[Piers]

Greetings Mr. Piers! I don’t have a TV-card to test those sections for bug-report but all the other sections that I currently use beside that has been bug free and work great. Thanks for all the hard work.
Here are some minor inputs regarding the home screen. Out of all of the personal mods that I use, these are perhaps the ones that other people might find useful as well. These are some minor additions without breaking the flow of the skin or cluttering the layout.

Img:


* Arrow left/right as seen in the screenshot above to indicate for novice users (kids) that there’re are other sections to browse left and right to. This is especially needed now with the new home layout that doesn’t show parts of the other sections as in the original Metro-UI layout style.

* When kiosk-mode is enabled the “favourite” home-button as well as the “menu button on the remote control or ( C ) on the keyboard” should be hidden and disabled as well in order to protect the system from harmful changes. Aeon skin has always worked like that when in Kiosk-Mode.

* When a user for example disables the TV-Shows category for this skin and doesn’t have any content in the TV-show database then the “TVShows.Count” next to the profile image as well as “Search for Episodes/TV-Shows” from the search-bar should be hidden and disabled as well.

* Date in the home screen would be useful in my opinion as shown in the screenshot. I’ve set mine to show up after the “user-name” is displayed next to the profile pic. (User-name/Date/Movies.Count/Music.SongsCount etc.), that way it doesn’t clutter the home-layout.

* Ability to disable the "HOME" category for those that doesn't need it.

* Show a generic fanart, poster or cd-cover when the widgets are blank. For example when all the content is watched and there’s nothing to display in the spotlight etc. The Homescreens really looks empty when a blank-widget is shown.

* Ability to select/use a generic-thumbnail-view when in file-mode, for example musicfiles etc. as possible in the Confluence skin. (I’m not sure how many people really use file-mode nowadays, that’s why I mention this last, but for those of us that use it this would be indeed a much appreciated addition as well as useful.)

Many thanks for keeping this excellent skin alive. Best regards

1) Added

2) Fixed for Favourites, can't see the problem with Options

3) Added

4) Added

5) Never going to happen in the base version, maybe a mod will add that.

6) ""

7) Re-read suggestion, considering it.

Has no one found issues with the latest beta?

The issues with album view mentioned here (artist only appears for the currently highlighted item, and is not properly right-aligned) are still there.

Cannot reproduce - tested with a few hundred albums.

[Piers]

v3.45.16-alpha is now available for testing.

ONLY EN LANGUAGE STRINGS ARE SUPPORTED. You can view the progress of translation for non-EN (that includes EN-US) here: https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/xbm...in-1080xf/

[Malmanian]

Greetings Mr. Piers! I really agree with your policy that the baseline 1080XF skin should be clean and uncluttered without unnecessary additions that might break the flow of this skin. That’s what the mods are for as you mentioned. I think that when it comes to new additions the goal should be to make this skin easier to use/understand for novice users and not harder as with most other mods. That’s why I tried to be very careful when the few inputs that I mentioned. The main usage of an HTPC is that new novice users (kids/guests etc) can just lift up the remote and start using it without asking one of us tech-savvy owners of the system on how it functions, the same way as most current successful OS’s works.

Sorry for the lack of screenshots last time, I’ll attach more with this post since a picture says more than a thousand words .

Also many thanks for considering some of these inputs. As with any testing/beta version some additions that doesn’t fit well have to perhaps be removed from the final.

---

4) Possibly, putting up with the profile image is a good idea, but a lot of people disable that.

I agree with you that this is not a really good solution for the date placement especially for those that disable the profile image. I’ll attach a mock-up screenshot below with a small date added to the bottom right instead. I’m not sure if something similar like this fits in with the rest without cluttering the layout but I think that this is in overall a better placement than next to the profile. A date is needed but a clean homescreen is also very important.

Img: (small date added to the bottom right of the screen)


---

2) Fixed for Favourites, can't see the problem with Options

Sorry, that was a misunderstanding, I didn’t mean the skin “Options-button” that works as it should.

I was referring to the keybindings for the remote control and keyboard. (The same way as the “Backspace” button is disabled in this skin when in Kiosk mode is enabled). For example in the old Aeon skin in when Kiosk mode was enabled the <menu> button on the remote did nothing when pressed.

Code:

<keymap>
  <global>
    <keyboard>
      <menu>ContextMenu</menu>
      <c>ContextMenu</c>
      ....
    </keyboard>
  </global>

---

* Regarding the generic fanart, I was absolutely not referring to a random generic image being shown on a blank widget, that is really a bad idea and not functional and I agree with you on that. I was referring to a perhaps simple icon-placeholder and a text indicator to be shown on blank widgets in order to indicate for the new-users about what’s going on.
Usually to most people when something is blank/empty it means something is wrong. Please see the mockup screenshot below as an example.

