More > Media Center 12 (Development Ended)

small cosmetic changes that'd make a BIG diff.

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park:
Thanks for letting me take part in this beta. I hope that the tone of my "suggestions" comes across just like that, and not like someone whining. I love the way MC is coming on and it feels nice to be able to have some input into it.

Anyway, here are some of my collected thoughts from the weekend (all of them actually. Sorry if this post is too long):

Put a "library tools" eading in the action window. Populate it with "Get cover art"(better name) "Organize files"(better than "Rename files from properties") "Auto Import", as well as already existing tools.

Populate the "podcasts" header toolbar with an "Add feed" button.
Populate the top "files list" header toolbar (for image viewschemes) with rotate buttons and an "edit image" button.
On the bottom "files list" album thumbnails, add a link called "Files" which lists the albums files in an action window. There you can click on an individual song to play it (negating the need to drill all the way down to an individual album and then click on "details" to see a managable list of songs.)

For the "View" menu in tiles view, show the current grouping (Genre etc) highlighted, so that you can see where you are in the flow, and understand where you'll end up if you double click.

Create a little "Tip" link/button in the top "files list" header toolbar. When you click/hover over it, it gives you a handy tip about the area you are in. Each area could even have more than one tip associated with it and you could click on "Next tip" to scroll through them.
Example tips:
In tiles view:
"Double click on a tile to see its' ####' " (ie. 'Artists')
"Enable "filter in both directions" in the viewscheme properties to be able to navigate the fields in any order you like"
In panes view:
"Click on tagging mode to be able to tag your files just by ticking"

Add "Podcast groups", to be able to manage lots of podcasts.

Always make files that are launched from exlorer open playing now (i have "auto import files on play" turned off. so if i launch a file from explorer, it's just to be viewed/heard that time only. to me it's logical to be taken to that file). Also, make MC start unmaximized in that situation too, so that it has a lighter faster feel to it, like WMP.
Also, now, MC is throwing up tagging errors for files that i play (but never import). I dont think it should even attempt to try to update tags of files that arent imported. (somtimes these errors are becasue i move or delete the files while it is in playing now).

park:
I have made a mockup of some ideas I had about the interface. Maybe it's too late in the development cycle now, but if it generates some conversation then that's cool too.

Here is a view of the whole program:


Here is how I would organise the action window:

Ripping and burning would be accessable from the first button.
Handhelds, Scanners, and cameras (plus maybe TV) would all be in the second.
Auto import, Getting cover art, "Organise files" (described above), and other essential tools would be in the "Library management" button.
Playlists and and playing now would be in "Playlist management".
And finally "Tag" gets a button all to itself.

park:

I would put "Navigation" "Customize current view" and "the view modes in the top toolbar.

I would also put the "Enable tagging mode" in the panes view header.

dcwebman:
I agree with most of park's suggestions. Way back when I never knew you could customize the toolbar until I saw a post about it. So MC 12 comes along and I knew there was a way to customize it but it had been so long I had forgotten how. I kept trying to click/right-click on the top of the window in the middle expecting to see a customize option but nothing. I finally did it over the actual current menus and then the option was there. It would be nice if a right-click anywhere on the top bar would work.

park:
                     

I was playing, and I kind of like this idea. You can see the library grouping menu inside the tree instead of as a drop down menu on the header bar. The place where you are is always visible. The name of the viewscheme that you are in is centered. The first two thumbnails show how it would look being in panes view and in tiles view.

The third thumbnail shows how you'd select a different viewscheme. You click on the twirly arrow to see a drop down menu of sub viewschemes, and when you click on one the centered title updates to tell you which viewscheme you are in.

To edit a viewshceme, make sure it is the one that's loaded and right click on the big audio note to get the usual edit viewscheme menu. Control-wise, the big note at the top is your one stop shop for working with any viewschemes.

There could even be a "new viewscheme" button in the tree somewhere, so that you dont have to dig into a menu for it.

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