[mythtv-users] .22 Missing menu - Key right

[Justin Hornsby]

I knew this would be a bone of contention as soon as I found out about
it all those months ago when it was first put in place. But, think
about this:

The main reason it was there in the first place was because we need
two menus in so many places, hence two menu buttons.  How many remotes
have two menu buttons?  So, you lose an 'info' button to the 'info
menu'.  Great, except now you need to find a button to map to U
(Details) if you use that feature a lot.  Up to 0.21 it was a PITA to
press INFO, then go into 'recording options' (wth?) and select 'show
programme details') .  Sure now it's been moved but..

I've done some work on getting rid of the INFO menu, integrating items
into the MENU bound menu & better contextualising it - thus freeing up
INFO for displaying.. oh you know.. INFO (!) (currently DETAILS, bound
to the U key by default, not quite intuitive IMHO).  I reached a
pretty good conclusion with the watch recordings screen but other
areas will need to be tackled to make them all consistent. There's a
ticket with my name on it somewhere..  Of course moving the 'Program
details' etc menu items is a good workaround.. but still.. two menus?

I've never been one to argue that we need to make myth fully usable
with as few as six buttons, but I think we could all benefit from
having less buttons tied to core functions, and for Pete's sakes name
them more logically.  Menu to bring up a menu, and Info to show
information.  So if that means lesser used features need another
keypress who cares?

ONE menu button, contextual menu content.  I'd be happy enough to make
some test changes & run them by people - there's bound to be a
disagreement here & there about where menu items are moved.  If we
*can* reduce the number of menus by better contextualisation I think
we should.

Try to envision even wider ranging UI improvements by improving the
overall experience.  Contextual menus have their downsides I'm sure,
but IMHO it'll be better than having features like press 'U' to bring
up details of something (etc).

Then of course there's the whole reason why arrow accelerators had to
go.. there's just no other way to make the UI more flexible.  Even
without the horizontal menu layouts, there's the possibility that
areas could 'collapse' in future freeing up valuable screen space, and
having this daft arrow key feature could block that.

All the changes that have gone into MythUI have been the result of a
mere handful of people.  If you weren't involved in the discussions &
decision making that's not the fault of people doing their level best
to improve the project.

Finally,what about this new 'wheel' thing huh?  I quite like it but
some people I know aren't sure it'll catch on ;-)

Justin