Topic: New Stacked Album Art Display (Read 39338 times)

Mr ChriZ · « **on:** March 08, 2006, 06:33:57 pm »

Just downloaded 141 here =)
The layered album covers are great

(Still love to see this in Theatre View)

datdude · « **Reply #1 on:** March 08, 2006, 07:25:15 pm »

I see why you are going with this, but the screen now seems cluttered and is visually straining versus single album covers listed. I think a better way would be to either show stacked covers from top to bottom within the tile vs spiraled, or some sort of 3d angulated look that rotates when hovered over.

The main problem is that there is not enough space between the tiles and the covers don't stand out as much.

I understand that you want to differentiate between multiple and single albums but I think visually there are better ways.

It also takes way too long to switch views even after they have been viewed previously.

Could this be an option to turn off?

park · « **Reply #2 on:** March 08, 2006, 08:12:37 pm »

I like the new tiles. They dont look so square and self contained now.
I dont like the grey gradient bg for the titles though. It's kind of ugly.

datdude · « **Reply #3 on:** March 08, 2006, 08:16:55 pm »

The album art is smaller now by quite a bit

Matt · « **Reply #4 on:** March 08, 2006, 08:17:05 pm »

Quote from: park on March 08, 2006, 08:12:37 pm

I like the new tiles. They dont look so square and self contained now.
I dont like the grey gradient bg for the titles though. It's kind of ugly.

Send a better one to matt at jriver dot com and we'll consider using it. There may even be a free t-shirt for the winner.

wombat66 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 08, 2006, 10:37:27 pm »

Quote from: datdude on March 08, 2006, 07:25:15 pm

I see why you are going with this, but the screen now seems cluttered and is visually straining versus single album covers listed. I think a better way would be to either show stacked covers from top to bottom within the tile vs spiraled, or some sort of 3d angulated look that rotates when hovered over.

The main problem is that there is not enough space between the tiles and the covers don't stand out as much.

I understand that you want to differentiate between multiple and single albums but I think visually there are better ways.

It also takes way too long to switch views even after they have been viewed previously.

Could this be an option to turn off?

I agree about the spiral approach looking cluttered.
A stacked look probably would look nicer.

Perhaps something like this?

GHammer · « **Reply #6 on:** March 09, 2006, 02:19:34 am »

Quote from: datdude on March 08, 2006, 07:25:15 pm

I see why you are going with this, but the screen now seems cluttered and is visually straining versus single album covers listed. I think a better way would be to either show stacked covers from top to bottom within the tile vs spiraled, or some sort of 3d angulated look that rotates when hovered over.

I like it this way. Stacked will eventually run out of room with many albums per artist.
Plus, IMO, stacked just doesn't look right and the example image here is at least as 'cluttered'. The movement when they cycle would be odd too compared to the spiral.

marko · « **Reply #7 on:** March 09, 2006, 03:04:51 am »

My 1st impression was that the spiral effect was too 'busy' for the eyes, but that quickly changed when I realised that they are actually a little informative regarding just how many albums are in each stack, relative to each other. I like this.

Alex B · « **Reply #8 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:10:14 am »

These girls don't like the increased white space around them. They don't like the smaller pictures. They like big and tight.

Also, they don't need spirals or stacks. They go their separate ways.

Click to enlarge the image.

- the tiles are set to "Large".

EDIT Here is an older screenshot of medium-sized tiles: whygo.jpg.

GHammer · « **Reply #9 on:** March 09, 2006, 07:26:04 am »

The girls seem to like it here. Said something about finally changing their look or something...

Full size:
http://ghammer.net/temp/fs-covers.jpg

dcwebman · « **Reply #10 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:15:09 am »

OK, my 2 cents. I love the idea but not sure about the spiral look. I think it's informative that there is more than one album but don't necessarily need to know exactly how many. Perhaps a cascade look like in most programs set to a maximum number that would fit might look better.

I can't wait to try this it at home on the few artists that I have many albums of to see what happens to those spirals when they hit the top left edge.

Alex B · « **Reply #11 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:27:48 am »

Actually, I think the spiral stack is a great idea for [Artist] or [Album Artist (auto)] based view.

It is not so great for [Album] or my calculated [Album Artist (auto)] - [Album] view because no stacks exist (unless the individual tracks have various cover art images) and there is a lot of wasted space.

As always, a user selectable option would probably make everybody happy.

