Friday, April 25. 2008
I can has bling-bling?
Some people might be aware of one of our competitors attempts at making something which looks all swish with all those high quality CD covers that people have for the albums in their collections. Now, we long ago decided that while eyecandy is all good and stuff, we really don't want eyecandy without a reason behind it. So when people started asking repeatedly "Hai, I can has coverflow?" on #amarok, we started thinking how something like that could be kicked into some form of usefulness.
And, so, when Summer of Code came around, we decided that it would make good sense to throw up an idea on the page for exactly that - our thoughts on what might make a useful bling. Many came forward with proposals for taking up this idea, but unfortunately, though in fact several of them were really good, in the end we had to not accept them as there were some that were more important for Amarok 2's release. However, luckily, one student came forward with a refined proposal for the CD Stack after the accepted projects had been presented. In stead of talking more here, i will let nottheones tell it himself:
So, ladies, gentlemen and everybody else - forget the CoverBling widget from early Amarok 2 code - real niftiness is coming up!
And, so, when Summer of Code came around, we decided that it would make good sense to throw up an idea on the page for exactly that - our thoughts on what might make a useful bling. Many came forward with proposals for taking up this idea, but unfortunately, though in fact several of them were really good, in the end we had to not accept them as there were some that were more important for Amarok 2's release. However, luckily, one student came forward with a refined proposal for the CD Stack after the accepted projects had been presented. In stead of talking more here, i will let nottheones tell it himself:
My name is Nicholas Lovell, and I study computer engineering at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. This summer I will be providing a new collection view. My idea is to provide a 3D list of albums that can be browsed much like a physical CD collection. Think of it as how CoverFlow should have originally been implemented. Rather than simply allowing selection of an album (or simply displaying the album currently playing), it will also allow selection of individual tracks from a selected album. Selecting a CD from the stack will display the front of the CD and the tracks from the album underneath it.
So, ladies, gentlemen and everybody else - forget the CoverBling widget from early Amarok 2 code - real niftiness is coming up!
Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Comments
Display comments as
(Linear | Threaded)
Orthography - ur doin it wrong!
- Andreas, who is not entirely innocent of introducing lolvocabulary on #kde-devel
- Andreas, who is not entirely innocent of introducing lolvocabulary on #kde-devel
Greeting'z,
Excellent Idea,
I have some thoughts on improving that,
Extend that concept of looking at it like a Physical CD,
in the standard view might show the cover, on mouse over
a transparent overlay would apear on some edge, with a
couple buttons:
1> Enlarge, or Zoom: for the cover art.
2> Flip: would flip the 'cd case' over showing the back
cover where the track list usually apears (with art work).
3> Unfold: think about a 3d duplicate of the 'Liner Notes'
initialy show a smaller size of the whole, they are usually
just a single row, keep the Zoom buttom, if clicked it
switchs to a larger view, one panel/square at a time,
then add navigation buttons (first, previous, play, next,
last, < if the liner is two or more rows: an Down/Up button
switchs between them>) this view should also start with
the front cover, and end with the rear cover (so all are viewable),
the Play would start a 'slide-show' first-to-last (maybe a reverse?).
4> Animate/Static: start the 'slide-show', or show only one frame.
(maybe mimic the 'unwraping, opening and viewing' of the CD,
as an animated 3d experience,
"relive the day you bought your favorite disk"..)
5> maybe a way to show the Wraper, as some CD's have an outer casing
( like Tool's "Lateralis", and others..), or speaking of Tool,
funky case design's like for "10,000 Days", or even the Sticker's
placed on new releases and such, (ie: "Featuring such, and such song"),
or one to pop open a frame with an 'automatic search & play' Music-Video
from youtube, or google video, or some such service..
Hope this adds some fuel to your imagination,
and good luck with what ever you may create !
Wow, Twice in one day I've posted a comment with the same visual concept,
hmmm, wyrd...
Zarantu
P.S. as I'm not a coder, you (or anyone) may use any of my ideas freely.
... GPL the Universe !! ...
Excellent Idea,
I have some thoughts on improving that,
Extend that concept of looking at it like a Physical CD,
in the standard view might show the cover, on mouse over
a transparent overlay would apear on some edge, with a
couple buttons:
1> Enlarge, or Zoom: for the cover art.
2> Flip: would flip the 'cd case' over showing the back
cover where the track list usually apears (with art work).
3> Unfold: think about a 3d duplicate of the 'Liner Notes'
initialy show a smaller size of the whole, they are usually
just a single row, keep the Zoom buttom, if clicked it
switchs to a larger view, one panel/square at a time,
then add navigation buttons (first, previous, play, next,
last, < if the liner is two or more rows: an Down/Up button
switchs between them>) this view should also start with
the front cover, and end with the rear cover (so all are viewable),
the Play would start a 'slide-show' first-to-last (maybe a reverse?).
4> Animate/Static: start the 'slide-show', or show only one frame.
(maybe mimic the 'unwraping, opening and viewing' of the CD,
as an animated 3d experience,
"relive the day you bought your favorite disk"..)
5> maybe a way to show the Wraper, as some CD's have an outer casing
( like Tool's "Lateralis", and others..), or speaking of Tool,
funky case design's like for "10,000 Days", or even the Sticker's
placed on new releases and such, (ie: "Featuring such, and such song"),
or one to pop open a frame with an 'automatic search & play' Music-Video
from youtube, or google video, or some such service..
Hope this adds some fuel to your imagination,
and good luck with what ever you may create !
Wow, Twice in one day I've posted a comment with the same visual concept,
hmmm, wyrd...
Zarantu
P.S. as I'm not a coder, you (or anyone) may use any of my ideas freely.
... GPL the Universe !! ...
Amarok Links
Calendar
Quicksearch
Archives
Categories
Syndicate This Blog
Blog Administration
We Listen To...
Powered by
