The Back Button

[nklenchik]

Let me know if anyone agrees with me on this.

The back button takes me back to my homescreen, but all Android phones have some type of homescreen button already on the phone. Would it be possible for my back button to take me back to the previous page?

Here's an example: I click on Artisis > A Day to Remember > All Songs > The Downfall of Us All

If I wanted to go back, I'd have to hit menu, then repeat the same thing over again to get to the band where instead it could go:

The Downfall of Us All > All Songs > A Day to Remember > Artists

Thanks,

nklenchik

[admin]

Thanks for the request.

Back button navigates to the previous activity if you're in now playing list.

It navigates to previous artists/album/library etc if you first navigated to such selection through the Folders/Lib.

1. I.e. player (or 4x4 widget) => press on mini display => shows now playing list/selection => back => returns to player.

2. Player => Folders/Lib => Artist => Album => songs list => back navigates to Album, then to Artist, then to Library, etc.

If you press ^ header while in now playing list, you'll get to the parent list and back button will work as described in #2.

[nklenchik]

Idk why, I just can't seem to get it to work for me. Whenever I hit back it takes me back to the homescreen if I'm in player mode

[admin]

Sorry, where do you go to home screen from? From main player ui with big album art?

[nklenchik]

Oh wow I just noticed I can go back by pressing below the album art awesome

[vyath]

I have to agree, the behaviour of the back button is kind of strange and counter intuitive throughout the UI.

Allow me to differentiate between two different methods of navigation - one being "up", as in going to a higher level.

Examples include album song list > artist > library

or player > playlist

And "back" being "return to previous screen"

When in library\folders, the the title operates as "up", but I don't think that the back button should operate as "up", since users are used to that button acting as "back" in the flow.

The back is usually used to revert to a previous position in the flow. For example, if I navigate to an artist album list, then "up" to artist list and change my mind, it would make sense for the back button to return to the artist albums list.

Another example is if I'm browsing my library and going over some songs in a playlist, while a different album is playing. If I press player, then since "back" takes me to the homepage, the playlist I was at is "lost" and I have to find it again and navigate to it in order to get back to where I was.

So in conclusion - I really feel that the back button should do what it's meant for, go back to a previous screen as this is consistent with my user experience and android UX in general.

Every screen already has an "up" functionality (pressing the title, pressing the song name in player etc'), so there's no need for the back button to do that as well.

Also in player UI, no reason for the "back" button to go to homepage.

If you could fix this, or at least include an option for this I'll be eternally grateful. It makes sense, no?

[vyath]

Another example of inconsistency:

Main player > press song title > Playlist > press "back" > Main player (good)

However

Main player > press song title > Playlist > press title (albums) > press "back" > Library (and not "playlist")

So.. I stand by that "back" should do "back" and not "up"

[nklenchik]

Another example is if I'm browsing my library and going over some songs in a playlist, while a different album is playing. If I press player, then since "back" takes me to the homepage, the playlist I was at is "lost" and I have to find it again and navigate to it in order to get back to where I was.

If you could fix this, or at least include an option for this I'll be eternally grateful. It makes sense, no?

That's what I'm saying haha. There's no doubt this is an awesome media player, one of the best if not THE best. Lets do all we can to keep it that way with updates

[admin]

2 vyath

Thanks for the feedback.

I described it here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=229#p844 ,

but again,

- when you press the song title, the current playing selection is shown. Most of the time you don't want back button to navigate up into hierarchy here.

- when you are in the library/folder by other means (just browsing), the back button will navigate up to the hierarchy.

There is no problem to change that back button behavior with (future) options. Though I'm not sure what you guys would prefer

Back always navigates up into hierarchy?

Back always navigates to previous screen?

Actually it can be option to select from these two + current default behavior for back.

Thanks!

[vyath]

Thanks for the quick reply, max! I love the fact that you're here listening and conversing with your users. Best $5 I've spent recently!

I think both me and nklenchik agree that the back button should do what it's meant to do, go to the previous screen - as there's always a UI button on the screen that allowes you to get up the hierarchy.

It's important because "back" allows you to "change your mind" and double back on your decision making process. And you know us, users - we're always indecisive

I want to stress how important this is for the usage flow:

One of the key aspects of good UI is consistency. Don't get me wrong, your software is incredible, and most of the time you got it right where all other players (and android apps) in general got it wrong, but I believe the inconsistency examples I've illustrated show why it's important to "have the software do what the users expects it to do".

