Hello humans! To go along with the new year (and the admittingly exciting new decade), the next major version of Batchtastic, version 9 „Raptrix” is being released.
It may seem a bit odd for a new major build to be released when the last one (version 8.1.4.1) was released just a month ago, but the reality is that over the Christmas season I had a lot of spare time on my hands and decided to use some of that time to further develop Batchtastic. I ended up getting the new features (and more, to be touched on later in this post) completed faster than normal, and I decided to use a new version release as a way of celebrating the new year!
This new version changes many familiar aspects of the program that have practically been staples of it since the beginning. I feel as though these changes are for the better and improve upon both the image of the program, and its functionality.
NEW FEATURES
- New, cleaner, and easier to navigate UI and UX program-wide
- Entirely new menu system
- Status bar on the Configuration Panel (settings) screen
- Progress bar animations on all load screens
- New startup sound
- Exit/shutdown sound
- New program icon
- Offline functionality
- Updated website
- Application installer / system integration
REMOVED FEATURES
- Removed the album list and featured music from the home screen
- Removed restriction of having to be always connected to the internet
- Removed „Extras” menu
UPDATED FEATURES
- The „Custom Media Player” has been moved to The Soundboard (home screen) and has been renamed
- The Settings screen has been split into two separate menus
New UI/UX and Menu System
One of the most significant changes in this update, the new program-wide user interface and user experience makes the program look more professional, removes a lot of empty space, and more intuitive to use.
As you can see, removing the (practically unused) album list and featured music from the home screen not only allows for a smaller window, but also more room for the UI and important information like the play status. Also notice the lack of unused space in the menus.
Users can still play my music as they would any other song through the program if they wish. I’ve grown to believe it was egotistical to have my songs be so prominently advertised and a main feature of the program while having the actual useful features of it hidden within sub-menus.
The New Face (and Location) of the Custom Media Player
Since the album list (and extras menu) have been removed, the Custom Media Player has simply been moved to the Soundboard as the „Open Audio File” dialog. It opens when the ‚/’ command is entered. The text within the dialog has also been updated.
Configuration Panel Status Indicator
New with this update, users will now be able to see what audio file they’re currently listening to on both pages of the Configuration Panel in addition to the Soundboard. When on this panel, the Notification Bar changes from welcoming the user and saying the date to saying the play status both when idle and when playing a song.
Progress Bar Animations
Loading screens are one thing, but loading screens that are actually informative to how much loading has passed is another! Version 9 introduces loading bars onto all loading screens including the start and close screens. Here are a few examples (and probably the ones seen most often):
New Sounds
I like to update Batchtastic’s startup sound every now and again just to keep things fresh, and while I am doing that very thing yet again, I am also adding a sound that plays when Batchtastic is closing just for fun!
New Program Icon
As you could probably tell from the header image of this post, version 9 introduces a brand new and much better (in my opinion) program icon!
This icon is much better at getting across the point of Batchtastic being a command line music player since it is made from the flat accidental musical symbol being inside a terminal window, thus showing Batchtastic allows for music from within the command line. The neat and more subtle aspect of the icon is that the flat sign also stands for Batchtastic, since it resembles a lowercase ‚b.’
Offline Functionality
Since the album list and featured music (which were streamed from a file server) have been removed, Batchtastic now allows for offline use! Instead of closing itself during startup and flashing an error at the user upon the lack of internet access, Batchtastic will now open normally and instead display a message notifying the user that they will not be able to stream audio from the internet.
Program Installer and System Integration
Other then the changes with the UI, the biggest and probably most drastic change to Batchtastic provided in this update is that Batchtastic is now distrubuted as an executable file (.EXE) and is installed. This means that Batchtastic will now show up as an application within your Start menu and is integrated with your Windows system.
As of now, when you click the download button on the Batchtastic website, instead of downloading the now retired Batchtastic Setup Assistant, a new file, the Batchtastic Install Assistant, will download. This is an InstallForge installer wizard which will make Batchtastic an official application on your PC!
Having Batchtastic be an actual program file now instead of simply a command script is part of my goal to make the program more professional and easy to use. Now that it is an installable program, I can do so much more with it in future updates!
FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS
- Fixed an issue where the location of audio files was not being logged
- More localization improvements
- Files are now hosted on a different file server
Thank you for reading this very long changelog, and I hope you enjoy both the new update and the new year! Older versions of Batchtastic should now detect the new update. Go to the Software Updater from the Settings menu to check.
If you prefer, you can check out the new and improved website and download it directly from here.
Windy Windows' Blog 
Dodaj komentarz