May 12

Make lane headers horizontal and place them above lanes

[dendy](https://forum.audiob.us/profile/dendy) had a great UI suggestion for this on the Audiobus Forum, full details [here](https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/1205135#Comment_1…): > this takes unnecessary too much space.. what i would do: > make small horizonral stripe which whill mark top of lane > those settings i wouls put into this line, alignwd to left,like: > [lane name] [input] [output] > this lane “top header” would be no scrollable, sceollable will be just modules bellow it > all modules aligned to left (not centered in middle like on that screenshot) (a mockup image is attached) This will work well as I planning to add lane naming, collapse-expanding, bypassing etc. So, this will naturally work well. Also, as part of this change, I need to enhance the feel lane separation / hierarchical feel, consider different module backgrounds and make sure all changes play along nicely. The "top header" may still need to be scrollable when the user is using iPhone in portrait mode or when the plug-in window is not wide enough. Alternatively, it could become double-triple in height to fit all elements for those cases. All this stuff needs some experimenting. # Improve visual cues for Lanes (old title of the issues) From the Mela 4 discussion on the Audiobus forum it became clear that not everyone has used Ableton/Bitwig/PhasePlant and for them a concept of modules arranged on lanes looks and feels unfamiliar. Post: https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/1200155#Comment_1… One idea is to increase visual cues, making lanes look clearer, otherwise it may appear random arrangement of modules on a grid to some users. Another thing, probably a note to myself to try to keep this in mind when designing / improving UI of Mela, that the concept of Modules on lanes should be introduced to users in a way that they don't feel overwhelmed.

Completed

Jul 19, 2023

Released in Mela 4.3 update.

Jul 7, 2023

These UI refinements are shaping up really nicely. While you're in there, it would be nice to have an enable/disable button on each lane, similar to the button in the upper left of reach module, so that entire lanes could be selectively enabled/disabled as desired. Another useful addition would be a way to collapse/expand all modules within a lane.

Jul 8, 2023

Jon Diercks: Those 2 features make natural sense. I'll create separate posts for them because I'm not sure if they'll make the cut for the 4.3 update, as I'm still tweaking the UI. I'm not satisfied with how the arrows look, especially on the iPhone. [Enable/Disable a Lane](https://mela-feedback.nikolozi.com/feature-requests/p/enable…) [Collapse/expand all modules within a lane](https://mela-feedback.nikolozi.com/feature-requests/p/collap…)

Jul 8, 2023

Nikolozi: Sounds good. It could be argued that the chevron arrows aren’t really needed, since tapping the lane title does the same job, and that’s consistent with the corresponding module behavior. You could just replace the chevron with the lane enable/disable control.

Jul 10, 2023

Jon Diercks: ah, I thought I replied to this. I must have closed the browser tab accidentally. I had written a few scenarios of how the lanes and lane header could be tweaked. A Super short version of my reply is that I agree with you about consistency, though I like how the chevron makes it clearer that the lane is collapsed. And I think there are a few design decisions to be made. But I think I'll keep tweaking the next few versions until we get something that makes the most sense.

Jul 6, 2023

Now available for testing and feedback in Mela 4.3 beta build 109. - Modules lanes are now grouped visually. - The lane I/O section, aka lane header, that used to be located at the leading edge of the lane is now moved to the top. - Lanes can be collapsed or expanded by tapping on the chevron symbol on the left or the title button. - This is a work-in-progress and it hasn't been optimised for iPhone screens yet.

Jul 6, 2023

Build 110 Lane Drag-Drop: - You can now drag and drop lanes to rearrange them, just as you do with the modules. - The Move Up/Down lane actions have been removed in favour of the drag-and-drop functionality. (The Mela 4.3 beta build is currently waiting for the Apple approval)

Jul 6, 2023

Build 114: - Long pressing on the chevron icon gives you the option to Expand or Collapse all lanes.

May 18, 2023

A quick introduction to the concept is always welcomed. You could separate the lanes by color or tones of a color, kind of like spreadsheet/tables do (!) Also color coding the different modules: audio, midi, modulator would help and would also be educational (think of Omri Cohen and his VCV-rack tutorials) Maybe letting the user choose? themes, palettes...