[vox] XMMS - A rant about usability

[Peter Jay Salzman]

bill, xmms used to be called x11amp, if that gives any indication of why
it looks the way it does.   ;)

if you don't understand that, the most popular win32 mp3 player is
called winamp.  an x11 version of winamp was made about a year ago, but
it sucked badly.   xmms is a winamp clone.

anyway.

mp3blaster is what i use.  it has its problems, but i've found
mp3blaster's usability to be *much* better than xmms.  it comes with its
own mixer.   takes a few hours to get used to all the keybindings, but
once you do, it's one of those apps you don't have to think about using.
like an xterm.  :)

pete


begin Bill Kendrick <nbs@sonic.net> 
> 
> Ok, I'm just going to rant for a moment to get it off my chest.
> 
> Why do people design software like XMMS to act the way it does?
> Why does it have to look and act different than the rest of my applications?
> 
> An example:  I just popped up the Playlist Editor window.  I have far more
> tracks loaded (not many, actually) than can be displayed at once, so I need
> to scroll up and down.
> 
> I went to grab the bottom of the window (like I can with all other windows
> under KDE 2.2) and stretch it down.  But no...  I can't.  Hell, the window
> doesn't even appear in my taskbar!  No way to maximize it, or even minimize it!
> 
> All it's got are "^" (window-shade) and "x" (close) widgets. >:^(
> 
> I could fit literally three playlist windows on top of each other
> vertically, but no... since it has to look cool and shiny and weird,
> I don't get that useful usability.
> 
> All I get is a really tiny cool looking window with fuzzy, hard-to-read
> buttons.  And a scrollbar.  :^)
> 
> 
> *sigh*
> 
> Can anyone recommend another player that's media-wise as functional as XMMS,
> but usability wise as functional as, oh, I dunno... at least a frickin' Xterm?
> :^)
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -- 
> bill@newbreedsoftware.com                                            Hire me!
> http://newbreedsoftware.com/bill/    http://newbreedsoftware.com/bill/resume/
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