Proposition: SimpleBox

[keuleJ]

Sorry, I think some of you guys didn't read half of my post. I said, make it optional: You could select if you want to boot into recording screen, wps (which would probably resume), FM Radio, Main Menu or File Browser. Just saying, the Main Menu should be default and that it should have entries for WPS, Radio and Recording. even if you have dedicated Buttons for some of these. This redundancy makes it easier to use, I think. If you select File Browser, it's nearly the same as now.

As for the fonts: Once we have a release version, we should include the fonts that are used for the WPSes that are supplied with the release.

If I'm really in the minority of users that have more than 400 entries in a directory, then I think the default is fine.

[bluebrother]

Sorry, I think some of you guys didn't read half of my post. I said, make it optional: You could select if you want to boot into recording screen, wps (which would probably resume), FM Radio, Main Menu or File Browser. Just saying, the Main Menu should be default and that it should have entries for WPS, Radio and Recording.

I believe I read your complete post. But I argued that having such a "main menu" is waste and useless IMO and also something like that should never be default. I even gave you an argumentation why and why you won't convince the devs that this solution is good or should even get implemented. Consistency should get adressed, but this is a different thing and has nothing to do with an additional menu.
Also, showing the wps without anything playing doesn't make sense at all. Which is the reason why the wps isnt't the "main" screen. But this has been discussed several times before.

As for the fonts: Once we have a release version, we should include the fonts that are used for the WPSes that are supplied with the release.

It has already been agreed by the devs that the release will be a complete install, including the fonts package. It has even been discussed about including the manual also. So there is no point in discussing this.

[LinusN]

Just my $0.02:

• I don't mind having a startup menu (called "main menu" in the discussion). I think it could make things easier for the newbies, and you can later select the startup screen in the settings.
• I wouldn't mind having an (optional) icon based GUI, with icons placed in a matrix along with a text field describing the icon. However, we would still want to select the pure text-based GUI for the smaller LCD's and for the blind. These icons should of course be loaded from disk as part of the theme.
• I suggest that we try to approach the intuitivity issue incrementally. It will not be easy to change the entire menu layout at once.
• Setting the "max files in dir" higher than 400 on a player with more than 16 megabytes of RAM won't make a measurable impact on the battery life. It's only a matter of kilobytes. The Archos and iFP targets have very little RAM, and they need all the buffer space they can get, but the other ones can easily spare a few kilobytes.

BTW, we discussed the GUI in the IRC channel some time ago, and we came to the conclusion that we wanted a more "flat" arrangement of screens (mainly an issue with how the code is designed), and that a startup menu isn't all that bad.

[adamti91]

Well I have taken a back seat for awhile, just reading posts. I agree with points on both sides of the issue, but obviously lean toward my side of the argument. I believe the suggested "Main Menu" (Music/FM Radio/Recording/Games/Utilites/Settings) is the best option (Graphical, as an option), with the current default menu available as an option as well.

-Adam

[Febs]

What would you consider to be a "utility"?

[nls]

I recently lent my h300 to my (not rockbox aware) sister and observed confusion while trying to show her how to use the recording feature.

The problem was that there is no(t really any) visual difference between the file browser and the menu. For example my root contains folders such as music, recordings, pictures etc and then in the menu ther's settings, recording etc and this was obviously confusing as the two look very much the same.

So an improvement would be some clearer difference between the two. I don't really know how to do that but perhaps have another backdrop for the browser or some "menu arrows" or icons (shrug...) in the menu.

As a side note she managed to get the recording right and was able to listen to it, so our user interface can not be all bad  

[bluebrother]

How about simply adding a caption to the list views? The "Show Path" feature could get extended to be a "List Caption" option which can show the path (like already present) or show a caption like "File Browser", "Tag Browser", "Main Menu" and so on. This could be set to the caption setting per default. Maybe add a small line to separate it from the rest of the list view.

[Llorean]

I'm quite fond of that idea. I suggested something very similar a long time ago.

Also, the Root folder needs *some* sort of caption for both visual consistency and decreased confusion.

[adamti91]

What would you consider to be a "utility"?

Calculator, Clock, possibly a Periodic Table of the Elements like iPodLinux had, etc...

-Adam

[JdGordon]

How about simply adding a caption to the list views? The "Show Path" feature could get extended to be a "List Caption" option which can show the path (like already present) or show a caption like "File Browser", "Tag Browser", "Main Menu" and so on. This could be set to the caption setting per default. Maybe add a small line to separate it from the rest of the list view.

just fyi, having a title in the menus at the moment is not very easy to add, but.. (here we go again) in my menu/ressetings recoding patch (forumn thread a few below this one) this is done for the main menu, and any others which use the new menu code.

[Neogx]

Honestly I think it would be a cool idea to have a simpler way with rockbox  like adam was saying=).

[jamier]

I'm gonna fence sit on this one,
(I try not to be too obnoxious on my Hello World post)
but i agree with most points of both sides. I couldn't possibly tell one of my friends or siblings how to operate rockbox, and it would take a long time for them to figure out, as it did me. But at the same time, a simpler interface causes it to lose its flexibility. Having a main menu with all the functions set out in categories would be good, but as long as its done in a way that doesn't hide features or items.

[bascule]

How about simply adding a caption to the list views? The "Show Path" feature could get extended to be a "List Caption" option which can show the path (like already present) or show a caption like "File Browser", "Tag Browser", "Main Menu" and so on. This could be set to the caption setting per default. Maybe add a small line to separate it from the rest of the list view.

For me, using Tag browser exclusively, I find having the name at the top of each Tag Cache menu gives me just that functionality. This is activated by switching on the 'Show Path' setting...