New SageTV Interface

[Athfar]

So then SageTV is a framework for coding HTPC applications (.STVs) and the current UI is just a "Hello World?" Where's that in the user guide?

AhAH! Now all this "if you don't like it code your own" comes together!

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Athfar

So then SageTV is a framework for coding HTPC applications (.STVs)...

Of course it is, in the same sense that many popular games are also platforms for developing custom levels. That's part of what makes them popular.

Originally Posted by Athfar

...and the current UI is just a "Hello World?"

Obviously not. The stock UI is fully functional, and has been updated recently with a theme system as Stanger pointed out. So now you can customize the UI's appearance without opening Studio, adding any unwanted features, or installing any dreaded JAR files.

If you still don't like it, you are of course free to design your own. You're also free to make suggestions on how you think the stock UI could be improved, but so far you haven't offered much in the way of specifics, other than it's not "snappy" enough. Hard to see how you expect your cravings to be satisfied if you're not willing to spell out what it is you crave.

[Crashless]

FWIW, Meekell installs where it does because back when it was started, that's where the standard STV was too, and the support files where in sub-folders.

That has since changed, and I haven't updated it because I've had so little time to work on it as is, changing that minor niggle just has never been high on the list. Besides, I believe that change would require a substantial rewrite of all the relative path calls in the entire file...definitely not even on my radar right now.

I would venture to guess that same reason explains the existence of the "SageTV3" folder in the STV directory. An alternate theory would be that Sage still considers the current UI v3, which would be independent of the program rev.

All that said, I've never understood why people have this obsession with an STV that "only has what they want". I guess this is partially because I understand how the STV system works in that it doesn't actually invoke anything that isn't used, and the extra memory that goes into loading a slightly larger STV file is very marginal. With the customizable menus I believe everyone offers, there really isn't any reason people would have to look at things they don't want to - and that doesn't even require opening studio.

[nick_l]

I've been critical of the standard interface in the past, and to the credit of the Sage dev team, they have been paying attention and making changes (I'm a big fan of the UI animations, myself!) I love the idea of STVs but I find that I'd rather use the stock ui because it makes refrencing the manual/troubleshooting so much easier. I cant say enough about Sage listening to us and adding the ability to "theme" the standard STV to tweak it to your liking w/o having to use a totally new interface.

I have found, however, that I like the stock UI MUCH better without that blue background. I've "borrowed" an image from Vista as my background, but I think that if someone has an issue with the look of the stock ui, the first thing they should try is changing the background.

i do have to agree though, that I was confounded by STV, STVi, etc. for a long time. I think those could be more clearly named

nick