As I'm rather happy with my initial version I created a new thread for it, see 'EagleTouch: A single click kiosk skin (version 0.1)' (sorry, I have no idea how to link to a forumthread
)SilverEagle
Statistics: Posted by SilverEagle — 2. Oct 08, 20:31
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> keypad,
I'll keep that in mind. Small disadvantage: for the casusal user an alphabet means "search index" and a querty layout means "text entry". So not ideal from GUI perspective.
> You can press P and L and U for
> "Blunt"
I suppose you meant B, L, U ?:-)
> Second: Why not a Button to choose for
> "title" or "Artist" as in many
> databases ?
Sorry, not clear what you mean. What should they do?
> and third: Yes ! for a "One-click"
> touch, as this skin could be a good one for SJ
> "slaves monitors".
Sorry again, no idea what you mean by "slaves monitors"
Regards,
SilverEagle
Statistics: Posted by SilverEagle — 2. Oct 08, 19:22
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Second: Why not a Button to choose for "title" or "Artist" as in many databases ?
and third: Yes ! for a "One-click" touch, as this skin could be a good one for SJ "slaves monitors".
Statistics: Posted by Guest — 2. Oct 08, 07:21
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> cover shows along with five stevie wonder covers.
> The user cannot see the tracktitle
> "wonderwall" on the oasis album to jog
> his memory, he has to try and click on every album
> until he sees the track he recognizes.
> I think this is good enough for most (usually
> seeing the cover/bandname/albumtitle will jog your
> memory), but from a GUI point it is not correct,
> there is no logical connection between the result
> displayed and your query.
The above description is exactly how the default Silverjuke already functions. I had no idea if it was possible to workaround this functionality. I think that in 95% of cases, seeing the resulting albums will jog the user's memory. I they can't find it from there then they don't deserve to listen to the song. :)
The other option is to force Album View as the results of the search. That way the user sees the track listing for the albums no matter if the result exists in the Artist, Album, or Track name. Granted - in the case of this particular skin design - only the first album result will be displayed, but I guess the user can scroll through the rest of the results as well.
I can totally design the flow of this GUI exactly as I think it should be. My problem is that I don't know how much of it is actually possible without access to the backend core code. You have obviously found ways around certain perceived limitations. I can't wait to see what else can be changed.
Statistics: Posted by Dubious — 1. Oct 08, 23:23
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> Silverjuke handles searches
> (...)
I know, but remember your own GUI as well: the main screen only every shows 8 albums. People use left/right button to select the a prev/next set of 8. No listview, no album view, just a clean 8-cover view.
A single click on a cover brings you to the track view for the album. On the left the album cover, on the right the top 8 (or so) tracks. Up/down buttons let the user browse the tracks, and if I feel generous I might code a scrollbar in between them (just clickable, not draggable).
And when tapping a track it is either added to the queue or replacing the "pending song", as previously explained.
So when searching "wonder" the oasis cover shows along with five stevie wonder covers. The user cannot see the tracktitle "wonderwall" on the oasis album to jog his memory, he has to try and click on every album until he sees the track he recognizes.
I think this is good enough for most (usually seeing the cover/bandname/albumtitle will jog your memory), but from a GUI point it is not correct, there is no logical connection between the result displayed and your query.
> I figured that a lot of it was hard-coded and
> might not be able to be changed.
Yes it is, but thinking outside the box sometimes helps
> But then I read
> that YOU HAVE SINGLE-CLICK FUNCTIONALITY
> ENABLED??!?!?!!!?!?!? and I lost my shit
> momentarily. Is this true?
Yes.
> So when I single-tap the screen on an album
> in Cover View it will take me to Album View?
Yes.
> And when I single-tap a track in Album View it will enqueue?
Yes.
> GTFO.
Yes.
If not I would not post the skin, a touchscreen with doubleclick is a human-interface-sin. If you need to doubletap on a touchscreen I prefer a numpad instead, otherwise you will have to put instructions on the screen and still people will complain "it does not work".
Apple made the logical choice way back with a one-button-single-click-only mouse. Everything else needs to be explained to a user.
