Version: 1.4.1-beta1 (using KDE 3.5.3, Gentoo) Compiler: Target: i686-pc-linux-gnu OS: Linux (i686) release 2.6.17-gentoo The Amarok webpage asks that users give feedback on the idea of putting the current song info (as well as lyrics and artist information) on top of the playlist. I think this is a very bad idea because: 1. With Amarok, screen space is never sufficient. Now we have 2 instead of 1 screen areas beside the playlist. For the rest, I assume that the playlist occupies a wide area (which is reasonable considering how many fields each song could have). 2. The song info window does not have enough information to fill a large horizontal area. On the other hand, the list of suggested songs, other albums by the same artist, etc., does require a lot of vertical area. 3. The same holds for lyrics. Song texts are most commonly structured like poems - think and high, not wide and low. This only the Wikipedia-field benefits from a wide layout. 4. If the user is looking for suggested artists, or other stuff by the same artist, then the user has no use for either the collection or the playlists. They never need to look at both at the same time, so the old way of tabbing them in one area is more efficient. In summary, we're wasting screen space AND making most of the now-horizontal views totally awkward. I vote we throw this new feature away, although I do appreciate that Amarok devs are trying to come up with new ideas! P.S. I was unable to find any other bug for amarok 1.4.1-beta1, so I'm either the first one, or I don't know how to search. In the latter case, please merge my comments with whatever thread already exists.
*** Bug 129416 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I downloaded the last beta 1 version of Amarok. The icon set is great but I don't like where the Context browser is. With the Context browser above the playlist and Collection, Playlist and Files layouts on the left I think it is complete mess. Even it doesn't look good. I love the old interface where Context browser, Collection, Playlist and Files layouts are on the left side of the playlist itself. I don't want to change the new interface if you decided to look like this. I only want an option to choose between the old style and the new one. Because the mean of free software is to have chance to choose. And for now I choose to downgrade to 1.4.0. By the way Amarok is really great application. I love it. Keep going.
*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***
Like already pointed out, the new position of the context browser doesn't make sense for most of the items displayed there. Maybe just having a tab to be able to switch between playlist and Wikipedia's artist informations would be a better solution. It seems the opinions on this UI change are mainly a thing of the users prefered screen resolutions - lower ones might look better with the new style, higher ones definetely don't. What about making this adjustable? A screenshot on how it looks here: http://gallery.basquiat.de/album08/a141_01 Despite of that: Amrok still is No. 1! ;-)
Looking at the screenshot, I believe: 1: There's a Music, an Artist and a Lyrics tab. Well, let's make a playlist tab so we can enjoy a full-screen playlist with enough space (width and height). Do you want to see your current playlist only? Yo can do it. Do you want to see the Music info only ? You can do it. 2: The left panels (Collection, media devices, playlists and files) are ok. We know we only use them once in a while, and for short periods of time. But there could be and option to make them "floating panels" so they don't resize the rest of the elements on the right. 3: But what if I want to see both the playlist and the music info? It would be a good idea to make the left tabs and the upper tabs interchangeable. For example, a Music info panel on the left and a right playlist on the right (as always), or a playlist on the right and a lyrics/wikipedia panel always opened on the left. 4: And its very important to make the elements on the Music info Panel movable, because if this panel uses all the horizontal space, it needs to, at least, organise the elements in two or three columns, now there is a lot of wasted space. My 0.02 €
I'm also not very happy with the new layout. Nevertheless it is worth a thought. At the moment the real problem is that the structure of the music tab is designed for a small tab which leads to a lot of unused space in the new layout. So before judging the new layout I would like to see an adjusted music tab layout.
Some thoughts: 1. A new stylesheet is definitely needed for the context browser, because a one column layout isn't going to work with so much horizontal space. 2. With so much horizontal space, it'd probably be possible to put lyrics and album info side-by-side, if that's desirable (which it may not be, since vertical room is scarce with this layout). 2. The playlist can already be snapped to the bottom, making it invisible, and leaving just a whole window context browser. This feels much less crowded, at least at the moment, so perhaps the separate playlist tab would be a good idea (otherwise I'll probably find myself leaving the playlist hidden most of the time). 3. It might be nice to move the search widgets flush right (if that's even possible) sort of like banshee. It seems like the the window might look more balanced that way (although, I'm not a usability/aesthetics expert). 4. Will the new toolbar eventually be editable? I've honestly never been tempted to use undo/redo in amarok other than to find out it actually does. I'm a bit skeptical, but I could see things working out.
Hm. To take up Dan's (#7) points: I guess it is out of question the content of the context browser has to be reordered if this layout will make it into the final version. Lyrics info and album info side-by-side aren't that desirable, since there are many songs (or even genres) just without vocals (and lyrics) or with no lyrics available online. It will do no good in this case. Making the playlist invisible just to have everything not looking crowded is a step back - the former version allowed us to see the context browser and the playlist without looking crowded or messy (at least with higher screen resolutions). With all the discussions going on at the moment, I feel a bit uncomfortable with a decision for or against the new design as a whole, since I can see some good thoughts behind it. Nevertheless things should be readjustable to some sort of the old state, or more flexible to let the user choose how to organize this whole bunch of tabs and information. As it's nearly impossible to suit every resolution and way of sizing your application's window fine, this may be the best solution - although I guess it'll require a lot work. If the question is "Take the new design, or vote for the old one", I'd definetely prefer the old one, no matter what CSS-voodoo will be applied. ;-)
*** Bug 129475 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 129479 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
We've just reverted back to the classic layout, for the 1.4 series.
*** Bug 129504 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 130686 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***