Topic: Need a Good Touch Screen Interface (Read 3595 times)

Richs · « **on:** June 25, 2009, 01:03:44 pm »

I am using a nice 17-inch touchscreen sitting by my couch to control J River, But I haven't been able to find a good interface.

The Theater View comes close, but it has a few problems. 1) scrolling though artists is a bit awkward (one artist gets bigger as you scroll through making it difficult to scan. 2) after selecting an album, there are no controls on the screen (you have to navigate away). 3) there is no easy way to exit from Theater View with only a mouse (have to press escape key).

So my wish list to make Theater View great for a touch screen:

1. Make scrolling through artists easier (more Ipod Touch - like)

2. After selecting album (or playlist) have all the controls on screen (play/pause/advance/volume/etc.) along with the list of songs and the image of the album

3. Make it easy to exit Theater View with only a mouse click.

Seems like this should be pretty easy, but I'm not technical enough to modify this skin myself.

Thanks,

Rich Schreuer

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2009, 01:08:40 pm »

Make sure you have the latest build of 14.0. 14.0.19 is on this board.

You should be able to grab and flick a screen to scroll, same as an iPhone.

Controls are available in Playing Now.

You can exit Theater View from the Exit button at the right side of the root (home) roller bar.

Keep us posted. We'll make changes if necessary to make this work.

Any details on the device?

Richs · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2009, 10:17:38 am »

Jim -

Thanks for the fast reply. I downloaded 14.0.19. It's definitely better. Here are my suggestions to make it function better as a touch screen interface (I have an ELO 1749L - SAW technology):

Scrolling through artists:
Seems finicky. Sometimes when I press hard enough to grab the artists it's too hard and the artist opens to the album list. Also it doesn't seem to easily scroll with a flick like a Touch does. How about putting alphabet buttons to the right, so we could touch N to go to Neil Young, for example. Also maybe a bigger scroll bar so it's easier to control with a finger

Access to controls:
I didn't have a set of controls when I went to playing now. Also if I wanted to jump to a particular song and I selected it, then the screen would be dominated by info from that song. It seems like it might be a more elegant solution to have a list of songs on the left (after selecting an album or playlist) and have the controls (volume, song progress, forward, back, pause/play) right there on the top or bottom of the screen - without having to navigate away to a different screen.

Getting out of Theater View:
I had trouble scrolling through the options to get to exit. I kept getting stuck on Big Screen. Any change of adding a exit button at the corner of the screen.

Thanks for considering making this more functional as a touch screen. I know many of us really appreciate it.

Rich

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2009, 10:45:28 am »

Quote from: Richs on June 26, 2009, 10:17:38 am

Access to controls:
I didn't have a set of controls when I went to playing now. Also if I wanted to jump to a particular song and I selected it, then the screen would be dominated by info from that song. It seems like it might be a more elegant solution to have a list of songs on the left (after selecting an album or playlist) and have the controls (volume, song progress, forward, back, pause/play) right there on the top or bottom of the screen - without having to navigate away to a different screen.

The controls are on the 2nd roller. Try adjusting monitor contrast or brightness.

Use the Obsidian skin if you aren't now.

krupted · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2009, 11:57:50 am »

i would do backflips off a bridge if i will be able to use mc14 as the sole music manager with my 7" touchscreen for my car computer....

Richs · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2009, 12:44:48 pm »

Jim -

How do I find and download the Obsidian skin. I can't seem to find it.

Thanks,

Rich

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2009, 12:46:54 pm »

Obsidian is a default skin. Go to Tools/Options/Theater View.

Richs · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2009, 01:32:41 pm »

I was using Obsidian.

Now I understand the rollers. It still seems to me that it would be easier or more intuitive not to have roll for basic functions. Or maybe put the basic functions (pause/play, advance/back, ff/rw on the left, so we don't have to roll for them.

Also, in Play Now, there is a lot of space between the songs, so few fit on the screen. Can this gap be lessened?

Rich

JimH · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2009, 01:42:11 pm »

We're not making changes on these items now. Maybe in the future.

Please see if you can adapt. After you've used it a while, let us know what you think.

Richs · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2009, 02:29:43 pm »

Jim -

Thanks for all you fast feedback. I will use it for a bit. I notice other folks clamoring for good touchscreen (and referencing Sonos), so maybe you guys will develop a specific skin for that at some point.

