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[blackimp]

"5. Changed: Somewhat revised library view mode switching. (feedback welcome)"

Thank you very much! I like it.

[Mr ChriZ]

I have to say....
I'm confused...
Is the menu supposed to still be there on the left side?

[Matt]

I have to say....
I'm confused...
Is the menu supposed to still be there on the left side?

No.  Consider it a rough-draft to see if breaking it into "top" and "bottom" is better or worse.

After there's a verdict, we'll iron out any niggles.

[danrien]

it seems like when i switch from "panes" to Album or something, the bottom "details" area should still say in "details" mode...

[Mr ChriZ]

OK after playing around a bit I'm starting
to get it.

Slightly off topic but I wonder if the Thumbnails and Tiles should be merged for simplicity...

[Alex B]

I like it.

Slightly off topic but I wonder if the Thumbnails and Tiles should be merged for simplicity...

I like the current diversity too. This album thumbnail view is still useful for me:



and the file thumbnails are useful for e.g. image files.

Please, don't even think about removing them. 

[JONCAT]

I'll second that...Album Thumbnails are great nice and big. Tiles should be able to be set up like this.

I like this setup, but what about adding in the left menu a View Schemes item that expands into your various view schemes. I still use my View Schemes quite a bit because you can configure them to include all kinds of keywords or file locations. It is a pain to have to min/max the Tree on the left.

Dr. C

[park]

  ...

[Matt]

I'll second that...Album Thumbnails are great nice and big. Tiles should be able to be set up like this.

I like this setup, but what about adding in the left menu a View Schemes item that expands into your various view schemes. I still use my View Schemes quite a bit because you can configure them to include all kinds of keywords or file locations. It is a pain to have to min/max the Tree on the left.

Dr. C

The tree is how you switch views.  We have no plans to add complexity by building another system that duplicates this.

[datdude]

You can switch views by adding them to the navigation toolbar button.

My feedback on the current incarnation is that it I prefer to select fields from the left hand side and not the right.  Of course I would still like to see buttons available at the top.

[zxsix]

The tree is how you switch views.  We have no plans to add complexity by building another system that duplicates this.

Is there a hotkey that can be used to cycle through the view schemes?

[sbsp2]

The left menu item does NOT highlight via underline to indicate it is 'clickable'.  The right menu items do.  Kind of confusing.

[SuperRabbit0]

Not certain about the specifics of location, etc. but had to chime in to say this new approach is *fantastic*.  Exactly what I'd been hoping for...

[Sauzee]

I love the new view schemes too

[Mr ChriZ]

I like the current diversity too. This album thumbnail view is still useful for me:

and the file thumbnails are useful for e.g. image files.

Please, don't even think about removing them. 

Guess I'm outvoted on this one!  but I still find it strange...
Like why do we change the size for tiles as large, medium, small
and yet with the thumbnails have complete control, including how
far apart they are?

[JONCAT]

Matt, MC offers the option to right click and have various functions available throughout MC e.g. "Send To"

Such an important function as switiching through view schemes (not Auto, Thumbs, etc.) should be available at all times in MC. Having to locate those TINY little triangles to open and close parts of the screen is just plain time consuming  and very annoying. At the very least there shold be a largeer field around them to allow easier location of them. 

How about a hotkey to cycle through them; a great idea Datdude!

Does anyone else find it a real pain to open and close the tree? I know a lot of people like to use the big Album Thumbs and even in tiles mode it's like finding a needle in a haystack having to locate that microscopic carat.

I also think that the buttons were easier but did take up some space, so this current setup may be better.

[Jaguu]

The tree is how you switch views.  We have no plans to add complexity by building another system that duplicates this.

Matt, I do not agree with this!

When in playback mode I like to have the full screen covered with tiles/thumbnails and hide the library tree/action window as they are not needed. But with this full size view it is not possible to switch to view schemes below the main audio/image/video schemes without bringing the tree to the front.

It was there a few releases ago and I found it was a very smart feature, but it disapperead again. I feel one should have all controls available in every possible view. The tile views offer very different approaches on how your selections are done depending on how the panes are set up!

I get the impression that you are flip-flopping all the time around the two extreme positions - allow users to customize as much as possible - don't allow the users to customize anything. 

When I bought MC for the first time (it was MJ7), it was because I was highly impressed by the rich set of user customization it offered. But very often I get the impression that you want to kill your best asset besides the excellent database and organizational capacity of MC.

In my eyes you spent too much time on working and reworking the best parts of MC. It had a great interface in MJ8, it got much better with the panes with MC9/MC10 and MC11. Why change the best parts again and again, while some weaker parts could use some uplifting.

The whole development of the MC11.1 interface looked to me more like a trial and error approach rather than a clear design based on specific requirements. This makes the product very instable, as it is always another product. And features come and go and you never know when this happens. I remember that I could watch DVD ripped to disk starting them with a single click about one year ago, something that is not possible for me to do any longer.

Most products I have been using for the last few years hardly changed their interface significantly, but kept adding new features without changing what was already there.

