by Barry4679 » Sat Jun 15, 2019 5:28 am
dtsig wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:39 pm
I think that the devs have been very good at replying to comments and suggestions and I believe that it is time to let them sort out the information and suggestions and see what they make of it.
I know that you are not talking to me, but as the OP I will reply.
I agree with your statement 100%, and also, who knows what pressure and budgetary constraints they are working under.
I am not impatient for a reply, because it is a big question ... but I would like a response to this feedback when they are ready.
The original post in this thread was intended as a serious piece of positive criticism ... ie what this forum was designed for presumably?
OK, I could have done better with the thread title. ... My intent was to try and make everybody read the thread, and for them to hopefully add feedback . I don't think that the changes I am suggesting are too large, but they are structural ... so it would be best if they get a variety of opinions before they make any plans re rejection, or accepting parts of it, etc.
That was my intent, but maybe the title was unintentionally offensive ... I don't think so, but I don't know ... if offence was taken, I apologise.
In essence I am saying that MM5 is a once in a decade re-write (MM4 was released in 2011). And that amongst all its great additions, it falls short of what should reasonably be be expected in some other areas:
- I think that it falls short of what should be expected for a click-to-navigate user ... eg. novice users, casual users, and touch panel users (who seem to be a target for this new edition of MM btw)
- I think that for a re-write it is disappointingly short of customisation options for what I think of as the various "home" panels ... ie. the Home node, and Browser View mode for the top level nodes, and the Grid|Art|Media view for the sub-nodes .... its 2019, we expect to be able to customise home screens .... MM5 customisation omissions:
- .... a user configurable navigation path within the sub-node (eg. Genre>AlbumArtist>Album instead of the standard which is Genre>Album)
- .... and album grid sort options (see next point)
- .... and eye candy for Classical music fans also
- navigation within each sub-nodes eventually descends down to a grid of albums ... it is disappointing that the user cannot set a default sort sequence, for the sub-node, for its album grid ... and (it gets worse) ... in all but two situations, the user cannot even change the grid sort sequence .. for the two lucky sub-nodes, the sort options are very limited .. in MM4 we had 6 sort options for the equivalent grid, everywhere ... and in MM5, there are different fixed sort sequences, on a node by node basis (?!), some of which are not even useful, ... and in one case it is hard to see how the grid has been sorted ... it sorted to nothing useful, that's for sure ... btw, I like fact that grid sort grouping has been removed .. if this is restored, please make it an option
- and considered as a whole, there are a number of small inconsistencies in MM5, that I think are going to be obstacles and customer time wasters in the struggle to become proficient with MM5
See the original post for details on each of these points. ... Here is an additional inconsistency example:
The following Views have the Column Browser facility: AllTracks, AlbumArtists, Artists, Albums.Composers, Conductors, Publishers
But for some reason, these Views do not: Genre, Years, Ratings, Classification ... why? the Column Browser would be equally useful there also.
In MM4 I always have the Column Browser open ... I will probably do the same in MM5.
But
I can do this in MM4, but
not in MM5 .... ?
The Genre node doesn't even have a List or Album&Tracks view ... so frustrating!
And another thing, navigation by breadcrumb is broken in Genre sub-node ... although this may be a bug, rather than a design issue
The Genre Browser display in Grid mode can be toggled between Genre and Genre Categories mode. ... I am in Genre mode ... This toggle facility mucks up breadcrumb navigation ... ie. these are
not my genres in the dropdown list (?) ... As you see I don't have "Latin & Caribbean" genres, and the list that they offer doesn't have Avantgarde, which is a genre that I do have ?
I don't understand the value of this Genre toggle anyway ... it creates another nodal inconsistency ... and its not clear to me how it works ... ie. many of my tracks cannot be found in any of these hard coded "Genre Categories"
[quote=dtsig post_id=459330 time=1560559143 user_id=41697]
I think that the devs have been very good at replying to comments and suggestions and I believe that it is time to let them sort out the information and suggestions and see what they make of it.
