Do you use the web interface?

[chocky]

I'd like to develop the XBMC web interface a lot further than it currently is (I'm a web developer/designer by trade) but before I can even really think about it, I need to get an idea of what people actually use the web interface for!

If you use it:

• What do you use it with? Computer? Mobile phone/cellphone? PSP? Something else?
• What do you use it for? Navigating through files or just to play, pause, etc?

If you don't use it- are there any features that would make you start using it?!

[Geeba]

Yep I use it!!!!

It is ok but if it was a bit more feature rich in all ways it would be nice!

Perhaps if it showed album/movie art... Its just not as slick as XBMC is.. if you get my dift?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by chocky

I'd like to develop the XBMC web interface a lot further than it currently is (I'm a web developer/designer by trade) but before I can even really think about it, I need to get an idea of what people actually use the web interface for!

If you use it:

• What do you use it with? Computer? Mobile phone/cellphone? PSP? Something else?
• What do you use it for? Navigating through files or just to play, pause, etc?

If you don't use it- are there any features that would make you start using it?!

I use it sometimes, mainly when I'm working on my main PC and playing some music or music videos on my htpc. Quite basic really, mainly using the play controls and some file browsing.

I wish the web interface would be able to read from the library instead of file mode only.

Ultimately though (and probably out of the scope of your plans) I would love the web interface to be more than just a way of controlling xbmc, and also act as an interface to subscribe to media. For example using my browser to subsribe to podcasts, rss feeds, online media basically which would then be made available on my htpc in xbmc. Think about things like TVersity and the MCE webguide (which is more aimed at PVR functionality though). This would (I guess) not be possible without work on xbmc itself too.

Curious to read about your plans

[chocky]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I use it sometimes, mainly when I'm working on my main PC and playing some music or music videos on my htpc. Quite basic really, mainly using the play controls and some file browsing.

I wish the web interface would be able to read from the library instead of file mode only.

Yep- the library problem was the main reason I started thinking about this at all. It's entirely possible (I've made a basic test for an iPhone interface that'll do it) to query the library, so that would probably be first priority.

Ultimately though (and probably out of the scope of your plans) I would love the web interface to be more than just a way of controlling xbmc, and also act as an interface to subscribe to media. For example using my browser to subsribe to podcasts, rss feeds, online media basically which would then be made available on my htpc in xbmc. Think about things like TVersity and the MCE webguide (which is more aimed at PVR functionality though). This would (I guess) not be possible without work on xbmc itself too.

I'd love to play around with that stuff but as you say, it'd require a lot of changes inside XBMC, and I don't have the programming knowledge to do that- I've just a web guy.

My plans aren't exactly detailed right now- that's why I started this thread! Though programming for mobile devices is a pain, I suspect a lot of people do/would use it on them.

[Rand Al Thor]

I use it all the time. As mentioned before, I use it mostly to control music. My main HTPC is hooked up to a projector. Lots of times I don't want to turn it on just to listen to music in my living room so I use one of the other computers in the house or my nokia 770. One thing you might want to consider before delving into your project is that the pvr project for xbmc is still under development. It looks like alcoheca is making some great progress. It would be a great feature to be able to view your recordings and schedule new ones through the web-remote. If this is too difficult from a webdesign standpoint then how about a few "extra" buttons on the web remote that the user can specify a url and name for. Most PVR programs, mythtv for example, have a built in web server so you can browse/schedule. If a full integration directly from the information provided to xbmc is too difficult an effective (if dirty) workaround would be just having a link on the webremote that points to myth's webinterface.

Another project that you should definitely look at before proceeding is this thread http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php...hlight=torrent It looks like the devs might be interested and hence willing to help you out if you need extra help. Again, if the suggested implementation is too difficult or beyond the scope of your project you could always use the workaround I suggested above. Utorrent has a fairly functional webinterface and I am sure quite a few other torrent clients do as well. That way the user could specify the url for their particular torrent client.

While this workaround is definitely seems to be the easiest route to take for broadening the usability of the webremote it does have drawbacks. Skinablity for one. Just some thoughts. Please let me know if you have any questions for me. Cheers.

[digitalhigh]

I use it pretty frequently as my computer is in a room adjacent to the TV where I can see it, but don't feel like using the controller.

