Google Summer of Code: Amarok CD Stack Collection View

[Andreas Schäfer]

On 09:22 Thu 13 Mar     , Ian Monroe wrote:
> Your proposal is a good length. It's also a good proposal. :)

:)

> One thing that is missing is a timeline for your project. Eg specific
> dates with what goals you plan to accomplish by then.

Sure, I'll work those out when I'll repost here with my "real"
proposal, not just my "5 free minutes to think of something cool".

> I'd like the cd-stack to possibly be a replacement of the collection
> browser, at least for computers that can handle it (though since the
> cd stack isn't a tree view that might not work without some finesse).
> So really I don't see it as a solution to the "aimless browsing" issue
> so much, as just having a collection browser that looks awesome. 

Now, that is a really important point as it reveals two different
expectations of the project. I expect the collection browser to
provide an optimum of readability and space efficiency. In my
experience a graphical (possibly 3D) view can seldom compete in this
aspect with a purely text based solution (like the current view). That
is why I didn't perceive the "cd stack" as a replacement for the "tree
view". 

This new PoV shifts design priorities from "has to look awesome and be
useful, too" to "has to be readable, usable and should look
good". I'll consider this in my timetable.

> I'm actually not really sure about your idea of having flexible CD
> stacks, but since you plan on getting the "basic" (haha!)
> functionality of something like the mockup first, I don't mind. :)

Kekeke. The shifted priorities would of course drive those features
back in the schedule, making them rather "nice to have" or "if there's
spare time" than "mandatory". 

> Personally I have all my music sorted pretty well in the file system,
> with genre/sub-genre/artists. So I use the file browser to do my
> aimless browsing (or just turn on the dynamic playlist). Having an
> easy in-Amarok way to organize your music in such a way would be
> useful.

Yeah, maybe it is just me and the fact that I have all my collection
in one folder (Unix catch all excuse: for historical reasons ;-)
). But still I find browsing folders not as intuitive as rummaging in
my CDs. Anyways, maybe I can come up with a unifying solution,
allowing the user to get a more graphical representation of his folder
structure. One advantage would be that there were no model changes
necessary as the stack structure could be largely represented by the
folder structure. Another that users like you could immediately
benefit from it.

> Thanks for your proposal, be sure to submit it on March 24th PST.

Will do, but before that I'll make a detailed proposal here so you can
give it a second glance.

Cheers
-Andi


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Andreas Schäfer
Cluster and Metacomputing Working Group
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
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I'm a bright... http://www.the-brights.net
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