[/quote]
I know that you are not talking to me, but as the OP I will reply.
I agree with your statement 100%, and also, who knows what pressure and budgetary constraints they are working under.
I am not impatient for a reply, because it is a big question ... but I would like a response to this feedback when they are ready.
The original post in this thread was intended as a serious piece of positive criticism ... ie what this forum was designed for presumably?
OK, I could have done better with the thread title. ... My intent was to try and make everybody read the thread, and for them to hopefully add feedback . I don't think that the changes I am suggesting are too large, but they are structural ... so it would be best if they get a variety of opinions before they make any plans re rejection, or accepting parts of it, etc.
That was my intent, but maybe the title was unintentionally offensive ... I don't think so, but I don't know ... if offence was taken, I apologise.
In essence I am saying that MM5 is a once in a decade re-write (MM4 was released in 2011). And that amongst all its great additions, it falls short of what should reasonably be be expected in some other areas:
[list]I think that it falls short of what should be expected for a click-to-navigate user ... eg. novice users, casual users, and touch panel users (who seem to be a target for this new edition of MM btw)[/list]
[list]I think that for a re-write it is disappointingly short of customisation options for what I think of as the various "home" panels ... ie. the Home node, and Browser View mode for the top level nodes, and the Grid|Art|Media view for the sub-nodes .... its 2019, we expect to be able to customise home screens .... MM5 customisation omissions:[/list]
[list].... a user configurable navigation path within the sub-node (eg. Genre>AlbumArtist>Album instead of the standard which is Genre>Album)[/list]
[list].... and album grid sort options (see next point)[/list]
[list].... and eye candy for Classical music fans also[/list]
[list]navigation within each sub-nodes eventually descends down to a grid of albums ... it is disappointing that the user cannot set a default sort sequence, for the sub-node, for its album grid ... and (it gets worse) ... in all but two situations, the user cannot even change the grid sort sequence .. for the two lucky sub-nodes, the sort options are very limited .. in MM4 we had 6 sort options for the equivalent grid, [i]everywhere [/i]... and in MM5, there are [i]different[/i] [b]fixed[/b] sort sequences, on a node by node basis (?!), some of which are not even useful, ... and in one case it is hard to see how the grid has been sorted ... it sorted to nothing useful, that's for sure ... [size=85]btw, I like fact that grid sort grouping has been removed .. if this is restored, please make it an option[/size][/list]
[list]and considered as a whole, there are a number of small inconsistencies in MM5, that I think are going to be obstacles and customer time wasters in the struggle to become proficient with MM5[/list]
See the original post for details on each of these points. ... Here is an additional inconsistency example:
The following Views have the Column Browser facility: AllTracks, AlbumArtists, Artists, Albums.Composers, Conductors, Publishers
But for some reason, these Views do not: Genre, Years, Ratings, Classification ... why? the Column Browser would be equally useful there also.
In MM4 I always have the Column Browser open ... I will probably do the same in MM5.
But [url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/53dlgebhmtbonkd/Genre%20browser%20in%20MM4.png?dl=0]I can do this in MM4[/url], but [url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/g4l9wd3p7bs5444/not%20possible%20in%20MM5.png?dl=0]not in MM5[/url] .... ?
The Genre node doesn't even have a List or Album&Tracks view ... so frustrating!
And another thing, navigation by breadcrumb is broken in Genre sub-node ... although this may be a bug, rather than a design issue
The Genre Browser display in Grid mode can be toggled between Genre and Genre Categories mode. ... I am in Genre mode ... This toggle facility mucks up breadcrumb navigation ... ie. these are [url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/92unlo46oy88lq5/not%20my%20genres.png?dl=0] not my genres[/url] in the dropdown list (?) ... As you see I don't have "Latin & Caribbean" genres, and the list that they offer doesn't have Avantgarde, which is a genre that I do have ?
I don't understand the value of this Genre toggle anyway ... it creates another nodal inconsistency ... and its not clear to me how it works ... ie. many of my tracks cannot be found in any of these hard coded "Genre Categories"