From: Jonathan Gordon <jdgordy_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:41:38 +1000

*Everyone* agrees Time & Date does not belong in system as it
currently is. Hypothetically, if it were moved out of System and put
into Settings it begs the question as to the point of the system menu
at all. Most people agree "Rockbox Info" is the most important item in
that menu, and "running time" can be removed (I've heard noone spak
out against that suggestion). The remaining two items are "debug (keep
out)" and "credits".

My view regarding debug is that there is nothing there that is
actually useful once a port is up and running *or during development*
when dealing with custom builds anyway so disabling that by default
(but adding an easy configure item to enable it) removes clutter.
Credits is only there because it should go somewhere and nowhere else
makes any more sense.
So hypothetically "system" is down to just "rockbox info" and
"credits". Why are they given such a high priority by being directly
accessable from the main menu?

Equally, why are the settings given such high priority in the main
menu? Sure they are useful, but after the initial player setup how
many settings does one need access to? and given how poor the setting
layout is it is likely regularly used configs are saved in .cfg anyway
(and put on the quickscreen).

My suggestion has always been that System and Settings be merged in
some meaningful way.
My favored layout is then:
System:
> Rockbox info
> Time & Date
> Settings
>> Sound settings
>> playback settings
>> general settings
>> recording settings
>> theme settings
>> manage settings
> Credits
> Debug

As a compromise I would accept removing the settings submenu and
moving all those items up one level if that was what was more
preferred.

Now, while we are here it makes sense to talk about the order of the
other items deamed to be the most important parts of the UI.

I think it makes sense to group items based on what they give the
user. Files and Database are "Find music to play" and should be
grouped. WPS, radio, recording are "listen to music" and should be
grouped. System and Plugins are "misc" and should be grouped. Playlist
catalog and bookmarks are "find previously saved playlists" and should
be grouped.

The order I'd like to see is then:
Files
Database
WPS
Recording
FM
System
Plugins
Playlist Catalogue
Bookmarks

Just about every player has direct access to the wps/fm screen with a
single button so they are sensible to put in the middle.
Files/Database are the most often accessed (based on a number i pulled
from my tuches), system is the least important and so in the middle
below music, PC and bookmarks are relativly important and thanks to
the list wrapping very accessible.

An alternate main menu which I would like moves P.C and bookmarks
between database and WPS so all the ways to find music are grouped
together (though thinking about it the first one makes more logical
sense to me).


There are two final options. Do nothing. And move T&D into "settings"
and call it done. My views of both are well know hence the above
proposals.

Discuss
Received on 2011-08-28