Feature description:
In Android Auto the usual behavior is for Artists or Albums to be listed alphabetically, with a small circular button on the left to access a “browsing by letter” feature, where one select the initial of the artist (or album) and the list is positioned to the first artist (or album) with the selected initial.
Symfonium has a feature (first time I see it in an Android Auto player, maybe I have missed it elsewhere), where, if the list for albums or artists is long enough, the user is brought directly to a letters list, that replicates the behavior described above with less interaction needed from the user.
Talking with the developer, it appears that that behavior is triggered by a specific number of entries in any given list (estimated at 500). I would like this number to be configurable as, for me, the behavior is absolutely desirable, especially for Artists (my favourite way of accessing the library).
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, the chance of a user wanting to play music for an artist whose name begins with an A is less than 5%. But every time one access the artists list, they’re shown artists starting with an A, forcing an extra interaction to access the “browse by letters” feature (or forcing to scroll for, potentially, a very long time). Both actions distract needlessly from driving.
Problem solved:
It’s not a “problem”. It’s more of a convenient feature.
Brought benefits:
As mentioned in the description, it would allow users to decide whether they prefer to access a faster way of browsing through their Artists list. Unless, for whatever reason, their library is composed mainly of artists beginning with the letter A, I think this would be desirable for most.
Other application solutions:
Additional description and context:
Screenshots / Mockup: