2012-03-12, 22:57
I think you might want to split the interface into two categories: Browse and Search.
Browse works through established lists like genre, title and year. Search is user-defined through items like actor, country and keyword. I know you could put the search categories into the Browse but as some point you need to draw the line otherwise everything becomes either a long drawn out browse (ie click lists -> genre -> year -> country -> actor) or needlessly tagged (user spends time thinking up every way to tag a new movie/TV show).
When I create nested lists I always refer back to my documentation days where the Index stopped at three levels (heading and only two locators), and from what I'm experiencing in Eden with a bunch of add-ons is clicking Video -> Addon lists -> Addon -> Addon sublists -> Item. Yes, you can skip Video and go straight to addon but it is still too long. I think XBMC should never be longer than four clicks for anything. It takes me four key presses to get a TV channel on the TV. 1-7-0-2 changes the TV channel to my local NBC affiliate's second HD station. Again, if we want to bring home theatre closer to TV than computer use, then we have to think in fewer steps than more.
I need to play with the engines of XBMC more than what I do now which is just integration testing. I'd like to see if it would be possible to have a UI that splits browsing and searching into two sections. The top level, let's choose Browse, would have word selections Genre, Year, Title. Selecting one of those brings either another row of selections (the first two would bring up types of genres or decades) or the full list (Titles) -- which can be scrolled through quicker by selecting shows by alphabet (which is either displayed at the top of the list or by assumed key press on the remote control).
Key presses (so far): 1) Video (2) Genre/Year (3) Genre type/Decade (4) Item selected.
The second half of the UI is Search. This part searches the metadata associated with the searchable items. What would make this stronger would be to add Boolean (and, or, not). Limit the searchable parameters to just three or four.
Key presses are more since you'd be typing in the search parameters but at least you're not slogging through sublists. Select: (1)Video, enter search term one, select boolean 'or' or 'not' if using another search term, like actor's name [but] not another actors name. This would give me say all George Clooney films but not the ones that have Mark Wahlberg in them, too. This should give me a list of films of George Clooney excluding Three Kings. (I just did a rough search of IMDB, there may be more.) The interface assumes that additional search terms that are not using 'or' or 'not' must be an 'and.' It means that search results must have everything you are searching for.
I just realized this means that the first layer or addons wouldn't be the developers' addon title, it would just be their addons. Also, this browse and search for something specific as a title of a movie/show does not now include live streaming but I think it would be great to have now and important to have after Eden.
Browse works through established lists like genre, title and year. Search is user-defined through items like actor, country and keyword. I know you could put the search categories into the Browse but as some point you need to draw the line otherwise everything becomes either a long drawn out browse (ie click lists -> genre -> year -> country -> actor) or needlessly tagged (user spends time thinking up every way to tag a new movie/TV show).
When I create nested lists I always refer back to my documentation days where the Index stopped at three levels (heading and only two locators), and from what I'm experiencing in Eden with a bunch of add-ons is clicking Video -> Addon lists -> Addon -> Addon sublists -> Item. Yes, you can skip Video and go straight to addon but it is still too long. I think XBMC should never be longer than four clicks for anything. It takes me four key presses to get a TV channel on the TV. 1-7-0-2 changes the TV channel to my local NBC affiliate's second HD station. Again, if we want to bring home theatre closer to TV than computer use, then we have to think in fewer steps than more.
I need to play with the engines of XBMC more than what I do now which is just integration testing. I'd like to see if it would be possible to have a UI that splits browsing and searching into two sections. The top level, let's choose Browse, would have word selections Genre, Year, Title. Selecting one of those brings either another row of selections (the first two would bring up types of genres or decades) or the full list (Titles) -- which can be scrolled through quicker by selecting shows by alphabet (which is either displayed at the top of the list or by assumed key press on the remote control).
Key presses (so far): 1) Video (2) Genre/Year (3) Genre type/Decade (4) Item selected.
The second half of the UI is Search. This part searches the metadata associated with the searchable items. What would make this stronger would be to add Boolean (and, or, not). Limit the searchable parameters to just three or four.
Key presses are more since you'd be typing in the search parameters but at least you're not slogging through sublists. Select: (1)Video, enter search term one, select boolean 'or' or 'not' if using another search term, like actor's name [but] not another actors name. This would give me say all George Clooney films but not the ones that have Mark Wahlberg in them, too. This should give me a list of films of George Clooney excluding Three Kings. (I just did a rough search of IMDB, there may be more.) The interface assumes that additional search terms that are not using 'or' or 'not' must be an 'and.' It means that search results must have everything you are searching for.
I just realized this means that the first layer or addons wouldn't be the developers' addon title, it would just be their addons. Also, this browse and search for something specific as a title of a movie/show does not now include live streaming but I think it would be great to have now and important to have after Eden.
