INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 [2] 3   Go Down

Author Topic: New Stacked Album Art Display  (Read 39107 times)

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #50 on: March 10, 2006, 07:19:23 pm »

Looking good now!

Couple of things that will make the current incarnation better (hopefully):

1) The minimum space between tiles should be increased just a bit

2) The fade menu should take a bit longer to fade in since when I want to click on the tile to show the files a bottom, I have accidentally clicked on the play button after it faded in too fast.

3) The view menu should auto open when hovered over like the menus a the top of the library.  We no longer have to worry about these opening up all over when browsing since they aren't actually there anymore.  This will save many clicks.  :)
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

jgreen

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2419
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #51 on: March 10, 2006, 07:48:14 pm »

Echoing Sir Dude on this one--Looking Good!

1.  Agree

2.  ??

3.  Great Idea!  99.9% of the time that's where we're headed.  Make it so!

I think there's a lot to the Quisp approach, neat and tidy, but I like this one better.  With the drop shadows, it looks like a stack of LPs, for those of us who remember vinyl (it didn't used to be only for Barcoloungers, Mr. ChriZ!).

One note--drop shadows don't reverse in "Negative" effect, so they disappear.  I was hoping to see a "drop highlight" when using Aruba/negative.  Is this fixable?

Slapping on the broken record:  wouldn't it be cool if we could seek/enqueue using the stack animation?  Whoa, Nellie!



Logged

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #52 on: March 10, 2006, 08:05:11 pm »

Echoing Sir Dude on this one--Looking Good!

1.  Agree

2.  ??

3.  Great Idea!  99.9% of the time that's where we're headed.  Make it so!

I think there's a lot to the Quisp approach, neat and tidy, but I like this one better.  With the drop shadows, it looks like a stack of LPs, for those of us who remember vinyl (it didn't used to be only for Barcoloungers, Mr. ChriZ!).

One note--drop shadows don't reverse in "Negative" effect, so they disappear.  I was hoping to see a "drop highlight" when using Aruba/negative.  Is this fixable?

Slapping on the broken record:  wouldn't it be cool if we could seek/enqueue using the stack animation?  Whoa, Nellie!



J,

When you hover over a tile, the menu fades in too quickly.  What do you think?

Any background that is dark does not show the 'shadow', maybe show the light color that is reversed?

It is also still a performance hit when switching from say album vs. dates or artist I think becuase of the stacked view drawings.
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

Quisp

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 330
  • Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #53 on: March 10, 2006, 09:09:30 pm »

Menu fades in too quickly!?! You really want to wait even longer each and every time you want to view an artists albums? Remember the timing will be the same well after the coolness factor wares off.

As for the drop shadows, they aren't indicating anything as they are on all art regardless of how many albums one may have for a particular artist. They are just there to add a bit of dimension and make the album art pop from the background.
Logged

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #54 on: March 10, 2006, 09:32:10 pm »

I probably will get used to it, but I have clicked on the play button by accident a few times.  I'm just too click happy I guess.
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

NoCodeUK

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1820
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #55 on: March 11, 2006, 05:44:12 am »

I think it looks okay with the spiral stacks.  The thing I don;t likeis the fact that if there is only 1 album it appears a lot bigger than when there is a stack.  It looks very messy.  It would be better if all thumbnails appeared the same size regardless of whether they were in a stcak.  Maybe by increasing space in between?

Adam
Logged
"It's called No Code because it's full of code. It's misinformation." - Eddie Vedder

Mr ChriZ

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 4375
  • :-D
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #56 on: March 11, 2006, 05:53:18 am »

I think it looks okay with the spiral stacks.  The thing I don;t likeis the fact that if there is only 1 album it appears a lot bigger than when there is a stack.  It looks very messy.  It would be better if all thumbnails appeared the same size regardless of whether they were in a stcak.  Maybe by increasing space in between?

Adam

They did that in 141 and everyone complained!

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #57 on: March 11, 2006, 08:18:45 am »

When the images are not square the effect is a bit odd. I am not sure if I like it or not.


Click to enlarge.
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #58 on: March 11, 2006, 03:31:44 pm »

Quote
1) The minimum space between tiles should be increased just a bit

I think more than a bit,..
Maybe if we have a space between the covers horizontally that equals the space between them vertically or a little bit more, will give more balanced look..
Logged
Tamer

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #59 on: March 11, 2006, 03:35:22 pm »

I think more than a bit,..
Maybe if we have a space between the covers horizontally that equals the space between them vertically or a little bit more, will give more balanced look..


