Collection View/Playlist Ideas

[Jeff Mitchell]

Mark Kretschmann wrote:
> On Friday 11 May 2007, Jeff Mitchell wrote:
>   
> Probably worth a try, but as Max said, I'm wondering if it works if you have a 
> great number of items.
>   
Once you get used to using it (doesn't take too long) you learn where to 
insert the mouse such that it doesn't immediately scroll away.  The real 
benefit would be that it would eliminate a common scrolling method, 
namely, where a user clicks on the scrollbar and drags it up or down, 
searching for the track they want.  (In fact, it could eliminate the 
"click on a playlist item and start paging down until you find the one 
you want, then go one track at a time to get it selected" too).  So it 
can replace a lot of mouse and keyboard presses.

I agree with you and Max, it *may* be an issue, which is why it may work 
well as an option so that people with 4000 playlist entries don't get 
saddled with it

Really it's hard to get a feel for how it works without seeing it or 
playing around with it...so the best way to see it is to try out Kopete 
with an account with 100 contacts or so (you have to enable the option 
for it too).  If many of you can't do that (don't have 100 contacts, 
say  :-)  ) I could try to make a video of it so you guys can see it in 
action.
>> 2) (Part 1) Collection Grouping
>> http://www.jefferai.com/amarok/collectionviewpics/collmenus1.png
>>     
>
> Problem here is the that you need an extra row of buttons at the bottom of the 
> widget. IMHO we've already experienced usability problems with the "Show 
> Extended Info" buttons, which are also at the bottom.
>   
I was thinking of buttons, yes, to answer Max's email.  So you can 
quickly toggle/filter out different kinds of collections.  But perhaps 
something else:  for instance, a drop-down box that lists your 
collections, and a checkmark beside it.  Selecting a collection in the 
drop down box automatically scrolls you to it, and the checkbox turns on 
and off whether that collection is hidden or shown.  That way things 
don't have to fit into pre-made groupings...which also makes it more 
extensible if new categories come along.  What do you think?

The real consideration here is that already a local collection can be, 
vertically, expansive.  Granted, there's filtering...but some people may 
want a collection always hidden unless, say, a network connection 
exists, in which case they want to view it again.

>   
>> 3) (Part 2) The "Pop-Up Dropper"
>> http://www.jefferai.com/amarok/collectionviewpics/collmenus2.png
>>     
>
> I like this idea a lot! The only drawback is that you can't drag to a specific 
> position in the playlist. But that may not be so important.
>
>   
I'm not sure how important that is.  Although I don't see why, if the 
drag goes way past the dropper towards the playlist, the dropper 
couldn't disappear.  Note that, if we go by the 2.0 mockup, the playlist 
items will be large and so not many of them will be shown at once.  This 
is a situation where the Kopete-style navigation could be very useful, 
so you don't have to scroll the Playlist until where you want is visible 
and then drag it over.  But granted it gets a bit more tricky to 
mouse-navigate if your playlist is HUGE, which again suggests having it 
as an option (but perhaps a default)?

Some other thoughts I had about this idea:

1) When the user starts the drag, Amarok (or perhaps the entire desktop) 
gets shaded/darker as the dropper icons "grow" from nothing to their 
normal size (quickly of course).  Basically, adding an element of 
slickness and wow factor.
2) Similar to the OS X dock, the icons grow in size as the mouse 
approaches them...this also helps ensure that the user picks the one 
they meant to, as well as guarantee that we can fit an arbitrary number 
of items (what if they have ten collections and five portable 
devices)...they start out smaller to all fit, then grow as the mouse nears.

Not that I have a clue how to actually program that.  I don't know much 
about QGraphicsScene and the like.  Would Amarok's window have to be a 
GraphicsScene with everything else widgets placed around it?  If not, 
how would you do nice effects like shading on things like listviews?  
How would you implement dropper icons popping up randomly?  If this 
requires something like OpenGL, could there also be less flashy effects 
for users without such graphics cards?

I'm sure with some graphics programming experience, especially in Qt, I 
could answer these, but I have none.  :-|  But if everyone likes the 
idea, we could start asking around...

--Jeff