[extrospection]

I would say that the official repo could perhaps be added to our homepage for listing, if it happens I don't know but it would probably be possible so if enough users wants this it may happen.

Definitely a good idea - it would highlight the flexibility and extensibility of XBMC whilst also making it easier (at least raising awareness) for new users to find relevant addons.

Perhaps a "more info" link to a wiki page explaining different categories of addons and what's available (officially and unofficially...)

[Targettio]

topfs2, the advantage Apple has is size, popularity and relatively slow rate of feature growth. If you don't know how to do something on the iphone you can google it and you will find the offical apple support pages, the official apple forums, about a dozen apple fan boy forums, half a dozen blogs/guides/articles and hundreds of other forums that maybe able to help (ie tech forums).

XBMC has this forum and its wiki. Both of which are good but neither are as extensive or up to date (due to the higher development speed) as the apple 'support sources'.


The other problem with comparing an iphone to XBMC is people understanding of each systems capability.

Iphones have thousands of apps, for nearly all everything and apple markets it on that basis (“There is an app for that” and people understand that when they buy an Iphone they can do as much as they want, they just need to search for the app.

Whereas with XBMC the assumption of a new user is likely to be “XBMC can’t do blah blah” as they don’t know any better.

As a relatively new user to XBMC I know how hard it is to actually find out what it is and what it does (in detail, ie why is it better than Windows Media Centre/Myth/Media portal etc). In the end I just downloaded it and played around until I figured it out.

I think there needs to be as much (sensible) publicising of XBMC’s features and capabilities as possible, especially if those features aren’t included in the initial download, people need to know there is something to look for.

The idea of listing the official addon repo on the main site is (imo) a great idea, similar to the way Firefox does with their extensions. You could also follow their example with the highest rated (as suggested above) and possible a ‘Recommended by the Dev Teams’ list. This list could highlight either the more advanced and plugins (Grooveshark) or ones that give a real unique edge to XBMC (Launcher or some of the remote control apps).

Edit: I don't mean to sound negative, the addon manager is a great addition, but I just think that it should be clear to the new user that the download is pretty bare and a lot of the features are 'unlocked' via the addon system.

[topfs2]

@Targettio

Sure, I wasn't really comparing it to the iPhone. Just meant you can view it from different perspectives.

My point was more that is you need to consider that those walkthroughs are only relevant for users which have not used XBMC before.
For a new user of XBMC the first thing you want to do is likely not download an add on but probably just watch a video or play some music, as with when you get an iPhone the first thing you do is not download an app but to setup your contacts or make a call. While I agree that much of the future may lie in cloud based TV I think finding out how to install them in XBMC is relatively sane.
I can agree though that users that have used XBMC before might have missed the addition of add ons and may have a need for such a walkthrough. But I have a strong feeling that if they won't find it magically they aren't looking for it, and they are probably not looking for it for a reason.
EDIT: By user here I'm thinking of the non-computer savy person. For me and you the first thing we do is completely different

Look at this scenario. A used wants to play video, he walks into video.
There you have add ons (could be renamed) he presses this and "get more" there he is then greeted with a list of add ons. Personally I find this even simpler than going into an app store (while we have that possibility as well via the add on manager).

Still I agree that you have a point with that iPhone's docs might have been better online but I'd rather take that as a point of making our online documents better than to add convuluted walkthroughs when first started XBMC (consider how annoying if you needed to walk through a 10min how-to before using it). Android does this and they have equally as much information on the web as iPhone but likewise I don't see the point for them having it actually.

[Targettio]

I know you weren’t directly comparing the two products, but I was just stating, that if any company releases a product with very little ‘in the box’ support (no manual/readme etc) then the online support needs to be very comprehensive and you need to either have robust and easy to find FAQs or expect the same (“noob” questions getting asked on the forums.

I completely agree, setup wizards and walkthroughs (ie installing Windows) is very annoying and not something I want to see in XBMC.

The “get more” button is a great way of drawing people into the addon manager and giving them chance to look around, but I agree with the people that suggested listing official addons on the site.

[donjulien]

I'm fine with barebones, specially since Dharma. There are 5 or 6 others I install before remembering that there is YouTube and that I might want it. TED, Twit, Flickr...