'Night for now,
SilverEagle
Statistics: Posted by SilverEagle — 1. Oct 08, 23:09
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> "button_up.png" and an
> "design.xml" where it says what it's x/y
> position is, if you (or as stated above - someone
> else) can beautify the image and edit the xml to
> put it in its esthetically pleasing location.
I can do that. I can certainly make a pretty image and I'm sure I can figure out how to position it appropriately.
> Don't forget the default search checks for
> tracknames as well. Your GUI does not give
> feedback on that, it just shows the album &
> artist.
> So if you search "wonderwall" , and can
> only remember it as "wonder"-wotsit, and
> type in wonder, then the oasis album will show
> along with all stevie wonder's albums. There is no
> way in yur GUI the user sees the trackname
> "wonderwall" the program found, except
> by trying out every album until he tries the oasis
> one.
I see what you are saying, but remember how Silverjuke handles searches - even if you are in "Cover View" and perform a search, Silverjuke will search track names as well, then display only the albums on which that track name appears. Try this for yourself - start in Cover View, perform a search for a track name, then view the results. After that you can switch between Cover View, Album View, and List View with only the matched results displayed.
> > It sounds like you almost know what you are doing.
> > :)
>
> I always pretend I know. Works wonders until
> people realize you don't...
Busted! :)
I'll be the first to admit that I know what I want but have limited knowledge on what actually has to happen in order to achieve that goal. I can do the graphic design from scratch - but I know nothing about scripting, XML, or how much of Silverjuke's native functionality can be bypassed. I figured that a lot of it was hard-coded and might not be able to be changed. But then I read that YOU HAVE SINGLE-CLICK FUNCTIONALITY ENABLED??!?!?!!!?!?!? and I lost my shit momentarily. Is this true? So when I single-tap the screen on an album in Cover View it will take me to Album View? And when I single-tap a track in Album View it will enqueue? GTFO.
Statistics: Posted by Dubious — 1. Oct 08, 22:48
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> mockup. I could go ahead and make 1024x768 images
> and send them along but I don't have them
> completed even close to cleanly right now.
OK, forget it. I presumed you made a perfect mockup because I misread your first post and read you were "...decent in graphic design.", while in fact your wrote "...decent in graphic design programs." Which is not quite the same.
I will post the skin with some quick&dirty images then, either you or anyone else can then fiddle around with the graphical details. It's something which takes me too much time and I don't care much for my own results.
> Did you mean to ask me if I have the graphical abilities to
> tweak images?
More like if I give you an ugly "button_up.png" and an "design.xml" where it says what it's x/y position is, if you (or as stated above - someone else) can beautify the image and edit the xml to put it in its esthetically pleasing location.
> > 2) What should the search do? I was imagining just
> > a quick onscreen keyboard wich text search on
> > album tite and bandtitle.
>
> It should serve the exact same purpose as it does
> in the default Silverjuke skins - it should allow
> the user to search for any artist/album/track name
> that appears in the database. If the config has
> the virtual keyboard turned on then yes - it
> should display the virtual keyboard for input.
Don't forget the default search checks for tracknames as well. Your GUI does not give feedback on that, it just shows the album & artist.
So if you search "wonderwall" , and can only remember it as "wonder"-wotsit, and type in wonder, then the oasis album will show along with all stevie wonder's albums. There is no way in yur GUI the user sees the trackname "wonderwall" the program found, except by trying out every album until he tries the oasis one.
> It sounds like you almost know what you are doing.
> :)
I always pretend I know. Works wonders until people realize you don't...
> If I would only have to submit full-screen
> graphic mockups of the GUI in order to provide my
> contribution I would be happy to start working on
> that.
Leave it 'till I post the initial. I can do very ugly myself for that. It's the functionality that counts and what is the the fun for me. The one-click adding to the playlist for instance was a rather tough nut to crack, but that is working OK now. I always like letting programs do tricks they did not know they could
Regards,
SilverEagle
Statistics: Posted by SilverEagle — 1. Oct 08, 22:07
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> (which I suppose they are) I could use them for my
> initial version (will take one or two more days).
Those are photos of a horribly quick-n-dirty mockup. I could go ahead and make 1024x768 images and send them along but I don't have them completed even close to cleanly right now. I literally took photos of a jukebox with my camera phone and used photoshop for 30 seconds to move some elements around as desired.
