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[Matt]

We asked for mockups for the new Tag Window and got some nice results. (coming in the next build)

So we're putting out an open call for mock-ups to improve the options trees that we use in several options pages. (General, Playback, etc.)

As it stands, we love how flexible these controls are.  They make adding new options or advanced options much easier.  However, they can look a little too jumbled when there are a lot of options.

Feel free to play with coloring, spacing, font styles (bold, etc.)

Thanks for any help!

[jgreen]

Matt, did you say "options"--as in "options"?

[JimH]

Options.  Right.

Tools/Options and then choose, for example, Library.  The tree is then on the right.

[gappie]

i did choose jrivers for its options. so.... more options please... 

maybe some to give some more control over theater view.

and i would love the option to delete standard library fields.

and to get rid of some things in the tree (like that scheduler).

i love options. we need more options.

is that an answer your the question.

[JimH]

i did choose jrivers for its options. so.... more options please... 

maybe some to give some more control over theater view.

and i would love the option to delete standard library fields.

and to get rid of some things in the tree (like that scheduler).

i love options. we need more options.

is that an answer your the question.

No, but thanks.

I think Matt is looking for graphics ideas.  dcwebman made some mockups that helped a lot.

[glynor]

I gave it a bit of a whirl...

Making mockups of Tree controls on a Mac without access to Visual Studio is hard.    

[gappie]

No, but thanks.

I think Matt is looking for graphics ideas.  dcwebman made some mockups that helped a lot.

oh, im sorry. guess i should have picked up the dictionary before answering this question, mockup.

 

[KeystoneCop]

not a mock up,,,,,,but

I think it would be nice just to open up all the options.  It took me forever to find the number of recent commands.    I like OPTIONS, the hard part is finding them.

also would be nice to have a help option to expalin to the dummy (ME) what the option does

[dcwebman]

I was thinking what could be done but it looks okay to me, especially since it matches the navigation tree. I do agree that expanding on open would be nice since there aren't Expand All / Collapse All buttons. But once you collapse a tree, it should remember that so you don't get all expanded the next time you go into that option.

[park]

For me, the placement of certain options is more of a problem than the graphical layout of them.

For example, I always instinctively go to "Playback" to look at how my files will play (on double click play all/ play selected etc.), and then realise that they arent there. They are actually in the "General" section. The "Behaviour" and "Advanced" parts of the "General" section should be in "Playback".

"Tree & View" should be renamed to be a bit more encompassing. Maybe just call it "View". And inside it can have everything it has now, plus maybe the options related to images (Raw image settings). The  "Track Images Location" (now in File location) could be put there too (and renamed to "Cover art location").

The "Ouput file location" could be moved to "Library and Folders", and the "Tempory file location" moved to "Encoding", and then you could ditch "File location" altogether.

In terms of graphics, if you are going to use twirly arrows, then I'd have them twirl to show whether they're expanded or not.

Or perhaps you could go with some kind of pane interface, so that rather than expanding twirlys and having to go down through a list of options, you start at the left and have the most general groupings ("General", "Playback",  "Startup" etc.), then in the next pane just the headers (that currently have twirly expanders on them) which you select to see the detailed options in a third pane. That would be a very clean interface, and being horizontal based, might negate the need for any kind of scrolling at all.

[CDvd]

I like OPTIONS, the hard part is finding them.

Keystone made me thing about a nice feature (ripped from Eclipse IDE's options and the new KDE menu).
Typing something hides options that do not match the search critaria and emphases the corresponding tree item :



[Edit : added explication]

[Jaguu]

I think, it would be easier to navigate if the submenu headers would be on the left pane as submenus of the main options items. So when selecting a submenu, you would get only the corresponding features on the right side. This seems a more standard behaviour in most apps that group options in such a way.

As an example:
a. Clicking on the General options would display the following submenus on the left side (similar to the tree view): Interface, Importing & Tagging, Shell Options, Behaviour, Advanced.
Clicking on the Interface submenu would only display the Interface options on the right side.

In this way the right side would be less crowded and more concise. Maybe some re-grouping might be necessary. Park gave some good re-grouping examples, especially the File Location option could be easily re-distributed among other options menus.

[JimH]

CDvd,
Thanks for the suggestion.

[RobOK]

DO NOT use three rows of tabbed dialogs that move around like MS Word!!!


I agree with earlier comment about being hard to find options in collapsed areas.


I also like the idea of having sub items on the left side and the whole right side is the actual options.  An example of this is the Account Settings dialog in Thunderbird (not their general options panel).

[johnnyboy]

I agree with having the left hand list expand.
Would give you a full screen on the right for options for that sub category.

It also makes the extra options easily visible while not confusing as you only see them when expanding the extra section.

Would give space for an option to for instance "Jump to recently ripped playlist after ripping CD". lol




Another thing is I find the grayed out icons like they are now is a step backwards and makes them that much harder to make out which just makes the whole lot seem that much less visibly recognisable.

[CDvd]

CDvd,
Thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome!
Grayscaled icons are in the current build so I'm wonderiing if the whole concept will be adopted or not...

[dcwebman]

Okay, according to this other thread (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=36334.0) some people wanted a tree in the left side. Since mockups were requested, how about these?

[Matt]

Isn't putting the tree on the left instead of the right the same but different?

