[mythtv-users] Re: Re: Cannot set a recording
Michael J. Sherman
msherman at dsbox.com
Mon Sep 6 12:27:31 EDT 2004
>> Yeah, the interface just threw me for a loop. It appeared as a list >of
>> options. It was not entirely clear that you had to scroll left/right >to
>> get options to change. Perhaps a different UI scheme (something more
>> standard) would be better and more intuitive; at least a little arrow
>> indicator perhaps next to the option to denote the fact that you can >in
>> fact go left/right to change it.
>
>Well, if you're using CVS you should be following the commits list,
>which included instructions on how to use the screen (as do the
>release notes Isaac linked to on mythtv.org). Some further work will
>be done on this screen in the future to add visual cues to indicate
>when you can use left/right but pretty much everything on that screen
>can be scrolled with left/right.
I think the point I was trying to get at was this interface style is
new, and not intuitive.
The options (even the ones you can move left/right) are just presented
as a list in a listbox type of widget. To a normal computer user, that
means you can select up and down to scroll up/down the list, then choose
one option. The fact that you are mixing list choices with selection
choices (left/right) breaks very standard interface conventions. And,
IMHO, that is a Bad Thing (TM). Visual cues for knowing when to go
left/right would be huge.
Open source software is continually dinged on the lack of usable
interfaces; why not buck that trend and use standard/simple interface
styles? If I showed this "new" and "improved" recording options screen
to a non-technical person, their head would explode. I guess I could
explain how the new options screen is not using QT widgets and it's
themeable, and then I'm sure they would understand.
If I'm out on a limb here and nobody agrees with me, that's fine. I may
just be unreasonable in my expecations for MythTV. I have perceived a
negative trend in the interface over the last five months, and I just am
only trying to voice my opinion. My wife uses our Myth box, too, so all
of these new styles are not a good thing when they are so complicated
and non-intuitive.
More information about the mythtv-users
mailing list