View Full Version : help button for user interface
manekineko
2004-03-14, 10:07
one big problem with xbmc i think is that for the non-technoliterate, it's not a very easy to use piece of software. keymappings are not entirely intuitive by default, and often aren't entirely consistent across the breadth of the program.
it seems like what would be greatly helpful for this would be a help button, which when held down, would display all button mappings relevant to the current screen being viewed. ideally this mapping would include graphics like a little yellow circle with a y in it for the y button next to a short statement on what it does in the current view. the a+ implementation would detect something different when the input comes from the remote control than when it comes from an xbox controller, and show the mapping relevant to that controller.
it doesn't seem like something like this would be hard to code, and it would do worlds for the usability of xbmc for non-techies. skin designers incorporating a little statement to the extent of "push the start button for help" or something like that in the corner of the skin would make it perfect.
what do you guys think? does something like this have the potential of ever being added?
i agree and this has been discussed before. but the argument that has been brought up against this is that keymappings are editable and changes now and then, which would make it cumbersome to keep up to date.
though i thought that this kind of screen could maybe fetch data from keymapping.xml and display a graphics with texts fetched from that? navigating to such a button would never bee difficult to do... newbie or not.
manekineko
2004-03-14, 11:26
wow, i never even considered the possibility of having the displays be based upon static data.
it seems like the obvious only way to do this right would be to have each of the possible views/situations enumerated with which keymappings apply to them, and when the help button is pressed, it just reads from keymapping.xml the relevant mappings and displays them along with some pretty graphics for the buttons.
the whole-at-once keymapping.xml display idea seems bulky and awkward, when you're stuck on genre view in audio, you don't want to go back to the main menu and read through a huge list of commands, you want to push one button and see the options relevant to you, and get the job done.
4 starters u can have a look here:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs....by=date (http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/xbmc/xbmc/keymapping-schematic.pdf?sortby=date) i just felt the urge to do a 720x480 png of these images as a suggestion.
manekineko
2004-03-14, 12:00
wow that's great. most of the graphics work is done almost then. seems like all that is needed with these would be for a programmer to take those images and make it so that the actual keymappings are read in from the xml and filled in to the graphic and then displayed. would also need to redo the keymappings to find one consistent button to use as help too.
a quickie... it's a bit thight but it works ok on my tv. would be interesting to see how it works with 'real' texts added needs tweaking tho. and why couldn't a help/keymapping button be added to the skins? no specific button needed then?
http://www.owoco.se/floink/whitestripes.gif
MrMario64
2004-03-14, 14:14
this seems nice floink!
it could indeed easily fetch data from keymap.xml.
it will need different pages since buttons have diff functions in different sections of xbmc.
but nice indeed.
to be able to select to show controller or remote in settings would be useful. then the picture can be shown larger, and i suspect most users anyway stick to use only one of them. :)
Mental Block
2004-03-14, 17:36
i think this would be a great idea. i agree that have the user select if they use remote or controller as would give a lot more space for bigger text.
only problem is to find a free button to show the help screen :d
only problem is to find a free button to show the help screen *:d
as been mentioned above, could use a "help" button to bring up that key-layout screen.
or if it's possible, use a long press on some currently used button to bring it up, though this would probably require more changes to xbmc and keymap.xml.
manekineko
2004-03-14, 21:21
to be able to select to show controller or remote in settings would be useful. then the picture can be shown larger, and i suspect most users anyway stick to use only one of them. :)
i'm pretty sure that xbmc can already tell the difference between a keypress from the remote and from the controller. given that, just make it so that if you press help on the controller, it shows the controller graphic, if you press it on the remote, it shows the remote. :)
to be able to select to show controller or remote in settings would be useful. then the picture can be shown larger, and i suspect most users anyway stick to use only one of them. :)
i'm pretty sure that xbmc can already tell the difference between a keypress from the remote and from the controller. given that, just make it so that if you press help on the controller, it shows the controller graphic, if you press it on the remote, it shows the remote. *:)
so true! good thinking! :d
jmarshall
2004-03-15, 00:29
these are all good ideas.
there's a couple of things that need to be done first.
1. hold down button detection vs short button detection of all digital buttons. this will allow us to have help on a permanent button that doesn't change which imo is critical to this feature. i personally think that we have a button help on the front page that users can move to, and it clearly states first off that holding down the start button (for instance) brings that page up at any time.
2. code to change to control screen, and code to display the keymappings on the control screen (easy stuff).
note that there may be some funny things to take into account such as where more than 1 window is visible (dialogs, osd etc. etc.)
i don't think it's necessary to have a help button graphic on every single screen, at least at this point. in the future if we have documentation included, where the help button does a bit more (for instance tells info about a bunch of settings or something), then a help button per page might be more feasible. ofcourse, if we have the action defined, then it's easy to code it so that it's up to the skinners to implement.
i've uploaded revamped gfx for this to .it (in the skins folder). separate images for remote and controller and one with both in it for possible developers choosing. all images are now 720x480, transparent pngs so that skins can use individual backgrounds.
for any willing dev; now at least gfx can't hold u back http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/forums/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
hello everyone !
i agree there definitely is need for some quick, easy help.
you can't just let the user do trial and error, or expect him to actually read the manual (not likely) and remember it (even less likely).
besides, what fun is something that when you want to use it, you have to go study instead ?
moreover, what good is a feature you don't use because you don't even know it's there ?
on most device controllers, buttons have printed on them (so the user just has to look to know) their one and only one use (so it's not confusing): play, stop, menu, hang, ok...
xbox pad only has "start" and "back" with meaning carved. all others change depending upon program and context.
to compensate, xbmc should:
-display on screen what actions are assigned to what buttons. help button would show/hide this. if hidden, it would still show briefly upon change.
-when displaying commands to select from, attach pictures of buttons acting as shortcuts.
-when selecting a command from a list, display and enhanced description.
related topic: online help (http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=st;f=4;t=914)
oh, and keep up the (very) good work !