New player?

[apex]

Hi!
As an day-zero amp-hour listener,
I wanted to do something, to improve the site.
As the old player ain't really nice,
I though of a new one.
Would you like to have a new one, or would the old suffice.
Here are two images of what a new player could look like:
(source images from the eevblog)



What do you think of it?

apex

[FreeThinker]

Took me a while to realise what you were getting at  . As I tend to listen to the amphour while viewing other pages (wbotw etc) it's players skin is of little consequence.Nice job though.

[Mechatrommer]

use mirror to make your picture more realistic. look at the shadow. btw, what the hell this dmm will do... play? pause?

[apex]

play and pause?
yes, of course!
And it will show the remaining mAh!

apex

[EEVblog]

Awesome!
Although I have no idea how it would interface to the current player.
Also, the form factor just isn't right, it takes up far too much screen real estate.

Dave.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Awesome!
Although I have no idea how it would interface to the current player.
Also, the form factor just isn't right, it takes up far too much screen real estate.

Dave.

Pen style DMM?

[FreeThinker]

Awesome!
Although I have no idea how it would interface to the current player.
Also, the form factor just isn't right, it takes up far too much screen real estate.

Dave.

Pen style DMM?

Logic Probe?

[apex]

Give me a picture of an electronic "something" and I'll give it a try.
Maybe it could be like an alternative player.
It would be a Java Applet.
That's why I made a poll.
I don't know if everyone would appreciate this, due to Java being watched critical for security reasons.

apex

[tweek]

Personally I usually fire up the player and go back to work, so I don't much care what it looks like, but I do have 2 thoughts:

1 - the IT curmudgeon in me would implore you to not add Java as a requirement to listen to The Amp Hour.  Flash is basically ubiquitous (more so these days than java) and gets the job done just fine.

2 - The existing player is integrated into wordpress via the podpress plugin.  I've never run a wordpress site, but I have to imagine this makes it very easy for Chris and/or Dave to publish content.  Anything that goes against the grain of the podpress plugin's structure would likely create a tax on their already not-so-copious time.  What you would want to do is skin the existing player.  From what I can see, they are currently using the 1pixelout player (aka the Wordpress Audio Player) for The Amp Hour.  AFAIK, this player supports themes (i.e. you can set the color of all the UI elements), but not skins.  QUICK DISCLAIMER: I'm talking out my ass here since I've not done any of this.  I think the path of least resistance to change the look of that player would be to use another player that integrates with podpress and also allows skins.  The Xspf Jukebox http://blog.lacymorrow.com/projects/xspf-jukebox/ seems to fit this bill.  You can see some skin examples on that page, and they have docs on that site that tell you how to make a new skin.

[EEVblog]

Give me a picture of an electronic "something" and I'll give it a try.
Maybe it could be like an alternative player.
It would be a Java Applet.
That's why I made a poll.
I don't know if everyone would appreciate this, due to Java being watched critical for security reasons.
apex

Any new player would have to be compatible with the Podpress plugin used on the Wordpress site otherwise it's just extra work at our end.

Dave.

[apex]

Well, a new skin would be an idea I think!
It's less work than doing an Applet and if it works, it is great.

apex

[Simon]

I've not had time to listen in a while, but I usually just download it so time wasted on me but cool idea. What about just having the DMM screen and maybe a couple of buttons under it ?