GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 327149
Volume vertical scroll bar position is not consistent with Desktop
Last modified: 2018-02-10 04:38:56 UTC
With the desktop volume control applet, if you click on it, the volume control appears beneath the applet. So once you have selected a volume level that you like, you can just click on the volume control applet once more and the volume scroll bar goes away. However, this is not the case with the volume control on Rhythmbox. Rather the volume control scroll bar literally appears on top of the button. So once you have selected a volume you must click elsewhere on the application to make it go away. I believe for consistency and usability the pop-up scroll bar should appear below the button, just like the desktop applet. I will attach screenshots to further detail what I am referring to. Regards, Sean
Created attachment 57443 [details] How the volume control looks on the desktop applet when it is selected. Compare this to how it looks on the application itself.
Created attachment 57444 [details] How the volume control looks on the application when the button is selected. Notice how the pop-up scroll bar completely blocks your visibility to the button.
Can confirm that this is still present in CVS HEAD.
The slider is placed so that you can click the volume button, hold the mouse button down, drag the slider to adjust the volume, then release the mouse button and have the slider disappear. I think it would be possible to move the slider away from the volume button if you release the mouse button and the slider remains visible, but that might look weird. And, for consistency, we'd have to convince the totem and sound-juicer maintainers to make the same change.
Rhythmbox and Sound-Juicer both use BaconVolumeWidget, copied from Totem. The best things to do (if we want to change the behaviour, which I'm not sure about) is to change it there, and then have RB and S-J get updated copies from Totem's cvs.
I propose not using the current volume widget at all and using a more standard type of widget. Most media players on other platforms use a volume slider which is always visible. I will attach screenshots. I think that Rhythmbox should follow this trend for several reasons. 1. There is currently a lot of empty space on the top bar where the navigation and volume controls reside. There is no reason to limit the volume control to a tiny button placed all the way at the right. 2. It is currently necessary to make multiple clicks to change the volume and it is impossible to view the current volume level without clicking to display the volume widget. 3. The current volume widget is problematic as this bug states. 4. The current widget is different than that in the majority of popular music players (iTunes, WMP, Amarok, and every other non-gnome player) for no (apparent) good reason other than it was simple to inherit from totem. I'm not sure why every gnome music player uses the same volume widget (probably the same reason) but I don't think it's a good argument for Rhythmbox not to change.
Created attachment 75966 [details] Rhythmbox in minimum window size showing lots of unused space in the top bar
Created attachment 75967 [details] Rhythmbox in small display mode showing superfluous "browse" button In the small display mode, the "browse" button is visible though it's disabled and unnecessary. It could be removed to make more space for the volume slider.
Here are some links to screenshots of other music players (so as not to burden this bug with more attachments). iTunes http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/iTunes-Screenshot-6318.html Windows Media Player http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Windows-Media-Player-Screenshot-4121.html Amarok http://amarok.kde.org/index.php?set_albumName=1-4-Series&option=com_gallery&Itemid=60&include=view_album.php Songbird http://www.songbirdnest.com/features
(In reply to comment #6) > I propose not using the current volume widget at all and using a more standard > type of widget. Most media players on other platforms use a volume slider which > is always visible. I will attach screenshots. I think that Rhythmbox should > follow this trend for several reasons. > > 1. There is currently a lot of empty space on the top bar where the navigation > and volume controls reside. There is no reason to limit the volume control to a > tiny button placed all the way at the right. There is empty space, therefore we should fill it with something? I don't think this is a good reason. > 2. It is currently necessary to make multiple clicks to change the volume and > it is impossible to view the current volume level without clicking to display > the volume widget. Incorrect on both points. > 3. The current volume widget is problematic as this bug states. I don't think what the original bug report describes is actually a problem. > 4. The current widget is different than that in the majority of popular music > players (iTunes, WMP, Amarok, and every other non-gnome player) for no > (apparent) good reason other than it was simple to inherit from totem. I'm not > sure why every gnome music player uses the same volume widget (probably the > same reason) but I don't think it's a good argument for Rhythmbox not to > change. So.. it's not interesting to have consistency between gnome applications, where a single user will likely use more than one, but it is interesting have consistency between music players on different platforms when the user will most likely only use one? I think your logic is backwards. I like the volume control button. It provides a simple unobtrusive indication of the current volume level, and it makes it easy to change the volume. Not quite as easy as having a slider control in the main UI, sure, but I think the UI clutter that would introduce would be a bigger problem. How often do you adjust the volume, anyway?
(In reply to comment #10) > There is empty space, therefore we should fill it with something? I don't > think this is a good reason. I did not say that empty space is bad and therefore must be filled. I simply asserted that space limitations cannot be used as an excuse for using the current widget. Please don't pervert my words. ;-) > Incorrect on both points. I have experimented and discovered that multiple clicks are, indeed, not necessary to change the volume. However, it is unintuitive to me that a button and a popup slider would be usable as a single widget. As far as seeing the current volume without clicking the widget, you will have to direct me to a screenshot as it appears impossible in 0.9.6 (the version in Ubuntu Edgy). > So.. it's not interesting to have consistency between gnome applications, > where a single user will likely use more than one, but it is interesting have > consistency between music players on different platforms when the user will > most likely only use one? I think your logic is backwards. Well consistancy is desirable. So why is it that the 3 gnome music players that I've used (Rhythmbox, Banshee, Quod Libet) all use a different volume widget than the slider that every other platform uses? Is this a secret widget that the rest of the world hasn't caught onto yet? Are gnome developers just different in their preferences? > I like the volume control button. It provides a simple unobtrusive indication > of the current volume level, and it makes it easy to change the volume. Not > quite as easy as having a slider control in the main UI, sure, but I think the > UI clutter that would introduce would be a bigger problem. How often do you > adjust the volume, anyway? I agree that the current widget is unobtrusive; in fact it is too unobtrusive. I require changing volume frequently since I perform a variety of tasks at my computer. I have tried to quantify what is better or worse about the different options and I have listed reasons why I think a slider is more intuitive and appropriate. I think it should be considered.
Created attachment 101773 [details] Volume slider exceeds screen limits The widget has an additional problem: When the window stretches to the upper screen limits, the top end of the slider may end up off-screen. This happens especially when the volume previously was turned off. (Done on Ubuntu Gutsy, Glider theme)
GtkVolumeButton (which, as of just now, we use where available) handles that slightly better. See bug 460733. As we're using GtkVolumeButton now, I'm moving this bug to gtk+.
This bug is still valid. The main usability problem with the behaviour described by the original report is the lack of an obvious mechanism for deactivating the volume slider - clicking outside the slider will be non-obvious to many users. Another usability problem with the current volume widget is that a user has to click on it to discover what the current volume setting is. (This is particularly relevant when the global volume is low and the application volume is at max.) The first problem can be solved by the solution suggested in the original report. Both problems can be solved by using the kind of volume slider which is found in iTunes and Windows Media Player. Press-and-hold is non-standard behaviour for GNOME and therefore lacks discoverability. This report is the first time I've even heard of this functionality!
We're moving to gitlab! As part of this move, we are closing bugs that haven't seen activity in more than 5 years. If this issue is still imporant to you and still relevant with GTK+ 3.22 or master, please consider creating a gitlab issue for it.