Germany
This already works with an MCE remote, or just compile MP with this patch. This is for keyboard an other remotes as well.
Release plans for Beta 2 (0.2) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Frodo
- Start date
W
wozio
Guest
Hi!
I have few proposals about usability.
First of all: Most of this post will be about controlling MP thru remote control since it is, in my opinion, best way to control HTPC, but I will point some things about mouse controlling, also. By the way it should be choosed in configuration: I will use remote (which means keyboard) or mouse (with keyboard of course still active).
1. Few groups of keys should be fixed and its meaning should be the same in all places/modules of the software. I mean there are some keys which should have always the same meaning.
First group is MEDIA controlling keys which should always control actually played media, no matter in which module we are:
PLAY
PAUSE (in TV module turns on timeshifting)
STOP
RECORD (active only in TV and RADIO)
NEXT and PREV (in DVD next chapter, in TV next channel, in MUSIC/VIDEO next song/movie)
FFWD and REW (in TV only active when timeshifting, three maybe four speeds)
In mouse mode all of that keys should be replaced by some kind of thin bar with all controls on top/bottom of the screen but I will write about this later (yes, it will be veeeery long post ;-).
Second group is the sound and picture controlling keys:
VOL UP and DOWN, MUTE
TRACK SELECT alias language (only in movie, dvd and tv when digital tv is used of course)
ASPECT
SUBTITLE
Two last keys should have two possible modes of working (switchable). First will show small popup with all choices (ie english, polish, french) in a list, and that popup will be controlled by the MENU keys (below). Second is that every press of this key will switch to next mode with information on screen which mode it is.
Third group is MENU controlling keys:
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT (obvious)
MENU/ENTER (in full screen mode it should turn on MENU alias OSD, by the way in all other places term "OSD" means all information displayed on screen, in your way of using it, it means "menu displayed while full screen is on"... I do not know which is better but should be cleared somewhere)
BACK (previous menu or exit menu)
Third group is some other keys:
FULL SCREEN MODE ON/OFF
NUMBERS (for direct channel/song/chapter selection)
MENU SHORTCUTS (to direct switch to any module from any place of menu)
HELP/INFO (more about this later, yes this post will be even longer...)
I think that most of these buttons are on keyboard and most of them have the same meaning in every module (I didn't check it exactly) but it should be very clear and obvious for every people who will sit on cauch and get remote.
Also I want to write about display, which is connected to controls.
In mouse mode on top or bottom of the screen should be placed thin bar with all controls from first group. It should be auto hidding both in full screen mode and in menu mode (or visible all the time in menu mode - choosable). It should appear when mouse is moved. In remote mode it should be disabled beacuse is unnecessary. And please make some nice mouse pointers together with skins.
In menu on bottom/top (opposite to control bar of course) line with info about currently played song/movie/channel should be placed. I do not mean current I-do-not-see-anything-beacuse-is-blurred-and-slow-and-small but big (to fit 800x600 resolution horizontaly) with all needed information (time, title, channel name, chapter...), no scrolling (low cpu %, right?).
All multiple selection items should be made with small popups. I will give you in example sorting. Right now there is a button with sort on it and little arrow pointing down or up. When you want to change way of sorting you have select button press enter god-knows-how-many-times and choose "right" and enter to change descending/ascending. In my proposal it will be TWO buttons, one with sort by... and second with sort order... You select first one, press enter, popup shows with list of possible options (track/title/artist and so on) select one and enter. Then select sort order, press enter and popup appears with descending ascending in exactly the same list. It should be done in the same way in all places of menu. It can be done easily from developing point of view, as far as I know, one object for popup window. I think, almost every multiple selection can be done like this.
What else... oh yes: OSD.
While full screen mode is on, there should be as few as possible things which cover picture. Big blue bar on top is too big and there is too few information on it. When pressing FFWD there is enough to show FAST FORWARD x2 on screen with some frames and backgroud maybe.
When MENU is pressed on full screen mode MENU should appear (what a suprise
) with options like aspect, track, subtitle and some navigation controls, but not all of them and in different way (in example it should not be NEXT/PREVIOUS keys beacuse they can be accessed from remote or bar on top, there may be option CHAPTER with list of all chapters on dvd or CHANNEL with list of... you know of what...).
