Don't like Configuration inside MP2!!

[high]

Originally Posted by sleepycol

Erm, I did say I love media portal, I did say I have made donations. Isn't the idea to give feedback, rather than most on here which seem to just keep saying "great job" or "well done". How is being a "yes man" helpful to anyone?

Thats not the point Colin. You are always more than welcome to express your thoughts, suggestions or requests here as part of the discussion. Even if your conclusion is completely different to anyone elses.

We just ask you to show a little respect for others work by not using this tone of offence. Thats all, thanks.

[sleepycol]

It seems I have offended everyone by using the term "its a real shame" amongst other things. I apologise for that. I will think twice before giving feedback. Of course if you take snippets of what I said and re-quote them it appears bad. If you read the post as a whole I thought it was constructed ok and even included compliments ;0) Clearly I was wrong and I apologise for upsetting people here.....

[Paranoid Delusion]

Hi Colin

Sometimes you have to remember, what we take for granted in the UK as a comment, may not translate 100% to someone else, English is not everyone's native tongue, so a slight as you said "quote" may look bad, " I believe from what i have read, your intentions where good\constructive, it was a misunderstanding of other peoples possible reaction that did not gel with everyone.

I will think twice before giving feedback

Thats not what people here want, yes posts go unanswered at first, mainly by the shear number (popular place ha) but sometimes it takes the right person to actually spot something they can help with, and someone will notice multiple posts on the same subject (even if the posts have many names, just harder), I know you have asked questions and maybe even answered a few, so do not be disheartened by replies here, all feedback phrased correctly is welcome, just allow a little tolerance would be a good idea.

Tried to not only answer Colin but anyone else who may read this, not good from any point of view.

Sorry, time to put this post to bed i think, unless someone comes up with something constructive.

Regards

[James]

Hi Colin

Originally Posted by sleepycol

It seems I have offended everyone by using the term "its a real shame" amongst other things. I apologise for that. I will think twice before giving feedback. Of course if you take snippets of what I said and re-quote them it appears bad. If you read the post as a whole I thought it was constructed ok and even included compliments ;0) Clearly I was wrong and I apologise for upsetting people here.....

You don't have to reconsider giving feedback, just the way you give it:

Title: "Don't like Configuration inside MP2!!"

Hi Guys,

I have to say that I hate the thought of the configuration being accessible within MP. I love being able to manage things outside in a nice little configuration tool. It also gives me peace of mind that when other people are using MP, they won't mess all the settings up. It also keeps the MP GUI nice and clean and free from hardly used "settings or configuration" options and buttons. I'm really disappointed that you are heading in the wrong direction with this one. KEEP MP GUI clutter free!!

On the alpha I think lots of work needs to be done on the GUI and skin etc. Obviously that will come with time I guess. Its crashed on me within 30seconds of using it. Setting up folders for movies/pictures was awful. I know its alpha, but this is a horrible user experience thus far.

I have been a HUGE fan of MP 1 even making donations, but on this evidence I'm bitterly disappointed with MP2!

A real shame,
Colin

It was not just "snippets", but the whole negative tone of your post. Starting with the title of the thread and finishing with "A real shame" (icing on the cake). I'm sorry, I must have missed the "compliments", between the awful, horrible, bitter disappoint with extra "!" for good measure

If I was to summarise this post in one line the way it reads to me "I think MP2 is crap and I want my money back!".

Now I know thats not what you were trying to say and I think you must have been upset at the time, but thats how it reads. We have all developed thick skins and try not to take what is written in the forum to personally, but posts like this don't help.

Lets not flog a dead horse any longer. Apology accepted and in the future don't post angry

[mofux]

wohooo, i'm able to configure the configuration things inside the GUI! *looks arround and tries to get the train back on the trail* :]

[zag2me]

I agree, having settings inside media portal is not the best way to go I think. HTPC's should be able simplicity and ease of use as the number one priority. Configure the system first, set-up all the imports to work automatically then release it to your family The theory being that you don't have to do any kind of set-up once that's done unless you change your directory structure.

The only setting I can think of being any use inside the running app is a theme or icon changer.

Maybe just turn off the settings by default, or have a "superuser" account would be best, I'm sure there is a small market for people who want to do the config from the gui but maybe not the majority.

[infinityloop]

Originally Posted by zag2me

I'm sure there is a small market for people who want to do the config from the gui but maybe not the majority.

drop the small, the request is huge!
the average user doesnt want to leave the gui to change a small setting or add a new share ect.

the geeks however prefer the external application

we simply provide both, so noone should have a reason to moan.
the menu is customizeable too, so if you dont want the "configuration" area, remove it.

[James]

I think we are all in a professional/administrator mind set.

- Separate configuration application
- Don't let other users/family change the settings

I agree with being able to do this, but I don't think it is the majority of normal users.

- People who what to download in, install it and start using it, without learning about how to configure it.
- People who are happy to have a setting area in the menu.

We want to make MP-II as easy to use as a TV, and a TV doesn't have a external settings app. You plug it in, push menu and go to the settings section. MediaPortal is more complex than a TV, but the goal is it should be as easy to use and setup.

[MoPhat]

Why do you not make simply a shortcut-key (CTRL+C = config) to change settings visibilty in the GUI to visible or hidden?

i think that should be enough for both sides > the users and the sysstem admins


MoPhat

[DricuS]

First of all, I'd like to compliment the developers with the work sofar! I think the new skin engine is a big improvement over the old one from a users standpoint, just because it 'feels' like it's performing a lot better.

A simple suggestion concerning the configuration menu's inside the MP-II GUI:
Just create 1 setting in the external configuration application which allows you to enable/disable configuration inside the MP-II GUI. This would take away the need to manually remove all configuration options from all menu's.

Another issue about the code:
I'm a developer with quite a bit of experience (10 years+). Still, with MP-I I found it quite hard to understand the source code, not just because of the huge amount of it, but also because it's not very well documented and because I couldn't find something like a design. I'd very much like to participate in developing MP, but the lack of documentation for me was the reason not to.
I hoped that that would change with MP-II. However, when browsing through the code I got the impression that this didn't improve.
So a suggestion to encourage new developers to participate in development:
It would be very nice to have some sort of a design document which describes the architecture of MP. I'm not expecting extensive UML models with use-cases, class-diagrams, sequence-diagrams, etc, but a high-level description of the component architecture of MP would be very helpful to get an initial overview of how MP is designed.

Keep up the good work!

Dirk