More user friendly Play panel
It would be nice if the Playpanel is not a free floating panel like it is now, but more or less a fixed (collapsable) part of the UI, much like the 'Pallettes' panel. Also I don't understand why it's so seperated from the Play panel functions in de top menu, since all functions are connected from a user's point of view.
The play panel always gets hidden behind the rest of the UI and if it's open it takes several actions to bring it back to front. This can get quite annoying if you use it and change settings regularly.
What I propose:
One small PLAY menu/panel with Back to beginning, Play, Pause and Play Repeats buttons which you can expand with a click to the other functions (Midi, Sound, Tempo, Time etc).
Just to make sure, because this might be already a planned feature in version 2.0?
Thanks!
Comments
I don't think it is planned, but you can donwload a nightly build (see Downloads link in menu at right of this page) to see for yourself) what has changed.
What is your reason for using the play panel at all, though? It is not normally necessary to ever bring up except for some very special unusual situations (wanting to temporarily override the tempo you have set for your score, etc). But most ordinary day-to-day playback functions can be accessed without it - in particular, Space bar (or the corresponding toolbar icon) to start and stop playback, Home to reset the cursor. For 2.0, there are additional playback features like metronome and looping, but these too can be controlled for the most part without ever invoking the play panel.
BTW, not sure what OS you are on or what options you might have set in it, but for me on Windows 7, the play panel always stays on top of the main window, both in 1.3 and in the nightly builds.
In reply to I don't think it is planned, by Marc Sabatella
By what you're writing it looks to me that the hidden panel seems to be a bug in Mac OS X (I'm using 10.6 and 10.7)... I understand it should always be on top when checked in the menu. Maybe I should post this in the 'support and bugs' department (if it still exists in version 2.0)?
At the moment I'm transcribing bass parts from recorded songs. I regularly change the tempo to see if everything is counted out right and to compare results with the recorded audio which is often much faster ;-). So that's why I use the panel regularly at the moment.
It's also a matter of usability and user logic. Some people might hardly use it, some may use it regularly, the point is: one never knows. Since there are playback options, why not not make them as accessible and logical as possible.
The panel seems a bit of an oddity in the whole UI.
In reply to So it's a... bug by bxwebber
I agree it seems an oddity. That's one reason I was trying to understand your usage. Frankly, I'd be happy to see it go away entirely, and have the one or two things that currently require its use be accessible by other means.
In reply to I agree it seems an oddity. by Marc Sabatella
It's indeed Mac only and it behaves the same on current nightly 8917b06259
In reply to It's indeed Mac only and it by [DELETED] 5
Thanks for confirming this. Should I post it in 'Support and bugs' to bring it to the attention of programmers? Or will you?
In reply to Post it in bugs dept? by bxwebber
It's already in the issue tracker for quite some time #15629: Mac: Play Panel doesn't float above main window