[mythtv-users] watch recordings - change group filter - Label setting

[Michael T. Dean]

On 10/02/2012 10:10 PM, Joseph Fry wrote:
>>>>   Hi.  I recently (re)found a setting that I had forgotten about, and after
>>>> recently reading a response about the number of settings a vs. the code
>>>> just doing the right thing, I thought I would post the below email thread
>>>> and ask the question:
>>>>
>>>> Why is this even an option?  If you change the programs to show a
>>>> 'filtered' list, then why on earth would you ever want it to be labeled,
>>>> "All Programs"?  Even better, why would the default be to show, "All
>>>> Programs".
>>> I have to agree... that is one of the first things I have to dig for
>>> because the default makes no sense.  "All Programs" should mean ALL
>>> PROGRAMS... if I choose to filter it to "Sports Programs" then I should
>>> see
>>> no reference to "All Programs" anymore.
>>>
>>> I think a sane default would be to have the filtered list heading be the
>>> name of the filter... and be done with it... anything else can cause user
>>> confusion.  For example, when I set up my new primary frontend, my wife
>>> freaked out... and I do mean FREAKED OUT when she couldn't find her
>>> favorite shows under "All Programs", I told her to press FFwd to switch
>>> filters and all was good.  But her exact response was "that's stupid... it
>>> says 'All Programs' it should show all of them!"
>>>
>> I'm glad you noticed (and agreed) that it's a senseless setting.  We
>> recently discussed this setting on IRC and are planning to remove it and do
>> it as it should have been done in the first place (as you said, showing
>> "All Programs" with a filter applied is not a good idea--and just results
>> in confusion and a completely unnecessary FAQ entry:
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Why_aren.27t_my_new_recordings_showing_up_in_Watch_Recordings.3F--as it wouldn't be a FAQ if it worked properly, because it wouldn't be so
>> confusing).  Unfortunately, the discussion happened after the 0.26 freeze,
>> so we're waiting until we reopen non-bug-fix changes before proceeding.
>>
> I'm glad to hear that you guys are taking the time to step back and clean
> up some things... it's certainly not as fun as adding new features and I'd
> imagine that the changes won't make a lick of difference to us long-term
> users and developers, so your efforts are purely a selfless contribution to
> the user community.  If I may be presumptuous, we really appreciate it!

Hehe, well I think in this case, at least, it will make a 
difference--making it much easier to understand what's going on, since 
it will tell you when a filter is applied so that you don't have to ask 
why new recordings aren't showing up in Watch Recordings.  And, I think 
that the amount of time I (and others) save by not confusing users (time 
saved in users trying to figure out what's going on and for those of us 
on list/IRC not having to explain what's going on when new recordings 
aren't showing up in Watch Recordings) will quickly make up for the time 
it takes to fix it up properly.  (But thanks for the encouragement--as 
all too often when messing with settings, it seems we only get complaints.)

Mike