[Pink Waters]

I like the new media library thing, but:

switching to another view saves the last view scheme (ie: on top artists, genres...etc) in the media library (also if MC is restarted),  while it does not save the selection. So i think there may be 2 solutioins for that instead of making it remember selection for easy navigation:

1- restore the buttons on of genres, albums, artists.. on top of the media library for fast navigation.
2- use the (top: and bottom:) for making a default library browser view (ie: return to it when view is switched or MC is restarted)

[JONCAT]

Also, MC is by it's nature, a feature rich and complex application. There is going to be a learning curve for new users but I don't think you can design a system with only the new user in mind; that would be counter-productive for sure.

The DVD issue is also a good point. Maybe I haven't played around with it enough but it is a pain when you have all the vob files not recognized as one movie. Disk location can help with this but the dvd presentation should be looked at and reworked.

Merging Tiles & Album Thumbnails would be possible as we would get the best of best worlds; make it fully customizable & keep the features that both already have. Right now it's a bit redundant even though they behave in different ways; unifying the two would provide fully customizable Tiles (they essentialy could simply be made Album Thumbs if desired) and also allow for the wonderful new file list beneath to be max/min at the user's leisure.

It seems like SO much work is going into finding out what people like whereas if you guys settled on a default style and worked out how to let us customize it further, it would save a lot of time & energy and all users would be happy.

All in all things are coming along, although I did have two BSOD's within a half hour using MC (more on this later as it was w/ .91). MC triggered each BSOD while attempting to tag/edit selected item. While it could be a harware problem , I find it curious that the BSOD's occurred using MC while I have been using all kinds of programs lately, including a successful Monkey's Audio Verify of 200 gb of ape files; MAC will stress test as well as Prime95 from what I have heard.

Dr. C

[JimH]

Dr C,
A blue screen is probably a hardware problem.

[park]

I disagree Jaguu,
The constant experimentation is what gives us the great new features. And the flip-flopping, is because the community actually has some kind of influence with the developers. Who's to say when the interface is perfect? Without the small headaches, we wouldnt now have the tile view, which would be a great loss in my opinion. And we might not have had the panes before that.
The best bits are best because they keep playing with them. And I think that the customization will come later. First they have to get the foundations right.
I think that the feeling of "over tinkering" comes from downloading beta versions so regularly, and the effect would be much less so if only downloading the final releases of each version.

[brainsoup]

I really like this new feature but also agree with this

switching to another view saves the last view scheme

I want to be able to view audio differently to how I view video and images. This should be (in my opinion) a by viewscheme option so when you click on Audio it goes back to how you last used it in that viewscheme and when you click on video it goes back to how it last was with video.
 

[Matt]

I really like this new feature but also agree with this

I want to be able to view audio differently to how I view video and images. This should be (in my opinion) a by viewscheme option so when you click on Audio it goes back to how you last used it in that viewscheme and when you click on video it goes back to how it last was with video.
 

You can configure your Audio, Image, and Video view schemes however you like.  Right-click "Edit View Scheme..." in the tree.

[Matt]

you are flip-flopping

I agree... wait, no I don't.

[JONCAT]

Fliip-flopping is so 1980.....

[Marty3d]

It's nice to see the improvements!

But...Is there something wrong with the new library system?
When I browse albums in the tiles mode (I believe) for instance, I can't change the preset text (now [Album]) in the upper view, but I can change it in the lower view (which actually makes no difference since it's showing in detail, so the [Name] field doesn't show anyway).

Is this by design or is it me?

It would be nice to see what Artist made the album as well... Actually, it would be even nicer if you could customize the display text at all, not just to Artist

Thanks!
/Martin

[Alex B]

Marty3d,

Did you see this thred?

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=30774.0

[Marty3d]

Thanks Alex!
As I understand it, you must use a calculated field in the top panes (the good old list fields or what it is called). MC is getting complicated!

I'll try it as soon as I get home from work!

Thank you!

[Alex B]

In my opinion it should not be complicated.

Naturally the albums should be first sorted by the Album Artist (auto) field and then by the Album field. Also, the album artist name is an integral part of the album name and should be displayed. For example, I have 28 "Greatest Hits" albums, but they all have different album artists.

[Matt]

Naturally the albums should be first sorted by the Album Artist (auto) field and then by the Album field.

It's a bit inconsistent to use a special case for album where a-z sorting doesn't sort by the name first.  However, that may be a better route even if it isn't as consistent.

Also, the album artist name is an integral part of the album name and should be displayed. For example, I have 28 "Greatest Hits" albums, but they all have different album artists.

Remember that you can start at a higher level (artists, genres, etc.) and filter down so you don't deal have to deal with as large of a list.

[Alex B]

It's a bit inconsistent to use a special case for album where a-z sorting doesn't sort by the name first.  However, that may be a better route even if it isn't as consistent.

Remember that you can start at a higher level (artists, genres, etc.) and filter down so you don't deal have to deal with as large of a list.

Yes, starting with the Artist and then selecting the Album works fine. It is a really great option. Sometimes I don't know what Artist I would like to listen to and then my calculated Artist/Album view is very nice because I can see all albums side by side. Since the speed problem is now fixed it is also practically usable now.

For newbies it would be easier if the default Album view (root level) would work similarly. For example, I guess no one would normally like to see 28 Greatest Hits albums side by side. If really needed MC has several tools for finding all albums named as "Greatest Hits".