From: Linus Nielsen Feltzing <linus_at_haxx.se>
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:56:36 +0100

Mat Mirabella wrote:
> I understand the new menu idea seems more "logical" from a
> programmatic perspective - e.g. making everything fork from a single
> point etc.

Yes, it is more logical from a programmatic perspective, but the whole
point of the change was to make the UI more easy and understandable.


> But My belief is that an interface should be design first and
> foremost for usability and usefulness to those who are going to use
> it, rather than strictly focussing on what seems to make logical
> sense on an abstract level.

Mine too.


> One problem with the new logic is that files and folders are a set of
> hierarchies that are in fact conceptually different from settings
> and options, and should therefore stay that way. Bunching them all
> up together in the same hierarchy can be confusing.

If you read my comments in the IRC, you will see that I agree with you
about this, but I don't quite see what makes you think that they are
bunched together in a hierarchy.

> The current (new) rockbox just "feels" much more messy to me.

You'll most likely get used to it.

> For example: The way rockbox used to be:
> * I could navigate right to the file I wanted.

And now you can't? That is surely a bug, because the file browser is
still supposed to be there.

> * I could press stop and keep pressing stop/left and I would know
> that I would always end up at the high level structure of folders

That should still work. You are supposed to be able to press and hold
Left, and it will stop when you reach the root folder.

> * I could press menu to get into whatever option I wanted after a bit
> of navigation

You can do that now too. You can reach the Main menu by pressing the
Menu button at any time.

> * When I pressed stop to stop a track, the cursor would be located at
> the file which I played when I pressed play

This is still the case. You just have to enter the file browser first.


> The new rockbox:
> * I have to select files first if I want to navigate to folders.

Yes.

> * Pressing stop does not ultimately return me to the top level of the
> directories. Even if I set "files" as the start-up screen, files is
> still not at the root of the structure.

No, it will take you to the Main menu. Then you select Files to get there.


> * if I press stop, the cursor goes back to the first item in that
> directory, not to the one I started play on. This is annoying,
> because I like to get put back to exactly where I was. Is this a bug
> or a deliberate new feature?

That sounds like a bug to me.

> * to get into options, there are several different items I need to be
> aware of in the root screen, settings is just one of them.

Yes.

> Also Recording settings is separated out from recording, and placed
> into settings. I wonder if this is the most usable way to go.

That remains to see. If it turns out to be inconvenient, we should move
it to somewhere else.

> This is all not to mention that the new voice files don't seem to
> work for me on my H340.

Unfortunately so. We will try to update them as soon as possible. In the
meantime, you can go here to download the voice files that Andre P.
Louis so kindly has generated for us:

http://tbrn.net/rockbox

Linus
Received on 2007-03-05