Setup Wizard - First time startup guide / tutorial after the installation of XBMC?

The trouble with too much "management" stuff is it complicated the user interface. If you start auto-categorizing stuff, then you are going to get it wrong. Thus, the user needs to be able to correct it, and often the correction may need to be done across multiple files. Doing it one by one will be tedious.

The advantage of forcing the user to categorize at the folder level and then assuming it is correct is that it's easier for the user to fix - they just have to organize their filesystem which can be done on the computer/NAS level, rather than from within XBMC.

Ofcourse, we still have to have robust (at least a lot more robust than it is now) scraping and scanning procedures - particularly the detection of new and moved files and so on.

Cheers,
Jonathan

I hope any wizard mode would be optional maybe choose at the splash screen new or existing user or some such. I think bombarding users with option and question is definitely the wrong way to go. There are things that could use simplifying and that's in every one want interest. I think a number of smaller task mangers would be the way to go.

Could the setting of content and choosing of scrapers be circumvented by location in skins with defined movie and tv sections. Having movies default to imdb and tv shows to TVDB the defaults could also be language dependent.

I find that now for the most part XBMC is already very user friendly and it may take a while to get to grips with and you are always finding new features. But you have to remember the route people have already taken before they get here

they have a large digital media collection know how use torrents, news groups and the like. Want be able to play all codecs and containers available have work out how to set up a network. Have scowered the net for the perfect media centre have successfully connected their tv and sound system to a pc or xbox or mac and have mastered linux.

Most people have dvds blu-ray and set top box recorder and may use windows media player quicktime and itunes.

I do agree with all these comments about difficulities adding wizards. However wizards made it's way to computer applications many years ago, since then it has been a great success and almost every application or OS'es has them. Now a days it's more or less expected.

The advanced users will never see wizards as a good thing, they can offcourse just skip them. However i really think that the average user needs them and xbmc should have the average user in mind.

The genius about a wizard is that the users can perform many needed tasks in an understandable way without to much choices and information at the same time.

To me it's perfect logic with this stuff:
1. First time startup wizards
2. Taskbased wizards for adding media sources, screen setup etc etc.
3. Merging of the file and library view.

Just my 2 cents

Any wizard should definitely have to be optional and dismissable with one single click.
They should also not overload the user with options, it should be as straight forward and effective as possible. In such a way that maybe even advanced users would find them useful. Not necessarily because being more easy but simply for being faster. Take something as essential as adding media. If you can do that in once central place, what would be the benefit in dismissing the setup and going into the different libraries, selecting sources and scanning? That would require more clicks and steps. But, like said the user should always be able to do it the way he or she wants.

Something to take into account is that most people that are now using xbmc are more tech-savvy, have in many cases modded their xboxes and more "complex" stuff.
However xbmc is spreading towards other platforms. Now people using it on Linux will often be more computer literate, but you shouldn't underestimate the lack of knowledge with the mass public that are mainly using Windows. So for me and lots of other people that are now using xbmc things may look userfriendly already (and for us, it IS), but that's not the case for anyone.

Please read thoroughly through these related discussions:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=37206
and
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=33710

IMHO very important for the future of XBMC

Have you ever tried LinuxMCE? http://linuxmce.com/

I installed the Beta today. I was absolutely awestruck today when I set up a virtual machine with LinuxMCE on it. The entire time there was a female TALKING me through the setup in a little video window. It was amazing and high tech. I just couldn't get enough of it and it was actually fun to do the setup while she talked.

I think XBMC can benefeit from something like this. It does not have to be much, but as soon as a user starts XBMC for the first time and has no sources.. It would be very nice to have something guide you around and play a video on each screen.

1. Setup video sources
2. Setup audio sources
3. Setup Add-on repositories
4. Setup addons
5. Setup miscellanious features (even if it is a default option, it's classy to give the user an opportunity to make changes) LinuxMCE even downloaded and installed MythTV
6. Inform the user that XBMC will automatically mount hardware that is plugged in

These steps will make the user feel comfortable with the girl on the screen, that she knows what she is talking about and is looking out for them. This also instils confidence in the software alltogether.

I can't find a video, so please take a look for yourself.

Download virtualbox here: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Create a new Linux 32 bit virtual machine with 10gig of HD space and mount the ISO you download here: http://linuxmce.com/index.php/download and you can see what I'm talking about. it's amazing

I tried LinuxMCE a while back, and to make a long story short, my experience was not positive enough to try it again.

However, on topic, I agree that a tutorial or set up wizard would be beneficial. It wouldn't even necessarily need to be that fancy. Or even need to be interactive at all. Something that just popped up and gave tips/directions (preferably with screenshots) to setting up the Library would be fine/good. Not sure how complicated that would be to code.

I thought I'd take a video to demonstrate what I was talking about. Feel free to skip to near the end.. I think at least a video like the one at 2:55 would be very useful to XBMC's overall user experience. It's a bit lengthy and I've even cut out parts. I like this chick.. The fact that she speaks with a "Tech support" accent makes her even more trustworthy.

I think this is the best experience I ever had with software that doesn't fucking work. I've reinstalled it several times and it still doesn't fucking work. No matter what I try I can't get this fucking software to work. LinuxMCE is a PITA POS... But the wizard is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHkX9KmYNA8

Something like this would be a severe positive to the overall user experience of XBMC.

I guess I spoke too soon... After my 5th install... LinuxMCE loaded, however I have so many graphic artifacts on the screen it is unusable and my security cameras are detected as floppy disk drives.

There have been a few complaints that stuff isn't intuitive or that new time users.

If the condition exists that the user folder doesn't exist, pop up a short intro. At least one Skin already does this when you switch to it for the first time (I think it was Aeon). If Confluence was updated with a similar feature it wouldn't be too hard.

"Welcome to XBMC. Your Premier Home Media Center".
"Would you like an introduction" "Yes" "Skip".
Yes: "Here are all your settings, this is how you edit them".
"Here is how you add sources. Would you like to add a source now?" Yes/No
Yes, Video or Music.

And then with the changes to Dharma where after you add a new source it automatically prompts you for content should be enough for most people.



Advanced users can get around it with a simple.
mkdir /home/xbmc/.xbmc/