Re: Hate WMP 11 Library layout & navigation


"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" <neil@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:kh5qq2drueq0ctu7nvvmbr6tqfhqbrrnip@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:32:27 -0600, "Dale" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Sort of a back-to-DOS theme going on here, huh? Now we're typing to get
what we want from the computer again instead of using the mouse to make

Or an execllent thing if you have RSI, any number of physical / motion
difficulties,

opposite. The mouse has been a boon to handicapped PC users.


Name any groups of disabled users for which handling mouse clicks is
simpler than keyboard navigation.

My wife who has arthritis in her fingers. Typing for any period of time causes her severe pain. Moving around with a mouse does not. Add to that list all the rest of the world with arthritis in their fingers and hands.

You might not realise, but I'm a web
developer with a strong interest and background in disabled usability

Likewise.


WMP11 fall far short of what it should in this area - try to focus on
the Search box without a mouse, or using speech recognition for
example - however they have it right when it comes to searching the
library with the minumum number of interactions. As do Apple in iTunes

The search box is a great idea poorly done. I have stated before that the fast search is one of the best features of the new WMP version though I retracted that statement when it was pointed out that it doesn't search Contributing Artist so you can't find tracks in collections where album artist is set to Various Artists.



from the mouse to the keyboard for media searches is a great thing for RSI
sufferers, then moving from the mouse to the keyboard for all tasks would be
even better. Get rid of the mouse altogether.

Exactly. The keboard requires far less sideways motion, and is readily
usable by sight-impaired users due to the predictable key layout.

The keyboard is also a common cause of repetitive motion injuries, particularly in the little fingers but also in the wrist and the rest of the fingers.



Wrong again. You said that typing the genre in the search would yield one
line - for one genre. I type in Rock and get 10 lines for 10 genres related
to Rock.

So, just using the mouse how are you going to search for "Rock OR
Jazz" ? You can't. Now type that into the Search box.

** Which is how you select sub genres of Rock.

They're not sub genres by standard. They're different genres. There is no standardized hierarchy of genres though there probably should be. Even so, as I said, I like the search and I like the logical search that you showed me.

That doesn't mean that it was a good idea to lose the treeview. Treeviews were created for navigating hierchical data. They do it well. The List View problem in WMP is not an exclusively WMP problem; it's a change promoted by the Vista UI team. And in some places where the Vista UI guidelines suggest using a listview instead of a treeview - especially for large amounts of data where a search is better - I agree. In WMP it is a bad idea. Even a relatively large media library can be navigated with just a few clicks in WMP. I have 10,000+ tracks in my library and it is very easy to navigate with the treeview. While I am sure there are libraries out there that make mine look miniscule, I would bet that, of legitimate and legally obtained libraries, mine is in the top .75 percentile and I wouldn't be surprised if it is in the top .90 percentile.



Hey, that's a great feature! I didn't even realize that was there. Too bad
there's no obvious way for users to know it or even know to look up advanced
search features.


Really ? It's in the built-in Help files.
Hence RTFM and stop clowning around.

Pretending this is the worst product ever released, without first
reading the ample documentation just seems to provide you a way to
vent your spleen - playing the "Oh I couldn't find the FM" card fools
nobody.


So, I take it you've read the help from end to end? I have tried the search function for many questions and always end up with a Microsoft Live driven search result that has nothing to do with Windows Media Player. The online help is only marginally useful if at all. There are things I find in help and there are things I don't. There are things I don't look in help because we have been assured that WMP 11 was designed from the ground up to simplify the user interface. The true measure of their success in achieving that goal should be that a user does not have to search help.



That said, it doesn't change a thing in my original response. I didn't say
the search was bad. I said that not having the treeview at the left was
bad. Getting rid of the tree view was bad.


So roll back to WMP10. I really don't see the problem - you're clearly
unhappy with the product - what keeps you there ? Let's move on.

Rolling back is not an option. I currently only use WMP 11 on Vista. Plus, I am developing add-ins for WMP and applications embedding the WMP control.

Next, just as WMP 10 was pushed onto my PC with no option when I installed W2K3 SP1, WMP 11 will be pushed onto our PCs with XP SP3 and Vista. The solution is to get it fixed, not to ignore the problems.

Finally, I have paid, many many times over, for Windows Media Player. The Windows Media Player product team is delivering what I believe to be a defective product.

I think the right thing for them to do is to at least consider and listen to their customers. The IE product team listens. The Windows XP product team listens. The Windows Vista product team listens. The Microsoft Office team listens. All of those mentioned teams enable the Suggestion to Microsoft feature in the web based newsgroup reader; only the Windows Media Player product team does not.

Any claims by Microsoft employees in this newsgroup that newsgroups are not effective communications means or that it is against Microsoft policies for them to take what they hear here back to their teams are either made out of ignorance of Microsoft policies or those claims are outright lies. Clearly Microsoft thinks that newsgroups are a great way for users to make suggestions to product teams; only the Windows Media Player product group seems to think otherwise.

Perhaps if Microsoft would give a refund to all Windows users who uninstall WMP - oh wait - you can't uninstall WMP. Nevermind.



They don't even offer keystroke navigation of the list views like Explorer


I just don't understand if you don't understand this or are simply
being obsequious. Search in the bloody search box. That's what it's
provided for. If that is not keystroke navigation, what sort of
distinction are you trying to draw ? (Hint : it's not working)


Cheers - Neil
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

.

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