That would only work for those that are  stacked and those that aren't, would still be too close together.
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #60 on: March 11, 2006, 04:49:42 pm »

I have also some other suggestion,..

Now with the thumbnails shadowed and looks great but there is something that is fading away all the pleasure in the grid view, which is clicking a thumbnail album for example does not only select(gray) the thumbnail or the cover,.. it selects a wider rectangular area within the grid,... which looks for me that the album covers does not makes sense in look,..

simply I mean,.. when we click an album cover I want to see the physical cover that i selected it being selected,.. not a surrounding area which for me makes that whole picture missing things to end up with a good sense in look and feel..
Logged
Tamer

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #61 on: March 11, 2006, 04:56:51 pm »

You mean it sould only 'highlite' the cover and not the the tile name?
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #62 on: March 11, 2006, 05:11:50 pm »

yep,.. Should highlight the coverart only not a rectangular wide surrounded area (which is the grid)
Logged
Tamer

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #63 on: March 11, 2006, 07:01:53 pm »

Since we are on the whole cover art thing, I think when you actually get to the album level in the library, the cover should rotate the album inserts that we have in our album folders.  That would be uber cool.
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #64 on: March 11, 2006, 09:33:41 pm »

I think I've got the missing point that makes the album views looks sometimes busy,.

It is that the new stacks have smaller size of coverarts than a standard coverart without stacks.

the fix?
I think that the album covers (thumbnails) size should be the same size of the top coverart of the stacks so all coverarts seem to be the same size
Logged
Tamer

park

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2358
  • I wish I had more to say!
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #65 on: March 13, 2006, 07:39:38 am »

I think i realise now why mc keeps throwing up those ugly grey thumbnails with the field titles in them.
MC automatically chooses a random thumbnail on startup doesnt it. maybe if it chooses an album etc. which doesnt have album art attached to it, then it uses the defualt grey tile instead. and when scrolling through the art by hovering over the tile i think the same thing is happening.

Could we have it so that mc never shows the grey title tile on the front tile, unless none of the files within it contain album art.

Yours hoping...
Logged

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #66 on: March 13, 2006, 07:59:53 am »

Since we are on the whole cover art thing, I think when you actually get to the album level in the library, the cover should rotate the album inserts that we have in our album folders.  That would be uber cool.

If you mean additional cover art images (back, booklet etc) MC already rotates the image thumbnails if they are imported in the library, tagged with the correct artist & album tags and included in the view scheme besides the music files.
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

park

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2358
  • I wish I had more to say!
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #67 on: March 13, 2006, 08:14:14 am »

doesnt anybody else think that little "view files" links that would appear when you hover over the album thumbnails in the bottom list would reduce the amount of clicking you do by like a million percent?
it would also obviously have to jump the tiles in the top view to the level of that album too. but that could be even more powerful if it automatically set the trail of breadcrumbs to take you to that level, so that you could backwards browse your way back up through the library fields.


On a seperate note, how about making the background of the bottom list a half shade darker, or lighter, than that of the tiles list. at the moment the only thing distinguishing my album thumbnails from the tiles is a thin blue line, and the size of thumbnails.
Logged

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #68 on: March 13, 2006, 07:48:33 pm »

If you mean additional cover art images (back, booklet etc) MC already rotates the image thumbnails if they are imported in the library, tagged with the correct artist & album tags and included in the view scheme besides the music files.

Well that sort of works.  Problem is that I don't want to actually see the images in the list view and the cover art is not the first to be displayed?

Maybe a way to solve this would be to have the files at bottom filter these out with a customize current view setting to only 'display' ticked file types?
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #69 on: March 14, 2006, 01:20:13 am »

If you reduced the album covers size in the three size options to the top coverart on stacks size it will balance the look, like this:

Logged
Tamer

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #70 on: March 14, 2006, 03:08:04 am »

Well that sort of works.  Problem is that I don't want to actually see the images in the list view and the cover art is not the first to be displayed?

Maybe a way to solve this would be to have the files at bottom filter these out with a customize current view setting to only 'display' ticked file types?

