Release plans for Beta 2 (0.2) (3 Viewers)

[Frodo]

now thats the posts i was looking for;-)
i agree with all points, luckily the skin-update- problem is disappearing more & more already. Since indeed the skin engine is now pretty much done
frodo

 

[Anonymous]

now thats the posts i was looking for;-)
i agree with all points, luckily the skin-update- problem is disappearing more & more already. Since indeed the skin engine is now pretty much done
frodo

Whew... Glad I could help... Like I said, I have a few more things rattling around in my head I just need to make them... ummm.. a little more coherant.

There is one issue that I would like to weigh in on. As far as the much named feature request (earlier in this thread) of integrating configuration, I understand why people want that... BUT (there's always a but or two) I like it exactly the way it is. Yeah, it's a pain when you are configuring things because you have to go back and forth. But when you're done... you're done and really shouldn't have to go back in there. The main reason I would like to keep configuaration outside the actual app is because some members in my household (I'm not going to mention names) have just enough knowledge to be dangerous... I'd rather not give them the "opportunity" of creating havoc in MP. Just my two cents.

Now I'll try to hash out some more core improvement ideas and get back to you.

Oh yeah... keep up the good work!

Cheers!

 

[maxtrash]

Configuration:
I agree with Evildreamer that a seperate config outside of MP is best. There's only a one candidate options that could be moved to MP itself which is the skin selection.

For usability I agree very much with the same key = same function everywhere concept. I'll be back with more to-the-point remarks

 

[Anonymous]

as for the configuration, I think a password protected configuration might be most suitable to keep pb&j covered hands out

I do agree that keeping the brunt of the config external is perfectly acceptable. ui adjustments, skin changes, adding and removing folders for music and video and playlists are examples of things that really should be internal aswell.
Things like configuring cards and codecs are very rarely done (or should be on a stable system / software) and can be left external, which is great because those would be the hardest to add into the menus, imho.
Maybe somebody should create a list of the most used config options?

 

[Anonymous]

Last night I finally cleared 0.0.0.13 off my system and loaded 0.1.0.0. I'm about half way through configuration. As I am doing this I am making two lists, things I think should be changed or added (feature requests) which I will post elsewhere and things I feel are issues with the core product. By issues I don't necessarily mean bugs, just things I think could be improved upon to make a more solid core.

Once I am done with that second list I will post it here. Hopefully that will be this weekend. Does that sound fair? Right now my second list has three items on it.

Cheers!

 

[gds]

Some more usability ideas:
1 - a context sensitive help screen (like the one which explains remote wonder keys use for each function in ati mmc);
2 - tool tips for all the icons (e.g. the ones in the osd, which I can't really find intuitive);
3 - again, configuration accessible from inside mp (including only those options relevant while using mp, not the set-and-forget ones) and, yes, it should be password protected;
4 - again, conceptual grouping of menu items + favorites for most used features;
5 - consider, in designing the gui, both existing features and planned ones. This way you can ease the future additions to mp features, not being forced to change the conceptual structure of the menus. I think this is why we have so long a 1st level menu right now since, whenever a new feature has been added, it just made its way to the 1st level menu.
6 - maybe, in designing the skins, think about "place holders" for the yet-to-come features, so that you can just enable/disable them when they are ready (or if the pc on which mp is running does't support some specific feature);

 

[gds]

another thing: the "sort by" button has on its right a down arrow which clearly states that there are some different options for it. Since the "switch view" buttons has, similarly, various options, I think it should work the same way, not to puzzle users. Besides this, the "switch view" has a too little delay for choosing the desired option before returning to its unpressed state.

PS: I'm not too much used to talking in english anymore, so I hope you'll forgive me if sometimes I find it difficult to clearly explain what I mean.

 

[Anonymous]

hi,

it would be useful if no location is chosen in MyWeather Plugin - to show that and not "could not get data" or something like this

in 0.1.0.2 in configuration of plugins it would be good to directly mark the whole row and not a single cell - because if you push setup-button you always get "no plugin selected"

keans

 

[Anonymous]

This took me a little longer than I thought. I ran into a slight hiccup with XP, got frustrated, formatted my boot partition, and started from scratch. So here's what I found...

Suggested messaging clarifications (usability)
1. After I installed MP, I couldn't get it to boot. Either the app or the config. I kept getting a .NET framework error (I think.) I quickly realized I forgot to load the PVR350 drivers. Loaded them and all worked fine.
Perhaps the app could display a message to say "Hey moron, I couldn't find a capture device! Ensure your capture card and drivers are properly installed" when no capture device is found?

2. In the weather plugin, instead of mystifying the user with an image of Germany perhaps we can display a message that says "No radar image defined for this location. Edit the weather setting for this city to define an image location."

Performance improvements
1. Already mentioned the TV channel change time.

2. It takes a long time to load the app (approx 10 - 15 seconds). I noticed most of that time is spent on inititalizing the skin engine. Perhaps the skin engine needs some streamlining? It "almost" seems like it take longer for MP to load than it does for XP to boot.

3. On most modules, it takes some time to load them when you select them from start. I was surprised how long it took to enter MyNews and I only have one feed defined (slashdot). It took about 5 seconds. Same with MyTV and MyRadio. MyWeather seems pretty quick (more expected behavior) at about a second or less.

4. I have a lot of internet radio stations defined (shoutcast.) I'm pretty sure this isn't a MP issue but I'll discuss it anyway. It takes anywhere from 3 to 20 seconds for a shoutcast stream to start. Sometimes they don't start at all. I've never used shoutcast before so I think I am going to load the Nullsoft Shoutcast player on my other system and see if there is a difference.

Stability
Other than the skin engine issue... I've got nothing. It seems pretty stable to me. I do have a suggestion on how to handle new plugins with the skin engine so that a skin does not have to be customized to the plugin. I will post that suggestion in one of the development threads.

Overall, good work. I had one of my die hard techie friends over last night that "was" going to buy XP MCE 2005. I only had it half configured and he was impressed.

I know my fellow MP users will throw stones for saying this but I feel I need to say it. Compared to other open source HTPC initiatives, this one is developing and maturing at a MUCH faster rate with a fraction of the developers. Perhaps you might want to think about slowing down a little so you don't burn yourselve out?

Please let me know if this feedback helped. If so, I will continue to provide it. Otherwise I will shut up. :wink:

Ciao!

BTW - I'm running on a P4/2.5Ghz and 512mb RAM.

 

[gds]

If you don't mind, Frodo, as soon as I'm able to find my old books on usability I can post you a few rules. As obvious as they may seem, believe me, they are almost NEVER followed by developers.
Bye