Thanks,

Rich

Fred1 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 30, 2009, 05:30:24 am »

Hi,

i'm using MediaCenter on my CarPC, too.
It would be very helpful to have an intuitive userinterface for the touchscreen.
For now i'm using the standard interface of MC12/13 with a harware controller.
It works, but it could be easier to navigate.

Fred

SeaDrive · « **Reply #11 on:** June 30, 2009, 11:06:45 am »

One additional change that I had requested before is to have a mouse click, which is exactly what a press of the touchscreen is, act exactly the same as pressing the enter key. If you press enter on an item in theater view and you have options configured to show menu you can choose to open the menu item, play the ite, etc. The mouse click should honor this setting as well and behave identically.

As far as exiting theater view I agree. I finally built an little utility that replaces the default exit option with an external option. The utility automatically closes MC rather than return to library view.

Another small utility that I created to make touchscreen easier was an external button to "Switch Application." It invokes the Aero Flip 3D and allows me to use the roller to switch open apps. Right now I use both MC's theater view and Netremote because I find each one to be stronger in different areas. I'm able to design Netremote to be much more end user intuitive for basic navigation and playback while MC Theater View is more flexible and powerful for a more advanced user.

You can search for some of my previous posts on touchscreen use.

Just my $.02

leezer3 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 30, 2009, 06:18:39 pm »

Quote from: Richs on June 26, 2009, 01:32:41 pm

I was using Obsidian.

Now I understand the rollers. It still seems to me that it would be easier or more intuitive not to have roll for basic functions. Or maybe put the basic functions (pause/play, advance/back, ff/rw on the left, so we don't have to roll for them.

Also, in Play Now, there is a lot of space between the songs, so few fit on the screen. Can this gap be lessened?

Rich

Try one of the non-roller skins

Any of the others don't have them except for in a few places- These have the basic playback controls on the left, and use a different layout.

It would be nice to have someone else who doesn't like the rollers

-Leezer-

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** June 30, 2009, 06:20:06 pm »

Quote from: leezer3 on June 30, 2009, 06:18:39 pm

It would be nice to have someone else who doesn't like the rollers

Feeling out-numbered?

leezer3 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 30, 2009, 07:35:49 pm »

Quote from: JimH on June 30, 2009, 06:20:06 pm

Feeling out-numbered?

Who, me?

Quote

Orkses is never defeated in battle. if we win we win, if we die we die, so it don't count as defeat. If we runs for it we don't die neither, so we can always come back for anuvver go, see!

(Tolkien)

-Leezer-

SeaDrive · « **Reply #15 on:** June 30, 2009, 08:55:17 pm »

As a touchscreen user I hate the rollers. Unfortunately I have no choice because some options only exist in the rollers. As a workaround I created a skin that uses a combination of BASE1.XML and BASE2.XML to include both navigation buttons and rollers. I at least get to use the buttons for features they support and ahve to settle for the rollers for all other functions.

SeaDrive · « **Reply #16 on:** June 30, 2009, 08:55:23 pm »

Sorry... Duplicate post. (removed)

JimH · « **Reply #17 on:** June 30, 2009, 08:56:44 pm »

johnnyboy · « **Reply #18 on:** July 01, 2009, 12:22:11 am »

Quote from: JimH on June 30, 2009, 08:56:44 pm

Surely with touch screens becoming so popular (even Walmart has two different model ones for sale), this should be a feature MC is trying to nail and not something that requires user hack jobs to make work as this will put off newbies?

I was looking at the touch screen in Walmart and wondering what software it was using, not because it looked so powerful or great, but purely because it looked like it would actually do the job well in a manner that worked well with touch screen.

Touch screen interface is how I've always imagined MC being used at my house on a home server with 7" little touch screens around the house I can use to control it.
At the moment cant afford but, but I'd sure hope it was an area MC covered when I can afford it or I'll be forced to run off and look at alternate software.

WaterBoi · « **Reply #19 on:** July 09, 2009, 02:25:23 am »

I'd like to chime in on this one too... I'm now using MC via an HTPC connected to the TV - and using an eeeTop for control... I really like the solution but find that it's just not all that touchscreen-ready. I end up always using the mouse. I know with more and more low-powered and low cost touchscreen options coming around lately this will get to be more popular.

I'll practice more and make sure I have that obsidian skin - but my testing so far in theaterview doesn't seem optimal yet - and I'll bet there's a lot of potential.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Need a Good Touch Screen Interface (Read 3595 times)