[mythtv] [mythtv-commits] mythtv/master commit: 0e84bfed2 by Michael T. Dean (sphery)

[James Courtier-Dutton]

On 19 September 2011 00:08, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>
> a) In 0.22, we lost the ability to hit RIGHT on a recording in Watch
> Recordings to bring up the action popup (with Play, Play from..., ...
> options).  At this point everyone complained, and since it wasn't me who
> made the change, other people got called names.
> b) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, you can use LEFT/RIGHT to navigate in the main
> menu, but only if it's a vertically-arranged theme.  If you use Terra,
> for example. LEFT/RIGHT doesn't do BACK/SELECT--and, more importantly,
> UP/DOWN doesn't do BACK/SELECT.
> c) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, you can use LEFT/RIGHT within any mythui dialog
> box (MythDialogBox), but only if it's arranged vertically and, more
> importantly, only with certain types of items.  (MythUIButtonListItems
> only?  Definitely not MythUICheckBox.  Definitely not
> GroupSelector--which actually /looks/ identical to a MythUIListItem,
> making it really hard to tell that it doesn't work.)  For example, in
> Watch Recordings, you can bring up the MENU, then use RIGHT to select
> Change Group View and Change Group Filter, then navigate through the
> group list with UP/DOWN or PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN, and when you find the
> group/filter you want, you /cannot/ select it with RIGHT--you /must/ use
> SELECT.
> d) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, in the schedule editor, you can highlight,
> "Schedule Options" or "Storage Options" or whatever and if you hit
> RIGHT/LEFT, it goes to the next item in the list--in Arclight and
> MythCenter, at least, that means that when I hit RIGHT to select the
> item, it moves to the item underneath the one I've highlighted.
> e) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, in the program list (such as the Upcoming
> Recordings screen), I can't hit RIGHT to select an item.  In MythCenter,
> LEFT/RIGHT do nothing.  In Arclight, hitting RIGHT on an upcoming
> recording go back to the list of days (filter?) on the left.
> f) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, in the program finder, I can select a title on
> the left, and hit RIGHT and it shows the list of items with that title.
> Then, if I want to schedule a recording, I can't hit RIGHT, again,
> because doing so moves me to the "First Letter" box--which is way over
> on the left in MythCenter and up and to the left in Arclight.  Instead,
> I have to hit SELECT to bring up the schedule editor.
> g) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, in programrecpriority (Set Priorities and
> Recording Rules), hitting LEFT/RIGHT decrements or increments the
> priority of the recording rule rather than selecting an item.
> h) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, in the Program Details screen, I can't use LEFT
> to dismiss the dialog/get back to the list of recordings or the EPG.  I
> can't use RIGHT to move to the next page of the details.
> i) In 0.24-fixes MythTV, in the New Titles screen, when you bring up the
> "Choose Search Phrase" dialog, selecting RIGHT on, for example, Movies
> doesn't select Movies (like SELECT does), but moves you down to the
> Cancel button, then you have to hit RIGHT, again, to get to OK, then hit
> SELECT.
> j) Many, many more inconsistencies throughout the UI that I don't have
> time to list.
>

To put a user's perspective on this. I have used a number of different
set top boxes.
Some use RIGHT to mean SELECT and LEFT to mean BACKUP, some do not.
Thinking about it, the problem is certian GUI implementations (screen
layouts) are well suited to the RIGHT-SELECT feature, and other screen
layouts are not.
So, I think that one cannot really have a setting system wide to have
the feature or not.
I think it should be permitted for the designer of the screen layouts
to decide what each button does based on the current object that is
highlighted on the screen layout.
This is how DVD navigation menus work. (I know because I helped
implement them for Linux, libdvdnav)
For DVD menus, the menu appears with a default object highlighted. For
each object that can be highlighed on the menu, there is a list of
remote controller buttons. There is then a small script attached to
each button in the list.
For example, if object 1 is highlighted, and the user presses the DOWN
button, the script associated with object 1, DOWN is executed.
This might say something along the lines of:
object 1, DOWN:  script: highlight object 2;
object 1, RIGHT: script: highlight object 3;
object 1, SELECT: script: set variable X = 10; jump to menu2;
object 2, ..... etc.

Summary: Each highlighed object needs a scripting language behind it
in order to provide for good intuative menu navigation.