I also have a PSP, which I TRY to use to control the xbox, but got errors pretty frequently. I liked the idea of a PSP friendly version because my reciever has an external room controller, which means that I could turn off the TV and just play music to another room. But again...errors.

So yeah...I'd love to see a more streamlined, shiny version of the webUI. Hell, I'd even be willing to help with the graphics if needed...

I would love the web interface to be more than just a way of controlling xbmc, and also act as an interface to subscribe to media.

I would check this out in my own webUI, but it seems like mine is currently on the fritz...
but didn't I see something that would let you add bookmarks in the current UI? If so, couldn't that be implemented better?

Maybe I'm wrong...either way, a lighter version for mobile purposes would be cool, and a glossier, more intuitive version for the PC would also be great...

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by digitalhigh

I would check this out in my own webUI, but it seems like mine is currently on the fritz...
but didn't I see something that would let you add bookmarks in the current UI? If so, couldn't that be implemented better?

Do you mean bookmarking in the webui as you would do in xbmc itself? Possibly but I'm pretty sure you can't use it to subscribe to online content. or do you mean something else?

Inspired by this thread I decided to check out TVersity again. I tried it before when I was still using the xbox but I couldn't get it to work. I did manage to get it to work now with my htpc though. Pretty nice I must say. Beats typing in G4 podcast feeds by hand in a plugin
I know TVersity is not just a WebUI but a media server as well,but it would be pretty awesome to have something like this more tailored to xbmc. Plus it's kind of a resource hog.

Another thing I thought of is to have a theme/skin selector. I'm planning to make one for the WebUI someday, but I would like to be able to switch skins on the fly. That's not possible right now isn't it?

[digitalhigh]

In theory, you could design a webUI totally outside of XBMC...all it needs is the IP address to pass commands to, and I think you can do anything supported by the server.

I actually started making a function in a winamp skin that would let you control your xbox with winamp...just disable the button commands and send "play" "stop" "pause", etc to the http server...it was basic, but it was a good proof-of-concept.

And I'm not sure what, exactly you can do with the bookmarks, but I would think that if you can save a file with the address of a stream or station, then there's got to be some way to save the URL of a podcast...

I dunno...I'm not a podcast person. But streaming and URL's...they're all in the same category.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Do you mean bookmarking in the webui as you would do in xbmc itself? Possibly but I'm pretty sure you can't use it to subscribe to online content. or do you mean something else?

Inspired by this thread I decided to check out TVersity again. I tried it before when I was still using the xbox but I couldn't get it to work. I did manage to get it to work now with my htpc though. Pretty nice I must say. Beats typing in G4 podcast feeds by hand in a plugin
I know TVersity is not just a WebUI but a media server as well,but it would be pretty awesome to have something like this more tailored to xbmc. Plus it's kind of a resource hog.

Another thing I thought of is to have a theme/skin selector. I'm planning to make one for the WebUI someday, but I would like to be able to switch skins on the fly. That's not possible right now isn't it?

[chocky]

Originally Posted by digitalhigh

In theory, you could design a webUI totally outside of XBMC...all it needs is the IP address to pass commands to, and I think you can do anything supported by the server.

Oh, definitely. But by that point you'd sort of have two servers- the XBMC HTTP server that you're using for the basic commands, and another web server to do the complicated stuff. Not to say that it can't be done, but it strikes me as a bit inefficient. Javascript can act as the mediator between the two from a simple HTML file, but then it won't work on mobile devices. Hence my running around in circles.

It'd be amazing if the XBMC server could process PHP or similar but then I don't know how far we'd want to go into embedding a fully-featured HTTP server in with XBMC, I'm going to guess it'd be a resource drag.

Another project that you should definitely look at before proceeding is this thread http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php...hlight=torrent It looks like the devs might be interested and hence willing to help you out if you need extra help.

Interesting. Certainly by the sounds of it (I'm not familiar) the TorrentFlux thing could be dropped in as is, and just skinned to suit. Probably something I'd look at later on, though- especially as it isn't close to integrated yet.

Overall, an interesting place to look is the XBMC list of HTTP commands- if it ain't in there, I ain't doing it (at least initially, anyway )

[Wir3d]

I use it on my Ipaq (PPC) for navagating and playing music and movies.