Topic: Preview 2.20: Various UI improvements

Phew… looks like 2.20 is going to bring some pretty big changes again… 🙂

Zooming issues in the editor are fixed, as far as I can tell!

The new profile buttons… I think they need some more thought, and maybe user input (hint, hint… to everyone reading :wink:).
You have to agree it’s not very ergonomic to open the editor/mixer by clicking on a button in the top right corner, move the mouse 3/4 across the screen to perform edits, and back again to close it. It’s quicker with F6/F7*, sure, but over time I’ve read from many users on this forum that they prefer not to use keyboard shortcuts. Having the buttons up there unnecessarily makes the user work more.

If you definitely want to go in this direction then I really think how Logic handles this is the way to go, like Markus (I think!?) said in the other thread.
That means: get rid of the different profiles for the embedded editor and the mixer and consolidate them into an “all-containing box” profile instead. Put the new page-switching buttons on a header or footer bar belonging to this profile.

* Speaking of, what about the hide/show function on the F keys – it will become kind of deprecated now, I think. Since why would you minimize the editor/mixer when you can just jump over to the new ‘tracks’ page and back? Maybe change it so they open the ‘editor’ or ‘mixer’ page and press again to close it, returning to the ‘tracks’ page.

P.S.: I see the profiles for ‘split timeline’ and ‘split mixer’ are not present in beta 3 anymore – I’m sure they’ll come back, right?

I don’t know how of useful will be those buttons, maybe they’re for people that uses more of two profiles. I’ll use them while I have to alternate between profiles with F8.

Anyone think reducing “editor profile” to “editor” is a good/bad idea?

I think it’s a bad idea, because there is too many editors in Podium, and it could confuse. If you want supress the word profile try something as “interface editor”, “objetcs editor”…etc 😉

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I was looking at the future plan and I see this.

User configuration of key and mouse shortcuts.

And take a look to my Podium configuration:

I work with the left hand in the keyboard left half, so I was thinking that for me would be more useful have tab key [instead F8] for rotate between profiles.

Will this feature of the future plan allow to customize all the keys and mouse buttons? (I want them mainly for Tab key, and for right click in piano roll that do two actions)

@Zynewave wrote:

Is the problem only the location of the new editor bar? If so, you can just add a new toolbar above the transport troolbar, and move the editor bar there. I did not do that in the default setup, because I think it takes up too much space. But it would make it more similar to Logic Audio.

I tried that, too, but then I thought why have two bars taking up space when it could be just one.

Now:

Idea (don’t mind the blue lining like in the inspector too much :wink:):

And when you click on the selected ‘tab’ again it gets minimized.

Just an idea! Sorry for posting fantasy pictures all the time! O:)

By the way, are we going to be able to choose which profiles appear in the toolbar?

@Zynewave wrote:

@thcilnnahoj wrote:

P.S.: I see the profiles for ‘split timeline’ and ‘split mixer’ are not present in beta 3 anymore – I’m sure they’ll come back, right?

No, I did not plan to put them back in. Why do you want them? The only difference to the new Tracks/Mixer profiles is that you don’t have the dual mixer and the transport and edit toolbar are not merged into one toolbar.

I don’t need them, but I think they may have given people with two or more monitors a starting point to see how to configure Podium to work with their setup.

Well, there have been many, many suggestions… minor and major. But we know you can’t do everything! 😉
I’m already very grateful for the new non-time-locked editors. 8)

But… let me be completely honest and say that if you stop here and call it finished, then I think the old setup with both the editor and mixer in the same profile is actually better. Nobody says you have to open them both at the same time.
With the old setup I can quickly close one and open the other with just two keystrokes. Not only would I lose that ability, but also I would now have two or more totally separate profiles, which likely means more maintenance. The new toolbar plus the editor/mixer header also takes up a little more space than both the editor’s and mixer’s minimized headers but actually provides less functionality. On top of that, the F6/F7 keys just become impractical to use with this setup, in my opinion. I don’t know how you intended this to work, but if it was me, I’d switch to the ‘editor’ profile if I needed the piano roll and switch back to ‘tracks’ when I’m done and want more space for the arrangement. I would not stay on the editor page and hide the editor, with F6 or otherwise.
Of course I can always keep my old setup, but I’d like to go with the times, and also I’m concerned about an easy-to-use workspace for new users that don’t know about the extensive customization abilities of Podium. It seems not near as well thought-out as it could be… I hope you don’t take it the wrong way.

Sure you can use the demo track! Demonstration is what it was made for, after all! 😆 Although you might’ve wanted to bounce some tracks as to not get CPU overloads.
I see that you use a higher resolution now, it’s strange that it doesn’t fill the YouTube window, however. Is it not 16:9? Ehh, also something very, very minor: You might want to check your YouTube user picture, as it is a victim of bad resizing done by YouTube. It says max. 88×88 px, I think, but with the new channel layout it’s actually only ever used at 60×60!

@Zynewave wrote:

Beta4 is up, with extensions to the new editor bar. I think I’m done working on this feature, unless you have further suggestions.

Note really a suggestion as such but a question. Will this bar be visible by default?

I’ve uploaded a video on YouTube that demonstrates the new 2.20 features:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv39dX7NP_Q

The demo showcases one of the best new features in Podium for years IMO. Something that simplifies the previously somewhat complex “Editor Profile Properties” The Editor Bar is a far more simplified way to tap into that power. Brilliant. =D> I noticed you had two listings for Toolbars around 2:10 into the video why is that?