Rockbox Development > Feature Ideas
[Sansa Clip+] A better shortcut to return to WPS
torne:
I use my Clip reasonably often and I have never needed to return to the WPS in enough of a hurry to even bother to find out what the return-to-wps button combination is.
When I'm in a situation where I need to use the player without looking, or couldn't use both hands if needed, I never leave the WPS to begin with; if I were to accidentally press the home button I *could* just press it again to return to the WPS, since I wouldn't've done anything else inbetween. If I'm actually navigating the menus then almost always this is to change what's playing, which will return to the WPS anyway, and if not then I just go hit the relevant main menu option when I'm done.
I really don't see why this needs changing. I have several other devices too, which *do* have enough buttons for a dedicated return-to-wps button, and I rarely press it on those either :)
mattofdoom:
Hello all, I've just read through this thread and felt the need to weigh in.
When I first installed Rockbox on my clip (ages ago now) I loved it, but was extremely frustrated by some of the button behaviour, just as mfe555 is. I posted my thoughts here on the forum back then, admittedly far less eloquently than mfe555 has managed, but couldn't find any sympathy so I decided to have a go at patching it myself. It turned out I wasn't as savvy as I remembered, and could never get the thing to work.
Despite this, I've used rockbox ever since and largely love it.
Anyway, for me the issue lies with getting back to the WPS 'blind', which is something I still can't manage despite using rockbox since it first came out on this player. I have however managed to get quite good at cycling with no hands, because I need to use one hand to navigate the player, and the other to shield the screen from the sun, to get back to the WPS.
The argument has been aired that if I want to use the player blind in my pocket, I should just insure I put it away on the WPS. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget. Sometimes buttons get pressed in my pockets. Sometimes, when I reach into my pocket to do something I press the wrong buttons, and now I don't know how to get back to WPS without looking.
Besides me, my clip is also used by about of my 20 friends, and quite a few of their friends -- whoever has the least appealing night-shift approaching. None of my friends are the sort of technical persons who might give rockbox a go naturally, and they universally find my player nearly impossible to use. Something I correlate to the keymap issues mfe555 is highlighting. I'm regularly teased for having a "nearly unusable" knock-off, presumed picked up at some far-eastern flea-market. In the end, I've taught them all to hold down left when switching on to get to the OF, and things have been fine since.
I like mfe555's suggestion because it doesn't break the home button's behaviour of 'taking you back', but aligns it with the psychological expectation of taking you back to the mode you were last in, rather than back to a different bit of that menu.
I'd also love to know why home won't get you out of radio or record mode, but will get you out of the WPS.
Sorry for rambling on.
sandwich600:
I would also like a "blind", "in pocket" way of getting back to the WPS screen on the Clip+. I always pause the music when crossing roads. Doing this it sometimes goes to the pitch alteration screen. To restart the music, I have to remove from pocket, remove sunglasses, shield the screen while using 2 thumbs to do a simultaneous double keypress. Then it sometimes happens again at the next road. This is the main drawback with Rockbox for me, but it is still far superior to the alternatives.
I appreciate this key stuff must be hard becuase RB works on so many platforms. But it would be nice if there was a foolproof way to pause/continue music in pocket. The pitch alteration is wonderful but probably a thing most people use less regularly than "pause".
My favourite feature is the MP3 crossfade - it's great in the car, on headphones, and on the home hi-fi.
Llorean:
If you're in the pitch alteration screen, you're probably going to need to look at the device anyway. The suggestion here isn't going to solve your problem.
mfe555:
Ok Llorean, my next try (added the last 2 parts):
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Sansa Clip family: Better handling of "home" in the menu (making it easier to go to the WPS)
Currently pressing "home" in the menu executes "GO_TO_PREVIOUS" which takes you back to where you have just been. If you have been browsing the menu, it toggles between the two recent menu levels which is probably not the most useful function.
Some Sansa Clip users would like to have a shortcut for going to the WPS. It is quite annoying that, after activating the file list by pressing "select", both ways of returning to the WPS without interrupting the song being played are relatively inconvenient: either going to the menu and selecting "Now playing", or using the two-button method which some users find difficult to do with one hand. In the Sansa OF, pressing "home" twice takes you to the WPS. This could be achieved in rockbox as well by changing the function of "home" in the menu.
My proposal:
Pressing "home" in the menu changes to
* the WPS
* radio mode
* recording modedepending on which of these was active before entering the menu, or before entering the file list and then changing to the menu.
From the file list, pressing "home" twice would now take you first to the menu, then to the WPS.
Why is this important? - Navigating the menu to go to the WPS requires several key presses and full attention on a very small screen. The two button method, on a player designed to be operated with one hand, is perfect for persons having two thumbs on that hand. Both methods are non-intuitive; especially first time rockbox users, unless they are "manual readers", have a hard time returning to the WPS. Mattofdoom has described the frustration of many of his friends about this. I think we want an intuitive, easy to use rockbox.
What existing functions would be replaced? - The function of the "home" button in the menu would be changed. Instead of 'taking you back' where you've been a second ago (there you can go again easily using the normal menu navigation) it would take you to where you were (WPS, radio mode, record mode) before entering the menu or the file list. The two-button method could stay in place for those who got used to it.
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