The only reason I have several album images imported is MC's ability to play them in a slideshow during music playback. Besides tagging the image files I use my "All Media" view scheme for sending the music files together with image files to Playing Now.

At other times I use audio only view schemes as well.

Here are the screenshots from the "sorting problem" thread:

A library view:



Playing now after a right-click>play on the album image stack (the sorting issue is resolved now):



The album images play in a slide show. The slideshow can be paused and the images can be enlarged for reading the texts. Often I set MC's display to TV out and display the images on the big screen.
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

dcwebman

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2154
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #71 on: March 14, 2006, 07:46:40 am »

In small tiles, there is a View link along with a down arrow. At first I thought these were two different things. The space is not a big deal like at the top where there is just one link like Artists but when displayed next to more than one link, it looks like it might bring a drop down menu in addition to having the View link to do something else.

Can you please get rid of the space between the two so that one can tell that View and the down arrow are the same thing?
Logged
Jeff

mountainfair

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #72 on: March 14, 2006, 09:28:23 pm »

I like quisps idea with the number of albums displayed below the thumbnail. 

This gives more specific info than the spirals, in which you cant tell exactly how many albums there are, and cant really see anything anyway unless the images are different aspect ratios, in which case it looks strange.

I like the dropshadows.

Logged

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #73 on: March 14, 2006, 09:34:20 pm »

I like quisps idea with the number of albums displayed below the thumbnail. 

This gives more specific info than the spirals, in which you cant tell exactly how many albums there are, and cant really see anything anyway unless the images are different aspect ratios, in which case it looks strange.

I like the dropshadows.

quisp!, quisp!, quisp!, quisp!
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

mountainfair

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #74 on: March 14, 2006, 09:36:43 pm »

Since we are on the whole cover art thing, I think when you actually get to the album level in the library, the cover should rotate the album inserts that we have in our album folders.  That would be uber cool.

I would like this to happen in the 'now playing' track info screen.  But, I have hundreds of files with images of not only the cover art but also the back, disk, liner, etc.  I dont want to have to go thru and tag all of this and import it.  I just want it to automatically show up in the now playking track info and rotate.   

Maybe I should start a new thread...
Logged

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #75 on: March 15, 2006, 04:45:01 am »

I would like to ask everyone to try this and post comments here:

From the "Details Vs Cover Art" thread:
The "Both" choice is missing from the poll.

I use both at the same time (inside MC).

My calculated "Album Artist (Auto) / Album" tile view works perfectly fine on the top and the bottom shows about 40 fields in the details mode.

When I click one of the top thumbnails MC shows instantly the track details of the selected album only.

One of my Artist/Albums view schemes shows about 2200 separate full albums on the top. When the new system was introduced the calculated view was very slow, but after Matt did some hexifying  :)  and other magical tricks it became as fast as the other views. It has become my preferred way to browse albums.

Usually I have not decided what artist I like to listen to before browsing the albums. I have found browsing all albums side by side much better than first selecting an artist and then browsing the albums from the selected artist only.

IMHO, the "Album Artist (auto) - Album" field should be one of the default library fields and it should be one of the default audio scheme view items.

My instructions for making the calculated field & view scheme:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=30774.msg212216#msg212216

In that example I have included all media types, but naturally the view can be audio only as well. (I use them both.)
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

mountainfair

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #76 on: March 15, 2006, 05:22:23 am »

OK,

I like the idea, but cant get it to work at all...

maybe I am missing something.

If I set up a "Album Artist (Auto) / Album" tile view,

I can either set:

panes and album thumbnails, in which case I get all of the albums side by side, but no details at the bottom (just panes at the top, no option for details at the bottom).

OR

Albums or Artists instead of panes, in which case I can choose to have the details at the bottom, but not all of the albums side by side (well, I guess if I choose albums, I get all of the albums side by side, but not sorted by artist and no option to customize current view)



That would be great - the ability to show all albums side by side, sorted by artist, with customizable current view. 

In other words, why cant we have all of the Options all the time regardless of panes or no panes, instead of some options for each?
Logged

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #77 on: March 15, 2006, 05:35:41 am »

Quote
That would be great

It is great!

I am not sure why it does not work for you. Did you make the new "Artist/Album" calculated library field first? Did you add "Artist/Album" to your view items list (in edit view scheme)? Did you enable "Show Files At Botton" in the top right corner Options drop-down list?