I'll give another example.

If you navigate from album to song list, then press back, you DO return to the album (because in this case, "back" and "up" are the same thing), and so this creates the illusion for the user that the back button does "return to previous page".

However, if you go the other way around - navigate from song list to album (via the title bar) and press back - then you return to the library screen.

So again, I feel you should always have the option to go both up in the hierarchy as well as back in the flow. Up would be using a UI button on the screen (and every screen already has that already) while back would be using... well the "back" button

BTW,

if anyone's interested there's a really good article about flow and UI design:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/fog0000000249.html

[admin]

Thanks for the detailed description again.

The back behavior is always consistent (return to something previous), except for the only one case:

when you press the song info and get into now playing selection. Then if you click UP header you'll get to the some library artist/album/folder/etc. From now on the back button mode will change to "up to hierarchy".

In other cases it returns back to what you were at:

- Main UI -> playing now list -> back -> main ui

-> Main UI -> FOLDERS/LIB -> artist -> album -> songs -> back -> album -> back -> artist -> back -> library -> back -> main ui.

I could disable the behavior change when user presses the UP header and goes up to the hierarchy. The only problem here is that it's unclear why back button navigates back to main ui, while in library it usually navigates back to previous list.

[vyath]

Ok I think I see what might be a bit confusing.

When I said consistent I meant between usage of the back button in android, not specifically to your app

Let me try and clarify -

*Sometimes* Up and Back are the same thing but not *always*.

In this case that you mentioned:

-> Main UI -> FOLDERS/LIB -> artist -> album -> songs -> back -> album -> back -> artist -> back -> library -> back -> main ui.

so here Up and Back (previous) are the same thing (because you always come from a higher hierarchy)

But consider this case:

Songs ->(click on title) > Album

In this case, where we're at the album screen - "up" is not the same as "back"

Up - would be going to Artists

Back - going to songs (where you just came from)

This is the expected behaviour...

In the other case you mentioned:

- Main UI -> playing now list -> back -> main ui

Yes, that is exactly what that back button should do! (return to previous screen. that is net necessarily up in the hierarchy)

And the title should still do what it currently does, go up in the hierarchy.

What do you think?

[admin]

I will do the back button configurable with the following options:

- always return to previous screen (like your described)

- always navigate up in hierarchy

- return back or navigate up in hierarchy depending on context (as it's now)

Thanks!

[dEaFTOLiGhT]

I need to bump this topic. I just downloaded this app, and it's great, but vyath has described perfectly the issues I had with it, and then some. Mainly the back button functionality and the part where:

browsing for a song (song list) > now playing > press back button

does not bring you back to the song list you were browsing, but just back to the song list of the current artist.

These issues seem to have not been fixed as far as I can see, nor have I found an option for back button functionality. Is this being worked on still or did I miss something? Thanks!

Droid X user.

[admin]

Sorry, this is non issue. I described it in details in previous post.

"browsing for a song (song list) > now playing > press back button" - this will return you back to home screen (if you mean main PowerAMP screen with album art by "now playing").

This is of course if Main screen is the startup screen. It's possible to make library list as primary/startup screen, then it will return to the list from main screen.

[dEaFTOLiGhT]

Thank you for the reply! I changed the startup screen to last played folder/library list, and that works better in terms of remembering where i was browsing if I let the screen time out. However, I'm still unclear about how the back button behaves sometimes.

For example, if you go into Poweramp while a song is playing then this is how it behaves:

Now playing -> press back button -> android home screen (which was the previous screen)

However, back behaves differently if you go up in the hierarchy just once, as follows:

Now playing -> click on title -> press "All Artist Songs" (going up in hierarchy)-> press back button. In this case, the back button press and all back button presses thereafter will continue to go back up the hierarchy.

However, if you don't press "All artist songs", the back button behaves differently:

Now playing -> click on title -> press back button -> now playing.

In your post before last, you mentioned the back button being configurable... but I can't seem to find that in the options. Did I miss something? Thanks again!

[ih8legal]

o my word it always annoyed me when i pressed back and it went home , i thought i was the only one definitely an option to add

[andrewilley]

Agreed, I think Back should go back to previous screen (and also not need to be pressed twice in order to get back from 'folder view' to the player screen). Home button should go to Home.

Andre

[KleptoMan]

In folder/library view, the back button should NOT up the folder tree.

It should go back to the player window!