It’s hard to understand why there is no scrollbar in Plexamp when browsing a list of hundreds of artists, but we go into Settings and there, there is a scrollbar, to scroll through less than two full screens of information.
This feature request was already made, but no one replied, and the topics here are inexplicably closed after 90 days so that someone has to post a new thread, cluttering the forum.
I’m not a fan of threads being aggressively closed as I see this a lot on the internet and it means that for no reason I can see (other than assertive moderation), a user is unable to add a timely addition later on, for example if an accepted conclusion in the thread becomes obsolete or even dangerous. The user instead has to start a new thread on the same topic, removing the timeline and adding clutter and confusion.
The original thread may come up in a search, but no link to the new thread can be added there. The new thread that does not come up early in a search can link to the old thread, but people have to find both and then keep track of multiple threads. There could conceivably be as many as four new threads on a single feature request created every year as threads are automatically closed after 90 days without a reply. Why, again, is this being done? How many threads do we need about a single topic? Has so much really changed in the last few months that we need an entirely new topic on the same exact concept?
The forum moderators seem to understand the gist of the problem, as they warn, “BEFORE YOU SUBMIT A FEATURE SUGGESTIONS search on our forums to see if there are any suggestions similar to your need. If so, build upon this ask by adding your thoughts.”
But no, even though this suggestion was made only a few months ago, I cannot build upon it by adding my thoughts as the topic was closed with only one message. Again, what exactly is the purpose of this? We want a forum with a bunch of automatically-closed one-message threads, instead of a give-and-take? A topic about scrollbars is not likely to generate a ton of daily hype and activity from everyday users. A new post every few months does not seem too farfetched – or at least a three-month gap from time to time.
As for the user interface, it is sleek, but I think that one can take minimalism too far. I don’t believe that we need to eliminate useful features such as scrollbars that have proven themselves over time. And I would like to see the home buttons and main icons not disappear while the music is playing. It shouldn’t take several clicks to go back.
Let me add that I have used Plex for awhile but have only recently ripped most of my CDs and started using Plex more for music. I think that the various Plex software is very thoughtfully designed overall. I like but don’t love it for browsing music – but other software has its own quirks, so the Plex suite of tools is among the best.
The Plex app (not server) is frustrating in that it shows incomplete album lists, and neither it nor Plexamp are as flexible as they could be in displaying lists of artists. More condensed lists would be useful. Together with the lack of scrollbars I wonder whether these tools are designed for people who have only a dozen artists in their collection, or else simply want use automatically-generated lists, which I don’t.
Even so, the Plex team has done a wonderful job in what is much trickier engineering than many people probably realize. There are other media servers and clients that do the job, but Plex is good at just doing what it’s supposed to do, with minimal hassle. So I have a lot of respect for the team that has designed it and continues to hone it.
Thanks for all the hard work.
