Collection improvements suggestions

[Bart Cerneels]

On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 10:41 AM, Pierre-Luc Auclair
<p-l.auclair at velourbain.qc.ca> wrote:
> Le jeudi, 2 avril 2009 03:18:18, Bart Cerneels a écrit :
>> The "transfer management context view" I don't like. Transfer progress
>> of individual tracks should be indicated in the main Collection view
>> (i.e. CollectionBrowser). Perhaps you can figure out a way to
>> integrated that. I was considering using the background of the title
>> text as progress bar. But I like your progress indicator so much I
>> would prefer to use that instead.
>
> I wasn't all that sure about it either. I have thought about other ways to do
> it but just haven't assembled mockups for it yet. I'll try coming up with
> something good before this weekend.
>
>> This UI only allows a device (Collection) centric view. This is no
>> problem with 1 or 2 Collections, but would be awkward, perhaps
>> unusable when there are more.
>
> I'm not sure it would be much of a problem. First, the container only takes
> about 2 lines, but of course, if you really want to make it as small as
> possible, you can remove the icon (it's a visual cue, but it has no real
> purpose) and make it fit on one line.

The hight of the item is really not the problem I mean, but the amount
of those is. Many

>
> Personally, I would rather keep it two lines big, as it's a much better drop
> target, but it can certainly be made smaller without much hurt if required.
>
> Also, I'm not sure how many people have more than 2 or 3 collections, but I'm
> rather certain most will only have one, and maybe a second one when their ipod
> is plugged in. I guess if there's a lot more, maybe there could be a way to
> scroll up and down (not with another scrollbar, but with up/down arrows at the
> top and bottom cause it would be ugly otherwise). Somewhat defeats the purpose
> of it all, but it's better than nothing I would say.
>

This is a realistic scenario:
- local SqlCollection
- IPodCollection
- AmpacheCollection (assuming it will once be listed in the CollectionBrowser)
- UPnPCollection (at least one, but probably more)
- Collections for other removable media, like a 2 TB USB backup disk.

So that is five or more already. And the funny thing is: most will
have exactly the same Tracks, or a subset.

>> How would you do a content centric view
>> with only one tree without collection as root items? (assume there are
>> no duplicate items because one can represent the versions of multiple
>> Collections).
>
> I'm not sure what would be present in a content centric view. Is it all the
> same kind of content, are there multiple types, etc ? Could you give me a
> theorical case of what you're talking about to work with please ?
>
> Pierre-Luc
>
It's all the Tracks from all Collections (grouped by ... obviously),
but all the duplicates (same content in different Collections) are
merged into one "Proxy" Track. Never mind how this is implemented,
just focus on the UI that will make this obvious to the user. You will
have the info needed to know on which Collections the Track exists.
Ex.: You've synchronized your local collection with your iPod, so "03
Nightwish - Nemo" is on both but only listed once in the
CollectionBrowser.

Bart