| The Andromeda User InterfaceThis page provides a tour of some of the many features available to a running Andromeda site. We'll take it from the top and work our way down. (Other pages cover how to set it up or change the look or integrate it with another site). It's worth noting that Andromeda's flexible interface is designed to run in almost any space, on devices ranging from PCs (including Windows, Macs, and Linux boxes), to TabletPCs, to PocketPCs, to web-enabled cell phones. We'll also introduce you to a few of Andromeda's preferences along the way (you don't need to know any programming to customize your Andromeda site). | |
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Andromeda's "stacked row" design ensures that pages display quickly, even as they continue to load. The first row identifies your site by name. The home icon  links to the 'root' (or 'top') of your Andromeda site.Tip: Andromeda is designed so that you can customize it without any programming -- you just create a simple text preferences file (see #4 and #11 in Getting Started).
| Some relevant preferences: | | siteName | changes the name of your Andromeda site | | hideMenubar | hides the menubar (set it to true) | | ftpPath | adds a link to your FTP site, you get the  icon (more info) |
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To change the color scheme try a skin. For tips on integrating Andromeda into another site see #9 in Getting Started, as well as the integration docs.
| Use the built-in logon feature for a quick and easy way to restrict access to your collection. | | |
| requireLogon | turns on the logon feature (set it to true); download a sample logon file | | logonMessage | adds a note above the logon |
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| It's easy to include extra information about the contents of your site. Add text descriptions, pictures (such as album art), and HTML (such as purchase links or anything else you can think of). See #10 in Getting Started for details.
| Some relevant preferences: | | customHeader | adds a note that appears on every page | | folderOpenImage | if you already have consistently named image files mixed in with your music, configure Andromeda to use them |
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| You can search your Andromeda site without having to set up a database or index engine. By default, Andromeda uses a 'split' search that lets you specify whether to search folder, file, or folder + file names. You can play music directly from the search results page. Andromeda can also be configured to use a simpler "compact" search box: Press the enter key or  to perform the search.
| Some relevant preferences: | | permitSearch | turns off the search tool (set it to false) | | compactSearch | runs the search tool in "compact" mode (set it to true) |
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This is the main tool for getting around your Andromeda site, and it changes to reflect where you are within your collection. For instance, if you're on your Andromeda home page, it may look something like: | The name of the currently open folder |  | Plays everything within the currently open folder |  | Metaserch for related info |
If you drill down into your collection, you may now see something like:
| My Music / Pop / The Beatles / |
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In this example we're in the folder Please Please Me by The Beatles. Click to play all the songs in the folder (no need to manually make a playlist). Click to search for related information about "Please Please Me" from other sites like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Allmusic, etc. You can easily navigate up the tree by clicking the parent folders "The Beatles," "Pop" or "My Music." Or switch directly to a sibling folder (in this case, other Beatles albums) by selecting from the pull-down menu.
| Some relevant preferences: | | rootName | changes the displayed name of your root folder | | hideMetasearch | hides the Metasearch button (set it to true) -- full versions only |
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| This where you come to browse, click, and play. The content section reflects how you organize the files and folders on your server -- simply drag new stuff in and it automatically shows up, ready to stream. Andromeda also uses ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags when it detects them, and dynamically cleans up file names, replacing underscores with spaces and removing leading track numbers. For info about how to configure your site for Real Media files, click here.  | Subfolders
Click a subfolder icon to see what's inside, or the play button next to it to play all of its contents. | | Play button
Click the play button to stream a file (or the contents of a folder) without having to download it all first. |  | Audio files
This indicates an audio-type file, and along with the file name link, can be used to download files (download links can be turned off via prefs).Default types:
MP3, WMA, WAV, AIF, AIFF, AU, OGG, RA, MID, MIDI |  | Video files
This indicates a video-type file, and along with the file name link, can be used to download files (download links can be turned off via prefs).Default types:
MPG, MPEG, MPE, ASF, AVI, WMV, VOB, RV, RM, MOV, QT |  | Playlist files
This indicates a playlist-type file, and along with the file name link, can be used to download files (download links can be turned off via prefs).Default types:
M3U, ASX, RAM |    | | These 'experimental' icons are included with the download set, and might be used with pictures, downloads, and pages, respectively. | | The checkbox is used with the playlist functions described in the next section. |
Tip: you can also include text, pictures, and HTML in the content area, see #10 in Getting Started for details.
| Some relevant preferences: | | displayNew | automatically highlights recent additions (set it to true) | | fileCount | displays track numbers (set it to true) | | fileLinks | turns off the download links on the file icons and names (set it to false) | | playLinks | turns off the play buttons (set it to false) | | folderSkipNames | hides specifically named folders | | getID3info | turns off the ID3 reader (set it to false) | | audioFileTypes | sets the types identified as audio files | | videoFileTypes | sets the types identified as video files | | playlistFileTypes | sets the types identified as playlist files |
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| This feature is most useful with a personal music collection. As you drill down into your site, the Allmusic search box will auto-populate and make it easy to find additional information about artists, albums and songs from one of the Web's leading music databases. Choose the category you want to search from the pull-down menu, and press the enter key or to perform the search.
| Some relevant preferences: | | displayAMG | disables the AMG search box (set it to false) |
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| Wrapping up our tour of the Andromeda interface, down at the bottom you can select from over 35 built-in languages, include a contact email address, or add a note to appear at the bottom of every page. For tips on integrating Andromeda into another site see #9 in Getting Started, as well as the integration docs. | Some relevant preferences: | | email | displays a contact email address | | defaultLanuage | sets the default language of your site (language codes) | | permitTranslation | hides the language selection pull-down menu (set it to false) | | customBlock | adds a note that appears near the bottom of every page (often used to provide additional copyright info) | | hidePoweredby | hides the powered-by link (set it to true) -- full versions only |
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, and you can play it all by clicking the 
