I think we are getting somewhere.
(2017-02-06, 16:31)tkgafs Wrote: I pretty much from day one have used the random party mode rarely using playlists except for specific circumstances such as a party or the like.
I always saw in the party mode the info about the playing track update as it changed, and I could scroll down the list and see the info about each track in turn, so when I saw that playlists did not do the same thing I presumed a bug or at least implementation oversight.
I would never have considered the current playlist view as a navigation list but I see that it in fact is.
I have also spotted why you could have thought party mode behaved differently to display of playback of other playlists. In party mode the previously played track is removed from the list, so focus at the top of the list is always on the currently playing song, and it looks like it is tracking what is playing (until you move the cursor). All other song lists the played items remain, and focus stays where it is until you move it.
Quote:I have looked at the fullscreen playback and to be honest I hate it, mainly because of the fanart, but also there is not as much info about the song.
I like to be able to see what is queued up awating play and the level of detail available about the track and actually I'd like to see more info here.
Now that makes lots of sense to me
A minimalistic player OSD makes sense for video, but for music if I was watching anything while I play then being able to see lots of info as well as/or instead of art is reasonable. Especially when the artist and album info is changing every song.
The artist art also whinds me up, 80s artists pictured like the old men that we are now glaring out the screen at me.... :p
Quote:If you can find someway to create an overlay that could be invoked that works like party mode but for a predetemined list or queued tracks that would be great
eg would it be possible to have a switch that in effect loaded the current playlist into a party mode playlist, ie I have loaded a playlist or queued some tracks (not sure if there is a difference) now use these tracks as the list of tracks party mode can choose from as though it were a smart playlist rule
I'm not sure if Im explaining myself clearly here but I'm sure you ask anything relevant
Humm.... I don't think you really want to lose the last played track from the list (which is why party mode tracks what is playing in the way you like). That is accident, let's see if we can do some design.
Let's go full circle, design does that sometimes :p
What you want is the
current playlist display to return focus to the currently playing item after the cursor has been inactive for a while. You kind of get this behavior when time delay takes the screen into full screen player mode, and then you ESC back to the current playlist. Such an optional facility could be possible. Optional because some people will get upset that focus doesn't stay where they leave it. I don't think the reverse a "stop tracking play and switch back to where I last placed the focus" facility is as viable, just too much jumping around. The simplicity here is just taking the focus to the current playing song will deliver the required screen display.
I had sketched out some new OSD that looked like navigation screen view with songs content plus player controls etc., but always tracked the playing song, never the focus. I started dragging you all with me in that direction, then I realised that this was silly, no need for yet more screens etc. I fear that listening a to a playlist of all my short (<2mins) songs all day, something I never do, may have effected me!
I have never looked at the current playlist so much either - normally I just queue some albums from a remote app. So not saying I know how to implement it exactly of course, but an "
auto return focus to current playing song" option for the current playlist screen seems reasonable to me now.
