Necessary changes to the current menu:

  1. IMPORTANT: We need Tooltips so the user doesn’t have to click on an option to figure out what the action will be.
  2. Replace “Look for Jam Session” with “Jam Session.”
  3. Reason: If we were to put our action into plain English, we would say that we are initiating a “new Local Session.” Now, if we said we are initiating a new “Look for Jam Session,” that phrase would not make sense. Thus, we take out the “Look for” to keep it consistent with the first option.
  4. Move “Instrument Maker” from File menu under New and rename to “Instrument.”
  5. Reason: Keeping consistency with the current scheme, we move instrument into the “New” menu. We are initiating a “New Instrument.”
  6. Have an Instrument Maker menu initially there when the program starts, but just grayed out. Currently, the Instrument Maker menu appears when the user starts making a new instrument.
  7. Reason: Since there is a grayed out Session menu, we need to be consistent with the scheme. Plus, it would let the user know that they will have options for the Instrument Maker without having to actually start the mode.
  8. The Instrument Maker menu needs to be grouped into sub-menus because there are so many options available that they overwhelm the user.
  9. Combine “Save instrument to file” and “Save instrument as image” into “Save instrument…” and have an option for the user to choose the file type.
  10. Change the “Scrolling Dots!!” window name to something like “Visual Effect.” Scrolling Dots with exclamation points seems unprofessional.
  11. Add a Help menu (and also add it to the Start Page)

Proposed menu layout:

-File

  • New…
  • Local Session
  • Jam Session
  • Instrument
  • Open Tracks
  • From database
  • Exit

-Session (grayed out when there is no session – refer to bug 1)

  • Load new instrument

-Instrument Maker

  • Instrument
  • Create new instrument
  • Load instrument
  • Save instrument
  • Shapes
  • Erase
  • Draw Rectangle
  • Draw Polygon
  • Draw Ellipse
  • Miscellaneous
  • Load BG Image
  • Remove BG Image
  • Change foreground color
  • Change BG color

-Music Editor

  • Open file in editor (this should be grayed out if there is no set default editor)
  • Set default editor

-Windows

  • Start Page
  • Conductor
  • Buddy List
  • Chat
  • Track List
  • Visual Effect (the Scrolling Dots!! window)

-Color Schemes

-Help

  • Manual
  • About Lygeia

Bugs List

  1. Session is grayed out when there is no session. When a local session is created, the session menu is enabled. However, when returning to the Start Page, the session menu is still enabled, and clicking on the “Load new instrument” option pops up a notification error. Why doesn’t the session menu just become disabled when we return to the Start Page?
  2. Switching from one local session to another changes the background’s and “Add another instrument” button’s layout. However, when you change the color schemes, it fixes this bug.

Questions that still need to be answered:

  1. On the Start Page, why is the “Open…” for Local Session and Jam Session grayed out if they’re never used?
  2. Is Composer on the Start Page the same as the Music Editor? If they are, why are the names different?

A big thank you to Matt Wilson and Daniel Saenz for their time and suggestions about Lygeia.