Feedback and Request
BrightWorks-Systems opened this issue · comments
Great program! Discovered and started using it when I couldn't get Pandora Gadget to work properly with Windows 10. I have recommended to it all my music loving computer users.
I really like being able to see the album art in addition to artist and song, and of course, the thumbs up and down, etc. buttons.
But, for me, while I love seeing the album art, the full screen is still too big at 3.5 x 5.5 inches on my 22" monitor. If it could be resizable, that would be great - or perhaps with a fixed 1/2 size option of 1.75 x 2.75 inches that should still allow displaying the album art too.
Alternatively (or in addition to would be better), when minimized to the system tray, it would be really great if the artist and song were displayed in the bubble when hovering over the icon. Now it is just Pandorian. I realize I can right-click and get that information, but being able to hover over the system tray icon to see the song title and artist would be really great and easier (for lazy people like me).
Thanks again for providing this great alternative to simply running Pandora in a browser.
-bill
hi bill,
thanks for the feedback. greatly appreciated.
i've just pushed an update with the tray icon hover feature. please download the new version from http://pandorian.djnitehawk.com/
as for the re-sizable window, that's gonna have to wait because it's not quite easily achieved with the current code base and i don't have much time these days to work on it. that will come when the app is re-written using something called WPF which i'm planning to do in the coming months.
thanks!
11 hours to implement a suggestion! What took you so long! lol
Seriously, fantastic response. Thank you!
But if I may be a little critical, the behavior in the system tray is not as expected (or as I expected, anyway) - at least not with Windows 10. Instead of the requested bubble showing the artist and song, a system tray "banner" slides out. This is not expected and different from every other program I have that has a system tray icon.
One problem with the banners is that the default behavior for System Tray icons is that the icon is hidden by default when first installed. If you want an icon visible full time in the tray, typically you can just drag the icon to the System Tray area to unhide it. But with Pandorian, the banner immediately gets in the way and you cannot grab it to drop it in the tray. So you have to right click on the System Tray (without getting the banner to pop up) select "Properties", to bring up the "Task Bar and Start Menu Properties menu. Then from the Taskbar tab and Notification area, click on Customize > "Select which icons appear on the taskbar", then move the Pandorian slider over to On.
I know my way around computers and Windows 10 so not really a problem for me to figure out, but I think it could frustrate some less experienced users.
Another problem is if you happen to leave the mouse pointer on the icon, the banner comes with a sound, times out after a few seconds, then immediately returns, times out and returns again over and over again until you move the mouse off the icon.
When the information is in a real "bubble", as with all my other icons, if you put and leave the mouse pointer on the icon, the "bubble" appears (with no sounds) for a few seconds with the information then times out and does not come back - the expected behavior.
So I truly hate to appear rude and be critical after such fantastic and quick response to my suggestion and I apologize for not being more clear when I posted my it. But if the artist and song title information could be in a real "bubble" instead of the banner, I think it would be better accepted and more liked. That's what I was hoping for anyway.
Sorry I don't have a W8 or W7 system handy to test the behavior on.
Thanks for listening and again, thanks for quick response.
ok...
i think i've nailed it this time ;-)
give the latest version a try...
cheers!
Well, it is getting there but there are still problems (I beta test for MS and Firetrust so pardon me for getting nitpicky). To be sure, I think this is a great program.
When I first installed it, the System Tray icon was not hidden (for how I want it, that's a good thing). But to test what happens when it is hidden, I hid it. Then I ran into the problem I noted above. Your new transparent :) pop-up window covers the hidden icons and prevents the P icon from being selected and dragged to the System Tray to unhide it. So we have to go through the process of working our way through the Properties menus to unhide it again.
BTW - I don't know what it takes for Microsoft to recognize you, but W10 warns us that this program is not known and defaults to not installing. We have to click More information where we get another page warning that this is an unknown program and it could be malicious, etc. etc. and we have to click "Run anyway" to get it installed.
Obviously, it is not malicious, but it is bit of a goat rope to get it installed.
And once again - thanks much for your quick replies. And note I am more than willing keep trying out new versions.
well... to be honest i have no idea how to solve either of those issues you mention.
i will do some research when i get some time off from work.
as for not being able to move the hidden icon, a shorter workaround would be to click on the ^ button to hide the panel and then click on the ^ button again to bring the panel on top/infront of my transparent popup. then you can drag the P icon. i know it's not ideal but that would have to do for now :-)
thanks again for all the feedback!
a shorter workaround would be to click on the ^ button to hide the panel and then click on the ^ button again to bring the panel on top/infront of my transparent popup. then you can drag the P icon. i know it's not ideal but that would have to do for now :-)
That works perfectly. I feel silly now for now thinking of it. Thanks. I am good to go there now. And I can live with the large full screen display - at least on my main computer because I have two monitors and I just slide it off to the side. But I still think most users would like the option for something smaller (beside minimized). But that is something I can certainly live without.
I noticed one other minor thing with the first update you provided a couple days ago and that is the install did not remove the previous Pandorian install. So the second showed up as "Pandorian 1". With this last update, I uninstalled both Pandorian and Pandorian 1 before installing and as expected, I ended up with just Pandorian.
Like everything else I've mentioned - a minor thing because for sure the, the program otherwise works perfectly. :) Thanks again for this great alternative to the Pandora webpage, and your support.
And BTW, I am really liking this latest bubble - much better than the banner thing. :)
i will surely look in to all these issues when i get some free time.
cheers!
I'm in no hurry. Thanks.
hi bill,
received your donation for pandorian. many thanks!
also am happy to let you know that you have gone down in the history books as the first person ever to make a donation for the app out of about 1,800 people who have downloaded it so far :-)
have a great day mate!
cheers!
First person? I'm honored but a little disappointed no one has before now. I can only guess it is because more and more users are moving away from PCs in favor of handheld devices so Pandorian is just not getting the exposure it deserves.
And everyone likes things for free - especially software. In fact, I have a thing against paying for software - though that is primarily security software simply because there are so many good free programs out there. But to that, I am totally for the "freeware" and "shareware" concepts (as long as the shareware is not crippled until you pay) as it brings many quality and innovative product options for users - many of which are much better than the commercial products. I recognize developers need to feed and shelter their families too, so I don't donate often, but I do donate when I see a quality program I like and use.
FTR, I am totally against stealing, illegal copying, and software piracy. I just think security program makers use uncalled for tricks, intimidation and strong-arm tactics to scare people into paying high prices to buy, then have to put up with renewal costs too. Fortunately, Microsoft now includes a decent anti-malware solution (Windows Defender and Windows Firewall) that is more than adequate for most users.
Anyway, it was a small donation but I appreciate you appreciating it! ;)