twoloavesofbread
commented
3 months ago These ideas really spoke to me as changes I would also appreciate to help elevate the Now Playing layout, so I've taken the liberty of throwing together a mockup of what some of these ideas might look like in practice. The kebab menu would feature track info as well as the options currently found on the album art tap. I haven't personally seen any apps use the squiggle yet (not even Youtube Music uses this, despite being a Google app). It does already appear in the media player notification, though.
Youxikong
Summary
These are minor UX suggestions to increase the usability of Tempo. They focus specifically on "Now Playing". These aren't exactly bugs or feature requests, but considerations for the developer if/when UX becomes a priority focus for development.
Add Squiggle
Android 13 introduced a "squiggle" animation to media progress bars. This animation provides users visual feedback that media is playing.
Add vertical ellipsis menu to "Now Playing"
Currently, "now playing" gives users the ability to download, add to playlist, and view description. These buttons appear after tapping the cover art, which is signaled by a small icon that sometimes appears over the bottom right corner of the cover art. Some users might struggle to find these buttons given that they are completely hidden. Also, because the buttons don't have labels, users might not understand what they signify.
One way to increase usability would be to add a vertical elipsis menu next to the heart icon. This would be more discoverable, and allow users to better understand the action they're taking. A benefit of this approach is that it frees the cover art for other actions like pausing playback or viewing the album.
Move file format, bitrate, and information
Currently, the file format, bitrate, and access to media info are displayed at the top of Now Playing. These are placed too prominently in the information architecture and should probably be moved below the song name and artist name. This real estate could then be used either for a "now playing" title or simply for the cover art itself.
Also, it might be more relevant to some users whether the media is being played via direct playback or transcoding (perhaps even more than the bitrate itself).
Add tap feedback for favorite
Currently, most tappable buttons on Now Playing provide a visual feedback when tapped. The favorite icon does not. And its tap target seems like it's smaller than the rest as well.
Add queue info
Swiping up to show the queue seems like a fantastic design decision. Currently, a bar at the bottom of the screen signals that that users can swipe up, and a small icon signals that this will reveal the queue. It's worth considering adding more info like like "Playing 3 of 24" which might be relevant to users who are building their queue on the fly.