I captured some additional 140 vs. 141 screenshots, but I don't have time to process them now. I'll try to add them later.

jgreen · « **Reply #12 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:35:50 am »

I love this idea, including the spiral. At first I thought that cascading tiles would be better, much as wombat suggests. But at tile size it really wouldn't show up, and would quickly march off the page with large stacks.

I can see that it might appear cluttered in album views, while not necessarily adding much info, but in images I believe it adds a lot. Most of us have our album info committed to memory by now, so we're less apt to explore via album art, IMO. But with images, seeing whether a stack is populated is helpful. I would make a couple of suggestions:

1. Currently mouse hover-over sets the stack in motion. Good. But left-click should stop the motion on any selected album/image.

2. An image (or album, etc) selected via this method should be individually drag-and-dropable. Currently the whole stack goes into PN, which is fine. But what if cntrl-left-click would drag an individual album selected via #1?

park · « **Reply #13 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:38:10 am »

Why is it that some of the tiles never show album art, even if the files have album art. Hovering the mouse over it doesnt seem to do anyhting either. But sometimes, leaving the view and then coming back seems to make some of the tiles find the art.

LonWar · « **Reply #14 on:** March 09, 2006, 12:07:40 pm »

I like the new look.... While you guys are changing so,e of the looks.... How about bringing back the lil coverart that was on all the details lines?

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #15 on:** March 09, 2006, 12:46:19 pm »

I don't like it ... it makes the listview cluttered and it looses it's clean lines. If it stays I hope you're going to provide a way to switch it off?

Deivit · « **Reply #16 on:** March 09, 2006, 12:49:53 pm »

I like it too. It seems that 5 layers is the maximum that is displayed regardless the number of albums, and I find it OK. I also like how it looks when you have covers of different sizes, such as box sets (see the Elvis display here, there are more than 100 albums).

Click here for a larger image

Quote from: imjustagamer on March 09, 2006, 12:07:40 pm

IWhile you guys are changing so,e of the looks....

May I ask you to consider the possibility of removing the squares in thumbnail views?

Thank you.

LonWar · « **Reply #17 on:** March 09, 2006, 01:10:46 pm »

Don't mean to hijak this thread....

Devit, what Deskbar plugin are you using for MC?

THanks

hit_ny · « **Reply #18 on:** March 09, 2006, 01:21:50 pm »

Thx for that pic, now those that are not on the latest & greatest can understnad what this is about.

The spiral idea seems nice, is it faster to display tho, since there will theoretically be fewer pics to display ?

How to cycle albums ?

Does clicking on the ones below bring them to the foreground ?

Deivit · « **Reply #19 on:** March 09, 2006, 01:28:54 pm »

Quote from: imjustagamer on March 09, 2006, 01:10:46 pm

Don't mean to hijak this thread....

Devit, what Deskbar plugin are you using for MC?

THanks

Hi gamer,

You mean the right deskbar? It's actually a homemade "combination" of google deskbar, Mr. Chriz's Evil Lyrics plug-in and Rhino's Playing Now. I can control the basic playback functions from the MC logo right beside the cover art, rate the song, have the lyrics displayed (even with "karaoke" scrolling effect), receiving breaking news and, at the same time, work with any app using the other 4/5 of the display. Not very fancy, but it works for me

marko · « **Reply #20 on:** March 09, 2006, 02:47:47 pm »

I'm not a big fan of 'side bars'. They take up too much screen real estate.

I'm in the market for a widescreen flat panel monitor. maybe then, who knows..

Dutch Peter · « **Reply #21 on:** March 09, 2006, 03:19:24 pm »

Quote

5. NEW: Library tiles and view header images show many images as a pile of images. (instead of one totally covering the others)

Cool!!

Matt · « **Reply #22 on:** March 09, 2006, 05:15:15 pm »

Tonight's build has some tweaks from the discussion above. Thanks everyone.

lpr · « **Reply #23 on:** March 09, 2006, 05:53:28 pm »

I don't like this new pile of cover thing. It's not that clean and classy, too gimmiky if you ask me.

Can we have the option not use this? please...

park · « **Reply #24 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:05:31 pm »

When scrolling through the album art, the grey title graphic shouldnt be one of the graphics that's scrolled in my opinion.

JimH · « **Reply #25 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:06:57 pm »

Quote from: lpr on March 09, 2006, 05:53:28 pm

Can we have the option not use this? please...

We'll add that if we decide to keep the new style thumbnails.

Galley · « **Reply #26 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:22:01 pm »

Quote from: marko on March 09, 2006, 02:47:47 pm

I'm not a big fan of 'side bars'. They take up too much screen real estate.

