Navigation Concept: SpiderWebPanel (1 Viewer)

[Kermit1974]

Very good point, Pat.
We have to bear in mind that people will use different ways to control MP. Mouse, touch screen, remote and so on.
Again, this is where I think Metro is a great concept.
It's easily controlled by all of the above (well, maybe not remote) but in a simplified version it would make great sence.
And given the scope for the release of MP2, we need to consider an enviroment that's problably different from today, regarding input devices and hosts.
I don't know if anyone has analyzed the main usage for MP, but I would guess it is as a htpc in the living room a.k.a big screen tv.
And for this usage a remote is perfect. It can be used without introduction, it dosen't require a hard surface and so on. So it's a good solution when you're 10 feet away from the screen.

Ok. Getting a little of the track, now...
But I totally agree with you: we need to be able to control MP with a mouse...

How about this:
The "menu overlay" changes depending on the input device used.
This way there can be a overlay optimized for remote, one for touch (maybe they could be the same), and one for mouse and keyboard.
I don't know if that's doable in the MP2 architecture, but it would be a stunning feature.

 

[Pat Clark]

And for this usage a remote is perfect. It can be used without introduction, it dosen't require a hard surface and so on. So it's a good solution when you're 10 feet away from the screen.

I guess I have to disagree with this. An optical mouse works fine on the arm of an easy-chair or sofa. An RF-based one goes through walls and cabinetry (a Wife Approval Factor), and requires no MP setup at all, except that some skins in MP1 do not support it. (A remote has to be configured, as I understand it.)

An entire thread could be devoted to this issue.

 

[SpudR]

MCE remote - no setup required

 

[Kermit1974]

I guess I have to disagree with this. An optical mouse works fine on the arm of an easy-chair or sofa. An RF-based one goes through walls and cabinetry (a Wife Approval Factor), and requires no MP setup at all, except that some skins in MP1 do not support it. (A remote has to be configured, as I understand it.)

An entire thread could be devoted to this issue.

I see your point, and agree with you.
Therefore we need to take all input methods into account.
I wouldn't like to navigate with a mouse...

Just to be clear. Do you want a GUI with all menus on the first screen?

 

[Pat Clark]

I suppose a design could be developed with a 10-foot interface that carries everything on the first screen but I also suppose such a design might be overwhelming, and so I think some "deeper" (but seldom used) screens would be good: settings, advanced options, help. Until this thread started, I had not considered what I would do, if I could, and I still haven't given it enough thought to present something.

 

[hafblade]

I tried out the Spider Web exe and I think it is a cool idea even if its sometimes a little bit unpredictable. Especially the fact that you can navigate from Weather to Subtitles (it is a way without a line connection) is a little bit weird. This shouldn't be possible in my opinion.

For me the largest problem with the MP1 navigation is that it is only possible in two directions. That is the basic thing which makes the Spider Web idea good and that is the thing why many people (me included) like the Metro idea in Win8. You can navigate in many directions. For me it isn't even bad when there are double entries in the list especially when double entries make it faster to navigate.

There is furthermore one thing which should never ever happen. The navigation entries should NEVER change there position on their own like it would be in a rated graph. I tink that it's totally crazy two navigate in something which changes.

Furthermore I think that the entries should be arranged in a way that things which have some similarities should be in similar places.

I think about this one:

The currently marked one is red. Perhaps it could also grow larger when it is selected. All buttons are in some kind of relationship to each other.
For example Music => Music Videos => Videos => Records => TV => EPG...
It would also be cool if you would scroll over all entries so that the marked one is always near the middle of the screen.

What do you think about it?

 

[offbyone]

Not sure if you (or many more of the previous posters) read the first post I'll repeat why I chose a radial panel:
The human brain can better memorize angles than positions in lists.
This concept is not "known" by many but you will subconsciously feel it after using a radial for longer than just a quick look So we should not use lists and not change positions in order to be able to navigate blindfolded in our menu.
There are more navigation techniques that help our brain - with some research you'll find interesting things.

 

[hafblade]

I read it and I understand it. It's only that I wanted to throw in my thoughts. I don't say that you are wrong or that I'm right. It's only that some ideas could be interesting. For me a standard list is one of the worst thing for navigation. Always when I use it it's some kind of searching. Which is really bad.

 

[stalkersvr]

I read this topic and don't understand some concepts. It too complex for end user - some circles, moving to many directions and so on... Radial circles have seen before in Nero Home and it looks interesting, but no more. And last screen in this topic looks like as my favorite skin for MediaPortal 1 - BlackGlass (with only one difference - Black Glass skin has limited to only 3x5 tiles). What if future interface of MP2 will be "Metro-style" - live tiles, what can be organized by user, and if user select one tile (i.e. Videos), then another set of tiles (Online videos, music videos, TV Shows, Films and so on) was open?

 

[WsQ]

I stumbled on to this thread and got a bit interested...

Someone mentioned fireworks on previous posts. That would really be a cool design. You would first have few options (or as many as you want) in this spider web kind of formation and when you navigate to one and press ok, it explodes into a new spider web menu (i already can imagine the three dimensional effects) while the previous menu fades into background. There could be even an unlimited amount of these levels. This all should ofcourse be configurable much like the menus in many MP1 skins. Problem would be how the skin would arrange the different amounts of menu and submenu items so that it always looks nice.

This design would have the benefit of allowing users to decide if they want all items shown at once or divided into multiple submenus.