/Edit: Click for a larger screenshot:
http://malzo.com/i/2015/02/06/e778de90fff4c0ec.jpg
Img:


---

* When a user for example disables the TV-Shows category for this skin and doesn’t have any content in the TV-show database then the “TVShows.Count” next to the profile image as well as “Search for Episodes/TV-Shows” from the search-bar should be hidden and disabled as well.

3) Added

Thanks for considering this. Please see the screenshot, it explains better about what I meant regarding the global search texts. For example when a user disables “Search TV Shows” or “Search Music Videos” in the “Global Search” addon, the search bar in the home screen ignores those settings and still displays the search indicators for those sections.

Img:

Click for a larger screenshot for the above:
http://malzo.com/i/2015/02/06/ca59eb3c56c4a9d9.jpg

Img:

Click for a larger screenshot for the above:
http://malzo.com/i/2015/02/06/488620bd0cc98fa4.jpg

Best regards.

[eirki]

Has no one found issues with the latest beta?

The issues with album view mentioned here (artist only appears for the currently highlighted item, and is not properly right-aligned) are still there.

Cannot reproduce - tested with a few hundred albums.

That's unfortunate! Anyway, thanks very much for looking into it =)

For me, it appears when I am browsing albums using the info list view. I have them sorted by artist, and I am using the following option in advancedsettings.xml:

Code:

<musiclibrary>
    <albumssortbyartistthenyear>true</albumssortbyartistthenyear>    <!-- at an albums listing, when you sort by artist, secondary sort will be year. -->
  </musiclibrary>

If I sort by year or album the bug does not appear, as in those cases, the artist name does not show up in the list at all.

[Piers]

Some good suggestions with detailed screens, thank you.

Date: I've been meaning to rework the weather (bottom guide), along with the time - I'll look into an option which doesn't add 'clutter'.

Search: Will take another look

Placeholder: Ideally a solution without text, but I now see what you mean. A sensible and well thought out suggestion.

Kiosk: There is more to do here.

[Piers]

After playing around for a few hours, I've decided upon the following:

Full day day number / time - weather

No other option suited the skin, I'm not too sure about this but I've added an option and needed animations to disable one or both. Feedback please.

[eskay993]

Looks good to me. Thanks Piers!

Whats the timer icon on the right?

[Piers]

Looks good to me. Thanks Piers!

Whats the timer icon on the right?

That's just showing that I have something set to record on the PVR (which I do )

[Piers]

Greetings Mr. Piers! I really agree with your policy that the baseline 1080XF skin should be clean and uncluttered without unnecessary additions that might break the flow of this skin. That’s what the mods are for as you mentioned. I think that when it comes to new additions the goal should be to make this skin easier to use/understand for novice users and not harder as with most other mods. That’s why I tried to be very careful when the few inputs that I mentioned. The main usage of an HTPC is that new novice users (kids/guests etc) can just lift up the remote and start using it without asking one of us tech-savvy owners of the system on how it functions, the same way as most current successful OS’s works.

Sorry for the lack of screenshots last time, I’ll attach more with this post since a picture says more than a thousand words .

Also many thanks for considering some of these inputs. As with any testing/beta version some additions that doesn’t fit well have to perhaps be removed from the final.

---

4) Possibly, putting up with the profile image is a good idea, but a lot of people disable that.

I agree with you that this is not a really good solution for the date placement especially for those that disable the profile image. I’ll attach a mock-up screenshot below with a small date added to the bottom right instead. I’m not sure if something similar like this fits in with the rest without cluttering the layout but I think that this is in overall a better placement than next to the profile. A date is needed but a clean homescreen is also very important.

Img: (small date added to the bottom right of the screen)


---

2) Fixed for Favourites, can't see the problem with Options

Sorry, that was a misunderstanding, I didn’t mean the skin “Options-button” that works as it should.

I was referring to the keybindings for the remote control and keyboard. (The same way as the “Backspace” button is disabled in this skin when in Kiosk mode is enabled). For example in the old Aeon skin in when Kiosk mode was enabled the <menu> button on the remote did nothing when pressed.

