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LMMS / lmms

Cross-platform music production software
https://lmms.io
GNU General Public License v2.0
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Tab-Based UI Mode #5078

Open yohannd1 opened 5 years ago

yohannd1 commented 5 years ago

Recently I have been struggling with the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) that LMMS uses, since my computer has a 1366x768 resolution. Because of that, I came up with the idea of an optional tab-based interface mode. It could be something like this:

IMG_20190714_142857790
(Sorry for the low quality)

The user would be able to create as many panels (sections where the tabs are grouped) as they want. Newly opened windows would go to the panel where the asterisk is (in this case, it's the top right one). This asterisk button could be moved by dragging or right clicking a panel > "move asterisk here".

One problem I am aware of is that some windows don't adapt well to this type of interface, like most of the plugin-based ones.

image

In this case, there could be a sidebar on the right that was able to group these smaller (yet taller) windows on a scrollable list.

image

Note: I don't know if the changes I did on the toolbar are really useful, and I acidentally made the menu bar larger.

This design was inspired by the One Dark theme on Atom / Sublime Text:
image

One thing I should say is that it's an alternative mode, not something to replace the current UI.

PhysSong commented 5 years ago

Is your design related to #1911?

yohannd1 commented 5 years ago

Oh, it is. Is the conversation still alive?

PhysSong commented 5 years ago

Unfortunately, the conversation was locked by @tresf because of somewhat offensive comments.

tresf commented 5 years ago

Unlocked #1911?, since @YohananDiamond may have content to share. Note, that thread was locked because these types of changes naturally attract more opinions than they do constructive work.

tresf commented 5 years ago

@YohananDiamond if you're ok, I'd prefer these topics were merged and @budislav updates his mockups to add any missing design elements that yours may offer (I doubt this will be the case, because his single-window mockups are extremely comprehensive, but I'll let you battle that out).

The one item I'd like to stress is that this IS a permanent UI change if it were to occur. With exception of "detaching tabs", maintaining botha a single-window and an MDI would add unnecessary complexity. Single-window is the direction we should be marching to (minus a few valid multitasking arguments against it).

yohannd1 commented 5 years ago

Hello again, sorry for the late response...

I agree with you. It would make it harder to maintain two interfaces;
Is there anything I could help on (aside from the programming, since I'm not into C++ yet and therefore I am unable to help on that area)?