Rework control UI

[JustinZ]

1. The scrubbing icons are not required and take up valuable space, remove them

They are already redundant as there is a progress bar the user is able to use to scrub through the song using that.

Also holding the next / prev track icons already performs the same function.

 

Another thing to think about is that swiping the artwork also changes the track, so the prev/next icons may not really be required either...

 

 

2. Move the repeat / shuffle icons into the primary control area 

Related to above, if the scrubbing icons are removed there is ample space for the icons to live there

 

 

3. The star rating selection should require them to be displayed before allowing a rating.

Right now if the the star ratings are hidden, its possible to rate the song anyway by touching the area where they would be displayed if shown. This is not a good user experience. Triggering an action with a hidden touch area is very confusing.

 

4. Option for Tapping to pause/play song

Since we already have the swiping gesture, tapping to pause / play is a natural extension

Tapping currently just display some grey bars, which don't actually do anything, all the controls are already displayed

 

 

5. Allow skins to dictate where controls are places.

So I've listed what i think the UI should be, of course not everybody will agree -- why not allow skins to change the control positions and size of the controls?

[andrewilley]

Skins are already implemented to do pretty much all of what you suggest (none of which I happen to find at all desirable by the way).

Trying to scrub via the progress bar is semi-impossible, as within most skins it is far too thin and fiddly to use on my screen without mis-tapping in the wrong place and bringing up the Folders/Library screen instead. And how exactly would you suggest using it to navigate forward or backward by a few seconds within (for example) a two-hour audio track? I personally would prefer EXTRA navigation buttons, not fewer (e.g. Skip Back and Skip Forward buttons to move reliably through a track in -10 or +30 second increments) at the expense of less screen space given over to album art. I use that navigation method on my PC's A/V player, and I've set up the Media Player for my TV the same way, and far prefer it.

Tap artwork for pause/play would not work for me, as I use it to display/hide the interface icons (which answers your points 2 and 3 also).

"One man's meat is another man's poison", as the saying goes.

Andre