Last thing I would like to mention is HELP/INFO button:
It should always show simple explanation of currently selected item in menu (no matter if in full screnn mode or not), always in the same place of screen. When no menu item isn't selected while watching movie for example, it should show info about currently played media (duplicated media bar I think because it isn't visible then).
OK I am finished right now.
Oh one more thing, I'm sorry for my english.
Regards
wozio
I have few proposals about usability.
First of all: Most of this post will be about controlling MP thru remote control since it is, in my opinion, best way to control HTPC, but I will point some things about mouse controlling, also. By the way it should be choosed in configuration: I will use remote (which means keyboard) or mouse (with keyboard of course still active).
1. Few groups of keys should be fixed and its meaning should be the same in all places/modules of the software. I mean there are some keys which should have always the same meaning.
First group is MEDIA controlling keys which should always control actually played media, no matter in which module we are:
PLAY
PAUSE (in TV module turns on timeshifting)
STOP
RECORD (active only in TV and RADIO)
NEXT and PREV (in DVD next chapter, in TV next channel, in MUSIC/VIDEO next song/movie)
FFWD and REW (in TV only active when timeshifting, three maybe four speeds)
In mouse mode all of that keys should be replaced by some kind of thin bar with all controls on top/bottom of the screen but I will write about this later (yes, it will be veeeery long post ;-).
Second group is the sound and picture controlling keys:
VOL UP and DOWN, MUTE
TRACK SELECT alias language (only in movie, dvd and tv when digital tv is used of course)
ASPECT
SUBTITLE
Two last keys should have two possible modes of working (switchable). First will show small popup with all choices (ie english, polish, french) in a list, and that popup will be controlled by the MENU keys (below). Second is that every press of this key will switch to next mode with information on screen which mode it is.
Third group is MENU controlling keys:
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT (obvious)
MENU/ENTER (in full screen mode it should turn on MENU alias OSD, by the way in all other places term "OSD" means all information displayed on screen, in your way of using it, it means "menu displayed while full screen is on"... I do not know which is better but should be cleared somewhere)
BACK (previous menu or exit menu)
Third group is some other keys:
FULL SCREEN MODE ON/OFF
NUMBERS (for direct channel/song/chapter selection)
MENU SHORTCUTS (to direct switch to any module from any place of menu)
HELP/INFO (more about this later, yes this post will be even longer...)
I think that most of these buttons are on keyboard and most of them have the same meaning in every module (I didn't check it exactly) but it should be very clear and obvious for every people who will sit on cauch and get remote.
Also I want to write about display, which is connected to controls.
In mouse mode on top or bottom of the screen should be placed thin bar with all controls from first group. It should be auto hidding both in full screen mode and in menu mode (or visible all the time in menu mode - choosable). It should appear when mouse is moved. In remote mode it should be disabled beacuse is unnecessary. And please make some nice mouse pointers together with skins.
In menu on bottom/top (opposite to control bar of course) line with info about currently played song/movie/channel should be placed. I do not mean current I-do-not-see-anything-beacuse-is-blurred-and-slow-and-small but big (to fit 800x600 resolution horizontaly) with all needed information (time, title, channel name, chapter...), no scrolling (low cpu %, right?).
All multiple selection items should be made with small popups. I will give you in example sorting. Right now there is a button with sort on it and little arrow pointing down or up. When you want to change way of sorting you have select button press enter god-knows-how-many-times and choose "right" and enter to change descending/ascending. In my proposal it will be TWO buttons, one with sort by... and second with sort order... You select first one, press enter, popup shows with list of possible options (track/title/artist and so on) select one and enter. Then select sort order, press enter and popup appears with descending ascending in exactly the same list. It should be done in the same way in all places of menu. It can be done easily from developing point of view, as far as I know, one object for popup window. I think, almost every multiple selection can be done like this.
What else... oh yes: OSD.
While full screen mode is on, there should be as few as possible things which cover picture. Big blue bar on top is too big and there is too few information on it. When pressing FFWD there is enough to show FAST FORWARD x2 on screen with some frames and backgroud maybe.