> I suppose you are XML savvy enough to put the last
> pixels in place if I supply you with the basic
> layout and scripts?
I know next to nothing about XML. I can do graphic design and HTML but have only looked at a couple of XML files in my lifetime. Did you mean to ask me if I have the graphical abilities to tweak images?
> Few questions:
> 1) What should the A-Z bar do, jump to the first
> album which it or limit the selection to only
> those?
It should serve the exact same purpose as it does in the default Silverjuke - it should jump to the first artist name that begins with that letter/number. It should not limit the selection to only that letter/number.
> 2) What should the search do? I was imagining just
> a quick onscreen keyboard wich text search on
> album tite and bandtitle.
It should serve the exact same purpose as it does in the default Silverjuke skins - it should allow the user to search for any artist/album/track name that appears in the database. If the config has the virtual keyboard turned on then yes - it should display the virtual keyboard for input.
> 3) Are you sure you don't want any playlist? You
> could show a playlist after a time-out or so,
> giving the user an idea how long it will take
> before his song will play.
> Alternatively you could only have a two-entry
> playlist, with just one pending song which is
> overwritten upon selection. Might show that
> pending song under the now-playing area.
I am not opposed to having a playlist displayed. I'm used to the pub-style jukeboxes that do not allow you to see the queue, but I suppose it would be nice to see the playlist in small scrollbox. I would be totally fine if it was not there, but if it was there I wouldn't be upset either. Even if it just said, "Next Song: <BandName> - <Trackname>" that would be good I suppose.
---
It sounds like you almost know what you are doing. :) If I would only have to submit full-screen graphic mockups of the GUI in order to provide my contribution I would be happy to start working on that. There might be some real expert graphic artists here who would be able to do a better job than me but I am happy to take a shot at it.
Statistics: Posted by Dubious — 1. Oct 08, 21:46
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I just discovered Silverjuke and I needed a challenge, so
I whipped up most of your design with just boxes
If you'd like to post (or pm me) your mockups (which I suppose they are) I could use them for my initial version (will take one or two more days). I suppose you are XML savvy enough to put the last pixels in place if I supply you with the basic layout and scripts?
Few questions:
1) What should the A-Z bar do, jump to the first album which it or limit the selection to only those?
2) What should the search do? I was imagining just a quick onscreen keyboard wich text search on album tite and bandtitle.
3) Are you sure you don't want any playlist? You could show a playlist after a time-out or so, giving the user an idea how long it will take before his song will play.
Alternatively you could only have a two-entry playlist, with just one pending song which is overwritten upon selection. Might show that pending song under the now-playing area.
Regards,
SilverEagle
Statistics: Posted by SilverEagle — 1. Oct 08, 20:57
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> useful solution or just looking good - I believe my
> music collection among with others are just to big
> to be managed with a design like that.
Understood. I have about 700 albums which is likely on the small side of most people here. I think that any large collection is going to have the same problem. If you are browsing then you are going to have to scroll through hundreds of album art pics no matter what skin you use. But then again that is why the search function exists.
Other than displaying only 10 albums at a time, was there something specifically that you think is a flaw when it comes to large album collections?
Statistics: Posted by Dubious — 1. Oct 08, 14:10
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Don't know - but currently, there is a skin contest (see ) - maybe this will answer your question
And maybe one of the skinners will have some looks on your suggestions?B.
Statistics: Posted by Guest — 1. Oct 08, 08:28
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However it should be possible to make a skin resembling of that one, so lets hope someone wants to put the needed time into this project.
One question though, is that design really a useful solution or just looking good - I belive my musiccollection among with others are just to big to be manged with a design like that.
Statistics: Posted by Guest — 1. Oct 08, 08:09
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It sure is, but it doesn't exist. It isn't a real skin - its the skin that I want, but don't have the ability to make it. Apparently you didn't read the whole post but just looked at the pictures.
Are there any skinners out there who have the skills to program this thing? Who is the most famous SJ skin programmer?
Statistics: Posted by Dubious — 30. Sep 08, 21:00
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> previous/next album.
I disagree. Just make the collumn-wide wide enough. than you see one album. i've done it with a workspace that's 1440pxl wide.
Statistics: Posted by djjb — 30. Sep 08, 05:28
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