TV scheduler is not idiot-proof (3 Viewers)

[vbgeezer]

and another thing

nothing is idiot proof - having seatbelt never stopped anyone from driving off a cliff

Go on smile you know it's funny really! and anyway it's only software that's ones and zeros not life and death.

 

[jdiffend]

Re: I'm with Frodo on this one

Maybe I am a genius or something but to me MP is intuitive and simple to use. My wife and 6 year old child both use it without any problems (other than stability but that's being dealt to). Sorry jdiffend but in my experience old/less techie people struglle no matter what you do - software and life are all about balance and I am very happy with where it is at. I too never change the defaults so yes there are buttons I don't really need or use daily but hey I just ignore them.

To ME it's intuitive as well and to any 5 year old that never learned anything else I'm sure it's like breathing air... but that doesn't mean everyone is like that.

My parents have a microwave with diels for power and time. When it died I tried giving them a newer digital one and they couldn't run it. It took forever to find another one that used dials. It took a long time to get my parents to use the program guide on their satellite receiver. And while I'm thinking of it... what % of people never set the time on their VCR no matter how simple it is?

Look, if those menus could be set to appear or disappear right where they normally sit at the press of a button and the configuration had an item to optionally have them enabled at startup... then it can cater to both crowds. Hell, even if it just ghosted them to disable them until you press a button it would do the trick.

I think MP is awesome and when I said redesign I believe the word I used was eventually. The thing is... if you start looking at the problem now, you can make some preparations in the code for when it happens.

 

[jdiffend]

Re: and another thing

nothing is idiot proof - having seatbelt never stopped anyone from driving off a cliff

Yeah but we still put up guard rails and signs that say "Cliff Ahead" to help prevent it.
It's not about making it idiot proff... just look at the warning lable on a hair dryer and you know it's impossible. But making it harder for an idiot to screw up is another matter.

Go on smile you know it's funny really! and anyway it's only software that's ones and zeros not life and death.

And I can say the same thing. It's only software... making it easier for someone to use isn't the end of the world.

 

[jdiffend]

BTW, please refrain from implying that people like my parents are idiots.

 

[FlipGer]

Re: I'm with Frodo on this one

Hi people,

please calm down a little bit!

jdiffend, i think we got your point. Currently non techy people just aren't the target for design. The project is at stage 0.1.
So the things you a suggesting are worth to think about, but imho not at that stage.

Look, if those menus could be set to appear or disappear right where they normally sit at the press of a button and the configuration had an item to optionally have them enabled at startup... then it can cater to both crowds. Hell, even if it just ghosted them to disable them until you press a button it would do the trick.

As far as i understand, most of the things you are asking for (bigger fonts, less buttons) are skinning features. Some of your wishes could be already done, when modifying a skin. So give that a try.

frodo:
Yes i would also like to see the recording menu again with enter! We have F9 for context, so why using enter and F9 for that.

Flip.

 

[mama]

If you can't take criticism you are in the wrong business!

That´s why I really admire frodo! He has to read such f...ing posts after a day of work, then some hours of programming again for all of us. I think sometimes if I were him, I´ld close MP after such postings...

If I take a look @ my old DVD player, my hifi rack or any other technical things in my house, there are so much buttons and functions I never needed and never will use, most of them I don´t even know. But did I ever write a mail to the developers I PAIED MONEY FOR using their product that they are in the wrong business? Nope, I didn´t. And I ignore all of the thousands of buttons in my house I never used before, because I know there is someone out there using them.

Regarding the EPG pressing enter to get the popup menu: I came from using myHTPC a year ago. In myHTPC I had to press enter to get the recording/watching menu. When I first started MP I asked for this feature here because I was used to do it this way. But after two weeks of using MP I simply forgot the "old way" because it was handy too like it was now in MP. Now, as frodo built in this function, I also use it and it is handy for me too. It´s like rotating left or right to get the goal.

So if you want to have anything really personal, just learn coding, as frodo tries to make a software that fits not only your, but all need!

 

[Rybber]

so what do you suggest then?
enter = record menu?
and f9 = context menu?
frodo

Yup, just like it used to be prior to 0.1.0.4 I think it was.

9 out of 10 times you want to get to the record menu and for the rest of the times you can press F3/F9 to reach it - will you implement this plz?

 

[Frodo]

The ability to look at the program guide in modifyable time increments is OVERKILL

Thats your opinion. I think being able to goto another day in the EPG is necessary. If its now wednesday and i wanna record a tvshow on friday then i would like to easily goto friday, select the tvshow and schedule it.
What you are suggesting is a very very minimal skin/MP
However this is not user friendly. The results would be that almost all options are hidden in shortcuts and/or context menu's
Newbies then have to search for those options and experts have to go to extra steps to do common things

If I only use large icons to launch movies, why do those buttons need to be there to change the view, to scan IMDB, etc...

Again, you're requesting NO buttons at all in the video screen.
So todo something simple like changing sorting or view
a newbie has to go out and search for this and experts have to goto several steps todo something simple as changing views

And somebody is being way too protective of their project.
Look, it's not personal.
If you can't take criticism you are in the wrong business!

Bullshit. I told you already i'm all for making MP more userfriendly.
In fact this is ONE of the design goals for beta 2. However you're shouting a lot about 2 many options, 2 techhy, unusable etc etc without giving any good examples. What you are requesting is a skin with preferable NO options or buttons which is NOT userfriendly at all

frodo

 

[Rybber]

9 out of 10 times you want to get to the record menu and for the rest of the times you can press F3/F9 to reach it - will you implement this plz?

...and BTW, left mouse click brings up record menu on first press, so shouldn't it be the same for remote users ?

 

[MrMario64]

there is more to it.

In the past when enter opened the record menu we had people asking why it didn't tune to that channel then.
I can imagine that this is an expected behaviour.
But, pressing Enter on a station to set a recording can also be expected behaviour.

So what to do?

We can:
1. enter will put TV in full screen and tune to that channel, pressing F9 will bring up the context menu (as in the rest of MP) where one can choose to go to recording setup.
2. enter will bring up the context menu where one can choose what to do
3. enter will give the recordiing menu, f9 the context menu where the rest of the options can be chosen again

I myself think that option 1 is the better one as the behaviour fits the rest of the application. why?
well, pressing ok on a song will play it, so why not let TV "play" the channel when you press it.
Pressing f9 on a picture shows me what I can do with it (contect menu) like rotating, deleting. Why not do this on a program so I can choose to record it, view it, search info on imdb (movie) etc..

And to anyone here, this discussion is a matter of opinion. Peoples opinions differ a lot. Come with good arguments and especially good alternatives to get anywhere and think not only on YOUR usage but also on others peoples usage. Simply saying "this suck, thats bad" etc etc will not work.

Lemme hear your thoughts on the options I gave.