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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0007075ardourfeaturespublic2016-11-05 19:35
Reportermrskytown11@gmail.com Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeveritytweakReproducibilityN/A
Status newResolutionopen 
PlatformLinuxOSLinuxOS Version10.4 or above
Product Version5.4 
Summary0007075: Gnome 3 GUI
Descriptionhello, just wanted to put in a feature request or maybe bounce an idea, i like ardour, but i feel it would be nice if it had the GUI similiar to Gnome 3, i really like the clean look and layout of gnome 3 and it would look nice on ardour on linux, i dont know about mac or windows, but it would make Ardour look more like a pro app then it does now.
Additional Informationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxRLa5hTGkg
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

robsco

2016-10-17 17:22

reporter   ~0018830

Someone with more knowhow will probably chime in here but in the meantime, read this thread to get a better grasp of the situation:
https://community.ardour.org/node/8694

ovenwerks

2016-11-05 18:18

reporter   ~0018909

As many of the comments in the above thread show, lots of people like the professional layout Ardour already has. Personally, I do not find Gnome 3 useful or like the style. I would not call it more professional, but rather a step toward the iphone/android toy appearance. The main thing seems to have been to reduce the functionality of the desktop and applications. I can't see how removing functionality from Ardour would make for a better workflow.

However, Ardour is designed in parts and the GUI is basically a very complex control surface. If someone really wanted to they could design and build their own GUI from scratch as another control surface. Considering the current GUI has taken many years to design and build, a new GUI is not a light task, but would also take years to be not quite right... or completely out of date (as one hopes gnome 3 is in a few years). The cost of creating a new GUI (cheaper than changing the current GUI) would probably be $200K or more. See the sponsor box above. Do remember that any new GUI must be scalable, that is work with 1000 strips as well as with 10.

Small individual and specific changes would make better bug reports, provided they actually made for a more efficient workflow. A bug report of this type should have:
 - the name of the widget to reposition/add/remove/redesign/change action of.
 - What should be done with it.
 - a scenario showing how this widget affects workflow now and how changing it would make that workflow easier or more obvious.
 - some thought on how this change might hamper someone's workflow and why the change is still worth while.
 - some study on the two above points would be a bonus.

Please remember that the code to add one widget to Ardour is about 10 times that of just adding the feature as a general rule.

mhartzel

2016-11-05 19:35

reporter   ~0018910

I am a Ardour user and must side with ovenwerks. I like the current Ardour gui and have a deep dislike of Gnome3. This is a matter of personal taste of course, and I don't need to criticize Gnome. I'm sure Gnome3 has it's benefits and many do like it.

But for comparison take a look at Pro Tools. It basically has the same gui now in the current 12.6 versio than they had in version 8 from year 2008. The gui changed a bit between Pro Tools 6 (year 2004) and version 8 (year 2008), but not much, the main elements have not changed at all since.

There is a reason to not change the gui. It takes a lot of effort to learn to use a multitrack editor and its gui and if you change it radically users lose this work and need start over. This creates natural inertia and there needs to be a strong motivation and clear benefits for the change to happen.

Pro Tools has not followed the fashions that come and go in the gui / desktop design because change means pain for the current userbase. I think there is nothing wrong with the Ardour gui, it works and its simple and clear. There has been some small changes to it in recent years, but nothing too radical.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2016-10-16 18:34 mrskytown11@gmail.com New Issue
2016-10-17 17:22 robsco Note Added: 0018830
2016-11-05 18:18 ovenwerks Note Added: 0018909
2016-11-05 19:35 mhartzel Note Added: 0018910