Membranophonist’s Ramblings

Waterfall’s iVideo

August 30th, 2005

In my continuing search for a movie organizer, I took a look at Waterfall Software’s iVideo 3.

Comments based on version 3.0.1.

Clean default interface — not too many buttons and good functional grouping.
Visually attractive yet unobtrusive playback controls.
Bonjour sharing! Given the similarity to the feature in iTunes, I imagine this feature could be quite popular in college dorms.

Since iVideo can track movie files that are moved, it might be better to transparently use aliases by default while giving advanced users the option of moving or copying movie files through the Library preference pane. How the movie files are referenced by iVideo is an implementation detail that many users are not likely to be interested in changing. As long as their movies play, they don’t care.
Ask the user if they would like iVideo to search for and import movies it discovers. Starting at ~/Movies/ would probably be reasonable. Populating the Library with the user’s movies would immerse them in the application right away rather than first having to either discover the movie scanning feature on their own or manually add their movies.
Use [Cancel] �space� [Go Back] [Continue] button ordering to allow users to revisit earlier screens.
If you keep the movie file storage/reference method selector on the 2nd screen: “Move the original movie files as needed” - be explicit.
While the application is unregistered, it would be nice if the drive scanner allowed the user to choose which 10 of the located movies to add to their library.

Consider dropping the pinstripes for the unified look found in Mail and NetNewsWire 2.0. This apparently requires more custom coding, but it does make for a more visually pleasant interface. The mockup I did for MovieGallery illustrates how this could work for iVideo.
Placing the view switching controls in the header of the main pane would mean one less button on the toolbar and a more logical placement. This would also make room to expose the sorting options via a pop-up menu in the Thumbnail and Gallery views. The List view has columns which obviate the need for such a menu.
The Keywords pane should be obvious; a split design would work. The “i” button should not do three different things!
For ratings below 5 stars in Gallery view, the empty star spots should be filled with bullets to keep the alignment stable. The stars sliding to the left to accommodate a bullet when selected is a bit irritating.
If a single movie and a folder containing several movies are dropped on the Dock icon, they should all be imported.
As with the Movie menu, the contextual menu for movies in playback mode should include the “Set Preview to Current Frame” command at the bottom.
When adding a movie to a playlist via drag-and-drop, the Add cursor should be displayed.
Include the number of selected movies in the status line at the bottom of the window.

The menu items are generally well labeled, but the organization needs work. I created an Interface Builder nib of my suggested menu structure which is much easier to understand than the textual descriptions that follow.

Consider moving the movie-specific commands to the Movie menu and re-titling the File menu Playlist.
Group related commands; playlist creation and movie additions.
According to decades of Macintosh convention and the Human Interface Guidelines, the File menu should always contain a Close command. This is wrong. The Close command belongs where you (and OmniWeb 5) have it: with the other window manipulation commands in the Window menu. In the File menu, the noun-verb relationship is wrong; the command applies to windows, not files. Rant over.

Provide keyboard shortcuts for the view modes; T for Thumbnails, G for Gallery, L for List. Command-L is currently assigned to the Loop command, but that could be changed to Shift-Command-L. I would think the view switching commands would be more frequently used than the Loop command, so the benefits outweigh the disruption of the change.
The Toggle Information item should be dynamically titled; “Show Information” when the pane is hidden, “Hide Information” when it is shown.
In the Arrange Movies sub-menu, make Randomly an item separate from the ordered arrangement methods.
The Set Preview to Picture (or Frame) command affects how user’s see the window’s content, so it can go in the View menu.

Group related commands; playback settings at the top and movie file actions at the bottom.
Use Command-Delete rather than simply Delete to lower the likelihood of accidentally moving a movie to the Trash. Adding the modifier key would probably make it safe to remove the “Are you sure you want to empty the Trash?” dialog. By using a two-key keyboard command, you can reasonably assume that movies were intentionally moved to the Trash. Undo and Redo should also be supported for the Move to Trash command.
The Move to Trash command should display the keyboard shortcut symbols.
Add an Export Movies command with Command-E as the shortcut. This removes the currently modal Export command found in the File menu.
If technically possible, playback speed and playback direction should be separated.
Again, if possible, allow Option to modify the Open With command to Always Open With. Some movies may play more smoothly in applications other than the default player. Having to manually select an alternate player every time is tedious.
Change the Loop shortcut to Shift-Command-L to make Command-L available as a shortcut for List view.
Place the Move to Trash command here rather than in the File (or Playlist, as I suggest) as it applies only to movies; playlists cannot be moved to the Trash.

It’s not specifically recommended by the HIG, but enabling Escape to close the Preferences window (used in Mail and QuickTime Player, among others) would be handy.
Assign Command-[ and Command-] to move through the panes. This improves keyboard accessibility (implemented in iTunes).

A Remember Playback Position preference would be useful. This would allow users to return to the last displayed frame between viewings. Along with this preference, you could set the thumbnail to the last displayed frame.

“Look for shared movies” - you might as well use the same wording as iTunes and iPhoto.