Foldable toolbar - questionable usability

[Nikolaj Hald Nielsen]

>
> I just saw in trunk that a change in the toolbars has arrived. The
> toolbar under the playlist can now be "folded" (hidden) with an arrow.
> The intention is noble (saving vertical space), but in reality we're
> merely gaining about 40 pixels space from it, if you subtract the
> height of the arrow widget itself. And if the toolbar is shown, we
> actually lose space due to said arrow widget.
>
> I find it questionable if this minimal reduction of space is worth the
> added confusion - it's not clear what the arrow is actually doing, and
> where there toolbar went.
>
>
> I've attached two screenshots of the new widget in both states, both
> folded and unfolded.
>

I added this precisely to start a discussion, so goal accomplished! :-) I
had been talking to leinir about trying out something like this, and decided
to commit it as it can be quite easily removed again. There are 2 main parts
to it. One is the reduction in space. For small devices, and together with
the new slimemr toolbar alternative (also a prototype) I also committed, the
additional space gained in the playlist is quite significant.

The other, and in my opinion more significant reason to play with this stuff
is to make the amarok interface simpler. Looking at amarok now, there is
just too much stuff going on under the playlist IMO, and as we have been
talking about brining back the "shuffle" and "repeat" options to live close
to the playlist again, it would get even worse.

My idea was also something like making this a standard interface element in
amarok in all places where there are options like these at the bottom (in
many services for instance). This would add symmetry (one of the main things
Nuno hammered home at the sprint) and if consistently used, it would be
clear to users that whereever this appeared, there would be additional
options.

So, at least these were the thoughts behind implementing it! Let the flaming
begin!

- Nikolaj
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