Adjust Size (width) of Full Screen Seek/Toolbar

[mongler]

It would be extremely useful to adjust the SIZE (width) of the toolbar that pop ups when you move the cursor in full screen mode. I am referring to the ability to stretch the little toolbar (seek, stop, next/prev track, slow/fast, volume/mute , timecode, and toggle full) as you might stretch the width of a non-maximized window in any modern windows GUI based OS like MS windows or OSX or most of the GUIs for Linux.

the reason I suggest this is because it allows you to increase the precision of seek adjustment. Basically, if the timeline is longer/wider, then each individual cursor click corresponds to a smaller time gap.

This particular problem has always been associated with timelines in software. video/sound editors have this problem with programs like Avid, Protools, and Premiere. its one of the reasons why professionals that use these software packages often use 2 (sometimes more) side-by-side monitors.... it allows them to double the width of the timeline, and double the precision of individual mouse clicks.

I routinely switch back from full-screen to maximized views in order to more precisely adjust the seek position. Example: I watch 4 hour long car races. if I want to seek to a particular moment, then full screen clicks corresponds to MINUTES of displacement. I also listen to audio books and voice recordings that can be many many hours long for an individual track.

if I click a particular point, and then move the cursor imperceptibly to the right.... at the absolute minimum amount of movement that the mouse driver will recognize, let alone my own muscles' ability to move the tiniest fraction, then I have scanned forward by 2-3 minutes at the least.

if I choose maximized (as opposed to full screen) then I can usually increase the precision of seek adjustment by a factor of 2 (Eg: a 3 minute skip becomes a 1 minute 30 second skip).

It would be extremely useful if I did not have to repeatedly switch from full to maximized views.

it need not be continuously adjustable (like the normal windows are in height/width in the main OS windows interface of Windows or OSX)....

it would be sufficient to have a set of options with checkboxes like the following:

"full screen width toolbar"
"normal width toolbar"

realistically thats all you really need... If you decided that continuous adjustment was worth the time and effort, then it would be advantageous to make it so that adjustment was "symmetrical"

basically, if you were to click the right hand edge of the toolbar (as you would a non-maximized window) and begin to stretch/compress it, the other (left in this case) side of the toolbar would simultaneously stretch/compress so that the adjustment maintained the toolbar centered around whichever place it was located (I know that the toolbar can be dragged around).


From a completely opposite POV, some people might find it useful to SHRINK the toolbar to its bare minimum so that they can then put it into an unobtrusive corner of the screen.

I could imagine this being useful if you used your PC/Linux box as a media center, and you used VLC as your media player with your TV as a display. if the seekbar constantly showed up every time the mouse was jostled, i could imagine that it would be annoying.

if you could make the toolbar very narrow, and then drag it into the top/bottom corner way outside of the main field of interest, it might be more appealing for users who use VLC in this type of manner.



Anyway, if anyone thinks this is a good idea, I thank you for reading and considering.



NOTE: I realize this is my first post. if I missed an "introductory post" rule, then I apologize. This was a burning idea I had and I figured I would chime in with my own 2 cents.

[VLC_help]

http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/3120

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

WoW, this is quite a long post to say: "please allow to widen the toolbar to improve seeking accuracy"

Anyway, good point.