[mythtv] Proposed MythMusic Interface Improvements

[Joseph A. Caputo]

On Monday 03 May 2004 14:13, Ben Levitt wrote:
> --- Simon Kenyon <simon at koala.ie> wrote:
> > power
> > go
> > 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0
> > back/edit
> > menu
> > red, green, yellow and blue
> > left, right, up and down
> > ok
> > mute
> > a blank key
> > full
> > << and >>
> > play
> > record
> > stop
> > pause
> >
> > |< and >|
> >
> > a UI which could be done with only those keys would
> > be most welcome
> > there are parts of it that will not work with a
> > remote with any amount of keys
> > (because it requires you to enter text)
>
> I remember someone working on a patch that allowed you
> to pop up a text entry dialogue that worked like a
> cell phone, using 2-9 to enter text.  Then you could
> enter "scrubs" by pressing 7777 222 777 88 22 7777.  I
> imagine that this could also be combined with a T-9
> clone (the technology that lets you just enter 727827,
> and it figures out a match) that matched to items
> within the current context.  So if you're entering
> something into a field that wants a show name, then
> match to the set of known show names...
>
> This would be more and more useful as we add things
> like searching by name to the interface.

I've always thought that something like this (text entry via numeric pad 
in general, not just T-9) was a great idea except for one thing... cell 
phones have the alphabet characters printed below the number keys.  
Remote controls generally don't.  I find it more cumbersome to have to 
remember what number corresponds to "G" than to pull out my wireless 
keyboard and just type the bloody letter.  Maybe this isn't so much of 
a problem among those who use cell-phone text messaging frequently.  I 
understand text-messaging via cell phone has caught on quite a bit more 
in Europe and Asia than it has here in the U.S.

That's not to say I'm not in favor of an interface like this... I just 
think it would be infinitely more useful if, when you started 'typing' 
in a text-entry field, a helper image of a telephone-style keymap 
popped up to assist you.

-JAC