Rockbox.org home
release
dev builds
extras
themes manual
wiki
device status forums
mailing lists
IRC bugs
patches
dev guide



Rockbox mail archive

Subject: Re: GUI

Re: GUI

From: Ray Lambert <listlizard_at_interthingy.net>
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 19:38:06 -0500 (EST)

Dave Hooper wrote:
> There's definitely two camps of thought already: some argue that Stop or
> Left (on an iRiver device) should always "back out" of any menu and
> eventually return you to the WPS. some argue that Stop in a menu should
> stop playback and that Play should always back out of any menu and return
> you to the WPS. But I think the current behaviour is somewhere in between
> -
> Play sometimes operates like "select" and sometimes like "go to WPS", and
> Stop sometimes operates like "back" and sometimes like "stop the music".

Hmmm... I disagree with this characterization of Play button behavior: I
think it misses the point w.r.t. to the *true* function that Play actually
performs. Play is really the "execute" command: it executes the selected
item in a context-sensitive manner.

If you press Play on a song in the browser, the song is "executed" by
playing it (which indirectly brings up the WPS).

If you press Play on a sub-directory in the browser, the sub-directory is
"executed" by entering it.

If you press Play on a text file in the browser, the text file is
"executed" by displaying it.

If you press Play on a .rock in the browser, the .rock is "executed" by,
err, well, executing it! ;)

If you press Play on a sub-menu in the menu tree, the sub-menu is
"executed" by entering it.

If you press Play on a leaf in the menu tree, the leaf is "executed" by
displaying or changing it.

From this perspective, I believe Play is used very consistently throughout
RB. I can't think of an instance in which it is used in a manner that is
inconsistent with this.

The idea that Play should cause you to exit something is, in fact,
*inconsistent* with this and, IMO, in error (unless there was actually an
"exit" command highlighted, but I believe that none such exists). It
would seem unintuitive to me and I would hate it. ;)

~ray
Received on 2006-03-08

Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy