mixer comments

[Scott Wheeler]

Almost all of these apply to KMix as well:

http://log.ometer.com/2004-08.html#15

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Ronald, looks better, but definitely need to lose the jargon. Someone 
explained "PCM" to me once but I forgot. "ALSA" is also still in the 
titlebar. Should the app be called volume control if it also has this other 
stuff such as microphone and Options page? There is a Preferences->Sound, 
should some stuff go there? When is the microphone used, maybe the control 
for it could just appear in that context? I don't know what a "Mixer" is 
either, or why I would want to change between two of them. (I'm not 
pretending to be ignorant for dramatic effect here, I really don't know, or 
know what PCM means... and I would rather not have to learn.) Should this 
thing really be a dialog, and lose the menubar? If there is a menu, why not 
put Options in it (Edit->Preferences). Another thought, it would be nice if 
when using the volume control applet, the sliders in this app moved 
accordingly, so the relationship is visible. I'm not sure which of these 
knobs the simple volume control applet controls. 

Is it possible to turn off the speakers when headphones are plugged in, and 
have the volume control applet control whichever one is present? Then the 
three-slider thing could just go away. A lot of stereo equipment works that 
way I think. Certainly an option to consider would be volume applet for 
output, a sound record app (and GnomeMeeting etc.) has the settings for 
input, and options are in the Preferences->Sound dialog. 

If keeping three tabs, tab names could be better than "Output" and "Input" I 
bet, maybe "Volume," "Microphone," "Television", "Other Inputs" for example. 
Given a sane number of these things, having them all on one page doesn't seem 
crazy. 

I don't know what "Lock" or "Record" check boxes do, or when I would use them. 
In the current gnome-volume-control there aren't tooltips either. But I'm 
guessing these are things an app that uses the sound card such as a recorder 
or GnomeMeeting could transparently get right, or present in a more logical 
context? 

More questions than answers ;-) I guess the core thing is, start with some 
user tasks, not with the list of flags and values the kernel exports. Maybe 
have a look at Mac and Windows, can't hurt. 

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-Scott