INTERACT FORUM

Quote

8. Changed: Removed button from top-right of Action Window header. (use right-click if necessary)

Is it such a good idea to hide the tools menu this way? I mean, I know where they are, but would a new user?

And I just want to add my voice to those crying out for a longer search bar. The one we have now really is all but useless. Especially when trying to edit a smartlist. It's impossible to edit a search criteria that's scrolled beyond the search bar's borders.

<rant on>
I agree with both. It is really bad interface design to hide functionality completely from the user (not an opinion, by now fact, gleaned from decades of computer-based interface design focus groups). There needs to be at least some sort of visual cue that there is functionality available within the AW header. The former icon was nice in that it was subtle, not in your face, easily ignorible, yet there when you needed it or forgot about it. What more could you ask for?

Consider the ellipsis (...) in a menu, when you see one, you know there are more options; that a dialog will appear; that an action won't immediately occur. This is a great example of a slight visual cue providing the user with valuable information at little visual "cost".

Look at the way major players like Adobe and Macromedia provide a very wide range of audiences with layers of complexity through the use of something as simple like a drop down arrow. There is no way they would hide the flexibility or functionality, for one thing, they want you to know it's there, it's valuable and they spent quite a bit of time providing the functionality. While they realize some don't need the extra functionality, instead of completely hidding it within a manual, they provide a subtle visual clue to its existance. Click on the arrow and functionality expands.

While I realize that jriver is no Adobe or Macromedia, most of these techniques are, if not proven, at least accepted standards. Why take steps back?

Maybe we should get rid of the menu bar too, it's pretty much all that is left.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of context sensitive right clicking, but I think the current need to click three or four times just to change something as integral as a list view is absurd. Just one example. Being able to csutomize the top and bottom bars has been great, but I think that more levels of functionality need to be made available.

One example, if the different views were available individually, then at least I could add two buttons: one for list, the other for Album Thumbnail, one click away. Additionally, I'd like to be able to add buttons above the list, go figure, but I'm much less confused if controls are located in the general vicinity of what they are controlling.

Making deeper levels of functionality available for customizing button bars and adding a button bar above the list view (below panes), would probably solve most of my issues with access to MC features. I could customize it how *I* want and how *I* work and if someone has a problem with single click solutions, they can remove all buttons and get a mouse with two right click buttons  

Oh, and I do not represent any icon artists....

</rant off> ...the ranter...