I'm in the market for a widescreen flat panel monitor. maybe then, who knows..

You know what they say; once you go widescreen, you'll never go back!

I picked up a 21" Gateway FPD2185W several weeks ago. 1680 x 1050 is sweet!

Pink Waters · « **Reply #27 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:22:20 pm »

Looks good, but why not by the way you make a slight album cover shadow ?
it would give a great look like this:

It will give a great look for the entire library..
rather than this standard look of albums that looks like papers.

edit: it also has a slight black boarder for the albums that works well among the shadows.

jgreen · « **Reply #28 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:37:52 pm »

Looking at the 11.1.142 stacks, I think the larger size with single albums actually makes things busier. And I'm not sure whether the randomized stacks is always working, or ever working. But I really like the stacks, and I think it's a farly well developed idea as it is. I would like to be able to pick individual albums out of the stack animation. Since you're going to all this trouble with your stacks, why not make it a way of browsing and queuing?

In the category of things I never thought I'd hear myself say, I think Pink's comment makes sense. You've already got the panes/details view, so why not go right-brain with this? You can find something using words, or, you can find something using pictures. This picture thing is opening new doorways to my library, FWIW. So dress up the pictures!

jgreen · « **Reply #29 on:** March 09, 2006, 06:48:20 pm »

And Marko--
Check out the Samsung flat panel monitors. I highly recommend them.
--Fastest refresh rate
--Excellent Contrast
--Good brightness.
--Very sharp (almost too sharp).
And cheap (relatively). Samsung makes the Dell monitors and I believe also the Gateway. Until Sony/Viewsonic/Phillips come down in cost, you can get two Samsungs for the same price. Twin monitors! As Galley says, once you go widescreen you'll never go back, but once you've had twins, well, the world will look forever different.

park · « **Reply #30 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:18:40 pm »

I'd like to hijack and say again that little iddy biddy tiles in the bottom details list would totally round out the library view. Think about it, you click on a tile in the top list and it filters out the bottom list to show something like the album thumbnails now, but on each thumbnail is a little "files" link. Clicking on that shows you the songs for that album, and hovering in the corner is a little "back" button to take you back to the tiley album thumbnails.

It would be faster than clicking on "files" in the top album view because, as it stands, you have to keep clicking in a level until you can find the album with the tile you want to see the files for. Or, you have to switch from "album thumbnails view" to "files view" and then scroll through the list to find the song that you want to.
Feasibly, with my suggestion, as long as you can see the album in the bottom list, at any level in the top one, you'd be able to jump to just the songs of that album, for tagging and individual song choices almost instantly.

datdude · « **Reply #31 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:26:21 pm »

I think adding shadows as Pink Waters suggested is almost necessary since the boxes are not drawn and the separation between the cover is not as clean and does seem a bit busier now.

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #32 on:** March 10, 2006, 03:22:52 am »

Love Pink Waters Idea!

Quisp · « **Reply #33 on:** March 10, 2006, 06:00:10 am »

oops, didn't see this thread. I like the idea, but I'm not a fan of the current rotating icon stack. It is too busy, adds noise, is a pretty klutzy illustation and completely screws with the grid. All this and the info it provides isn't that meaningful.

I like the idea of a subtle approach, Pink Waters is on the right track, though I don't know why there couldn't be a subtle ghosted back icon somewhere with the number of albums in the icon. Apple's Aperture does this as does Photoshop Elements.

Pink Waters · « **Reply #34 on:** March 10, 2006, 06:57:12 am »

Maybe narrowing the rotaion of the stacks will solve the busy contrast..

or maybe adding a small rounded boarder in the corner of the covers with the number of sub-albums/covers may be another good idea instead of the stacks ?

dcwebman · « **Reply #35 on:** March 10, 2006, 07:09:26 am »

Quote from: jgreen on March 09, 2006, 06:48:20 pm

Twin monitors! As Galley says, once you go widescreen you'll never go back, but once you've had twins, well, the world will look forever different.

Totally agree. I only have two 17" monitors but couldn't ask for more. I'm still living with old habits and like running my programs maximized so with dual monitors you can have 2 maximized at the same time. Dual monitors is the way to go for sure!

Quisp · « **Reply #36 on:** March 10, 2006, 09:14:53 am »

Below are two examples of what I was thinking about above....

