2014-08-26, 11:45
Some suggestions and feedback based on current project I'm working on, which aims to provide UI for less tech savvy users. I'm not sure XBMC/Kodi has that kind of users up in a priority list, but still:
MyAddonsNav.xml
There's a need to present all "consumable" add ons in one place as opposed of having them in several categories. Metadata agents and similar stuff should not go there and should probably stay in Add-on Manager which would still provide a way to install, setup or manage all add ons. We can sort "runnable" add ons by category and probably some other criteria as well (e.g. set most used on top) for users with large number of add ons installed
MyFiles.xml
A central place to show all your media sources, folders, attached drives, NASes etc. You can browse and see ALL media files and XBMC would be smart enough to switch to appropriate windows when Select/Play is hit. Currently one must browse video sources from video windows etc. I guess another way of saying it would be "FileBrowser.xml with play capabilities".
Hide ".." parent folder
Consider adding possibility for skinner to turn off parent folders ".." item from a list. Although this actually helps less tech savvy users, problem arise if skin navigation does not match the one that is system built. All is well if you go Videos/Movies/Titles/Content but if this is done differently in a skin e.g. hitting Movies goes directly to content, ".." thing confuses all users that are less experienced, regardless if they are tech savvy or not.
Currently none of the skins users default navigation structure, including Confluence. My guess is it is because of many NAV layers default structure imposes.
MyAddonsNav.xml
There's a need to present all "consumable" add ons in one place as opposed of having them in several categories. Metadata agents and similar stuff should not go there and should probably stay in Add-on Manager which would still provide a way to install, setup or manage all add ons. We can sort "runnable" add ons by category and probably some other criteria as well (e.g. set most used on top) for users with large number of add ons installed
MyFiles.xml
A central place to show all your media sources, folders, attached drives, NASes etc. You can browse and see ALL media files and XBMC would be smart enough to switch to appropriate windows when Select/Play is hit. Currently one must browse video sources from video windows etc. I guess another way of saying it would be "FileBrowser.xml with play capabilities".
Hide ".." parent folder
Consider adding possibility for skinner to turn off parent folders ".." item from a list. Although this actually helps less tech savvy users, problem arise if skin navigation does not match the one that is system built. All is well if you go Videos/Movies/Titles/Content but if this is done differently in a skin e.g. hitting Movies goes directly to content, ".." thing confuses all users that are less experienced, regardless if they are tech savvy or not.
Currently none of the skins users default navigation structure, including Confluence. My guess is it is because of many NAV layers default structure imposes.