Brian.
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