I'll try to gather the relevant screenshots (or make some new) and post step-by-step instructions here. (I am a bit busy now with other things so that is not going happen immediately.)
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

mountainfair

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #78 on: March 15, 2006, 05:52:50 am »

OK,

I got it to work after all - thanks for the great screenshots.

This view is great - could be the best.

loads plenty fast.

1. Any tracks that dont have an artist tag show up at the beginning - again, maybe these could be shown sorted in with the rest alphabetically.



2. Any Albums with multiple artists show up at the beginning with (multiple artists).  Would be great if these could go at the end instead.  NO BETTER YET - I want to be able to have the multiple artist albums show up ignoring the (multiple artist) and mixed into the artist list by album (so Beach Boys is followed by Best of Trance (V/A), is followed by Bob Marley, with all albums displayed).

This would be much better than the scrolling multiple album covers.

I tried the panes setting, and changed the sort values, and have been able to get all of the multiple artist albums to show up alphabetically entirely BEFORE all of the single artist albums.  Closer, but not quite it.  Why cant we write strings to define sorting?


I then tried entering this string into the viewscheme advanced expression (editing the view):

[Album Artist (auto) - Album]-[Album Artist (auto)]=(Multiple Artists)

and several variations.  and several variations in the calculated fields.

No luck.

3. now we get 'play' 'artist' 'album' 'files' accross the bottom as text.  Artists and albums dont seem to do anything worthwhile.

Otherwise, this is the ideal view.

******

Wouldnt this be better accomplished by allowing all Options regardless of panes or no panes?  In fact, why isnt panes one of the options in the options list instead of off by itself? 


Why not show files at bottom with panes?  Make the mouseover a customize current view option?  Allow customize current view always?  Or allow any other combination?

This is where the possibilities really get good.
Logged

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #79 on: March 15, 2006, 06:23:03 am »

1. Any tracks that dont have an artist tag show up at the beginning - annoying

I have excluded lone tracks, tracks that contain incomplete properties and incomplete albums from my "Album Artist (auto) / Album" view schemes. I use other view schemes for them.

Quote
2. Any Albums with multiple artists show up at the beginning with (multiple artists).  Would be great if these could go at the end instead.  NO BETTER YET - I want to be able to have the multiple artist albums show up ignoring the (multiple artist) and mixed into the artist list by album (so Beach Boys is followed by Best of Trance (V/A), is followed by Bob Marley, with all albums displayed).

This would be much better than the scrolling multiple album covers.

I retag my "multiple artists" albums. Please check this thread for details: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32357.0 - and especially this post: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32357.msg222066#msg222066

Quote
3. now we get 'play' 'artist' 'album' 'files' accross the bottom as text.  Artists and albums dont seem to do anything worthwhile.

Keep in mind that the view scheme items can consist of any library fields, like Genre, Date, Comment, custom fields etc. You can also include only the Artist/Album item and remove the others. The Files button is not removable, but it may be useful if the album contains a lot of tracks because it hides the tiles.
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

mountainfair

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #80 on: March 15, 2006, 06:55:37 am »

Thanks for the reply.

Played with excluding things - much better.  Thanks.

I looked at your 'Album Artist' post and liked what you had to offer.  Are you saving these as tags, or just updating the MC fields?  Pros and cons here?  I dont think I have any 'Album Artist' tags.  Maybe I should?  Will other apps / players support this?  Obviously need to learn more here...

Are there programs out there or a way that I can automatically have all of the multiple artist albums tagged with an album artist field that is the album name, and all of the single artist albums tagged with the album artist that is the artist?  Is this possible with MC?

Thanks - got the view scheme items sorted out.

Strange - in the panes view, if there is no artist I dont get the default image, just a blank white tile.


Still lobbying for more control in all Options available all the time, and ability to enter equations under options--> customize current view --> sorting (while in or NOT in panes).

I would love to have the panes accross the top AND thumbnails AND details at the bottom, WITH the 'play' and 'files' options below the thumbs.

One of the views I would use most would be genre sort in panes (only genres in text accross the top - not other fields), then thumbs sorted as we are doing here (artist, then all albums), then details on the bottom.

I would use this almost exclusively. 

