Marcs layout is good but I don't think goes far enough to fix the problems.

2008/10/30 pondlife <pondlife_at_ntlworld.com>:
> OK - some input: - all IMHO:
so without that disclaimer you usually talk in your dishonest opinion? :D

>
> 3) Maybe I'm misunderstanding rows 8-21 but why have the sound settings
> moved under "playlist"? I don't understand why bass and eq should be in
> different menus, for example. (Also, I believe that on some targets they
> affect radio output too, not playlist related.)

Those are settings which change the sound that is playing *now* (not
always true, but generally.. i.e if your listening to the fm then most
are ignored anyway, but in all honesty, fm is a minor function).
crossfeed, eq, replaygain (and dithering maybe if i knew what it was)
should not be here (because these shold be settings which change based
on your headphones, not the current track.. apparently though users do
change these often though!?).
crossfade though should be here because I could see that some people
would enable it for cd/random only and some would only use it the
other way, or sometimes based on what playlist they have loaded.
I think the biggest problem with this block is "playlist" in the top
level is a bad word for it.

>
> 4) I don't know if you are really planning it, but it's confusing to have an
> entity/submenu available in multiple places. (I'm looking at your "possibly
> partial EQ menu" here.) Please don't add extra "enable" options away from
> the rest of a feature's config.

I brought this up very breifly in IRC. I think that the settings which
would have a enable setting and thing which are setup once but then
you might want to dis/enable it quickly later. I don't like
duplicating settings but if people start wondering why the changes
dont take effect then maybe the only option is to duplicate the enable
option? (of course, if we train users to use these settings properly
then there is no need for the enable option in playlist/sound settings
anyway).

The other option here is customizable quickscreen which I think lets
us simplify things more without removing ease from users.

>
> 5) We already have four ways to see the time - the status bar, the info
> screen, the clock plugin, setting the time. Of these, only the info screen
> currently talks, but I don't see any need for a fifth time/date screen.
>

and Nils said, the time/date would be removed from "rockbox info".
Some people don't wear watches so they might rely on the DAP to know
the time. The status bar is 1) way to small to be used as a quick
glance, and 2) isnt always enabled. The clock plugin is buried inside
3 menu layers and then in a list with a dozen other demos. The
time/date screen fixes both these problems and makes a vbery central
place for all settings/oiptions/stuff related to the time. (also it
looks nice, and talks)

>
> 7) Bear in mind that the WPS context menu has been through some trauma to
> make various settings quickly accessible, currently by inclusion of the
> "Sound Settings" and "Playback Settings" menus, so play with the contents of
> those at your peril ;)

Yes, the context menus will need looking at also, but I think both of
those could be removed becasue the usuaful options are in the main
menu anyway (in the playlist item)

>
> 8) Don't put crossfeed and crossfade alongside each other, if you can avoid
> it - this has confused people in the past, IIRC.
which is which ? :D
Agreed, but depends on the outcome of point 3 though.

Jonathan
Received on 2008-10-30