From: pondlife <pondlife_at_ntlworld.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 16:04:47 -0000

Hi Stéphane,

Excuse me cutting up your post to reply...

> The clicking might be annoying to some...

It definitely should be an independent option - the point being to register
a keypress. This probably depends on your device as much as anything,
certainly my H340 doesn't have to most tactile of keypads.

>..., and the wait/loading splash really
> signifies a longer wait than usual, which I think is a different
information.

True, but I'm not convinced it's that useful, purely because it happens
every time you select a new track, but not (for instance) when you skip
tracks, even if a disk spinup is required. For me, the entire splash
(voiced or displayed) is an inconsistent annoyance :-).

For me, the feedback I want is that my keypress was received, not that the
disk has to spin up. It's to stop me pressing the button twice as much as
anything else.

> If you mean to take out the wait splash completely and replace it with the
> keyclick, you should probably ask sighted users for their opinion :-).

Yes, that's my preference, I'm asking for opinion in this thread...!

> IMO hearing the click on each key press builds an expectation of
> instantaneous response: you're so used to it that you stil feel things are
> stuck when one particular key press suddenly seems to have no effect and

I disagree; I find it more a reassurance that my keypress has been received,
that's all. It's important that the keyclick happens as soon as possible.
I'd have liked it triggered in the firmware button code, but that's not
easily possible. As I mentioned on FS#7307, I'd like the keyclick to have a
different pitch for each physical button too, any ideas?

> ...also, it could be argued that the playback beep
> and the loading splash are two inconsistent ways of
> conveying the same info.

Absolutely; I suspect the playback beep was added for the same reason I want
a generic keyclick - to avoid multiple skips when there's a delay and the
user assumes their button press was unsuccessful. IMHO with a keyclick
option, the playback beep should be removed completely. (There's one
exception; the playback beep makes a different pitch if at the end of a
playlist, so as to inform that the skip can't take place - that
functionality could be preserved.)

> Now I've tried and updated your patch, and will go post comments on the
> tracker. Will you at least try mine out please?

Definitely. I'm very grateful that you've synced it. The main problem
remains the effect of fades and pausing, plus it seems you're getting the
same problem with PCM cut-off as you mentioned with thumbnails. I do think
I'll prefer it not to click on repeat events or key releases (maybe this is
a wheel vs. button thing), but I'll reserve judgement until I've tried it.

-- 
pondlife

Received on 2007-11-02