Posts: 1,374
Joined: Mar 2018
Reputation:
30
2024-03-02, 10:54
(This post was last modified: 2024-03-02, 10:58 by Buschel. Edited 1 time in total.)
The idea I get from your suggestions is to think of using swipe up/down to switch between info and playlist, e.g. swipe down shows the info and swipe up switches to playlist. In interest of devices with lesser height I would still keep the controls on the bottom and keep the slider and labels moving out. But this will not work on iPad again ...
When looking at other Apps I also saw completely other iPad layouts:
- NowPlaying left side, using iPhone dimension (vertical oriented, relatively small, also supporting the playlist)
- Right of NowPlaying the main menu and database browser was placed (used similar to iPhone)
- A fullscreen NowPlaying option could be brought in as eye candy
But I doubt this would work well for iPad portrait mode.
Maybe as a next step I will just update the control icons/position, finalize on where then place the repeat/shuffle (aligned with slider or not, but for sure on NowPlaying). For more intense rework I would like to collect ideas here, I really like the different proposals and visualizations.
Posts: 525
Joined: Apr 2014
Reputation:
8
2024-03-02, 14:02
(This post was last modified: 2024-03-02, 14:16 by amasephy. Edited 1 time in total.)
Slide down to enhanced show info seems like a no brainer.
For the playlist I’m not sure the sliding action will work to trigger it. What happens if the playlist is really long for some reason. Will sliding down bring you back to the now playing view? I would have to see this in action. It’s pretty difficult (for me at least) to create sample animations in photoshop. Even Apple Music seems to require tapping a playlist button to activate that view. Though tapping on the currently playlist item will bring back the now playing view.
For sure iPad needs its own system. Even the current iteration really just works entirely differently - for example the playlist always being visible.
I wouldnt even try to make iPad and iPhone work the same way. They each need their own interfaces adapted to the vastly different screen sizes. When I have briefly thought about the iPad version I think the omnipresent menus that are always visible work better in landscape view as it makes the view space more malleable and easier to design for. Of course I would never suggest abandoning portrait mode. 🙂
I have ideas for other aspects of app UI overhaul but will stick to now playing for now. I need to add some other elements to the now playing/playlist views.
The favorites buttons need to be added back in. I’m thinking this belongs at the top of the info view.
For the playlist views do video, music, and pictures require separate playlists like the app currently used or can this function be consolidated to a single playlist? If not then I would have to add the three icons to shift between the different playlist types. Honestly that would be far from ideal.
Buschel - is it possible for you to provide template space jpgs for all the different supported screen sizes in their native shape and resolution from your simulator? Maybe you know a resource to get that as well.
This would help me with seeing what breaks the mock layouts.
Posts: 525
Joined: Apr 2014
Reputation:
8
2024-03-02, 14:24
(This post was last modified: 2024-03-02, 14:29 by amasephy. Edited 1 time in total.)
Totally understandable. It’s trivial to draft layouts in photoshop. I knew it would be incredibly intensive to make changes in the IDE. Better to draft things out quickly and get an idea of things that can be done than waste effort in the coding environment though.
Definitely grateful for all of the volunteer work you put into the app. The mock ups are purely for inspiration. 🙂
I imagine this app was written in objective c? I know swift is their new language which seems to be somewhat similar to python styling. It is irritating that these require a Mac to code for.
I use python at work but to call myself a coder is a serious insult to actual coders.
Posts: 1,374
Joined: Mar 2018
Reputation:
30
As far as I am aware you can only run Xcode on macOS. I am not sure, if running macOS on a VM would work. Learning objective c -- the language used to program the app -- is not impossible, if you're used to program in C++ you will recognize a lot. That's what I did as well a few years back when I made the app working again under iOS 14, and honestly I am still learning the framework specifics.
Posts: 525
Joined: Apr 2014
Reputation:
8
2024-03-02, 17:23
(This post was last modified: 2024-03-02, 17:25 by amasephy. Edited 1 time in total.)
Looks slick.
It does look slightly more cramped now but I’ll defer to your judgement on the alignment.
Inline definitely the way to go. 👍🏻
Are you able to make the progress bar dynamically sized? I ask this because maybe you dont know this but in party mode the random/loop buttons are not visible. In this case the progress bar looks weird having large gaps on either end.
Posts: 546
Joined: Jan 2021
Reputation:
8
The aligned look with the buttons in the same row as the progress bar looks so much better imho… good work!