Design the next SMM View!!! Show me what you want.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

That's what I expected... at that point, why bother with the background artwork? If someone doesn't want to see it through the description pane, they should turn it off completely, since the little outline at the bottom is pretty much useless.

Otherwise, I love the view... along with several others which have been posted.

Not using smm you wouldn't know the fanart background and others are all customizable

In all honest I don't get the coverflow views it just doesn't show enough movies on the screen for large collections, but whatever is wanted and voted for I will code

[jorton]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

That's what I expected... at that point, why bother with the background artwork? If someone doesn't want to see it through the description pane, they should turn it off completely, since the little outline at the bottom is pretty much useless.

Otherwise, I love the view... along with several others which have been posted.

That little line at the bottom does add to the "ambiance" (did i really just use that word...) a little, sort of frames the poster with similar colors and also balances out the colors with the BG pane in the main body.

That being said it doesn't always work well with the different BG fanart images though so it would be a good option to allow users to turn off the BG fanart, I like BG fanart personally but realize that it doesn't always look good or work with the UI (too busy, too many patterns/colors, doesn't look good with the text in front....)

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Not using smm you wouldn't know the fanart background and others are all customizable

Get it working without MM and I will.

In all honest I don't get the coverflow views it just doesn't show enough movies on the screen for large collections, but whatever is wanted and voted for I will code

That I might have to agree with, but since I haven't been able to use any of the views yet myself, I can only critique what I see.

[jorton]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

In all honest I don't get the coverflow views it just doesn't show enough movies on the screen for large collections, but whatever is wanted and voted for I will code

Your media collection is just way too big! Or mines too small...

I like all of the current SMM views myself and I change views all the time for a different look etc showing them all off to anyone I can lure into my media room (add add evil laugh here)

I'll do a poster wall view next.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by jorton

That little line at the bottom does add to the "ambiance" (did i really just use that word...) a little, sort of frames the poster with similar colors and also balances out the colors with the BG pane in the main body.

That actually crossed my mind as well and I think I have to agree. But, I got the impression the request for darkening the description panel was to hide the BG art, which really defeats the purpose of having it in the first place.

That being said it doesn't always work well with the different BG fanart images though so it would be a good option to allow users to turn off the BG fanart, I like BG fanart personally but realize that it doesn't always look good or work with the UI (too busy, too many patterns/colors, doesn't look good with the text in front....)

I love BG artwork, as well as banners (a la TVE). It makes browsing your collection more of an "experience", instead of just a "chore" in the way of you getting to watch a show.

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by jorton

Here's another one, darker panels and Caps on the jump menu with various other alignments tweaks and a couple more simulated media logos.

That is looking much better IMO (thats just me)....... you'll find that you can never please everyone so one small bit of advice for you, "Make what you like and not what everyone else likes"


And the quote of the day:

"You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time"

Cheers

Ben

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by jorton

Here's another one, darker panels and Caps on the jump menu with various other alignments tweaks and a couple more simulated media logos.

Jeremy

So what would be cool in that screen is the capability to manuever to the upper right graphic screen which looks like the fanart and have the capability to press enter on it and have everything disappear revealing the fanart. Just a thought.

Gerry

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by tonysathre

This is one I've always wanted in SageTV. Not sure if the perspective is possible for the cover art in SageTV's animation system though.

http://xbmc.org/wordpress/wp-content...eenshot004.jpg

If it's not possible, then one like this would be amazing:

http://thedigitallifestyle.com/cs/cf...turesMovie.jpg

Tony

I have to go with the second one on the list above - it's simple, elegant, logical. Great for WAF in my opinion!

Not meaning to offend the great work others are doing, but some of these (many covers on top of fan art) can get so busy looking that they become very distracting and confusing looking. The second link above keeps it simple and elegant - an nice balance - I guess that is what many of the others lack in my opinion. Balance is key.

-PGPfan

[tonysathre]

A lot of these views look really nice. How hard would it be to have it like AMIS was, where everything could be moved around, resized, or hidden to your own liking. Just a thought, since everyone seems to have their own opinions on what they want to see.

[clayfree]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Not using smm you wouldn't know the fanart background and others are all customizable

In all honest I don't get the coverflow views it just doesn't show enough movies on the screen for large collections, but whatever is wanted and voted for I will code

I agree about the single row cover flow. Here's a version that shows more covers. I always like seeing a larger dvd cover so I've included that + fan art.

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by tonysathre

A lot of these views look really nice. How hard would it be to have it like AMIS was, where everything could be moved around, resized, or hidden to your own liking. Just a thought, since everyone seems to have their own opinions on what they want to see.

Its pretty hard and time consuming with alot of different factors to take into account....... I wouldn't attempt anything like that again.

Cheers

Ben

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by tonysathre

A lot of these views look really nice. How hard would it be to have it like AMIS was, where everything could be moved around, resized, or hidden to your own liking. Just a thought, since everyone seems to have their own opinions on what they want to see.

I actually started something like this not long ago but as Ben Stated it can be difficult. I may look at it again some day but not high on the list.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by clayfree

I agree about the single row cover flow. Here's a version that shows more covers. I always like seeing a larger dvd cover so I've included that + fan art.