[glynor]

It is, but it matches the rest of the motif of MC (and Windows) better.  Everywhere else in windows, tree controls are typically on the left pane, and the "details" of what you're using the tree to navigate to is on the right.

Think about Regedit, Windows Explorer, and MC's tree...  It's just more intuitive to navigate on the left and adjust on the right with a tree control.

Here's an example of a Tree-style options dialog that I think works pretty well:



I also really like VLC's method of putting an "Advanced Options" checkbox at the bottom to show/hide the more esoteric options.  I generally keep that option unchecked, and only check it when I'm digging in to look for something I can't otherwise find.  It's a simple way to keep the options dialog looking uncluttered for everyday use, while still allowing access to the more powerful options.

I'd been planning on trying to replicate VLC's system in a Mock-up using MC's existing stuff, and actually took a stab at it a few times, since this thread was first started.  It was just too hard, so why don't we just look at the real thing!

[johnnyboy]

Not really.
It makes it stand out more as an obvious grouping on the left whereas on the right it could easily be another option really - doesn't make it stand out much.

Also, if it's on the left it means when you select it you get the whole right hand page as an option scree, when its on the right, when you select it, it just adds to the list of things already being shown for the general options and so makes them more confusing.

[Alex B]

Isn't putting the tree on the left instead of the right the same but different?

It is better on the right. Then you can have the related options expanded simultaneously.

Anything that is easier and faster to access and use is better for me. I change the options all the time and also check that everything is correctly set before doing something that is depended on the selected options.

[jgreen]

I think it is "the same but different" UNLESS you force a streamlining of the hierarchy on the left side, so that the right pane ONLY shows the destination pref settings, and NEVER additional levels such as "Advanced".  Glynor's suggestion of an "advanced" show/hide button is a good one. When the advanced options are "shown", additional advanced prefs take their proper places at each point in the tree, and not lumped together in an advanced branch.

Left-side tree should collapse down to 4 or 5 items AT MOST. 

GENERAL
  --STARTUP
  --ENCODING
  --FILE ASSOCIATIONS
  --(ETC)

REMOVABLE MEDIA
  --BURNING
      --CD
      --DVD
  --RIPPING
     --CD
  --SECURE BACKUP (Currently an option only in jgreen's mind)
      --LINKS

DEVICES
  --HANDHELD
  --REMOTES
  --(ETC)

LIBRARY & FOLDERS
  --(ETC)

[Alex B]

--SECURE BACKUP (Currently an option only in jgreen's mind)

[glynor]

I think it is "the same but different" UNLESS you force a streamlining of the hierarchy on the left side, so that the right pane ONLY shows the destination pref settings, and NEVER additional levels such as "Advanced".  Glynor's suggestion of an "advanced" show/hide button is a good one. When the advanced options are "shown", additional advanced prefs take their proper places at each point in the tree, and not lumped together in an advanced branch.

[Remainder omitted for brevity]

That is exactly how VLC's options dialog works.  Download it and try it out if you want to see.  It's pretty nice.

And Alex, I'm not sure why having the tree the way I described would preclude what you're looking for.  Especially if it obeyed the "Auto Expand/Collapse" setting in Tree & View.  Have you ever used VLC's options dialog?  I certainly find it much quicker and easier to check through my options using it than MC's dialog, especially once you learn where all of the options live (which is really a prerequisite for quickly navigating any options dialog regardless of design, and I think the simple tree makes it easier to learn where things live).

[Alex B]

I commented Matt's reply to dcwebman's mockups.

I compared the mockups with this real thing:



In the mockupped window I can see the three main branches only separately.


Generally, I just want to see all related options at once if possible

For example, I constantly find it cumbersome to check the location, the encoder and the advanced options (= encoder settings) separately when I convert files. I would prefer to see one big display window that can show all options at the same time.

The VLC option's are on my "list". I'll check how they work.

[glynor]

Generally, I just want to see all related options at once if possible

For example, I constantly find it cumbersome to check the location, the encoder and the advanced options (= encoder settings) separately when I convert files. I would prefer to see one big display window that can show all options at the same time.

Ahhh... See, I'd prefer to have more separate, more sparsely populated, panels of options.  Because that way once I'm to the "panel" I want, my eyes can quickly pick out what I want without having to scan through all the "noise".

Just a different way of looking at it!

[dcwebman]

Is this topic dead now?

[lee269]

Charge 150... charging... CLEAR!!

Not quite. If we have a page/tab/tree model, can we have an 'apply' button to just change options in that section?

[InflatableMouse]

Why fix something that isn't broken? 

I love the way it is and like Alex I'd like to see related options all at once as well. The more the better I'd add. 

I am afraid that adding a tree on the left will add more clicks to get where you want to be. The good thing now is that within a few clicks I am where I want to be.

Just adding my 2 cents worth.

[johnnyboy]

Thats not t

Why fix something that isn't broken? 

I love the way it is and like Alex I'd like to see related options all at once as well. The more the better I'd add. 

I am afraid that adding a tree on the left will add more clicks to get where you want to be. The good thing now is that within a few clicks I am where I want to be.

Just adding my 2 cents worth.

That's not actually true.
To get to advanced options you have to expand the tree = 1 click.
To expand the advanced options on the left you'd have to expand the tree = 1 click.

[dcwebman]

Why fix something that isn't broken? 

Apparently JRiver did since Matt asked for mockups.