GHammer · « **Reply #37 on:** March 10, 2006, 10:28:35 am »

I just need a visual representation of multiple albums.
I'm kinda familar with my collection, if there are 8 and I think 6, oh well.
I don't really need a count of how many albums.
The stack shows me what I need to know.

I did like the old stats for albums though. Liked the old tiny thumbnails too.
Bring those back!

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #38 on:** March 10, 2006, 10:33:36 am »

Quote from: Quisp on March 10, 2006, 09:14:53 am

Below are two examples of what I was thinking about above....

The left hand one is ace!

Quisp · « **Reply #39 on:** March 10, 2006, 10:40:36 am »

I Agree. Personally, I don't need any indication of multiples. I'm not sure what I can do with that information. I'm also very familiar with my collection and it is very large. But if this is something that needs to be indicated visually somehow, I'd want some information besides the fact that I've got more than one album for an artist. The rollover animation did a great job doing that. So basically, if you've got to muddy things up, at least give me two pieces of information instead of one...it takes up the same amount of space.

One other way this would be nice would be the listing of albums. It would be nice to have the number indicator for how many CDs were in a particular album. This is all pretty anal, but then again I guess we could all just be using iTunes.

Quisp · « **Reply #40 on:** March 10, 2006, 10:41:50 am »

Quote from: RhinoBanga on March 10, 2006, 10:33:36 am

The left hand one is ace!

Thanks, that is the one I prefer too, I would think it would be a lot easier to do also...

LonWar · « **Reply #41 on:** March 10, 2006, 12:16:55 pm »

Quote from: RhinoBanga on March 10, 2006, 10:33:36 am

The left hand one is ace!

Most definately!

sdcoochie8 · « **Reply #42 on:** March 10, 2006, 01:42:00 pm »

I generally appreciate all the features within media center and it still is by far the best but I think this feature has no useful purpose and really is unattractive. The old method was more than adequate. There have been a couple of good ideas in reference to this styling such as the number box (posted by Quisp) for multiples to indicate the number of albums within an artist grouping. If this feature stays it might be nice to be able to turn it off otherwise I feel that shadows or different colours is not the answer to improve the look of this feature.

Fex · « **Reply #43 on:** March 10, 2006, 02:08:47 pm »

Quote from: Quisp on March 10, 2006, 09:14:53 am

Below are two examples of what I was thinking about above....

You have my voice. Better than anything 'til now.

Fex

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #44 on:** March 10, 2006, 02:45:10 pm »

There's three things I'd question with Quisp's idea, what is a new user is going to think of it?
If you'd not followed this discussion would it be obvious?
What would happen when you click it? It looks clickable.
Also how about when there's more than 9 covers. Your not going to
fit multiple digits in there.

jgreen · « **Reply #45 on:** March 10, 2006, 02:55:38 pm »

What ChriZ said.
I think the Quisp idea is great looking and very clean-looking. But it doesn't look clickable, in the way the spiral does, or cascading tiles.

Some folks are saying what's the point, and I think what either idea really needs is more that you can accomplish by selecting/clicking the stack. I'd love to browse/queue albums via the stack animation (insert broken record here).

Quisp · « **Reply #46 on:** March 10, 2006, 03:29:14 pm »

That was sort of the idea behind putting it over the album cover, no clicking questions there, but I'm not crazy about putting icons over the thumbnail unless the quality was much better.

As for the size, er, this isn't a solution, just a mockup, I would assume anything created would be scalable. The image was just an example, not an exhaustive proof of concept. The icon could just as easily change to a cd (or round frame) when showing the albums in order to indicate how many CDs an album has...I think people would get it pretty quickly, it isn't like MC comes prepopulated with random music to weed through. I think people would grasp the information when they see the number 1 for Boston and 4 for Chicago, assuming they are looking at their own collection.

Lots of possibilities.

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #47 on:** March 10, 2006, 05:50:57 pm »

143 looks great

Quisp · « **Reply #48 on:** March 10, 2006, 07:02:07 pm »

Drop shadows are OK. Spiral albums look hideous. I've never been a fan of mystery meat navigation so it will take a while to get used to the fading in menu. I'm always over shooting the hot spot, so I now have to wave my magic cursor and then reposition it in order to use the menu. I can live with that, but I hope we can turn the spiral off, it would be a great idea if there weren't a grid, but there is.

Galley · « **Reply #49 on:** March 10, 2006, 07:08:20 pm »

I tried out the spiral album feature last night, and I really don't care for it. I prefer Quisps's idea of an icon on the artwork.

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Author Topic: New Stacked Album Art Display (Read 39338 times)