INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Matt on September 23, 2004, 05:27:07 pm
-
Original thread describing how to use the new file browsing system:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=23608
Followup thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=23670
If you try MC 11.0.89, make sure you notice:
- The different sortings available from the 'View' item next to the tabs
- The animation of the images and status as you mouse over them
Thanks for all the feedback so far, and keep it coming.
-
Just downloaded this and I'm impressed. It really should not come as a surprise to see such an inovative and functional approach from the guys who have given us MC. I like the "rotating" images and the stats cycling.
Now for my little complaint: is there any way to set it up so that the sorting of artists is a-z and the albums for a selected artist and the files for that selected artist are sorted by date with out changing the "main" sorting? It seems that the sorting affects all screens. I prefer to see the albums listed in chronological order. I tried saving a file list sort, but when clicking back and forth from the artist list to a different artist the sort was gone. No biggie, but it would be nice.
Keep up the good work
-
Image animation is better.
The Back and Forward buttons are working great now.
Still having major problems with sometimes seeing 1 column and sometimes 2, flickering between the 2, items displaying beyond the bottom border, etc. I though this might be related to my using 2 monitors (one's 1280x1024 and the other is 1024x768) but it seems to happen regardless of which monitor MC is on.
Old thumbnail issue resurfaces...can't use the right arrow key to move to the third column.
The thumbnail image doesn't update if retrieved from the internet until you change views and come back again.
-
is there any way to set it up so that the sorting of artists is a-z and the albums for a selected artist and the files for that selected artist are sorted by date with out changing the "main" sorting? It seems that the sorting affects all screens. I prefer to see the albums listed in chronological order.
Keep up the good work
Great idea!
-
For anybody who wants to use other skins while checking out the new Library Broswer...
I just copied the <CUSTOMTAB> section from the Thunderstorm Skin's main.xml into the PixOS skin's main.xml, along with CustomTab_BorderRow.png and CustomTab_Button.png into the PixOS skin folder, and it works fine.
-
It seems to take no time to drill down from album view into showing all the files, but when clicking the tab to back to the albums, it takes several seconds, and pauses playback (over the internet to a work server playing a 128 bit file - which wouldn't otherwise skip) before finally showing the previous screen again.
Clitch?
-
For anybody who wants to use other skins while checking out the new Library Broswer...
I just copied the <CUSTOMTAB> section from the Thunderstorm Skin into the PixOS skin, along with CustomTab_BorderRow.png and CustomTab_Button.png into the PixOS skin folder, and it works fine.
Awesome! Thanks you Doof! ;)
Is it my imagination, or are tag change updates MUCH faster in the Library Browser mode?
-
I noticed when sort by rating is selected, it ignores whats after the decimal points.
for example, this is what I have at the moment (in terms of average rating)
4.0
4.5
4.1
4.0
Rich
-
That's probably because MC doesn't support decimals in ratings. It only supports whole numbers, AFAIK.
-
I know that, but thats not the problem, the problem is in the sorting algorithm.
-
Must be it's rounding. ;D
-
Can groupings of sorts be incorporated to make browsing faster/more direct when seeking such as a particular artist?
I know I can use the search box, but I prefer to click rather than type.
I love how this looks full screen (no it doesn't have a full screen mode that I can find, but I closed the tree panel). I would really like to see it with a real Full-Screen mode AND s small 'Playing Now' window somewhere that doesn't take up enough room to reduce the number of columns.
At some point will the columns become adjustable for width?
-
I noticed when sort by rating is selected, it ignores whats after the decimal points.
for example, this is what I have at the moment (in terms of average rating)
4.0
4.5
4.1
4.0
Rich
i saw that too. no idea why, but it certainly doesnt work properly as it currently stands!
other than that i really like the entire view scheme. it's basically taking over my theater view setup on the main screen. its definately easier for me to find specific genres/songs/albums than via the Theater view. and i like the animations.
i tend to use this view with the left hand tree view hidden, so it fills the main screen and there are a couple of issues:
1) i use larger fonts so i can read from across the room, but the panes dont scale, so a bunch of text becommes hidden
2) i'd really really love if there were a way of rating the current playing now song without dragging open the action window. i have this same gripe in theater view. could it not be added as a 'right click' option to the playing now bar along the top of the main view? otherwise i've got about 6 mouse clicks to rate 1 single song...
thanks
pip
-
2) i'd really really love if there were a way of rating the current playing now song without dragging open the action window. i have this same gripe in theater view. could it not be added as a 'right click' option to the playing now bar along the top of the main view? otherwise i've got about 6 mouse clicks to rate 1 single song...
thanks
pip
ctl-shift-(number from 1 to 5)
It's sweet!
-
cool thanks...now i just need to teach myself girder!
-
Sue (my wife) was looking at this new media browser, and she liked it alot, so she made me up grade her version of MC11
this is a very good way to view your library
the only thing i have a problem with is the "A, B, C, D, E, etc... List" is a bit small at my screen size so i miss the link 50% of the time maybe if it was a button or [A], , [C], [D], [E], Etc... Or larger text i would not miss the link.
-
My Library has the following tyes of media.
.ape
.mp3 @160
.mp3 @ 32
Is there a way that you can let the user specify what they would like to see in the browser. I see everything for audio and would only like to see .ape
Thanks,
-
1) The sort functions are a little surprising.
