Announce: Material Skin

[gnackwatschn]

The dev version sends +/- the defined volume increment when using the up/down vol buttons when a player has fixed volume. This is also extended by a server-side Material setting that will cause Material to 'ignore' the fixed volume state. When that is set, the volume for fixed volume players will be controlled as if they are not fixed volume - so the slider will be active, and the up/down buttons will set a volume relative to the current (as shown in the slider) volume. So, if vol=80% and increment=5%, then down will set volume to 75%

However, I'm not sure if this is really required. Or if Material should just ignore fixed volume?

In my opinion MS should ignore the fixed volume setting (slider and button) , or, at least give an Option to do so. Here a short sum up of the reasons I see:

- Consistency: It would work like default skin, Squeezer and iPeng. All those ignore the fixed volume setting, or, at least have an option for doing so.
- Less development effort: Fixed volume string is not localized yet, manage player settings still ignores it
- Functional vs. cosmetic: Leaving the slider fixed strongly impacts the usability in some cases and forces users to switch to another skin. On the other side there is just a small cosmetic downside for others, when the slider isn't fixed aymore.

This is only my opinion, but there are some objective reasons to think so.

[cpd73]

Consistency: It would work like default skin, Squeezer and iPeng. All those ignore the fixed volume setting, or, at least have an option for doing so.

Actually, AFAICS, iPeng has the volume control disabled - except on the lockscreen, but the control does not seem to work.

- Functional vs. cosmetic:

Cosmetics do matter.

I have no real fixed volume devices, so I cannot really test. But, does the volume shown in the Default web UI reflect the real volume? i.e. if you change the volume on the real player, does LMS show the real volume level? If not, then showing the level here is bad - as it implies its a value it is not.

[cpd73]

I'm happy to test but am not sure how to install the dev version. I tried editing my install.xml to switch "2.1.3" with "DEVELOPMENT-TIME" and restarting LMS, but the plugin files don't seem to have updated. Should this occur automatically, or do I need to synchronize the files manually?

No, you would need to checkout the code fro mgithub and then manually copy the MaterialSkin folder to your plugins folder. I do not make dev/nightly releases - too much hassle.

[gnackwatschn]

Actually, AFAICS, iPeng has the volume control disabled - except on the lockscreen, but the control does not seem to work.



Cosmetics do matter.

I have no real fixed volume devices, so I cannot really test. But, does the volume shown in the Default web UI reflect the real volume? i.e. if you change the volume on the real player, does LMS show the real volume level? If not, then showing the level here is bad - as it implies its a value it is not.

Firstly: I am only using default skin and also Squeezer. So I can definitely confirm, that on both the volume controls are working perfectly and also reflect the values of the AVR volume. As iPeng is recommended by the Denon plugin developers, I suggested that it works the same. I apologize if that part of my post was wrong.

Secondly: I agree, cosmetics do matter. But cosmetics should not impact functionality to a level that makes software unusable for some users. In case it really matters so much in our situation, also the volume buttons and the volume controls in the 'manage players' view should be disabled, to be consistent.

I totally understand the point, that some people want to keep it as it is. That's why I requested this as an optional setting. I never intendend to change the default behaviour for everyone.

So maybe that would be the best way to go?

I also did not want to start a big discussion about that, just wanted to give feedback.

That said I think it is up to you, to decide and I will respect your decision in every case.

Keep up the great work.

[slartibartfast]

Actually, AFAICS, iPeng has the volume control disabled - except on the lockscreen, but the control does not seem to work.



Cosmetics do matter.

I have no real fixed volume devices, so I cannot really test. But, does the volume shown in the Default web UI reflect the real volume? i.e. if you change the volume on the real player, does LMS show the real volume level? If not, then showing the level here is bad - as it implies its a value it is not.

If you have any Squeezelite players I believe they can be set as fixed volume. As far as cosmetics goes I assume anyone who has a device set to fixed volume would ignore the volume slider anyway unless they have an amplifier controlled by it. I generally have my Touch at 100% volume but don't use the fixed setting just because it is sometimes handy to be able to lower the volume temporarily using an app. It would be interesting to know how many people use the fixed volume setting who don't have an amplifier with LMS controlled volume.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[cpd73]

Secondly: I agree, cosmetics do matter. But cosmetics should not impact functionality to a level that makes software unusable for some users. In case it really matters so much in our situation, also the volume buttons and the volume controls in the 'manage players' view should be disabled, to be consistent.

I agree it should not affect functionality. My point was that if the volume shown in LMS was not the volume used on the player, then it has no real meaning and would be confusing. If it does reflect the real volume then it should be shown.

I have updated Material to be consistent - and removed the 'Fixed volume' label. I've added a server-side yes/no option as to whether fixed volume should be respected. If set to 'No' then Material will treat a fixed volume player as a normal player - show volume slider and value. If set to 'Yes' it will show the slider as disabled and not show a volume level. I guess this resolves the issue?

[gnackwatschn]

I agree it should not affect functionality. My point was that if the volume shown in LMS was not the volume used on the player, then it has no real meaning and would be confusing. If it does reflect the real volume then it should be shown.

I have updated Material to be consistent - and removed the 'Fixed volume' label. I've added a server-side yes/no option as to whether fixed volume should be respected. If set to 'No' then Material will treat a fixed volume player as a normal player - show volume slider and value. If set to 'Yes' it will show the slider as disabled and not show a volume level. I guess this resolves the issue?

For me, this sounds perfect. Thank you!

Any tips on how I can download your dev version? I know, I could download manually and copy the files, but maybe there is an 'official' way? Never installed fom a git until now.

[reinholdk]

And, as I have stated multiple times, I cannot do this. There is no way (AFAIK) to tell if "a, b, c" is 3 artists, 2 artists (e.g. "a" and "b, c", or "a, b" and "c"), etc. If LMS returned an array of artists, then yes, but it does not.

Craig, I think there is a misunderstanding about the multiple artist tagging.
You don't need to tell whether "a, b, c" is 3 artists or not. To have multiple artists one would use "a;b;c" and LMS would treat this as three artists if the semicolon is defined as the separator in 'Settings/My Music/Separator for Multiple Items in Tags', which it is by default.

[cpd73]

Craig, I think there is a misunderstanding about the multiple artist tagging.
You don't need to tell whether "a, b, c" is 3 artists or not. To have multiple artists one would use "a;b;c" and LMS would treat this as three artists if the semicolon is defined as the separator in 'Settings/My Music/Separator for Multiple Items in Tags', which it is by default.

I know that. But, I've just tried setting Artist to "a, b;c" - and LMS produces and artist list of "a, b, c". So, as stated, there is no (easy) way of knowing if the comma is to separate artists or is part of an artist's name (and yes I know that is unlikely).

[cpd73]

Any tips on how I can download your dev version? I know, I could download manually and copy the files, but maybe there is an 'official' way? Never installed fom a git until now.

The only way is to clone the git repo, and copy the 'MaterialSkin' folder to your Plugins folder.