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[jeffspl311]

In a mulitple zone setup where each zone has it's own sound card, the Volume Slider in one zone affects both zones. I have not tried it in other skins, but this happens with Z for sure.

Cheers,
Jeff

[jeffspl311]

Type in two words seperarated by a space into the search area, and as soon as that field looses focus, extra spacing appears between the words (and after the last word for that matter). I'm using the Z skin.

Cheers,
Jeff

[jeffspl311]

In the Library Import dialog, the Search list routinely cuts off the directory path name long before it becomes differentiated. Thus, my search box is filled with items like:

Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...

Which makes it kinda hard to tell what is excluded. It would be WAY better if this widget allowed left-right scrolling.

I'm using the Z skin.

Cheers,
Jeff

[jeffspl311]

Menu items which are disabled are allowing themselves to become highlighted on mouseover. On mouseUp, i.e. selection of the disabled (but highlighted) item, nothing happens. Makes for a very odd user experience. I'm using the Z skin.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Matt]

Type in two words seperarated by a space into the search area, and as soon as that field looses focus, extra spacing appears between the words (and after the last word for that matter). I'm using the Z skin.

Cheers,
Jeff

This is by design.  After friendly formatting, a little extra space is added between tokens.

[Matt]

In a mulitple zone setup where each zone has it's own sound card, the Volume Slider in one zone affects both zones. I have not tried it in other skins, but this happens with Z for sure.

Cheers,
Jeff

Play with System Volume vs Internal Volume in MC.

[Matt]

Menu items which are disabled are allowing themselves to become highlighted on mouseover. On mouseUp, i.e. selection of the disabled (but highlighted) item, nothing happens. Makes for a very odd user experience. I'm using the Z skin.

Cheers,
Jeff

I think this is standard Windows.  IE does the same.

[Matt]

In the Library Import dialog, the Search list routinely cuts off the directory path name long before it becomes differentiated. Thus, my search box is filled with items like:

Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...
Exclude: C:\Documents and Settings\JeffSPL311\My Docume...

Which makes it kinda hard to tell what is excluded. It would be WAY better if this widget allowed left-right scrolling.

I'm using the Z skin.

Cheers,
Jeff

Agreed.

[jeffspl311]

This is by design.  After friendly formatting, a little extra space is added between tokens.

Hey Matt,
Thanks for getting back to me on all these! All your responses were helpful. I'll just comment on the ones that I disagree with. This is one of them.
I can't imagine for the life of me why this is desireable... it makes the widget look like it's screwing up because of some font issue or something, and makes selection of the resulting text awkward. If you are going to use IE as an example for standard Windows behavior, for goodness sake, please follow their example for formatting text in the address bar too. The Google search bar leaves my search strings alone as well.

Cheers,
Jeff

[jeffspl311]

I think this is standard Windows.  IE does the same.

Hi Matt,
OK, I'll buy that. Just for the record, though, this hasn't been a universal truth. The Windows Interface Guidelines for Software Design seems to be silent on this issue, and MS programs like Outlook 2002 do not highlight disabled menu items (the program I use most often, and thus has set my expectations). I'll check Outlook 2004 when I get into work to satisfy my remaing curiosity. Good call on your part though!
Cheers,
Jeff

[Matt]

Hi Matt,
OK, I'll buy that. Just for the record, though, this hasn't been a universal truth. The Windows Interface Guidelines for Software Design seems to be silent on this issue, and MS programs like Outlook 2002 do not highlight disabled menu items (the program I use most often, and thus has set my expectations). I'll check Outlook 2004 when I get into work to satisfy my remaing curiosity. Good call on your part though!
Cheers,
Jeff

You're right, it's a mix between different programs.

We'll alpha selection for disabled items next build.  It probably looks a little nicer.

[jeffspl311]

I have changed to "Internal" instead of "System" for the volume control, and it is working as expected, except for now there is no knob on the volume slider when there is no song actually playing. It just disappears when the song stops! When I play a different song, the slider shows up again, in the same place. Since it is "internal" and remembers where it is supposed to be, shouldn't it remain visible and even be usable?

Cheers,
Jeff

PS. Yea, Outlook 2003, which I have at work (not 2004, if there even is such a thing), continues the Outlook tradition of not highlighting/selecting disabled menu items.

[Matt]

I have changed to "Internal" instead of "System" for the volume control, and it is working as expected, except for now there is no knob on the volume slider when there is no song actually playing. It just disappears when the song stops! When I play a different song, the slider shows up again, in the same place. Since it is "internal" and remembers where it is supposed to be, shouldn't it remain visible and even be usable?

Cheers,
Jeff

This is by design.  The internal volume can only do something when audio is playing through our engine (so not for Quicktime, RA, etc.).  Therefore, we only show the control when it'll actually do something.

[jeffspl311]

OK, but the point I was trying, unsuccessfully, to make is MC doesn't forget the value of where the slider was when it stopped playing, since it resumes playing at the same volume the next time I play a song. Thus, regardless if something is actually playing or not, the slider, and the corresponding volume itself, has a value that is stored somewhere. My first proposal is that this value be displayed via the slider knob remaining visible, even when no song is playing.

Furthermore, since there is a volume value stored somewhere even when the song is not playing, why not let the user adjust this value even when the song is not playing, via the slider knob remaining visible and operational.

The justification you seem to make for the current (mis)-behavior of the system is akin to saying that the dimmer switch dial on my lamp should be rendered immovable unless the lamp is plugged in. Makes no sense to me. Am I missing something?

Cheers,
Jeff

[JimH]

Hey Jeff, it's nice to have your interest, but some things are just the way they are, and we won't ever be able to explain them to your satisfaction.  I hope you'll understand that there are a lot of decisions that go into MC and that you'd probably make a lot of them differently than we have.

[jeffspl311]

Hi Jim, All,

I completely respect that this is your product and you can do with it as you wish, and you all do a great job! As a passionate user and public advocate of your software (as a DJ lot's of people all over the state have asked me what I use), I have a self interest in sharing my insights and wishes with you, in hopes of making the product as user friendly as possible, that's all. You guys are stellar at responding to people in this forum and the community spirit that you have engendered is fantastic.

My day job is as a user experience designer and usability specialist. I've been doing it for over 15 years at places like IBM, Apple, Sun... so when I hear faulty reasoning or half explanations, I know it. I don't let my engineering teams get away with that and so I ask follow-up questions or clarify my concerns with them... which is what I was doing here. I understand that because of architecture or other constraints sometimes the answer is "it's too hard or not worth it to change", and that's fine. But that's not what was said... what was said is that it was "by design", which I always interpret to mean "by choice". And I would wager that any halfway decent user test would indicate that absent of any engineering consideration, hiding the slider knob was at bad choice by at least 8 to 1. If it were an easy choice to reverse, I just wanted you all to understand that you should. Anyway, perhaps I overstepped my role as "consumer" here, and you've gently reminded me of that. That's cool. I know now that I've been heard, and I apologize for any ruffled feathers.

Cheers,
Jeff