[widardd]

Hi,

I finally overcame my lazyness and updated from Kodi15 straight to Kodi17 and have been trying to get used to Estuary now for a week.

I am now in a state where I know where to find what.

But, I still hate it.

Why are there so many huge empty spaces?

It feels like I am getting 30% less information (text/pictures) just because someone thought UIs designed for tiny touchscreens are an absolute must-have on large non-touch screens.

I don't know about you but I don't control my 50" using my foot, so what's the point of any empty space?


Sorry, this turned into a rant. Maybe I am just too shortsighted and there is a valid reason for that kind of UI design on big screens, please let me know. :/


P.S.: Any sugestions for a plain and simple skin offering a big list view+picture+meta without any buttons or spaces?

[DarrenHill]

You can install confluence from the official repo and go back to that if you prefer.

[trogggy]

I don't like it particularly either.
I put that down to a couple of things:
1. Change is bad. I'm used to what I've used for years.
2. I have a skin I like that's customizable (best reason to move away from the default) and works well.

So I don't use it. Nobody makes you.
Confluence (ie the old default) is a few clicks away. As are a ton of other skins in the official repo. As are a ton more in the forums.
What were you using in 15? Were you happy with it?

[widardd]

I don't like it particularly either.
I put that down to a couple of things:
1. Change is bad. I'm used to what I've used for years.

I tried to adapt for a week prior to complaining on here because I know I tend to have trouble with change.

Confluence (ie the old default) is a few clicks away. As are a ton of other skins in the official repo. As are a ton more in the forums.

Confluence will sooner or later not get an update and I will be in the exact same situation again.

What were you using in 15? Were you happy with it?

I did use the default Confluence, wasn't happy with it either (spaces) but these weren't as huge as in Estuary.

I had a look at some skins in the official repo and many of them where either way too bloated for my HTPC and/or were on par with confluence for me.
If I specifically use a custom skin I might aswell use something that fits my needs 100%.

Right now I am playing around with AMBER, enjoying the snowflakes and the integrated lyrics.

[trogggy]

Confluence will sooner or later not get an update and I will be in the exact same situation again.

That's true of any skin.
Any piece of software in fact.
I'm not seeing the 'situation', sorry - it's still there, it still works great.

[speedwell68]

I am worried about the UI change as I have little kids and they might not adapt to the change. I am also worried it might not run well on my Raspberry Pi model Bs. Time will tell.

[DaveBlake]

Why are there so many huge empty spaces?

It feels like I am getting 30% less information (text/pictures) just because someone thought UIs designed for tiny touchscreens are an absolute must-have on large non-touch screens.

I also don't like all the blank space, but many people do.
For now I simply returned to using Confluence, which now has customisable main menu items

In particular I would like to be able to get more items in the lists. My hope is to make browsing and selecting what music to play as quick and easy as it was with discs on shelves - there I could easily scan the spines of 100 albums at a time with just a glance. But I know that I am alone in the team with that view where such "over complicated text filled" screens are anathma.

If there is someone out there with the same tastes and skinning skills then maybe they would like to give this a go?

[User 325245]

I will never understand the trend in the IT industry that is visible with all big companies - i.e. Google with Android etc, that they keep changing the interface and colors and such unimportant stuff instead programming more useful features and ironing bugs out.... Like everybody has to depend on the lowest (but most numerable) users, IT idiots, to whoom the only real change is the visible change...

I also hate the new design. I hate the default color. Confluence was not much but way better than this.

[Martijn]

Then feel free to use something else or make it yourself.
I will never understand the trend from users that they think they can demand anything from a bunch of hobbyist without lifting a finger theirselves...

[Atreyu]

Its funny, I had the same idea as most of you at first (without the hate, never that :-p)
I decided to go with it as I updated some devices and.....
Now I really like it. And will be using it with joy ;-)

For all that cannot get used to Estuary there's nothing lost, so enjoy !

[da-anda]

I will never understand the trend in the IT industry that is visible with all big companies - i.e. Google with Android etc, that they keep changing the interface and colors and such unimportant stuff instead programming more useful features and ironing bugs out.... Like everybody has to depend on the lowest (but most numerable) users, IT idiots, to whoom the only real change is the visible change...

I also hate the new design. I hate the default color. Confluence was not much but way better than this.

creating a new skin doesn't drag away any core dev from fixing bugs or whatever, as they are different people. Skinners make skins, core devs fix bugs. And only because of Estuary and the demands of it many new features and fixes for all skins have been added to core. So a new default skin not only brings a new UI, but also improvements in core.

I am also worried it might not run well on my Raspberry Pi model Bs.

It's working great on my PI1 ModelB so far.

[bilgepump]

Then feel free to use something else or make it yourself.
I will never understand the trend from users that they think they can demand anything from a bunch of hobbyist without lifting a finger theirselves...

Why do you assume that USERS have programming skills? I can't "make it myself". I don't know how and I would not be able to learn in any reasonable timeframe.

There are things that are purely personal preference.

There are things that are needed. I find it strange to tell people that things that are needed should be obtained elsewhere. What that amounts to is saying "if you want something functional, use another product". Ok. Many products want to expand their userbase. I find it confusing.

[Martijn]

We're not a product, we're a hobby project. We don't get paid. See the difference?

[bilgepump]

We're not a product, we're a hobby project. We don't get paid. See the difference?

Sorry, wrong use of term. Other "hobby projects" into which large numbers of people devote an enormous amount of time and effort and then make available to users. You know, like linux distributions and that type of thing. They generally like having users. Obviously, the developers can make it for themselves and their friends, but there seems to be an intention to have users other than just the team.

[da-anda]

it's hard to motivate somebody to do something for someone else, isn't it? That's why devs and skinners are mostly working on things they like. And not being payed we can't force anybody to do something he doesn't want to.

That said, Kodi is purely driven by people that do what they like to do - there is no strict leadership, no roadmap of features we have to implement until X to please users, nothing. Devs work on the things they are interested in and contribute that to Kodi - that's it. So just a bunch of dudes spending their sparetime hacking on a FLOSS project.

Some background about our default skins:
They are bound to certain restrictions, like no dependency to python scripts, not overloaded with effects in order to be fast, should be low on memory footprint, easy to navigate, ... With all these restrictions it's not possible to implement some of the features, other skins are using. And we have these restrictions because the skin simply has to work no matter what.