Pattern Editor Fullscreen

Paul Legovitch · December 02, 2009, 21:39:10

As Jojo noted, the upper panel of the pattern editor is quite big and takes a lot of workspace.
I think a fullscreen mode for the pattern editor (no window border/title, no tabs) would be great to work with as many rows as possible.
Several apps like firefox, Gimp, etc. have such a fullscreen mode, with a shortcut (F11).

The fullscreen pattern editor would contain a condensed version of the panel in the upper left, without "keyboard split" :

(the pattern order would be displayed on the right, with also a little button to switch back to normal display)

Now look at a 1024*768 version of a fullscreen pattern editor :
* 18 values in pattern order
* 56 rows.

It also fits in 800*600 :
* 8 values in pattern order
* 40 rows.

With bigger resolutions, one could almost see the entire pattern vertically.
Well this is more of a suggestion than a request. Perhaps the first step would be to reorganize the upper panel of the pattern editor where a lot of useful space is wasted.

Rakib · December 02, 2009, 21:56:19

I'm all in for that.

Sam_Zen · December 03, 2009, 00:48:05

QuotePerhaps the first step would be to reorganize the upper panel of the pattern editor where a lot of useful space is wasted.

The first step indeed. With, as said, the Keyboard split section as a questionable component.

As I have my doubts about the reduced pattern row section here.
I would prefer to maintain the full horizontal range of it, to be able to make a far transition jump,
without first scrolling horizontally back or forth. At the cost of some pattern lines visible.

BooT-SectoR-ViruZ · December 03, 2009, 11:03:30

Although you intend this to be an optional feature by pressing certain keys I don't think that this is very useable. I myself am jumping between the tabs a lot and i also constantly need the main toolbar. if this idea doesn't have may supporters i don't think it'll be worth the trouble and time implementing it.

let's rather get rid of this unbelievably huge space:

although you can show the previous pattern in it I think it's far too big

LPChip · December 03, 2009, 11:27:09

Disable center current row to get rid of that space.

BooT-SectoR-ViruZ · December 03, 2009, 12:10:15

Quote from: "LPChip"Disable center current row to get rid of that space.

actually the active row should remain centered... otherwise one will lose the overview. couldn't it just be centered after reaching the middle of the screen?

bvanoudtshoorn · December 04, 2009, 00:18:55

Well, I have the show prev/next patterns feature enabled, and keeping the currently-playing row in the same spot on-screen makes life a lot easier. It also makes the patterns feel less 'separate' and more like one long musical expression in parts.

Sam_Zen · December 04, 2009, 00:37:24

First I wondered about this silly space too. But I understand the difference in condition now.
One way, the active row is running, the other way the row is fixed while the patternn is running.
But some reduction of space above the actual pattern, filled with the previous or not, could be an idea.

Saga Musix · December 04, 2009, 21:03:35

That's what I've come up with so far. The order list should always have full width, and this way, the whole thing still fits on a 1024x768 screen with the treeview enabled. On a 800x600 screen with treeview disabled, a small portion of the "pattern name" input field would be cut off, but that's not really important.
This gives more one or two more rows than MPT Classic, and about 6 lines more than my currently tweaked display (which already shows 1 or 2 rows more than the one in 1.17.03.02).

Paul Legovitch · December 04, 2009, 23:19:58

Looking good ! This will be very useful to us 1024*768 lilliputians.

If possible, I would change none in the left box into no instrument, in order to make it clear for the new user that you can pick the active instrument here (since the word "instrument" disappeared).
Also If you want to gain some horizontal space, shorten the text :
"Row spacing" : (originally called "Spacing" in modplug) I think Row step would be more accurate and shorter.
"Pattern name" : just Pattern would do fine I think (besides it's generally not a name but a description).
Maybe change "Loop pattern" and "Follow song" into "Loop" and "Follow"... but if it's not clear enough then, maybe not.

Anyway this is a good move, although modplug has one of the best interface for tracking, the gui still needs some cleanup like this one here and there.

Saga Musix · December 04, 2009, 23:50:06

As you might see, the lower frame is as wide as the toolbar, which has a reason. Should the need for more space arise, those labels can still be changed. But "No Instrument" is a good idea indeed.

Sam_Zen · December 05, 2009, 00:07:59

Looks much better! I'm also looking at 1024*768 by the way.
And I noticed that the keyboard split has been removed.

Saga Musix · December 05, 2009, 00:36:11

That looks even better at 1024x768 now. Just look how much space I freed up.

bvanoudtshoorn · December 05, 2009, 00:41:04

The ultimate, of course, would be to make all of the toolbar items and other stuff in that pane user-toggle-able, and have it automatically fit in as few rows as possible.

Personally, all I *really* need are the "new pattern", "play pattern from start", "lo/med/hi" buttons, instrument selector, plugin button, loop and follow checkboxes, and sequence list.

Saga Musix · December 05, 2009, 00:46:35

You're not the first one requesting this, but I certainly won't be the one who tries to hack this together with MFC.