Hi,
This kind of covered two threads and so I thought I'd put it in it's own new thread.
You were asking how complex MJ should get and had a lot of responses to it. You've also asked for what features should be in v9.
Alot of people including myself have said make it as complex as possible with various different suggestions on how to solve any problems this might cause.
I had a 3 hour drive last night and call me sad but I spent most the time thinking about MJ (I know I'm a computer geek).
I think the biggest change for version 9 shouldn't be necessarily to add loads more features but I think the most effort should be spent going back to the drawing board and totally updating and modernising the UI. I think, like most software MJ has grown by some excellent programmers adding loads of features that it's users want. These features have just been added onto the program with their options added to the options box. I dont think at any point you've stopped with all the features and said ok, how are we going to do the GUI for all these and done any radical interface changes. This is where I think MJ could suddenly, without changing it's features, grab a LOT more of the beginner user market.
All the different screens in MJ should be totally dockable and the user should be able to totally configure what screens appear where, how big they are etc, when they show and all kinds of things. For v9 you've done this with the properties box but only to some extent, it appears on the right and we cant move and dock it to any other positions. It's a very good start though. I have heard a lot of users asking to also be able to do this with the playing now window. I think the DSP Studio should also be able to do this.
A good example of this I think is with ACDSee which from previous posts I think your familiar with. Their biggest changed between their old version and their most recent release was to go away and totally update and modernise the interface. New features appeared too as a direct result of this but they just spent this as the major enhancement over the previous versions and it made it a lot easier to use.
Too many features had just been added to menu's, sub menu's etc. When they re-designed the interface they brought a lot more of these features out and made them strong points that jumped out at the users to use in a friendly and easy manner.
Everything in MJ is reached through menu items, these always take at the VERY least 2 clicks to open the menu, then to choose the item, or often to then go into a sub menu. I think, and please everyone tell me if I'm wrong or agree with me if you think I'm right, that features that are one click away jump out at the user alot more. Buttons etc are hugely welcomed.
Right now MJ only has one toolbar, features can be added to this but when you add alot it just becomes really cluttered and hard to use. We should be able to create different toolbars with different features on it and move these whereever we want along MJ, even if just along the top. Internet Explorer is an example of what I mean with the toolbar and address bar etc.
Also, the Find dialog box, I see no reason this shouldn't be visible at all times (obviously optional) and should be able to do searches of the current list of songs being displayed rather than of all the songs.
Say for instance I'm browsing my library and am in one artist who has 100 songs that I have, I'd like to be able to use the find box instantly to find a song of his from the list showing. I'd also like to be able to jump through the list when I click on it by typing the name of the song and having MJ move to the song - like if I click on the list and type: 'y o u n' - then MJ will jump down to the first song beginning with this.
Also, take the Libraries for instance, these are reached through going to File/Library etc. It would make it a lot more self explanatory if these were accessed through right clicking the Media Library node and clicking - choose library or something, it would make it more understandable as to what it did. Also, I think this idea in itself is too much along the lines of how the features currently are in MJ, too many right clicks. The idea of libraries is great, letting users have the ability to choose what data is browsed is a great feature but again the implementation of it isn't easy or fast to change. Again, this is where a simple change of how the feature is implemented would make a lot of difference to how often it's used and how easy the user finds it to use.
If the libraries for instance were permenantly visible in a drop down menu about all the media library etc so that changing between them could be done quickly in one click the feature would be used 10 times more. Attached to the bottom of the list should also be: make new library which when selected opens a box to create a new library.
The libraries should also be defineable by means of choosing rules, smart lists etc.
This is just an example of something that would be a HUGELY powerful feature that is already in existance but is too cumbersome at present to make it much use for day to day use. Right now instead of changing libraries, I just have loads of view scheme's instead which again is annoying.
Also, there are so many options, Devices, Playlists, View Scheme's etc all on the side, with no way of choosing which appear, this just makes it cumbersome. The features are welcomed, the inability to customise them isn't.
Again, adding playlists, this is yet again done through a right click menu or can be done through a button on the toolbar which is already packed with buttons so doesn't make it stand out. Having say an entry in the tree pinned as the first item under playlists entitled: make new playlist with it's own unique icon would make it stand out far more and make it far more intuitive.
With playlists as default create a playlist group called: Examples and inside it have a ton of smartlists etc to give a new user examples of the full power of smartlists and to show them how they're set up etc.
I really think MJ has a LOT of power, it just needs to be brought to the surface more.
Right now MJ is like Linux, super powerful, can do tons, but is too dependant on the user knowing what they're doing. I think for v9 you should put most your energy into turning it into the latest incarnations of Linux where a lot more effort is spent trying to bring the features out. You guys should put all your effort into totally redesigning how features are implemented and the interface. It'll make the program seem like it has 100's of new features simply because they're so much easier to use and so much faster.
I might be totally wrong so please, I welcome all opinions but that's mine.
By the way, please dont take this negatively, the comparrison to Linux was valid, MJ is a well made, powerful program that I love hugely.
Author
Topic: Version 9 and How Complicated (Read 691 times)