[mythtv-users] Sell mythtv "set-top" boxes

[Ray Olszewski]

At 01:05 PM 6/3/2003 +0200, Ben Bucksch wrote:
>Mark Cooper wrote:
>
>>Thanks for the 'constructive' critisim Ben!
>
>Well, it wasn't meant as critisism at all, I just wanted to say that the 
>"solution" Ray offered was none in my eyes. I am sorry, if I hurt you.

Ah well, not all "solutions" are solutions. Some are just help. Since I 
suggested vaguely that I saw ways in which the database could be improved, 
I thought I should take the time to offer some specifics.

(Background: I've viewing the database on a Win2K host running Netscape 
4.something. I normally operate it with ALL "advanced" features -- Java, 
Javascript, cookies -- disabled, for privacy reasons. The database I am 
viewing is the one that the MythTV HowTo's hardware section links to.)

1. Warn the user that the database display expects Javascript to be 
enabled. With Javascript disabled, my browser still displays the data, but 
in an almost unreadable format. With Javascript on, the format is merely 
hard to read (see next item).

2. Hard to read elements in the Javascript view:

         A. The display has some text at the very top that is white print 
on light gray. I cannot read what it says.

         B. The bluish-gray "header" boxes to not match the text ... some 
of the text bleeds off the right side, and the boxes bleed down into the 
first row of data.

         C. Header and data boxes/text bleed over to the Login and other 
sections on the right.

         D. The print is very small. (Side gripe: why do so many Web sites 
insist on preventing the user from adjusting the type size? Are they all 
written by young people with good eyesight, who don't realize the problem 
that older folks with failing vision have?)

3. Entries often show up in the wrong field. A common problem is that the 
"Rating" number appears in the "Audio" column (this probably happens most 
because it is the rightmost pair of fields, so all errors propagate to it). 
I'm guessing from this that either the database itself or the Javascript 
display manager does not handle empty fields properly, since the errors all 
seem to be shifts to the left. (The presence of separate fields for "CPU" 
and "CPU type" seems to occasion a lot of omitted data ... understandably 
to my eye, since I can't figure out the difference between the two.)

4. Although early entries (page 1) in the database take me to displays of 
the complete entry, similar clicking on later entries (page 16) 404 with:

         Bad Request

         Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.

         The request line contained invalid characters following the 
protocol string.

(An actual URL that generates this result is
         http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-view_pvrent.php?systemid=Gabe 
Ghearing&PHPSESSID=643a9757786fff46c0e052859aa20ae9  ).

5. Ben suggested a lot of things the absence of which hurts usability. I 
suggest these in addition:

         A. Date the entry was made (helps identify recommendations made 
obsolete due to slipstreaming).
         B. Display (even just monitor vs. TV would help.)

6. Your responses to Ben refer to a "comments" section. I'm not seeing this 
displayed (not even as an empty field), either on the database "grid" page 
or (for the early ones I can access) on the individual-entry page. Where 
should I be finding this?

7. More generally, I think you rely excessively on the comments section to 
remedy gaps in the specific questions. Ben covered the specifics of this 
pretty well, so I won't repeat them here.

8. Navigation: the only way I saw to read through the database is page by 
page, starting at page 1 (which I'm guessing is the oldest entries). At a 
minimum, I'd like to see a "jump to last page" option ... the most recent 
entries are, in my opinion, likely to be the most useful.

OK. Those comments are based on reading the database. Now I tried to enter 
my data.

9. First, I pressed "Add entry" and was told I could not post ne because I 
was not logged in.

10. I registered, and was told I'd receive an e-mail with instructions. It 
came about 10 minutes later. Following the link it provided, I tried to log 
in twice. Both times, I was returned to the login page with no explanation, 
and when I tried to enter data, I was told I am not logged in. (This may 
have been a cookies problem ... if it is, the response page really should 
say so ... but after the first failure, I turned on cookies to the 
originating server.) The third time I tried -- going back to the URL in the 
e-mail message -- I got this message: "Invalid username or password Return 
to home page".  At that point, I gave up.

Oh well ... at least you know why my data are not in the database.

Hope these comments help you in your effort to make the database more 
useful. Good luck.