iTunes 7 and the View Controls

Or what did Browse do to be sent to the naughty step/footer?

Perhaps the all-cap headers and the flat-looking scrollbars were just an attempt to hide the fact that the Browse button has suffered a humiliating demotion for its pride-of-place at the top-right of the iTunes window to a much smaller, squarer and less colorful button right next to the Eject button.

The Browse functionality is a wonderful tool when working with lengthy lists in the iTunes Library— split them up by Genre, Artist, and then Album. It makes navigating or browsing really easy, and is a useful counterpoint to searching. With the introduction of the three Views controls in iTunes 7 — List View, Album View, and Cover Flow view — it almost looked as through the Browse-ability had been removed completely. Fortunately the functionality remains, but the Browse button has been changed considerably: it has become a square button, the icon is much simpler and flatter, and it has been moved in position to the footer.

In user interface design the prominence each button gets is determined by a number of factors: the importance of that control, the context it is in, and so on. In this case it appears that the desire to simplify the choice of View Styles pushed the Browse button down to the footer. There are a few unfortunate consequences of this move, aside from causing near-panic in those that like the Browse view and couldn’t find it initially in iTunes 7 — there isn’t a menu command under View for ‘Show Browse’ for example. One consequence is that new users may not discover the functionality — in iTunes 6 and prior versions, the Browse button was very prominent, users were drawn to it and, once clicked, they could appreciate the functionality. In the footer, however, it is nowhere near as prominent, and new users are less likely to click on it, and therefore less likely to discover the functionality. Another consequence is that the logical grouping of view-related controls has been broken: there are three very prominent buttons that control the visual appearance in the segmented control in the header, and now one other button in the footer.

What if the Browse button had been a peer of the new View controls?

At the expense of some pixels in the header, the Browse button could co-exist alongside the other View buttons. Notice that it isn’t part of the segmented control: it isn’t a View in its own right, but it does alter the behavior of the chosen View.

Talking about views, the buttons for the Equalizer, Visualizer and MiniStore have also disappeared from the footer. They used to be there in iTunes 6, but now all that is left of them is a couple of menu commands under the View menu. As with the Browse functionality, this relegation is likely to make them less likely to be discovered. Perhaps they could make a reappearance next to the existing Browse button in the footer?

At the expense of some pixels in the header, the Browse button could co-exist alongside the other View buttons. Notice that it isn’t part of the segmented control: it isn’t a View in its own right, but it does alter the behavior of the chosen View. Quite why you can’t have Browse view along with Cover Flow view I don’t know.

Other random button-related issues: Why can’t I have Browse view along with Cover Flow view? I'd like to pick a Genre and then just see those albums in the Cover Flow pane. Why does the Browse button disappear completely when going to Party Shuffle instead of just becoming inactive? Why are the four buttons to the left of the footer placed in a segmented view? They aren’t related in terms of functionality, so is this just to make them look nicer?

Why does the burn disc button, which has also been demoted from the position it shared, somewhat bizarrely, with the Browse button in iTunes 6, not have an icon — it simply says ‘Burn Disc’ — which makes it look out of place when it does appear.

Ripples, ripples, ripples.