If I click on Artists, everything is sorted as I would expect (alphabetical by default). Then I click on a particular artist and look for albums. Now I like to see albums sorted by date as that's how I mentally "file" them per artist. So I change sorting to by date. No problem so far. Now if I go back to the Artists button to perhaps find a different artist, things are now completely jumbled. In fact the artist list seems to be sorted by an average date for the Artist concerned.
Now, technically being able to do this is rather interesting however definitely not what I would have expected and not just a little weird. In particular, I would have thought that sorting of lists should be seperated per button perhaps. Either that, or the actual progression of buttons needs to be selectable so that I can use a calculated field (like "Year - Album") or something else.
2) Nice and graphical though this is, I am missing some of the information that one gets from the paned browsing. One of the most powerful features of the older system is that the path through selections and the alternatives are shown in front of you always. This is why this type of browsing is some of the most powerful and fastest available. (For those who don't know try the MacOS X finder in column mode or even better the NeXTStep file browser.)
If you decide to drop the older system, please do a merge of some of it's functionality. At the moment while nice a prettier to see the current system is not as powerful or quick to get exactly the informtion one wants.
3) The "Tiles" that are used, are nice and reasonably informative. These are much nicer than the default tile view! Are you planning on making these programmable in some way? Is it done in a XML variant?
Overall a very impressive experiment in usability.
-
I agree that the sorting should be saved on a per filter basis. sorting genre by date for example confusing, for example, but on for albums, its indispensible.
Also, I'd like to see the library browser always starting at the top level, or remembering where it was before i clicked away from it. Currently it always seems to go to artists, and then i have this amzing and useless long list of artists to look at.
I must say that I think this way of browsing is much more intuitive than the panes. The panes are great for tagging or looking at patterns (such as last played etc.) but this is a great way to visually be able to select a genre, or artist. Seeing all those album covers flick in front of you really helps you to make a decision about what you feel like playing.
I also like the way it gets averages for number of plays and ratings. I'd love to be able to use this info in smartlists to choose which album to play, or in the panes view for creating new view schemes.
Good work.
Bri
-
I like it. I like it alot!
However, I miss the option to customize the information displayed. Instead of the hover animation of text, I'd like to see a customizable view, I don't mind several rows at each item, as long as I can see it directly instead of having to hover each item to see the info.
Thanks! This type of thing makes me upgrade MC each time!!
-
I am really liking the new Library Browser. Very nice looking and quite intuitive for quick picks. My only gripe would be that sort by date sorts descending (ie most recent first). Could there be an option to show the albums in release order? This is how all my data is stored and also how my cds are catalogued. I can do this in the pains using a claculated field but I cannot sort on this field in the library browser. Cheers,
Adam
-
It's looking real darn great, guys!
Here's some things I noticed plus some suggestions:
-When using Right click menu -->Locate options it would be nice to keep it in the new view.
-It'd be nice to be able to change tags in other views than files. Fx changing album names.
-Being able to change bg-color would be nice. I know you'll probably add this at some point. More customization in general.
-More optimizing.
-Get rid of stupid fade effect when scrolling. The 'browser lags on slower systems.
-It may look nicer if the advanced options is only shown when tiles are hovered for x seconds. IE you'd highlight a tile for more than x second and Play, Albums and Files are shown.
-It's really cool how statistic is shown when 'total files' is hovered.
-There needs to be a coffee button, and preferably a hot chocolate button too. It'd be best if we'd just connect the coffee machine to the wireless network.
-Maybe add an easy to reveal or always shown EQ. You could add a 'show eq' link in the drop down menu. Note: I'm not sure this should open in a new window. I think it'd be more useful if shown in main window.
Did I say it looks great? IT sure does! I see great potential ... if optimized (not everybody have top-notch systems:-)
-Rasmus
edit:
quote by Adam
[...]Could there be an option to show the albums in release order?[...]
This would be awesome and quite useful!
-
Hmmm.... I just noticed how much nicer this view plays with the split-view. I always thought a split pane view looked like a huge cluttered mess. So much so that I had pretty much decided I would never use the split view.
But the Library Browser looks a lot nicer in conjunction with split view.
Alright... I'm convinced. Just make sure we don't lose tagging mode (or that something better comes along!), and I'm happy. :)
-
I just finally installed a version of MC 11 that has the library browser, so now I finally know what you people have been talking about for the last few weeks. Forgive me, but I don't feel inclined to read through 70+ total posts, so maybe this has already been answered.
This isn't going to be a replacement some day for the panes or trees is it? Please say it's not.
I mean, it's pretty and fun and all, but it's not very practical in terms of media management.
I only raise this question because I have this vague recollection of imjustagamer raising a similar question weeks ago when it was first introduced, but again, I just don't have the time or inclination to read through 70+ posts to find the answer. :P
-
I just finally installed a version of MC 11 that has the library browser, so now I finally know what you people have been talking about for the last few weeks. Forgive me, but I don't feel inclined to read through 70+ total posts, so maybe this has already been answered.
This isn't going to be a replacement some day for the panes or trees is it? Please say it's not.
I mean, it's pretty and fun and all, but it's not very practical in terms of media management.
I only raise this question because I have this vague recollection of imjustagamer raising a similar question weeks ago when it was first introduced, but again, I just don't have the time or inclination to read through 70+ posts to find the answer. :P
I don't think I ever seen an answer... But I am assuming that they wouldn't get rid of the panes...
But then again... You know what happens when you ass u m e things... :o
;D