When MENU is pressed on full screen mode MENU should appear (what a suprise
) with options like aspect, track, subtitle and some navigation controls, but not all of them and in different way (in example it should not be NEXT/PREVIOUS keys beacuse they can be accessed from remote or bar on top, there may be option CHAPTER with list of all chapters on dvd or CHANNEL with list of... you know of what...).Last thing I would like to mention is HELP/INFO button:
It should always show simple explanation of currently selected item in menu (no matter if in full screnn mode or not), always in the same place of screen. When no menu item isn't selected while watching movie for example, it should show info about currently played media (duplicated media bar I think because it isn't visible then).
OK I am finished right now.
Oh one more thing, I'm sorry for my english.
Regards
wozio
Hi,
suggestions for usabilty: Consistent way of handling / usage for every plugin
Ok, i tried to sort out my thoughts.
First of all, as Mario said, there will be now solution, that satisfies everyone. Because this mainly depends on the usage of the TV guide. I think there are two (three) groups:
- people who use it to schedule records, they would like to have the recording menu
- people who want to see whats going on at the moment on TV and change the channel
- something in between, so those people want the context menu
There maybee more groups.
More importand: Mario also said, that there should be a logical way for all modules. For example enter plays the a file (music/video) so in TV Guide this should change the channel. That's true, but is it logical?
I looked at my remote and something different came up to my mind. Perhaps more logical?
- PLAY should start movies / musik / TV etc
- ENTER / OK should call the context menu [1] (on items like files, not menus)
- RECORD should call the record menu
[1] The context menu should show to the user what he can i do with this item / file. Play / record / delete / add to playlist / etc...The most common should be at the first place! E.g. PLAY for movies / music. RECORD for TV Guide, to browse fast with ENTER.
and additional notes:
- The context menu (called by ENTER imho), could not only show all possible features, it also could show the "shortcuts" for these features. E.g. the menu for movies:
* Play movie (SPACE)
* Show / Retrieve info (F3)
* Delete (0?)
* Add to playlist (Y)
* etc.
So the user sees all possibilties and learns how to call them directly. For remotes users it could show buttons instead of the keys (>,GREEN,RED,YELLOW,RED,etc.)
- OVERKILL (but a nice feature): The user can design his own context menu, the order and the items.
For the whole discussion, see this thread.
Flip.
suggestions for usabilty: Consistent way of handling / usage for every plugin
Ok, i tried to sort out my thoughts.
First of all, as Mario said, there will be now solution, that satisfies everyone. Because this mainly depends on the usage of the TV guide. I think there are two (three) groups:
- people who use it to schedule records, they would like to have the recording menu
- people who want to see whats going on at the moment on TV and change the channel
- something in between, so those people want the context menu
There maybee more groups.
More importand: Mario also said, that there should be a logical way for all modules. For example enter plays the a file (music/video) so in TV Guide this should change the channel. That's true, but is it logical?
I looked at my remote and something different came up to my mind. Perhaps more logical?
- PLAY should start movies / musik / TV etc
- ENTER / OK should call the context menu [1] (on items like files, not menus
)- RECORD should call the record menu
[1] The context menu should show to the user what he can i do with this item / file. Play / record / delete / add to playlist / etc...The most common should be at the first place! E.g. PLAY for movies / music. RECORD for TV Guide, to browse fast with ENTER.
and additional notes:
- The context menu (called by ENTER imho), could not only show all possible features, it also could show the "shortcuts" for these features. E.g. the menu for movies:
* Play movie (SPACE)
* Show / Retrieve info (F3)
* Delete (0?)
* Add to playlist (Y)
* etc.
So the user sees all possibilties and learns how to call them directly. For remotes users it could show buttons instead of the keys (>,GREEN,RED,YELLOW,RED,etc.)
- OVERKILL (but a nice feature
): The user can design his own context menu, the order and the items.For the whole discussion, see this thread.
Flip.
I must admit, I really like wozio's ideas. Very clear and logical (even with the porr English!). I also only want to control MediaPortal with remote, so consistency (combined with a little configurability) would be the way to go.
M
muscats
Guest
Could we get the TV guide to only show the number of channels that exist in the XML. Canberra only has 5 channels in the XML:
ABC
SBS
PRIME
CAPITAL
WIN
However the TVguide has a large number of slots that it fills by repeating the channels over and over.
It would be better to only listed the channels once.
ABC
SBS
PRIME
CAPITAL
WIN
However the TVguide has a large number of slots that it fills by repeating the channels over and over.
It would be better to only listed the channels once.
