Hi, firstly I just wanted to say how great this plugin is, my 1 year old agrees. Being able to downloaded youtube and similar videos is a major feature for Media Portal. As well as saying thankyou, I thought I could post some of my suggestions about usability based on my experience. I just thought this would be valuable information for consideration in future work, this is not a lists of 'I want this done'. :
it is all about the search
The search is hidden in the right hand menu (correct me if I am wrong). I believe that the OnlineVideos would be far supperior if it simply provided the option to search and also view downloaded videos from the favourited sites. The rest could be in a 'more' or on the right hand menu. I am sure there are limitations about this. Consider that my wife does not understand how to find the search, my 6 year old does not, and they both know how to use the rest of media portal. And almost all the time, they want to search.
Global Search of favourites.
Searching the favourited websites from the first screen would meet 90% of the common users needs. Don't make the user decide what website they want to search, just search the favourites. Yes this will mean more search calls depending on the number of favourite websites, but this needs to be overcome to improve the users experience.
Delete All
As far as I can tell the delete all option from the downloaded videos section does not ask you to confirm the action. I managed to delete all my downloaded videos because I clicked the wrong option. I was holding a screaming toddler at the time, and when all the videos were deleted I nearly threw my keyboard through the tv. Please make this option harder to accidentally execute. I accidentally deleted via the right click menu inside the downloaded videoes section.
Delete all thumbnails....
why does this get asked? just do it, or don't. It confuses everyone when this gets asked on opening. Do the thumbnails take up that much space? I know one thing, the person you ask (my 6 year old, or a guest, for example) has no idea wtf it is about)
Background Update
I know this has already been suggested, but it is really important. Firstly, don't ask about updating, just do it if required. but even better do it in the background. As per 'deleting all thumbnails' the person asked about this (wife, guest or 6 year old) has no idea if they should update or not.
Auto Select format and quality of file
ok, so if a guest does not know about deleting thumbnails, then they have no hope of choosing the right video format. Can a configuration be provided that ranks the formats in priority, and the right one is just used. I even get a little tired of the repeated questions about formats and resolution.
Notification of downloads (start and finish)
The notifications that a download is complete is not at all helpful as it interrupts viewing of other videos or actions. The notifications should not be required, I can easily check progress if I require by visiting the downloaded vidoes.
PS: apologies in advance if these suggestions are already well known, or there is something I am doing wrong. I did check the forums first.
it is all about the search
The search is hidden in the right hand menu (correct me if I am wrong). I believe that the OnlineVideos would be far supperior if it simply provided the option to search and also view downloaded videos from the favourited sites. The rest could be in a 'more' or on the right hand menu. I am sure there are limitations about this. Consider that my wife does not understand how to find the search, my 6 year old does not, and they both know how to use the rest of media portal. And almost all the time, they want to search.
Global Search of favourites.
Searching the favourited websites from the first screen would meet 90% of the common users needs. Don't make the user decide what website they want to search, just search the favourites. Yes this will mean more search calls depending on the number of favourite websites, but this needs to be overcome to improve the users experience.
Delete All
As far as I can tell the delete all option from the downloaded videos section does not ask you to confirm the action. I managed to delete all my downloaded videos because I clicked the wrong option. I was holding a screaming toddler at the time, and when all the videos were deleted I nearly threw my keyboard through the tv. Please make this option harder to accidentally execute. I accidentally deleted via the right click menu inside the downloaded videoes section.
Delete all thumbnails....
why does this get asked? just do it, or don't. It confuses everyone when this gets asked on opening. Do the thumbnails take up that much space? I know one thing, the person you ask (my 6 year old, or a guest, for example) has no idea wtf it is about)
Background Update
I know this has already been suggested, but it is really important. Firstly, don't ask about updating, just do it if required. but even better do it in the background. As per 'deleting all thumbnails' the person asked about this (wife, guest or 6 year old) has no idea if they should update or not.
Auto Select format and quality of file
ok, so if a guest does not know about deleting thumbnails, then they have no hope of choosing the right video format. Can a configuration be provided that ranks the formats in priority, and the right one is just used. I even get a little tired of the repeated questions about formats and resolution.
Notification of downloads (start and finish)
The notifications that a download is complete is not at all helpful as it interrupts viewing of other videos or actions. The notifications should not be required, I can easily check progress if I require by visiting the downloaded vidoes.
PS: apologies in advance if these suggestions are already well known, or there is something I am doing wrong. I did check the forums first.
