Play Button on Album Art Suggestion

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

Okay so a ultra minor thing, but I think adding a option to make the play button over the album art of songs not showing up before hovering your cursor over it could have been cool. As of now the album art next to songs is just too obscured by the play buttons when casually looking over.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

@ , , @cd_solidsnake

 

If there is no visible play button on the album art, how will people know that they're supposed to click there to play the track?

[Marcato 2,143]

@ , , @cd_solidsnake

 

If there is no visible play button on the album art, how will people know that they're supposed to click there to play the track?

I believe the idea is to have the play button appear upon the mouse hovering over. Maybe a better idea would be to have the play button a little less obvious, but get much noticeably brighter when you hover over it. 

 

I just find that it is in fact difficult to see the album art with the current play button.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

I believe the idea is to have the play button appear upon the mouse hovering over. Maybe a better idea would be to have the play button a little less obvious, but get much noticeably brighter when you hover over it. 

 

I just find that it is in fact difficult to see the album art with the current play button.

 

Anything that requires hovering to see runs the risk of users not thinking to hover over it in the first place, and is all but guaranteed to cause issues on mobile devices. Whatever happens to play buttons, people need to know exactly where to tap or click to play something merely by looking at it.

 

The play button was actually a bit lighter in Nelson's original design for it, but it looked noticeably worse that way.

[DusK 1,264]

If anything, I'd suggest making the play button more opaque. It would obscure the album art a bit more, yeah, but is anyone really being picky about the appearance of album art on that dashboard that's what, 64x64 px right now?

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

If anything, I'd suggest making the play button more opaque. It would obscure the album art a bit more, yeah, but is anyone really being picky about the appearance of album art on that dashboard that's what, 64x64 px right now?

I am. I look at album art as a easy visual guide to see if something looks interesting along with genre and name, and to refind songs I have enjoyed before.

 

Also as I said, adding the transparent/invisible play button a option would be nice, not necessarily making it the default.

[DusK 1,264]

Well, another option could be to find a way to move the play button off of the album art altogether. Looking at the dashboard now, I think I have an idea of how it can look. I'll make a mockup today.

[nlaq 180]

I'm not against any suggestions, and a mockup would help in knowing exactly what you're talking about.

 

Though... I personally don't like the idea of separating out the play button. The fewer visual elements per track the better, and the ones that are there at the moment are necessary.

 

I completely agree with @Feld0 here that removing the play button overlay would cause confusion for people who are new to the site.

[DusK 1,264]

Here's kinda what I had in mind.

 

 

Play button removed from the album art, of course, and maybe the play button could be a tad bigger, but this would allow for the album art to be nice and clear (maybe turned into a link for the track page instead) while still allowing users a quick way to listen to the track. SoundCloud's dashboard is a little like this.

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

I completely agree with @Feld0 here that removing the play button overlay would cause confusion for people who are new to the site.

Hence why I am asking to add a option in your settings to make the play button transparent when not hovering over it. I understand not everyone would appriciate it, but having the option would have been very nice at least

Edited May 13, 2013 by Nightmare Lyre

[cd_solidsnake 122]

Why can't we have the artwork next to the play button? It'll serve the same purpose.

 

I love this idea, and I think people is smart enought to actually try to clic on the album to uncover the play button and actually play the track (Beatport.com does this), but if it's too much trouble, then put the play button next to the album artwork.

Edited May 14, 2013 by cd_solidsnake