UI changes for Mac

Submitted by melem on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 03:43
Description: 
First of all, I'm really thrilled to see that the Soulseek team is bringing SoulSeek to the Mac (and I will donate, for sure). I, and almost every other Mac/Soulseek user, have been waiting for a decent Mac client for ages. The latest nightly build is really showing it's working and on it's way to a really nice piece of software. But there is one thing I really would love to see changed: the User Interface. It's really not Mac friendly and the navigation is just not done right. There is actually a great example of a really slick UI. Some time ago, there was a project bringing SoulSeek to the Mac, it's called SolarSeek. Later, it became iSoul and now the development of that project died. The UI was awesome. Check it out at http://code.google.com/p/solarseek/wiki/SolarSeekLayoutScreenshots. I hope to see a more Mac friendly UI in the near future. It would really help making it easy to use and get more Mac users using it.
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Submitted by Nir on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 04:05.

Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but that's just not going to happen. The Mac version will remain a direct port of the Windows build, barring whatever minor modifications need to be made to get it to work. I'm already pushing my sanity testing and building on three different platforms. Even if I had the desire and presence of mind to build a Mac specific UI, my OSX virtual machine sucks balls. Every little thing takes forever and the UI is super-sluggish. Also, I don't know if it's a Mac user thing to assume something isn't done right because you're not getting exactly what you want or are already used to. I shouldn't generalize because I've received a lot of positive feedback from other Mac users, but there's more than one way to skin a cat. Not everything has to look like iTunes.

Thanks, Nir (The Soulseek team)

Submitted by melem on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 05:25.

Fair enough. I can imagine the struggle to keep up with all the UI design, testing, etc. But I still remain confident, that UI changes can contribute to a far better user experience. It doesn't have to be like iTunes, but at some points in the UI the logic just isn't there.

I don't think this is major for now, but after most stuff works solid, you should consider making the port more platform friendly.