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<blockquote data-quote="Scythe42" data-source="post: 1105325" data-attributes="member: 95833"><p>That would be the Netflix UI on the main screen.</p><p></p><p>As a Netflix user I first found it nice but it became annoying on the first day. On Netflix you have the "Browse" menu, which in the end is a Hamburger Menu and then you just see the category in detail.</p><p></p><p>The problem here is that quickly too much vertical scrolling takes place as you basically have unlimited screen estate. This means you are getting lazy and adding more and more categories as the easy way out. It isn't simple enough.</p><p></p><p>The problem here is that a user get's quickly lost as you have no real reference points of orientation in your navigation anymore.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Lyrics are like subtitles for music, so they need to be handled in the same way of turning then on and off, which would basically be the OSD or a subtitle button on your remote. No need to have this function in a side menu.</p><p></p><p>Well, I mean this:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]156438[/ATTACH] </p><p></p><p>You find them in ton of apps where developers just tend to put in everything they don't know where to put elsewhere. It is usually a result of not thinking about your design and adding features later. It becomes especially worse if there are navigation elements inside it. </p><p></p><p>If we take the usual menu lists (unsorted) of:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Live TV</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">TV Shows</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Movies</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Music</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pictures</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Weather</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Plugins</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Settings</li> </ul><p>This already seems too much. Can we combine stuff?</p><p></p><p>For example Plugins. This is a direct result of them being independent and that is the whole problem. The functions need to be integrated with the "main categories". Let's take Trakt for example.</p><p></p><p>Instead of being a separate plugin, you can provide information from it in the Movie or Series info. Again, instead of everything Trakt offers you probable only want a subset of the information as a lot of stuff isn't really helpful on a TV right away. Main purpose is too consume media easily from a larger library.</p><p></p><p>So there will be probably be a "Misc/Plugins/Other" whatever thingy in the end for some special cases. But the question here is more about plugins actually enhancing and providing additional features instead of being like an app on their own started over some kind of launcher.</p><p></p><p>Similar for Live TV. The classical "calendar" view which TV shows air next don't have to be in a separate plugin but should be integrated into TV right away.</p><p></p><p>Pictures? Anyone really using this on a Media Center to show pictures to other or looking at them at home? Honest question as I never really saw someone using this.</p><p></p><p>Music? Well, this is Audio only stuff. Radio should go in here as well maybe. Same for Audiobooks?</p><p></p><p>Weather? Everyone likes weather information, but the weather aficionado checks his phone or tablet anyway. It's not a main function of a Media Center to show weather. A main Category is an overkill. So time and temperature should be enough here. It is not about "oh, we can display this and that as well", then we end up with trying to be everything, which never works out.</p><p></p><p>Settings. Yeah, now and then we have to change stuff. But how often do you go in into settings? Well once everything is up and running probably not often. We have a nice setup button on a remote. So problem solved. Touch? Well no button here, so App settings need to be put where other app settings are or even provide a Settigs App, you can switch too maybe? </p><p></p><p>See where I am going. I want to reduce stuff here. Remove the clutter and integrate stuff where it makes sense to be instead of "hey, something more independent here, cause the rest can't handle it".</p><p></p><p>So what does our "main menu bar" actually need? The goal here is trying to make it as simple as possible. If we have issues putting something at a place, we need to see how it can integrate into a media center instead of being a category on its own. This is especially true for function we frequently access. Your example of Lyrics is spot on here. No menu anywhere needed. It's subtitles for music.</p><p></p><p>So what would be the essential main and maybe sub categories we really need and cannot avoid at all? </p><p></p><p>We can always expand. But let's try to reduce it first as far as possible and see where this leads us.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Scythe42, post: 1105325, member: 95833"] That would be the Netflix UI on the main screen. As a Netflix user I first found it nice but it became annoying on the first day. On Netflix you have the "Browse" menu, which in the end is a Hamburger Menu and then you just see the category in detail. The problem here is that quickly too much vertical scrolling takes place as you basically have unlimited screen estate. This means you are getting lazy and adding more and more categories as the easy way out. It isn't simple enough. The problem here is that a user get's quickly lost as you have no real reference points of orientation in your navigation anymore. Lyrics are like subtitles for music, so they need to be handled in the same way of turning then on and off, which would basically be the OSD or a subtitle button on your remote. No need to have this function in a side menu. Well, I mean this: [ATTACH=full]156438[/ATTACH] You find them in ton of apps where developers just tend to put in everything they don't know where to put elsewhere. It is usually a result of not thinking about your design and adding features later. It becomes especially worse if there are navigation elements inside it. If we take the usual menu lists (unsorted) of: [LIST] [*]Live TV [*]TV Shows [*]Movies [*]Music [*]Pictures [*]Weather [*]Plugins [*]Settings [/LIST] This already seems too much. Can we combine stuff? For example Plugins. This is a direct result of them being independent and that is the whole problem. The functions need to be integrated with the "main categories". Let's take Trakt for example. Instead of being a separate plugin, you can provide information from it in the Movie or Series info. Again, instead of everything Trakt offers you probable only want a subset of the information as a lot of stuff isn't really helpful on a TV right away. Main purpose is too consume media easily from a larger library. So there will be probably be a "Misc/Plugins/Other" whatever thingy in the end for some special cases. But the question here is more about plugins actually enhancing and providing additional features instead of being like an app on their own started over some kind of launcher. Similar for Live TV. The classical "calendar" view which TV shows air next don't have to be in a separate plugin but should be integrated into TV right away. Pictures? Anyone really using this on a Media Center to show pictures to other or looking at them at home? Honest question as I never really saw someone using this. Music? Well, this is Audio only stuff. Radio should go in here as well maybe. Same for Audiobooks? Weather? Everyone likes weather information, but the weather aficionado checks his phone or tablet anyway. It's not a main function of a Media Center to show weather. A main Category is an overkill. So time and temperature should be enough here. It is not about "oh, we can display this and that as well", then we end up with trying to be everything, which never works out. Settings. Yeah, now and then we have to change stuff. But how often do you go in into settings? Well once everything is up and running probably not often. We have a nice setup button on a remote. So problem solved. Touch? Well no button here, so App settings need to be put where other app settings are or even provide a Settigs App, you can switch too maybe? See where I am going. I want to reduce stuff here. Remove the clutter and integrate stuff where it makes sense to be instead of "hey, something more independent here, cause the rest can't handle it". So what does our "main menu bar" actually need? The goal here is trying to make it as simple as possible. If we have issues putting something at a place, we need to see how it can integrate into a media center instead of being a category on its own. This is especially true for function we frequently access. Your example of Lyrics is spot on here. No menu anywhere needed. It's subtitles for music. So what would be the essential main and maybe sub categories we really need and cannot avoid at all? We can always expand. But let's try to reduce it first as far as possible and see where this leads us. [/QUOTE]
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