Then, to top it all off, just need the option for a third column on the right showing now playing.  Add the ability to move, choose and interchange the various elements and we're closing in on perfection. 
Logged

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #81 on: March 15, 2006, 01:10:32 pm »

I think alex b, that your idea is related to viewing a specific genre albums, and not artist albums ?
if so, i always browse my library by selecting albums from a specific genre and then look at all the albums there..

don't know if this is close to you idea!
Logged
Tamer

Alex B

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10121
  • The Cosmic Bird
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #82 on: March 15, 2006, 05:30:15 pm »

I looked at your 'Album Artist' post and liked what you had to offer.  Are you saving these as tags, or just updating the MC fields?  Pros and cons here?  I dont think I have any 'Album Artist' tags.  Maybe I should?  Will other apps / players support this?  Obviously need to learn more here...

The Album Artist tag is proprietary, but I have saved it to the files. Usually I save all library fields that don't change dynamically to the files if possible. Text tags are very small anyway.

Quote
Are there programs out there or a way that I can automatically have all of the multiple artist albums tagged with an album artist field that is the album name

Here is a way to split field contents to separate fields with MC: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=31663.msg217590#msg217590. You may be able to adopt the system.

Quote
and all of the single artist albums tagged with the album artist that is the artist?  Is this possible with MC?

You don't have to tag the Album Artist field if it is the same as the Artist field. MC fills the Album Artist (auto) field automatically. You should use the Album Artist field only for overriding the automatic choice. This is from the MC Help:
Code: [Select]
Album Artist (auto)

This is a built-in automatic field.  It auto-completes as follows:

- If something is manually typed in the Album Artist field, that content is included in the Album Artist (auto) field as well.
- If the Album Artist field is empty, then the Album Artist (auto) field gets completed as follows:
      - Single-artist name in the case of a single-artist album.
      - (Multiple Artists) in the case of a multiple-artist album*.

* In order for (Multiple Artists) to appear automatically, the album must be in its own exclusive directory (i.e., if there are files from more than one album in a directory, the program will not label it as Multiple Artist).

Here is the logic. A track is a mix if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:

- have more than one [Artist] value among them
- have no other [Album] values used by any other file in the same directory
- are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value

Quote
One of the views I would use most would be genre sort in panes (only genres in text accross the top - not other fields), then thumbs sorted as we are doing here (artist, then all albums), then details on the bottom.

Try a view scheme that has only these items in step 1:
Genre
Artist/Album

Quote
Then, to top it all off, just need the option for a third column on the right showing now playing.  Add the ability to move, choose and interchange the various elements and we're closing in on perfection.

How about on the left? (Action Window > Build Playlist > Edit Playing Now)
Also, the display is already movable as you can see in following screenshot, which demonstrates nicely the "Album Artist (auto)/Album" view scheme.


Click to enlarge.


Though, in the screenshot I just placed and resized the windowed MC display on top of the MC tree. It is still floating.
Logged
The Cosmic Bird - a triple merger of galaxies: http://eso.org/public/news/eso0755

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #83 on: March 15, 2006, 07:43:13 pm »

Album covers sizes and spaceing won't be revised j.river ?
Logged
Tamer

mountainfair

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 33
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #84 on: March 15, 2006, 08:05:23 pm »

Alex - thank you for all of your help and continued replies.

Your image comes close, but still has the floating window that is pretty unwieldy.  Its the best possibility with current limitations of the program.

Here is a photoshop'd image of what I would consider the ideal layout (with each element movable, scalable, interchangeable, closable, minimizable):



Larger version:

http://www.dreamthefuture.org/forward/misc/jriver-media-center-ideal-lg.jpg


--

I will work on wrapping my brain around the post and info on 'split field contents to separate fields'.

--

Hmm... album artist is proprietary.  Well, not sure about this one.  I guess that the problem is that whatever work I do on it is lost if I use a different program or a portable that doesnt support it.  Again, I guess Ill look at how much work it is to set it up and then decide if its worth it just for MC.


