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[park]

12.0.61 (8/25/06)

2. Changed: Revised how library view navigation works so that it has only one control point.
3. Changed: Merged title of views and "Options" button in all views into the same item.
5. Changed: Added "Columns" to the view settings menu.
6. Changed: "Customize Current View..." replaced by "View Settings" menu in main view menu and right-click on file lists.
7. Changed: Right-clicking the column headers of a list shows only the "View Settings" menu instead of the entire menu.

Lots of changes.
Personally, I like the fact that you are trying to simplify. My only concern is that sometimes it's actually at the expense of ease of use, rather than the opposite.

Ie:
One menu: Good.
Now you know where to go for whatever you want to change, I suppose.

"View settings" menu: Good.
Nice and clear.

Removing the menu from bottom view header: Bad
Now the the only way to be able to change from album thumbnails to the details list of songs is to know that you can right click on the bottom view header  and then go into an options submenu.
Please put a menu back in the header, and get rid of all the stuff that relates to the Top view in it. It's too confusing having options that affect both top and bottom view, in one menu.


I agree that tile view can still be improved, but from my pov, the way to improve it is to make the navigation system more obvious to the uninitiated.

To achieve that aim, I'd say the following needs to be done:

• Make the Distinction between "changing between root level views" and "entering into groupings" clearer.
  One way to give weight to root level view choices would be to ditch them as a menu and put them in the tree as suggested here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=35259.msg240375#msg240375
• Make it clear how to navigate through groupings (enter into them etc.).
  The drop down "view" menu is ok, but not obvious enough (I think). And double clicking is fantastic, if a) you know about it & b)you know where you'll end up.
• Show that the list can be sorted to suit your needs.
  This was being done effectively when it was a main menu on the view header I think.
• Some way to be able to click on an album thumbnail and see just it's files in details view.
  This is a hard one though. Currently "Locate" is the closest thing to achieve this, but it feels like a hack rather than a comfortable way to do it.
  A "Files" link on the thumbnail that launches a "Files list" action window, could be one solution, but wouldnt appease people who want to see all the columns.

[Matt]

Removing the menu from bottom view header: Bad

That one was just an oversight.  It'll work like the other views next build. (menu on the title text)

We're open to ideas, but they need to fit well with our existing system and user demands.  Things like getting rid of tree navigation and replacing it with "browse by links" would be far too controversial since many people still use tree-style library navigation.

Thanks park.

[park]

Thanks for the positive feedback Matt.

Upon reflection, I think that bundling the sorting in with the groupings menu is a good idea. Now people can always see that they can sort, whereas they'd have to venture to the "options" dropdown before.

One more thing that I'd like to suggest about the tiles view, is that when you click on "customize current view", the sorting "presets" reflect those on the "sorting" menu outside, and by extension, editing and saving that preset would edit the behaviour of of said sorting menu presets.