Another big update to Nova (don't read this before you try it out) - just go to nova.syrinscape.com

The idea is to try out the UI changes without any help from this post (things should be really intuitive so if you can’t work out things fairly quickly without any help then that’s an issue we need to know about) :smiley:

Specific things we have changed (have a read of this and give us some feedback).

New and improved navigation

  • The soundboard now supports stacked grids, so can show music and locations and creatures etc. at the same time.
  • Soundboard name and navigation stay visible while you scroll, making it easier to move around large boards.
  • Desktop and tablet layout behaviour has been smoothed out with collapsible sidebars that scroll instead of overflowing, with responsive layouts down to mobile sizes.

Now Playing

  • Now Playing cards above the soundboard have been replaced with a Now Playing sidebar with active/next-active/recent items grouped by music, location, etc.
  • The sidebar has a single Now Playing card gives that shows the artwork for only active content items.
  • Repeated item names in Now Playing are disambiguated with subtitles (variant titles) when needed.
  • Current scene (when active) is indicated via the Now Playing card, alongside scene save/cleanup actions.

Playback and control improvements

  • Global controls now include a volume mixer, giving quick access to all volume controls, even at mobile sizes.
  • The main global volume slider has improved responsive behaviour and clearer hover styling.
  • When playback is stopped globally, the current scene now stops cleanly as well, and items that will resume are indicated with a glow on the soundboard and a dark background in Now Playing list.

Better visual feedback

  • Card heights are stable across content items and hover states, with title and subtitle truncated to one line each.
  • Lists and list items have been refactored into common components for consistency.
  • Inactive slivers have a more obvious desaturated and pinstriped appearance.

Performance and reliability

  • Initial page load time is improved.
  • Missing artwork handling is more resilient (cached and therefore less jumpy on 2nd and subsequent page loads), with invalidation so missing images don’t stay missing once uploaded.