UMB thoughts/ideas/defects/enhancements

[bialio]

Originally Posted by OneOfMany

I like the way the cover transitions to the detail page, however after watching it about 42 times, I really started to notice the inconsistency between the coverflow and detail page. I feel the background elements should remain consistent to offer better (here it comes...) flow lol.

Example of detail page

One of the options will be to enable or disable the background obscuration (is that a word?) - so it'd look like this:

[bialio]

I personally don't like to see the background - for me it's there for ambiance, but nothing else.

[OneOfMany]

I wasn't referring as much to the obsfur... of the background. What I was referring to was the consistency between pages. This follows through the various screens of the interface.

My opinion is that the user-experience you are trying to achieve with Phoenix is a consistency in the visual experience. When I look at the summary page and the detail page, to make it feel integrated, is to repeat elements from one page to the next, and only change the items which change. For example, on the summary (flow) page, you nicely put the movie title in a shaded box that stretches across the top. However, when we open the detail page, that box is gone, and the title is now smaller in the info pane.

Why not use the shaded box (maybe with the year and the rating) on both pages so it appears static, along with the background art. This information is not changed.

Now this summary/detail page method is inconsistent with the floating/centered window detail page used when viewing recordings. The experience for summary/detail should be consistent throughout. Maybe use the floating box method overlay for the movie details?

Grant

[bialio]

I understand what you are saying, but it's not the vibe I'm going for on this UMB. And it doesn't use the floating centered window mainly because I'm looking for variety, not to mimic the exact same thing we have everywhere else.

Now, I will probably enable the use of that detailed window instead of the new one so that the user can choose one way or the other. Phoenix is more about redundancy and ease of use, not JUST consistency.

But thanks for the input - you obviously have some Graphic Design in your blood (no one else I know of uses the latin text ) so your input is very valuable!

btl.

[OneOfMany]

I apologize if you feel I am being critical of your work, that is certainly not my intent. I am more than amazed at the work that your group has performed on this UI replacement, and am just trying to contribute ideas as a beta tester of things that I feel can be easily addressed to ensure the success of your hard work.

As the lone POS designer/programmer for our company, (and yes, a former graphic designer) I have found that consistency is what makes the user comfortable/familiar with their experience regardless of it's underlying complexity. To me, having the various media screens consistent just makes the flow of using the interface more seamless. After all the goal of Sage is to act as a totally integrated media server, as opposed to a bunch of disparate elements.

Grant

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Gustovier

2. Use of banners. The general consensus most other media centers(xbmc,plex,boxee,etc..) are that banners for tv is long in the tooth and most have moved to use posters. I think the sage community is a little behind on this. One main advantage is that you can use the same display paradigm with both movies and tv if we move to using posters instead of banners (for the most part)

I don't know if you have the same definition of banners as I do - but by banners do you mean the wide pictures that aren't very tall? I personally think that in the Double List view for TV that having banners on the left would be a HUGE improvement to the show name. I really like this view in Diamond and I think it would vastly improve the Double List TV view.

[bialio]

Double list has banners already...

[Gustovier]

Originally Posted by wayner

I don't know if you have the same definition of banners as I do - but by banners do you mean the wide pictures that aren't very tall? I personally think that in the Double List view for TV that having banners on the left would be a HUGE improvement to the show name. I really like this view in Diamond and I think it would vastly improve the Double List TV view.

I think there is an option to turn it on. But banners can work if done right...



http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/5...shot019tw8.png

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6685/bannerus.png

[bialio]

I agree, Banners can be very nice.

Wayner - were you the one having trouble with banners in double list (just saw the glow and not the banner?) The double list works fine for me when I enable banners :

[wayner]

OK, my bad for not noticing that there was a banner option - was this in the original beta?

But now that I have turned it on all I get is a glow. All the other Fanart seems to work, and Banners work in Diamond so the files are there.

Regarding a Folders View - this is VERY IMPORTANT for me. The bulk of my Video Imports are Kids shows and a lot of them do not really have valid metadata or unique Fanart. And there are TV shows mixed in with ripped DVDs - for example, Sesame Street contains recorded TV and ripped DVDs. I really need a traditional Folders View unless I want to spend months typing in metadata. It would also be great if I could create Main Menu items that go right to the Kids part of the Video Library.

[bialio]

Regarding a Folders View - this is VERY IMPORTANT for me. The bulk of my Video Imports are Kids shows and a lot of them do not really have valid metadata or unique Fanart. And there are TV shows mixed in with ripped DVDs - for example, Sesame Street contains recorded TV and ripped DVDs. I really need a traditional Folders View unless I want to spend months typing in metadata. It would also be great if I could create Main Menu items that go right to the Kids part of the Video Library.

This is all possible already - the Sage Video Imports view shows by folder. It takes a long time to load (which we have a plan to fix) but it is there. It is also quite easy to set a view to either have a bookmark (lets you jump to a specific location when it is loaded, but then lets you navigate backwards if you want to) or an imposed root (jumps to a specific location, and does not let you navigate backwards). We use this internally, but you can create a view with these constraints as well.

btl.

[stuckless]

@wayer - In my "folder" setup I have an import like...

/Media/Videos
and under there is
Movies
Movies/New
Movies/Kids
TV/
...

When I rip movies, I tend to put them into the New folder until I watch them, and then I move them into other areas.

So, because I go to the Videos/Movies/New alot, I created a specific view that automatically goes to that folder.


Here my newmovies.xml file that I've put in my userdata/Phoenix/vfs/ directory.

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">
<vfs>
      <views>
		<view name="sls_newmovies" label="New Movies" flat="false">
			<option name="bookmark" value="/Movies/New"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="true"/>

			<description>Movies in the New folder</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			<view-source name="sagevideoimportsv7"/>
		</view>
     </views>
</vfs>

The above view uses the "Sage Video Imports (Combined)" view (sagevideoimportv7) as a source and then it positions it to the /Moves/New folder. If you wanted to make the /Movies/New folder rooted (ie you cannot navigate back out of it), then change "bookmark" to "root".

I've taken this a step further, and I've then added a new menu to my Landing Zone that launches this directly.

I'd be happy to help you set up new views, since right now, this is a fairly manual process.

[OneOfMany]

Originally Posted by bialio;

Wayner - were you the one having trouble with banners in double list (just saw the glow and not the banner?) The double list works fine for me when I enable banners :

I was also having the problem with the glow, however I just setup the 3.09 beta this AM, so when I am at home I will see if they are functional.

Grant

[OneOfMany]

Originally Posted by stuckless

<!DOCTYPE vfs SYSTEM "vfs.dtd">
<vfs>
      <views>
		<view name="sls_newmovies" label="New Movies" flat="false">
			<option name="bookmark" value="/Movies/New"/>
			<option name="children-only" value="true"/>

			<description>Movies in the New folder</description>
			<tag value="video"/>

			<view-source name="sagevideoimportsv7"/>
		</view>
     </views>
</vfs>

Thx Sean, that was the missing piece. In this example I see you are using the path to the folder to create the VFS.

This is the piece I was looking for.

Grant

[wayner]

Thanks Sean - I will try this out when I get a chance.

[ohpleaseno]

I'm not seeing where banners can be turned on.

[wayner]

I have rebooted and still get the glow rather than banners - I am still running the 7.12 beta - could that be the problem?

[OneOfMany]

Same as wayner, 7.1.2 and 3.09 just get the glow for series where banners are available.

Grant

[bialio]

YEah, it's a bug of some sort. Are you seeing it on extenders, or full clients? Which view are you using?

[OneOfMany]

Only use full clients, same on all three. In the TV Shows and Archived TV doubleilsts.

Grant