EDIT:

are you sure that they are proprietary?  I found several link in google that seem to indicate that they are part of the id3 standard, and used by wmp and iriver.

check my post in this thread:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=31127.msg223672#msg223672
Logged

Pink Waters

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 881
  • Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #85 on: March 16, 2006, 07:58:34 pm »

Album covers sizes and spaceing won't be revised j.river ?
Bump.
Logged
Tamer

Quisp

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 330
  • Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #86 on: March 18, 2006, 08:37:33 am »

Is there any way we can turn off the disarrayed stack of albums look yet? I know this was discussed. It would be great if I could not have my collection look like the floor of the local Salvation Army.
Logged

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #87 on: March 18, 2006, 09:06:52 am »

..But you do want to keep the drop shadows right :)
Logged

Quisp

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 330
  • Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #88 on: March 19, 2006, 09:21:27 am »

Yes, absolutely! The drop shadows are nice!  I really, really, really like how this view is starting to shape up. Being able to see album art and the list of items below has been my top request for the last 5 years. My only issue is with the sloppy looking ninja star stuff.
Logged

wombat66

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #89 on: March 19, 2006, 09:40:28 am »

... My only issue is with the sloppy looking ninja star stuff.

You are referring to the rating stars? Which skin are you using?
Logged

Quisp

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 330
  • Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #90 on: March 19, 2006, 10:03:37 am »

No, sorry, I was referring to what stacks of albums look like.
Logged

wombat66

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #91 on: March 19, 2006, 10:35:04 am »

Ah yes, I agree with you. They are messy looking.
Logged

elpaolo

  • Regular Member
  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 231
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #92 on: March 19, 2006, 01:54:38 pm »

I like the new look.  My only complaint is that going into an artist to look at albums, then clicking "artist" to return to the previous view loses my place in the library (i.e. where i was scrolled to).  It always starts up top when I go back.
Logged

Quisp

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 330
  • Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #93 on: March 19, 2006, 05:11:44 pm »

My only complaint is that going into an artist to look at albums, then clicking "artist" to return to the previous view loses my place in the library (i.e. where i was scrolled to).  It always starts up top when I go back.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that either. You need to use the back button which can only be placed in the toolbar areas. It would be good to either change the way artist works, or add a back button next to the pull-down list.
Logged

datdude

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #94 on: March 20, 2006, 01:29:28 am »

For eye candy sake, I still think a cube that shows 2 covers angled at each other and then spins when hovered over, would be way better than the spiraled look.
Logged
"You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." -  Just a very big snowball

marko

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 9124
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #95 on: March 20, 2006, 01:44:37 am »

another thing I bumped into yesterday while using the browser...

I closed the alphabet and felt that things looked better without it. I figured I'd try simply hitting a letter on the keyboard and have the browser jump there that way instead.

I expected MC to move the view so that thefirst instance of that letter was scrolled to the top of the window, but it does not, it scrolls till it finds that 1st instance, and stops there. I found that most off-putting and a little disorientating, as I searched the screen for the selected album.

JONCAT

  • Guest
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #96 on: March 20, 2006, 08:10:44 am »

1. "For eye candy sake, I still think a cube that shows 2 covers angled at each other and then spins when hovered over, would be way better than the spiraled look."

The spiral effect is neat but how useful? And, I agree it ends up coming off sloppy rather than cool.

2. I don't use the alphabet either but if I use the keyboard , with repeated presses of a button, MC will locate that letter and scroll through all the instances of that letter. Is this what's not working foryou?

3. I agree, this is really annoying:

"I like the new look.  My only complaint is that going into an artist to look at albums, then clicking "artist" to return to the previous view loses my place in the library (i.e. where i was scrolled to).  It always starts up top when I go back."

Dr. C
Logged

JaredH

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 520
  • Superfluously Articulate
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #97 on: March 20, 2006, 03:08:10 pm »

Seems like there is much too much space between the album covers and the right hand side of the screen as compared to the space between the album covers and the splitter. An example can be seen here:

http://www.bgracetfaith.net/misc/library.jpg

The same thing can been seen in many of the other images posted here on this thread.
Logged
J. A. Hayslett

Blog & Gallery - http://www.bgracetfaith.net

sdgrizdan

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 294
  • The body cannot live without the mind
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #98 on: March 20, 2006, 05:41:29 pm »

For eye candy sake, I still think a cube that shows 2 covers angled at each other and then spins when hovered over, would be way better than the spiraled look.

So, I was thinking, what would be a good alternative to the messy spiral eye candy MC currently has? And then I saw datdude's suggestion above and I really like it!
Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 72379
  • Where did I put my teeth?
Re: New Stacked Album Art Display
« Reply #99 on: March 20, 2006, 05:54:55 pm »

Build 149 allows you to turn off the windmill look for thumbnails.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3   Go Up