GUI bashing 2.0

[cxn]

Hi devs!
Newest dev builds have updated gui which tries to be pretty but loses some of the functionality along the way.

Here is a few flaws that are clearly a step back from older vlc versions:
(1) New buttons (play, stop, forward etc) are horrible having too little contrast.
(2) Do we really need multicolor volume bar?
(3) Are faster and slower buttons really that important? Cmon, how many times do you actually change the speed of the song you're listening to?
(4) Fullscreen button should disapear when playing a song. Icon should look like a window, didn't know that F meant fullscreen until I clicked on it.
The rest of them are shown on the pic

I do love some of the new features like updated preferences window but generally the new gui can be improved a lot.

Here is my opinion on how vlc should look like:





-Antti P.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

1) Those are not the final buttons.
2) Yes, this is important to know when you use hardware or software amplification, which can lead to sound distortion
3) You speak as a audio user. What would you say if your DVD player doesn't allow to fast forward the scene ?
4) It shouldn't disappear, it should deactivate. This is a current bug under fix. About the F, same as 1)

About the screenshots:
- Changing the slider on windows side is much more complex than you seem to think and it will infringe your desktop integration if you change the colours.
- Removing the speed label and removing the faster/slower button is not a good idea for DVD/DivX playing.
- Removing the Extended Settings is used by a lot of people. Why removing it?
- Removing the Fullscreen button is a bad idea. See 4.

Finally, having a harsh tone and not make any suggestions is not a way to get ideas inside the player.
Morever, thinking that we didn't think about what we do is incorrect and not nice.

And saying unproved assertions like that

but loses some of the functionality along the way.

Is wrong. Especially when YOU propose to remove buttons from the interface.

[cxn]

Chill out j-b :-) We are talking about different things here.

Look, I now that that these changes may need a few hundred maybe few thousands lines of code more, but I don't care, cause my post is about interface not the code. You are obviously a programmer and I assume you know more about coding than I do. However I design interfaces for a living. Do you really think that I would do all this for free if I didn't like what you guys do?

And about not making suggestions... How about removing borders around text boxes?
-

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

You don't respond to any of the remarks I done about your remarks

Before doing any remarks, just try to think that some people use VLC not the way you do it.

Removing border around text boxes can be doable easily, it just violates Vista's Guidelines and GNOME guidelines

[cxn]

Ok, we speak different languages. You code, I design. That is two different worlds.
By the way you sure are fast to assume things based on my pics.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I don't assume anything, I just compare the screenshots and tell the differences. If I assumed things wrong, just make clear assumptions...

I don't only code, I have spent a lot of time on this very forum to see what the users actually want. And telling things like 'adjusting speed is useless' is clearly not listening to the users.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Btw, about 1)

http://d-gfx.kognetwork.ch/VLC/qt4_intf ... _11_02.jpg

[mooboy]

I just wanted to comment on the playback speed buttons. They are supremely annoying. When I click on the vlc window and hit space to start playback like I used to do, it always defaults to the slow speed button instead. I've been searching these forums to figure out how to remove the buttons. Really don't need them at all I rarely slow down playback ever.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I just wanted to comment on the playback speed buttons. They are supremely annoying. When I click on the vlc window and hit space to start playback like I used to do, it always defaults to the slow speed button instead. I've been searching these forums to figure out how to remove the buttons. Really don't need them at all I rarely slow down playback ever.

Fixed in 0.9.3

[Mercury048]

cxn,

I'm sorry but speaking as a user, I think your "improved" design looks horrible. When I was waiting for 0.9.x to be released, I was worried that they'd go overboard with the UI and mess it up horribly.

IMO, the GUI is one of the things the devs did an awesome job on. The buttons look great, I like the muticolor volume slider, and playback speed buttons are useful for video.

Your proposed UI has all the elements "floating" with no borders or other distinguishing boundaries for the various elements - it's very diconcerting to not know where the button border is.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

cxn,

I'm sorry but speaking as a user, I think your "improved" design looks horrible. When I was waiting for 0.9.x to be released, I was worried that they'd go overboard with the UI and mess it up horribly.

IMO, the GUI is one of the things the devs did an awesome job on. The buttons look great, I like the muticolor volume slider, and playback speed buttons are useful for video.

Your proposed UI has all the elements "floating" with no borders or other distinguishing boundaries for the various elements - it's very diconcerting to not know where the button border is.

Mercury,

Thanks, it is nice to hear.
However, there is one big mistake in the current GUI, the time slider can be misleading, because you can't really know how to click, since the thumb of the slider is too big.
Some continuous progress bar might be better.

[fijam]

If I could add my 2 eurocents here, I'd like to point out that progress slider in fullscreen mode is very short what makes navigating the movie rather difficult. Is there actually any design idea behind it? How about something like that: (mockup) http://fijam.eu.org/other/mockup.png ?

Regards,

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

If I could add my 2 eurocents here, I'd like to point out that progress slider in fullscreen mode is very short what makes navigating the movie rather difficult. Is there actually any design idea behind it? How about something like that: (mockup) http://fijam.eu.org/other/mockup.png ?

Regards,

I prefer 2 euros,

Anyway, yes, this is an idea, BUT, so far, I haven't had a good a reliable way to detect the size of the monitor when in multi-monitor mode.
Therefore, I increased the width in the 0.9.3 version, but not more yet.

[iamnothere900]

I joined this forum when I saw this topic, that's how strongly I feel about this.

I liked the old interface better because it was smaller. I have a 1024x768 screen on my laptop and one of my favorite things about vlc has always been the clean, small controls.

However, I *do* like the colored volume slider and distinct play button that stands out. I would like it better if they could be reduced vertically to make the whole window smaller.

Thank you for all the excellent work you've done so far!

-A Happy User