Full screen switch
I think the preview box (the little box on the lower-left side of the screen) should be selectable, so that one could send it full screen by just selecting it and pressing OK (it seems to me the most practical way to do it with the remote). It could also be useful to have context menu actions available by selecting the preview box + pushing the info button.
I think the preview box (the little box on the lower-left side of the screen) should be selectable, so that one could send it full screen by just selecting it and pressing OK (it seems to me the most practical way to do it with the remote). It could also be useful to have context menu actions available by selecting the preview box + pushing the info button.
On this thread P13 expressed some interesting ideas: http://nolanparty.com/mediaportal.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5046&highlight=ergonomics
I have a small suggestion about TV + EPG.
Ive noticed in a lot of other PVR/HTPC software that TV viewing and recording is highly integrated in with the EPG. In that recordings, and viewing TV, requires the settings up of the EPG. Currently I have my cable hooked up to my tuner card via composite. This means I use my external cable box to control the channels and such. Currently if I want to record a show that I am about to watch I just switch to the channel, go to MP and click "record now". If I want to record future shows, I just specify date and time on the schduler and on make sure that my cable set top box is tuned to that channel when I want to record something and leave it. Everything works well. The TV module itself is not dependant on the EPG. I would hope MP would maintain this.
On another note about recording, the "Record Now" option shouldnt just be limited to two hours. Either is should go on indefinately until either:
1) disk is full
2) another recording scheduled kicks in (should be a config option whether scheduled recordings override "Record Now" recording
3) system crashes
Just some thoughts
Ive noticed in a lot of other PVR/HTPC software that TV viewing and recording is highly integrated in with the EPG. In that recordings, and viewing TV, requires the settings up of the EPG. Currently I have my cable hooked up to my tuner card via composite. This means I use my external cable box to control the channels and such. Currently if I want to record a show that I am about to watch I just switch to the channel, go to MP and click "record now". If I want to record future shows, I just specify date and time on the schduler and on make sure that my cable set top box is tuned to that channel when I want to record something and leave it. Everything works well. The TV module itself is not dependant on the EPG. I would hope MP would maintain this.
On another note about recording, the "Record Now" option shouldnt just be limited to two hours. Either is should go on indefinately until either:
1) disk is full
2) another recording scheduled kicks in (should be a config option whether scheduled recordings override "Record Now" recording
3) system crashes
Just some thoughts
M
metalmasterx
Guest
Usability: Keys
Hi,
please do not forget my "feature request" posted earlier which can also be seen as a means to increase usability:
http://nolanparty.com/mediaportal.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3566&highlight=
I'd really like to use the multimedia keys on my keyboard (next, previous, ...)..........
One last thing: In the "Movies" and "DVD" section, the number keys (1,2,3....) are always used to jump to a specific position in the movie (you can enter the time). I'd like to use the number keys for something else. This is not possible currently, is it? It was great if one could redefine ALL keyboard shortcuts.
Thanks ans keep up the GREAT work,
metalmasterx
Hi,
please do not forget my "feature request" posted earlier which can also be seen as a means to increase usability:
http://nolanparty.com/mediaportal.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3566&highlight=
I'd really like to use the multimedia keys on my keyboard (next, previous, ...)..........
One last thing: In the "Movies" and "DVD" section, the number keys (1,2,3....) are always used to jump to a specific position in the movie (you can enter the time). I'd like to use the number keys for something else. This is not possible currently, is it? It was great if one could redefine ALL keyboard shortcuts.
Thanks ans keep up the GREAT work,
metalmasterx
Here 2 other small improvements in usability of the config app in the tv channels section:
1. When the Add button is pushed a new dialog is displayed. Give the focus to the field Name on init. So the user can input the name immediately without having to click in that field.
2. On a double click of a channel the properties dialog of that channel is opened. That's nice, but also the checkmark of that channel is removed in the list. You need to set that again when you close the dialog.
I think the same 2 things were also good for the radio section...
1. When the Add button is pushed a new dialog is displayed. Give the focus to the field Name on init. So the user can input the name immediately without having to click in that field.
2. On a double click of a channel the properties dialog of that channel is opened. That's nice, but also the checkmark of that channel is removed in the list. You need to set that again when you close the dialog.
I think the same 2 things were also good for the radio section...