rulesPlayer

I have some time to waste (or in other words to rest few hours), so I will ping this blog a little bit.

The seconds part of the roadmap is tricky. Basically this is the main reason why I have to write a new version of the player, instead of continuing the original one. What this point is? This was the intention for the original version:

Simple, non-bloated interface. The interface must be intuitive to navigate and provide fast access to everything one needs.

Customizable. One must be able to customize the player. The current player is very customizable, but it is not done the right way. The console approach is not too user friendly.

And what I wanted for the new version:

Eye candy. I am not a big lover of skins but they could be nice if done right. Also there is always the possibility of making Windows like skin.

My first consideration is about the first point and the eye candy. I decided to use HTMLayout as interface library because it is very fast and allows for visually appealing interface. But it seems that most people like the old school interface. In fact I like it too. In my opinion it does all what it should do. Provide fast access to all functions. So I have second thoughts about HTMLayout. Maybe I should just use DWT, as in the original version? Now there is new version of DWT that is also available on Linux. The downside of this is that it is a bit slower than the old DWT and than HTMLayout. So the options are:

DWT:

Pros

1. Will not require full rewrite as some of the old code could be reused
2. Available for both Linux and Windows
3. Keeps the old-school looks

Cons

1. Is a bit slower
2. Some OS specific things may need to be implemented in a hacky way, i.e. unclean code
3. Keeps the old-school looks - nobody complains
   
4. Less customizable (including from plugin’s point of view) - solved
   

HTMLayout:

Pros

1. Very fast
2. Allows web-style interface, skinning, innovative stuff
3. More customizable (including from plugin’s point of view)

Cons

1. Requires a full rewrite
2. It is harder to integrate MPlayer inside it
3. Windows only at the moment - will change in near future
   

Tough choice. Now the second point is how to make the player customizable without bloated interface and preferably without dialog boxes. It seems that the console is not too good approach. Eventually it became not very useful even for me, because I forgot how to use it. If using HTMLayout some innovative way of configuration could be introduced. But DWT is pretty limited - endless menus or dialog boxes. I don’t like both. Love to hear other opinions.

Update:

I failed to integrate MPlayer in HTMLayout in an efficient manner so I am back to DWT. I’ve been working on it for some days and I have some fresh ideas how to make it more flexible.