I like the idea quite a bit, but the left/right and up/down movement seems like a bit much. I think this may be the reason coverflow is preferred by some: you can quickly and easily take in everything on the screen and move on. The movie wall is more like walking through the video store, which, anyone who used to frequent these years ago remembers, could take quite some time to get through. It simply wasn't the most customer friendly layout. What it did was make you walk the aisles and see multiple things you hadn't thought of renting, with the hope of making you rent more than intended.

I'm putting far too much thought into this, but maybe something good will come of it. I think the issue is that with our own collections, we're intimately familiar with most of the content. What I think might be a better question is, "How do I decide what to watch?" and then implement a screen which caters to that.

For example, my wife and I sit down to watch something. We're not sure if we want to watch a movie or TV show. So, the first question is, "How much time do we have to watch tonight? An hour? 30 minutes? More?" If the answer is more, generally we'll be watching a movie. Then the question is, do we want to laugh, see some action, maybe some sci-fi, or some drama.

It would be fairly useless to have any sort of interface for the length of shows, as least as a starting point in your browsing. However, I think the "coverflow" would be better utilized as a "genreflow". If a "genre" included "TV shows", there's your method of narrowing down the length. This genreflow could also pull in all the new user categories that v7 added. Then, put the movies/shows in the top left area and more info about the movie in the top right. I've attached a very quick and dirty mockup. (Clearly, BMT's and SMM's metadata lookups failed miserably on my collection. ) It would probably be pretty easy to create a "folder view" that many people still seem to like, in place of the genre view.

I'd imagine that selecting a genre on the bottom would then move you to the top left area to select a movie/show. I'd also prefer more spacing between the movie/show area so the BG art would be visible and less busy with fewer shown. I also like all the info icons (HD, Blu-ray, MPAA rating, IMDb rating, DD, etc.) and would like that over on the right side.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I'd imagine that selecting a genre on the bottom would then move you to the top left area to select a movie/show. I'd also prefer more spacing between the movie/show area so the BG art would be visible and less busy with fewer shown. I also like all the info icons (HD, Blu-ray, MPAA rating, IMDb rating, DD, etc.) and would like that over on the right side.

You know whats funny about that is most of that stuff (folder,genres) are already fully possible in SMM with each having it's own drilldown view and sort method.

And what's even funnier about your mockup is SMW use to do that exact same thing show genres across the bottom and quick views up top of movies in that genre and you know what shocked me I don't know anyone that every used it. People like more of a drilldown type aspect for one reason or another (I think it is info on the screen get;s overwhelming when you start combining the two.

cheers

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

People like more of a drilldown type aspect for one reason or another (I think it is info on the screen get;s overwhelming when you start combining the two.

The examples people have shown definitely corroborate that. But, clearly, it's still overwhelming or people wouldn't clamor for the A-Z jumplist. It's simply too much to scroll through, which is what I was attempting to cut down on. I see no reason to scroll through 100s of pages of content. I want to quickly get to whatever I'm looking for, but still have it look nice while getting there. Also, with the new user categories, people might start to find the genres more useful. This would allow people to quickly sort by content assigned to people's names, etc. You could even have the down arrow drill down into each genre and narrow even further.

You should already know my response to your first comment.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

The examples people have shown definitely corroborate that. But, clearly, it's still overwhelming or people wouldn't clamor for the A-Z jumplist. It's simply too much to scroll through, which is what I was attempting to cut down on. I see no reason to scroll through 100s of pages of content. I want to quickly get to whatever I'm looking for, but still have it look nice while getting there. Also, with the new user categories, people might start to find the genres more useful. This would allow people to quickly sort by content assigned to people's names, etc. You could even have the down arrow drill down into each genre and narrow even further.

You should already know my response to your first comment.

Agreed. I don't understand the number scroll bar that is what numbers listeners are for or better yet keyboards with the latest build you can just type the start of a title and it takes you there. Why you need to visually see a scrollbar is beyond me.

I will say I have a good concept for instant searches kind of what you are saying and it visually works well.

I honestly haven't used the user categories but I have all my custom categories setup in MyMovies always have since I used MyMovies so I see the value in them. There are some things coming some will like them some won't but that is why this and favorite view thread where started so I could see where people where coming from.

cheers.

[wrems]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Why you need to visually see a scrollbar is beyond me.

It's more intuitive. Plus, on my extender remote my thumb almost never moves beyond the arrow keys. I find that anything north of the arrows is not natural to find especially with the lights out or dim. I almost never use the Home - TV - Guide - Search - Music etc or the number keys. If it takes me extra presses that I can do without looking at my remote via the combination of arrow and back keys then so be it.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by wrems

It's more intuitive. Plus, on my extender remote my thumb almost never moves beyond the arrow keys. I find that anything north of the arrows is not natural to find especially with the lights out or dim. I almost never use the Home - TV - Guide - Search - Music etc or the number keys. If it takes me extra presses that I can do without looking at my remote via the combination of arrow and back keys then so be it.

Wow that goes against my view To me we text and email from phones now and most people know the number/letter combination and it is the most intuitive but that is me and my wife

The sad part is a letter/number scroll bar is easy just never say the need.

[wrems]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Wow that goes against my view To me we text and email from phones now and most people know the number/letter combination and it is the most intuitive but that is me and my wife

The sad part is a letter/number scroll bar is easy just never say the need.

Yeah, I'm texting averse and cannot do it without a qwery keyboard

[tonysathre]

The sad part is a letter/number scroll bar is easy just never say the need.

That was literally my most used feature of SageMC. Wish I had it back again.