I just installed MediaPortal for the first time and ran it for 5 minutes. These are my first impressions.
First of all - Great work!
It looks really good.
I loved the fact that MP can play VIDEO_TS folders, now add .ISO supoort a-la VLC and MP could be my media program of choice.
Comments:
1.
During start up remove all "Loading this" and "Starting that" messages. Make a nice animation or something. Nobody cares about that info. For yourself (developers) and for those who might be interested for debugging purposes make a verbose command line switch.
2.
Also you might consider removing version number from startup screen. Normal users do not care and those who do care already know what version they have. Put it away somewhere in Configuration interface instead.
3.
Remove Date & Time from everywhere. Just because you can show time does not mean you need to stick it everywhere. It looks amaturistic and distracts from other useful info. Every one knows what time it is!
4.
It took me a while to figure out how to operate main menu. Very annoying! I want to click on video that move my mouse there and it moves away... I admit that once you know what is going on it's simple. It's a smart thing for long lists though, and completely unnessary for only 7 items. Just show all 7 items and be done with it, there is plenty of space.
5.
I noticed that .ASF files are not shown in the directories. Probably because MP can not play them. Good thing! The question is then: Why do i see my .ISO files if i could not play them?
6.
I could not abort playing DVD (VIDEO_TS) when i clicked on it by mistake. Only when i skipped to DVD MENU and started playing the movie could i see the control interface and select STOP button.
7.
When browsing folders in List View there are THREE places when file/folder name is displayed:
- file/folder itself
- left at the big thumbnail/icon thingy under Info:
- right above
Clutter!
I could keep going on about usability of browsing etc. but probably a separate thread would be a better place.
I will not be using MP, mainly because of low usability - it's interface is still too shifty, wobbly
- too many unexpected things happen when i move a pixel too far in a "wrong" direction.
- too many expected things do not happen
- a lot of the interface is too revolutionary. What i mean by this is that a lot of interaction is done differently (probably deliberatly) from already existing implementations. Unfortunately without making it more intuitive.
- too many features and choices and none are completely worked out
The whole lot is just too exciting to use, yeah i know it sounds weird but that's exactly how i feel.
Again, this is just my personal opinion and i still mean it when i say: great job!
My advise: read excellent book "Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman (if you can not find it in shops there is a PDF on all P2Ps) and spend some time improving usability while making some feature pruning.
Cheers,
Konstantin
PS. Tried to submit the post and got a message "You must select a thread prefix." I whish there was one named "Usability"
First of all - Great work!
It looks really good.
I loved the fact that MP can play VIDEO_TS folders, now add .ISO supoort a-la VLC and MP could be my media program of choice.
Comments:
1.
During start up remove all "Loading this" and "Starting that" messages. Make a nice animation or something. Nobody cares about that info. For yourself (developers) and for those who might be interested for debugging purposes make a verbose command line switch.
2.
Also you might consider removing version number from startup screen. Normal users do not care and those who do care already know what version they have. Put it away somewhere in Configuration interface instead.
3.
Remove Date & Time from everywhere. Just because you can show time does not mean you need to stick it everywhere. It looks amaturistic and distracts from other useful info. Every one knows what time it is!
4.
It took me a while to figure out how to operate main menu. Very annoying! I want to click on video that move my mouse there and it moves away... I admit that once you know what is going on it's simple. It's a smart thing for long lists though, and completely unnessary for only 7 items. Just show all 7 items and be done with it, there is plenty of space.
5.
I noticed that .ASF files are not shown in the directories. Probably because MP can not play them. Good thing! The question is then: Why do i see my .ISO files if i could not play them?
6.
I could not abort playing DVD (VIDEO_TS) when i clicked on it by mistake. Only when i skipped to DVD MENU and started playing the movie could i see the control interface and select STOP button.
7.
When browsing folders in List View there are THREE places when file/folder name is displayed:
- file/folder itself
- left at the big thumbnail/icon thingy under Info:
- right above
Clutter!
I could keep going on about usability of browsing etc. but probably a separate thread would be a better place.
I will not be using MP, mainly because of low usability - it's interface is still too shifty, wobbly
- too many unexpected things happen when i move a pixel too far in a "wrong" direction.
- too many expected things do not happen
- a lot of the interface is too revolutionary. What i mean by this is that a lot of interaction is done differently (probably deliberatly) from already existing implementations. Unfortunately without making it more intuitive.
- too many features and choices and none are completely worked out
The whole lot is just too exciting to use, yeah i know it sounds weird but that's exactly how i feel.
Again, this is just my personal opinion and i still mean it when i say: great job!
My advise: read excellent book "Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman (if you can not find it in shops there is a PDF on all P2Ps) and spend some time improving usability while making some feature pruning.
Cheers,
Konstantin
PS. Tried to submit the post and got a message "You must select a thread prefix." I whish there was one named "Usability"