[niietzshe]

I'm currently swapping between Boxee and XBMC.

XBMC because on a day to day basis, TVShows, Movies and Music are presented in such a lovely way thanks to the Skin support.

Boxee because their TV CHannels (iPlayer, Hulu etc) work like their respective sites and feel much nicer to use.

With the advancments of XBMC, can we expect to one day have the same kind of Interfaces for things like iPlayer? Or is this just a fools dream?

Thanks
Niietzshe

[jmarshall]

We always want to provide a better user experience.

What do you prefer about the iPlayer website or Boxee plugin that you think would improve things in the XBMC version of the plugin? Screenshots etc. would be good so we know what you're referring to.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[niietzshe]

I know you do and I love the user experience of XBMC, it really is awesome and everyone I show it too is amazed. However the iPlayer plugin from what I can tell just gives you a list, kinda like a filesystem list of available content.

Boxee's seems to just be running the iPlayer website like the PS3/Wii does:

[jmarshall]

Right, so what about that interface makes it better than the interface that XBMC offers? XBMC has the same channel icons and so on, you don't have to use the list view for everything. Is it the hierarchy that needs improving? Is it the overview of everything on screen that you like (i.e. you can see the main categories and subcategories all the time, rather than having to remember the hierarchy?) Specifics would be helpful.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[maruchan]

Custom UIs like Boxee's apps are already do-able if you're willing to write a script rather than a plugin. I like plugins because they blend in with the already existing skin and if your spouse knows how to navigate folders they can use plugins. With that being said, I'd love to see some improvements in the visual hierarchy available to plugins.

[niietzshe]

I'm going to have to have a look into the plugin again. Last time I used it It was just a list of categories that you could go through and see a list of shows.

On the iPlayer site/apps for PS3 etc... You go onto the website, can choose BB3, go to categories, select comedy, all through a graphic interface rather than a list. See descriptions of each show, when you watch a show it'll go back to the interface after and show more of the season or similar shows etc...

If I've missed that the xbmc plugin can work exactly how the website does I'm sorry. As I say I love XBMC and it's interface and always show my friends it and try to get them to jump on board. As far as I'm aware though the iPlayer plugin for xbmc just checks available shows and lists them in the regular interface.

Is this correct?

[maruchan]

It's important to understand that there are two different types of addons: plugins and scripts. Both can grab content from the internet and allow the user to play it back.

Plugins just take the data they're given (for instance, a listing of shows) and display them in a folder-like structure, as though you were browsing your hard drive. This is really all they can do from an interface standpoint... give you data in a list form. This is the case for the iPlayer, Hulu, Youtube and many other video addons. The main reasons why a developer would write a plugin rather than a script include: not having to write a custom user interface, which means quicker development time; not having to come up with custom graphics--most coders aren't artists ; and consistent user interface (looks like whatever skin the user has set)

Scripts, on the other hand, in addition to all of the things you can do with a plugin, also allow you to customize the user interface to your heart's content. By writing a script rather than a plugin, you have more access to XBMC's underlying user interface features, allowing you to do more than just display content in a list. The Grooveshark addon is a perfect example of this... download it from the official repo and check it out.

As I said, I think it really comes down to how much time the person writing the addon wants to waste on the user interface. Although having custom graphics might sound appealing, it breaks the user experience in certain ways ("Why doesn't this look like the normal skin anymore? Why does the remote behave differently?") and adds additional development time that's probably overkill in a lot of situations.

[galvanash]

Just to toss in my 2 cents... Plugins often get a bad rap from users for looking "boring" for reasons that have nothing to do with aesthetic shortcomings. The fact is that most plugins are using data sources that simply don't offer much in the way of metadata, and what they do offer often doesn't "fit" well (thumbnails are not available or are badly sized, potential images to use for fanart are often the wrong aspect ratio to use properly, etc.) Also, because of this plugin authors have to disable alot of stuff they could be doing because the required metadata is not available from their source (limiting view modes and sorting options because the fields needed to implement them are not available).

My point only being that scripts let you tailor your UI for the data you have available - plugin authoring requires you tailor your data for the UI...

[hadees]

Scripts, on the other hand, in addition to all of the things you can do with a plugin, also allow you to customize the user interface to your heart's content.

Is there a script out there you can cite as an example? I'm not sure I've ever seen a script for XBMC that looks different from the generic file hierarchical look.

Boxee has a lot of annoying features and feels like a castrated xbmc to me but I do think their plugins look a whole lot nicer.

[maruchan]

Sure, grab the grooveshark addon from the official repo.