From: Jochen Schulz <ml_at_well-adjusted.de>
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 15:06:42 +0100

Gabriel Meier:
>
> Trying to take all the previous discussion into consideration, I put my
> suggestions for a changed interface on this page:
> http://home.arcor.de/gabriel.meier/temp/rockboxsuggestions.html

First I want to thank you for your work. I agree that the Rockbox menu
structure needs some work and your mockups help as a basis for further
discussion. Secondly I think that discussing the structure is currently
more important than deciding upon the style of presentation (icons and
stuff, which may be configurable at runtime or per target device
anyway).

What I like about your proposal is the focus on usage scenarios. This
cleans up the root menu and helps the user find what he is looking for.
I am using Rockbox on my Iriver H120 for almost half a year now and I
still have to search for some settings now and then. And there are some
menus that I would like to reorder or move somewhere else entirely.

What we still have to keep in mind is the different usage habits which
all of us have. Saving a few keystrokes and "blind" usability (even for
sighted users) may be preferable to reordering things strictly .

Another topic which I think should be at least thought about in the
same process is the mapping of keys. I cannot come up with
irregularities that are annoying me at the moment, but I guess if I
go searching for them, I will find some. ;-)

Ok, to finally respond to your proposals, here are some random thoughts:

- The purpose of the "play music" item is still unclear to me. I think
  the only reasonable action for it would be to just "Resume" from
  where I left. The other possibilities you list could be done via the
  browser.

- I like the idea of a "System" menu. The three "settings" items plus
  "Browse Themes" plus "Playlist options" Rockbox currently has in its
  root menu are a mess

- "Radio" and "Recorder" are just fine, IMHO. "Plugins" is ok, too,
  although I ask myself whether someone may think it may be a good idea
  to seperate "Games" from the rest of the plugins.

- "View Pictures" may make sense on devices with large color screens.
  But: I guess this would just open a browser with a certain display
  filter (we don't want to generate thumbnails, do we?) which could be
  incorporated into the quick menu thingy (A-B in browser mode).

- I am unsure about putting the bookmark settings into the playback
  settings menu.

- AFAICS, you forgot to put "Recent Bookmarks" somewhere and I have no
  idea where to put it into the new structure.

- I like the idea of making the bootup action user-configurable.


What is currently annoying me in Rockbox:

- The mess of settings menus I already mentioned above.

- Sound Settings are in the WPS "context menu" and in the root menu -- I
  think the root menu is enough. Almost every time I enter the WPS
  context menu, I want to go into the playlist.

- The "Recording" item opens a new menu with the recording settings and
  the recording screen. Since the settings can also be reached with the
  A-B button from the recording screen, I think the recording menu is
  superfluous.

And another minor suggestion: let's add a config option to show or hide
the debug menu.

BTW: is there a complete and up-to-date menu structure somewhere
available? I just did a quick search on rockbox.org but couldn't find
any. And is this structure the same for all targets?

J.

-- 
Looking into my eyes is the only way you'll know I'm telling the truth.
[Agree]   [Disagree]
                 <http://www.slowlydownward.com/NODATA/data_enter2.html>

Received on 2006-03-07