New Grid File View Option.

[Reece]

       

          I think it would be good to add a second file view. So, instead of having all the files and menu items in a column, there could be an option to have them in a grid. And the user can use the scroll wheel/ arrow keys to navigate the items in the menu/file browser. Each item in the menu has its name, either under it, (just like windows file view)  or when the item is highlighted the name appears at the top of the screen. I think this could be especialy nice for the players with a large screen, or touch screen. For example the Olympus M. Robe. It has a large, touch screen display, that would be ideal for a grid file view.


 It would basically look something like this. (This picture is taken from a computer as an example of the layout.)


And instead of having the file names scroll, they would just go down one line.

So instead of having a long name such as....

         [_]  <------ Item/Folder Icon
"|New Text D...|

....and having that scroll out of view,
it would just look like this....

      [_]   <----- Item/Folder icon.
"New Text
 Document"

See, the name is fully visible, an yet stays inside a confined place.
And if the file name is too too long, it would look something like this...

         [_]
 07-Moonlight-
  Sonata-Lud...

And when highlighted it would reveal the whole
file name, and would extend over the lower items if necessary,
but only when highlighted.
(It works so well! )

Or, though you cant immediately see the name of the file, you can have the file name appear at the top of the screen when the item is highlighted in the file browser. And the name of the current directory is at the very top

So you would just have the grid of file icons, and the name of the currently highlighted item at the top: Highlighted item is represented by a -  |[_]|
                                                             

                                                              Main Menu
                                                                                           
                                                              Database

                                                 |    [_]    [_]    [_]    [_]    |
                                                 |                                      |
                                                 |    [_]   |[_]|   [_]    [_]    |
                                                 |                                      |
                                                 |    [_]    [_]    [_]    [_]    |
                                                                                              

In a nut shell, I think this type of file view would take advantage of a larger screen, and especially touch screens.


I hope this is detailed enough and understandable.
I had to use text art to represent it, so its kinda crude.

[[Saint]]

This is a great idea, and I would happy for it...were it not already possible.

We have a *very* powerful theme engine that will allow you to do just this should you desire to do so.


[Saint]

[bluebrother]

This only works on devices that
- have a high resolution
- have enough buttons to navigate all four directions (or a touch screen)

Which basically only leaves hosted ports like the Android one. However, for the Android port I'd prefer a native Android UI on top of the Rockbox engine. Which means that for all "real" players I don't consider that a good idea, for display space and button reasons.

[Reece]

     Just as I said. This would only be ideal for devices with a larger screen/touch screen.

[Reece]

We have a *very* powerful theme engine that will allow you to do just this should you desire to do so.
[Saint]

How would you get the items to arrange in a grid?! That's amazing, when only using a theme.

[gevaerts]

How would you get the items to arrange in a grid?! That's amazing, when only using a theme.

See http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/CustomWPS#Drawing_the_lists_using_a_skin

Unfortunately the manual is not entirely up to date for this, but the CustomWPS wiki page is.

I don't know if there's a theme out there that actually uses a grid, but there are several that use skinned lists in general (and the only difference for a grid is the "grid" keyword, really). One of them is http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=1535

[Reece]

Thanks. This helps allot with another theme-ing problem I had.