meta<browser/> - Usability Suggestions

Usability Suggestions

Hi guys,
Over the past several days I've been migrating from Media Center Master, and thanks to help from Fatal this has gone extremely well. I'm still floored by all of the different plugins and customization options that MB provides. Really great stuff. That said, there are some little things I miss from MCM. For some context about myself, I'm a UI guy, so making things easy is something I love to do. So here are some ideas I have and I'd love to hear opinions.

Right click->Process. I like how doing one at a time queues them up, but then if I multi-select->process, it ignores the queue and does them immediately in a modal fashion that blocks all use of the app. Can this be made consistent so that it always performs the same way? Sometimes I forget the difference.

Also on this topic, I like to keep my metadata clean and complete, so if I see a title is missing something, I may re-process, or add it myself to TheTVDB/TheMovieDB and then re-fetch. It seems the right click process always pulls the info from the cache, and the only way to re-fetch from the server is to clear it first. Can this be made a little less cumbersome? I'd prefer it if process always went to the server.

Refresh vs process vs fetch. Can right click-> refresh maybe be renamed to "Refresh from metadata". Just so that it's completely clear what the difference is.

In the information panel, it'd be nice if somewhere there were a read-only field containing the physical path to the item. Perhaps at the top. I know I can see this by hovering over in the list but it'd be nice if this were more readily available. If this were a link to open it in windows explorer that'd be all the better.

Also, how about links to open items at the fetcher's website? For instance, if I have IMDB and TheMovieDB installed, it'd be nice if the information panel for movies had links to open the webpage for both. This should also work for TV at the series, season and episode levels.

Also in the left-hand panel, I like how it separates movies and tv for me. It's an extremely long vertical list though. Is it possible to have an option to separate via tabs? So a tab for movies and a tab for tv.

What do you think?

Replies (2)

RE: Usability Suggestions - Added by fatal 4 months ago

Hey Luke,

1. The reason this is different when items are multi-selected is b/c when items are multi-selected I calculate for each selected item what metadata is the same/different etc for you to edit. When you process multiple items it is done in a blocking manner to prevent editing and a complete refresh is done on the selected items as metadata might have changed during the processing. If I just queue it up and let it process without blocking, you will still be allowed to manually edit/save but information might now be different b/c it is also processing/updating in the background.

2. I can add an option to the fetchers as to the amount of time to cache the locally stored metadata (although I am hesitant and will have to think about it). But note, that TMDb (and maybe TVDb also) has a cache of their own and updated items through their website are not instantly available through their API. If you want to reprocess items with missing/incomplete metadata automatically on a timed basis please have a look at Process Profiles

3. I have no plans to rename the item, the refresh does the same thing as the "Refresh" button on the main application ribbon, although, with the right click menu it only refreshes the item(s) you choose to refresh.

4. If you have MediaInfo installed, the path should be visible in the MediaInfo panel. I have no plans to add this to the Information panel as that panel is for fetched/locally stored metadata only. Also, Right Click->Open Folder (Ctrl+O) on the selected item opens the folder.

5. On the information panel, next to each items ID is a little arrow button, click that button and it opens the webpage for that particular item/id.

6. Each location can have a specific Group value assigned to it, and each item will be separated into individual groups. Also, have a look at Filtering and saved filters, you can created saved filters for your metadata (ie, TV / Movies) and get separation that way.

Let me know if you any questions about any of the above.

Take Care

RE: Usability Suggestions - Added by luke823 4 months ago

Wow, so as it turns out some of these things are already possible. Great stuff. I guess I still have more good things to discover about this app.

I am playing with process profiles as a way to fill in missing info. I do still think it's slightly confusing to right click->Process and not always get the latest info, but you are right - profiles are the best way as the more I can automate the better. I do know about TMDB/TVDB caches. It usually takes about 10-15 mins for new changes to be available.

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