Code:

<keymap>
  <global>
    <keyboard>
      <menu>ContextMenu</menu>
      <c>ContextMenu</c>
      ....
    </keyboard>
  </global>

---

* Regarding the generic fanart, I was absolutely not referring to a random generic image being shown on a blank widget, that is really a bad idea and not functional and I agree with you on that. I was referring to a perhaps simple icon-placeholder and a text indicator to be shown on blank widgets in order to indicate for the new-users about what’s going on.
Usually to most people when something is blank/empty it means something is wrong. Please see the mockup screenshot below as an example.

/Edit: Click for a larger screenshot:
http://malzo.com/i/2015/02/06/e778de90fff4c0ec.jpg
Img:


---

* When a user for example disables the TV-Shows category for this skin and doesn’t have any content in the TV-show database then the “TVShows.Count” next to the profile image as well as “Search for Episodes/TV-Shows” from the search-bar should be hidden and disabled as well.

3) Added

Thanks for considering this. Please see the screenshot, it explains better about what I meant regarding the global search texts. For example when a user disables “Search TV Shows” or “Search Music Videos” in the “Global Search” addon, the search bar in the home screen ignores those settings and still displays the search indicators for those sections.

Img:

Click for a larger screenshot for the above:
http://malzo.com/i/2015/02/06/ca59eb3c56c4a9d9.jpg

Img:

Click for a larger screenshot for the above:
http://malzo.com/i/2015/02/06/488620bd0cc98fa4.jpg

Best regards.

Search text: that's far too complicated for such a small change - it would require a large rewrite just for a few lines of end result ... I'll consider it but why bother using a media centre if you're going to disable everything?

Default image if no media loaded for widgets - that's what loading is for. It won't stop the loading animation unless there is content. If there's no content to load then it will stop, but it's best to simply set the skin up correctly. Add content/disable sections you don't want.

[Piers]

OK, had a change of heart about the default image. Here's what I've come up with (this will ONLY show if there is no content in the Library (movies for movies, tv for tv and music for music - videos for spotlight and others).

And the strings are taken from the main languages, so they will always be localised.



Or this:



Edit 3: Nope, it's going to be the first option.

[Piers]

And here's the finished version.

Home


Movies


TV Shows


Music is shown above.

These will only load when the item has no library content and the load screen is NOT already present (for example, if you change the content to Playlist then the Loading screen will take over) - conditional etc. There's no condition for on going tv episodes so it will rely upon the library having TV content scanned in. It's the best solution for first time users.

Feedback, as always, please.

[Piers]

3.45.16-alpha6 is now available featuring above changes (see changelog).

[eskay993]

Thanks Piers. The clock and weather changes look great! One question though. The settings for toggling these are listed under Guide. Should they not be under Home?

Also, I like the default icons. Good call on not going with the "WARNING!" text

EDIT: Actually maybe Guide makes sense. I thought Guide was just Quick Nav, but I guess it's everything around the edges.

[Malmanian]

Excellent,this new clock/date layout looks great without cluttering the screen and looking too busy. v3.45.16-alpha6 that I've tried doesn’t have any clock available at all (the bottom right panel is completely disabled) so I can’t really test it in person, but your screenshot looks good .

One minor input regarding the “No Music/Movies/Videos in Library” text. That text might perhaps not reflect the real situation in some cases. For example most users have movie-library content and it’s rarely “0”, the spotlight will be empty when all the content is watched. "No Movies in Library" might confuse new users to think that the library is completely empty.

The same goes for music, the library is rarely empty, for example some users perhaps can have thousands of singles in their library collection and no albums. “No Music in Library” might make it seem like the music-library is empty. Perhaps "No Albums in the Library" might work better in most cases.

In overall very good choice with the large default icons on the empty widgets, it looks clean and yet dosnt look “empty” anymore on blank-widgets. .

Thanks again for enhancing & improving on this excellent skin.

* This is what v3.45.16-alpha6 looks like for me, I have movies in my library but all my movies are watched, I guess that’s why the Movies icon placeholder doesn’t show up. My poster smart-playlist has a bug and displays the “No Movies in Library”.

[Malmanian]

Search text: that's far too complicated for such a small change - it would require a large rewrite just for a few lines of end result ... I'll consider it but why bother using a media centre if you're going to disable everything?

Perhaps this addition might be useful in the future with Kodi v15+ when rewriting parts of this skin .

It is mainly only useful for those that don’t have a TV-Tuner or TV-show related contents. Users can for now exclude some of these labels in Includes_Home.xml.

Most HTPC users have at least both music and movies in their library. I agree that a proper media centre should have a huge storage with lots of contents in all sections. I have over 30TB of data in my server and it still is not enough :p. But nowadays with the multiplatform ability of Kodi some users are using tiny android based machines with limited storage and therefore perhaps disable some parts to fit their usage.