unity-design team mailing list archive

[Sense Hofstede <qense@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

When the talks about Sound Indicator started on this mailing list I
had some ideas for what the applet could look like but I never got
around drawing them. Now I have and I would like to ask what you think
of them. They're essentially two variants of the same idea where the
first mock-up is a bad version of the second.
In both mock-ups I forgot to add a menu entry for launching the
PulseAudio volume control window. It should be there though.

The general idea:

We have been shipping PulseAudio for a few releases now and I'd say
it's time to start using the functionality it offers. I think we
should add a slider for each different application in the Sound
Indicator so the user is aware that she or he can change the sound
levels independently as well as all at the same time. The necessary
information would be extracted from PulseAudio, but applications that
want more should register themselves with the indicator by providing
their PulseAudio-name.
At the top of all mock-ups is a music player. E.g. Rhythmbox wouldn't
get its own applet but instead register itself with the Sound
Indicator. You can control the player from the Sound Indicator as well
as toggle its visibility.
The visibility or focus of all applications can be toggled from the
Sound Indicator to provide consistency and a service to our users.

You can mute an application or the system by single-clicking the speaker icon.

In all mock-ups I've added the master volume slider to the bottom of
the indicator menu, but it might be better to move it to the top to
make the most-often used action the easiest to reach.

Mock-up One
<http://people.ubuntu.com/~qense/SoundIndicatorMockupOne.jpg>

As you can see in this mock-up the music player is at the top. The
menu is kept lean and per application there is only a short title and
the application-specific volume slider directly after it. The music
player has got an extra part that shows the currently playing song and
offers controls.

Mock-up Two
<http://people.ubuntu.com/~qense/SoundIndicatorMockupTwo.jpg>

The entries in the menu of this mock-up take much more space because
the applications are listed by first their icon and then their long
title. Under that is their volume slider. The music player has again a
control and information block under its volume slider. The master
volume slider starts where the icons of the applications begin to
stress that it affects the whole system.

Regards,
-- 
Sense Hofstede
[ˈsɛn.sə ˈɦɔf.steː.də]