[Feedback] Thoughts on simplifying things

Bernhard Rode mail at bernhardrode.de
Thu Aug 23 09:00:16 UTC 2007


Am 23.08.2007 um 10:50 schrieb Rich:

> On 2007.08.23. 10:32, phinnvr6 at gmail.com wrote:
>> Justin sent a message using the contact form at
>> http://amarok.kde.org/en/contact.
>>
>> Amarok is an amazing player and one of the best all around music  
>> programs
>> out there for any operating system.
>>
>> I am writing because I wanted to give constructive feedback on the  
>> major
>> design flaws that I've seen. And others I know that have used it have
>> acknowledged.  Mainly new users.
>>
>> 1) The KDE tabs on the left are somewhat annoying and confusing  
>> but I know
>> that may change with KDE4
>
> i have only seen some screenshots, but they didn't seem to be changing
> that much.
> what exactly is the problem with those ?

Is think for the normal user, the Interfaces look overloaded and in  
fact in some cases they are.
All those options we have are ok, but the standard look of an  
application should be really
easy to understand.

>
>> 2) When I made a new Collection and I want to just play that  
>> collection I
>> can't. I first have to load them (somehow) into a new playlist and  
>> play
>> them from there.  However there is no 1 click way to do this. The  
>> only way
>> I have seen is to goto Playlist and there is an automatic  
>> "playall" tab
>> down there.  So I right click and click "Load" however this NEVER  
>> seems to
>> work. It loads the entire playlist on the right pain but then when  
>> I click
>> on a song I get some error like "Local file does not exist."
>
> that seems to a weird error - should not happen. if you could join  
> us at
> forums or irc (#amarok on freenode), we could try to find out why is
> amarok doing that.
>
>> This whole design just makes no sense. My girlfriend using it  
>> always just
>> seems to go back to the decade old XMMS I have installed and just  
>> uses
>> that. I really can't blame her, its so simple and easy to use but  
>> so damn
>> outdated.
>
> hmm. going for the bad analogies prize, she wouldn't ditch computer  
> for
> abacus :)
>
> amarok is not intended to be a clone of xmms. it's approach differs
> somewhat, and i can understand how grasping it might not be a  
> trivial task.
> but doing that can be highly rewarding.
>
> first, creating a collection is a task you do one (or very rarely).  
> from
> there, you have different concepts available, including smart and
> dynamic playlists (yay !). simply dumping all tracks in the playlist
> means missing a lot of goodies.
>
> to hook you on amarok, maybe it is worth going through
> http://amarok.kde.org/wiki/Dynamic_Playlist_Walkthrough. try to use
> these things for a week or so - most people discover a whole new world
> after the (as you already mentioned) outdated players :)

It is the same fact as above i think, the problem iss, that day to  
day user just don't needs most of the stuff, so it should be switched  
of or be able to be switched of.
I think with the plasma in the center, you will get great  
opportunities to get a great interface.

>
>> Anyway so as it turns out to solve this problem if I click "Smart
>> Playlists" then goto "All Collection" that collection now plays.   
>> All this
>> crap is kind of confusing and all of it should be simplified for  
>> the big
>> 2.0 release (KDE4?).
>>
>> So there you have it, a couple interface complaints to an  
>> otherwise great
>> player.
>>
>> Thanks!
> -- 
>   Rich
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