2013-01-12, 14:42
I once did a test run where I installed a clean XBMC and just went about adding my sources etc and wrote down a few things that I found odd or confusing.
Problem: If a user adds more than one new video source, he will be prompted with a Yes/No dialog for every new source asking if it should be scanned into the library. But depending on the number of items in the source this does not always work because the scan of the previously added sources are still running. So the user has to either remember which sources have already been scanned and then wait for the running scan to finish and then manually start the scan for the remaining sources or go to the library view and manually start a scan of all the sources.
Solution: Queue these source scans as jobs and execute them one after an other automatically. Ideally if there are multiple scan jobs on the same source waiting to be processed, they could be reduced to a single one.
Problem: In the music library there is no automatic scanning of newly added sources at all. The user has to manually start it from the context menu (for which he needs to be aware of the fact that there actually is a context menu, which is IMO not obvious if you don't use a mouse and use right-click).
Solution: Add the same logic to prompt the user to scan the added source automatically. A possible problem could be that the scanning is started without giving the user a chance to customize any scraper / scraper settings. Maybe pop up the scraper selection dialog (available in the music library view as a context menu action) after adding the first music source?
Problem: In the music files view there is no direct access to the scraper settings as there is in the video files view (I guess because there's no need to set any content in the music library). It's accessible from the library view though.
Solution: Add the same context menu option available in the music library view to change/configure the album/artist scrapers to the music files view.
Problem: Entering the music window after having added some sources still brings you into the music files view and not into the library view because there's no default view yet for the music library. The user has to go one level up to be able to get into the music library views.
Solution: Go to the music library root view as soon as there is scanned content in the music library.
Problem: If a user adds more than one new video source, he will be prompted with a Yes/No dialog for every new source asking if it should be scanned into the library. But depending on the number of items in the source this does not always work because the scan of the previously added sources are still running. So the user has to either remember which sources have already been scanned and then wait for the running scan to finish and then manually start the scan for the remaining sources or go to the library view and manually start a scan of all the sources.
Solution: Queue these source scans as jobs and execute them one after an other automatically. Ideally if there are multiple scan jobs on the same source waiting to be processed, they could be reduced to a single one.
Problem: In the music library there is no automatic scanning of newly added sources at all. The user has to manually start it from the context menu (for which he needs to be aware of the fact that there actually is a context menu, which is IMO not obvious if you don't use a mouse and use right-click).
Solution: Add the same logic to prompt the user to scan the added source automatically. A possible problem could be that the scanning is started without giving the user a chance to customize any scraper / scraper settings. Maybe pop up the scraper selection dialog (available in the music library view as a context menu action) after adding the first music source?
Problem: In the music files view there is no direct access to the scraper settings as there is in the video files view (I guess because there's no need to set any content in the music library). It's accessible from the library view though.
Solution: Add the same context menu option available in the music library view to change/configure the album/artist scrapers to the music files view.
Problem: Entering the music window after having added some sources still brings you into the music files view and not into the library view because there's no default view yet for the music library. The user has to go one level up to be able to get into the music library views.
Solution: Go to the music library root view as soon as there is scanned content in the music library.