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[joshhuggins]

It would sure be nice if Media Center opened with the Action Window remembering it's last state when the program last closed. Would be handy, when using the action window while doing a lot of editing on files. Just a wish. Thanks for listening.

[ferent]

Yes!! good Idea!!

[JimH]

It's bad for new users.  It's the kind of thing that can get them lost.

[risingdamp]

It's bad for new users.  It's the kind of thing that can get them lost.

I agree but MC is not a program for computer illiterates.  This is why you would have options like 'Remember action window state' and you default it to 'No'.

[JimH]

It isn't about catering to illiterates.  Smart people sometimes don't notice things you'd think they would.  We learned a lot a year ago when we spent about 100 hours watching new users navigate around MC.

[KingSparta]

100 hours watching new users navigate around MC.

I guess that was a top secret study group

[JimH]

The ceiling was six feet of concrete.

[glynor]

I guess that was a top secret study group

The ceiling was six feet of concrete.

 

My coffee almost came out my nose.  Thanks for making my Friday better!

[Matt]

If you need to continually annoy the more advanced users in order to accommodate the novices, maybe the UI needs to be re-thunk.   

Let's keep things in perspective.  We're talking about 1 or 2 clicks here.  You can always minimize the program if you don't want to lose your state.

[glynor]

I can certainly understand (and appreciate) the development team's dedication to preventing "option bloat".  Having a Preferences Dialog with 8,000,000 tabs and checkboxes is the quickest way to turn people off to a new system.  Some power users, like me, love them, but to most people it's just confusing.

However, isn't there a way we could have the best of both worlds?  I, personally, don't care at all if the Action Window remember's it's state (it takes one click to minimize it), but people do ask for this feature a lot.  However, I ask for weird options all the time that would be VERY useful to some people (and admittedly not to many others).

If many of these "rarely used" options were implemented in an XML settings file that MC used, or implemented in the Windows Registry (I would definitely vote for #1), the "super-power-users" we would be able to more completely customize our interface without bloating the standard Preferences Panel.  In fact, you could actually even streamline the existing panel a bit more if there was this "extra-advanced" method of modifying the application's behavior!  (And then some extremely helpful user like KingSparta or I would come along and design an application that modifies the archaic XML settings file for us and everyone would be happy.)

This model is used in all kinds of applications, from SageTV to Firefox to Windows itself (what is the Registry for after all).  Why not?

[datdude]

Oooh, take the amazing engine that MC has built and allow sedans fro some, suv's for others, and luxury/sports cars for still others..

I like lexus becuase they have thought up just about everything that a media player I mean car should have.

[joshhuggins]

I can certainly understand (and appreciate) the development team's dedication to preventing "option bloat".  Having a Preferences Dialog with 8,000,000 tabs and checkboxes is the quickest way to turn people off to a new system.  Some power users, like me, love them, but to most people it's just confusing.

However, isn't there a way we could have the best of both worlds?  I, personally, don't care at all if the Action Window remember's it's state (it takes one click to minimize it), but people do ask for this feature a lot.  However, I ask for weird options all the time that would be VERY useful to some people (and admittedly not to many others).

If many of these "rarely used" options were implemented in an XML settings file that MC used, or implemented in the Windows Registry (I would definitely vote for #1), the "super-power-users" we would be able to more completely customize our interface without bloating the standard Preferences Panel.  In fact, you could actually even streamline the existing panel a bit more if there was this "extra-advanced" method of modifying the application's behavior!  (And then some extremely helpful user like KingSparta or I would come along and design an application that modifies the archaic XML settings file for us and everyone would be happy.)

This model is used in all kinds of applications, from SageTV to Firefox to Windows itself (what is the Registry for after all).  Why not?

 Great post glynor, I totally agree. And while I have a small voice in here, that type of customization is what really helped those programs really become great to use. Beginners could use the program as is, and the novices got to benefit from the advanced users tweaking, and those advanced users could really make the program better and suite more people rather than trying to design one program to fit best in the whole of the masses. I mean most of the plug-ins are pretty dated and tired I think it's because it seems there no ease to customize the program other than some skinning mods. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing on the dev. team, I just wish for it to be the best it can because I love it so much! Anyway, thanks for listening and keep up the great work.