New UI suggestions

Chris G

I am not a fan of the multi column and tab bar design.

I think a single column where sections and subsections expand and collapse would be better.

Similar to something like Sonarr:

I think that the column should always be in the current collapsed state, and it should "slide out", similar to how the forum UI slides out when you mouse over to the left, when you mouse over it. Users should be able to pin it out if they wish. I want to keep as much screenspace available for the tables.

In regard to the table, I think it needs to be denser. It seems like there's padding/wasted space between columns. Perhaps auto-adjust the columns to be as wide as the column text by default, with the exception of the first 3 columns, where they should be just wide enough for the checkboxes and icons.

Finally, the dark theme. I'm not sure what the issue is, but it just doesn't look right to me. The light theme looks great.

chewitt

Chris G Finally, the dark theme. I'm not sure what the issue is, but it just doesn't look right to me.

Although it is dark, it's not a dark theme, it's a high-contrast accessibility theme; hence the 'Access' name. We have plans to add a proper dark theme at some point.

chewitt

Chris G I think a single column where sections and subsections expand and collapse would be better.

Chris G I think that the column should always be in the current collapsed state, and it should "slide out", similar to how the forum UI slides out when you mouse over to the left, when you mouse over it.

Have you discovered the 'Collapse' buttons at the base of each panel? this collapses each down to a small size so thy occupy a minimal amount of real-estate. I don't have a working system to show the EPG from, but here's the settings screen:

NB: the overly long 'Electronic Program Guide' and 'Digital Video Recorder' navigation items that force the initial state of the top-level panel to be rather wide should be changed soon: tvheadend/tvheadend2220

DeltaMikeCharlie

Chris G I think it needs to be denser. It seems like there's padding/wasted space between columns.

I agree, even in 'Miniscule' mode, I think that there is scope for compaction.

I also think that being able to have a custom.css feature would be beneficial providing power users and users with access requirements the ability to customise almost every access of the UI.

Chris G

chewitt Although it is dark, it's not a dark theme, it's a high-contrast accessibility theme; hence the 'Access' name. We have plans to add a proper dark theme at some point.

Ok it makes more sense now.

chewitt Have you discovered the 'Collapse' buttons at the base of each panel?

Yes. Perhaps I described it poorly. I was actually asking for several changes:

Remove the second column and put its buttons into the first column, nested, like in Sonarr.
Remove the tab bar and add the buttons to the already nested options as further nested options...But If you have fixed the issue where tabs required scrolling, then I guess the tabs are fine.
Make the one and only column I described "collapsed" by default. Mousing over it pops it out to reveal the text, then it slides back over when it looses focus to just display icons. Allow users to pin it always open if they wish.

My original 1 column UI would have looked something like this:
This is what you would see if you clicked on Configuration > General:

Home
TV
Electronic Programme Guide
Digital Video Recorder

Server
Configuration
  - General
    - Base
    - Image Cache
    - SAT>IP Server
  - Users
  - DVB Inputs
  - Channel / EPG
  - Stream
  - Recording
  - CAs
  - Debugging
Status
About
Classic UI

But if the tab bar is being fixed, then my new proposal would look like this:

Home
TV
Electronic Programme Guide
Digital Video Recorder

Server
Configuration
  - General
  - Users
  - DVB Inputs
  - Channel / EPG
  - Stream
  - Recording
  - CAs
  - Debugging
Status
About
Classic UI

I strongly feel the second bar is waste of space and I really like my idea of the UI sliding out of the way.
It would look like thins until you mouse over it:

Then when moused over, it would look like this:

Then go away again when you move your mouse off.
I'd still give users the option to pin it always open if they wish.

Chris G

My first time using the EPG to set up some recordings and I ran into an issue. There is no indication when I set something to record:

I have to click on them to see:

Also not sure why we need the "..." button? Can we have all functions as a direct buttons please?

chewitt

I disagree with the initial state of navigation being collapsed as this is less intuitive for new Tvheadend users learning the functions behind a complex set of titles and tabs, and experienced users who understand what those tabs do but need visual help adjusting to the change in orientation. Once familiarity has been learned or restored it's a single click to persistently collapse the bar. These things need to be opt-out, not opt-in.

I'm also not a huge fan of the second panel, but I think the dust needs to settle on current changes before we leap into making further adjustments. I note that the Classic GUI is equally terrible for having up-to four rows of tabs in the Configuration section so only two columns is still a worthy reduction 🙂

NB: The first of my changes to simplify navigation labels to single-word items has now been merged. There are quite a few more to pick off. At the moment these changes are only for English as the new GUI won't be folded into Transifex for translations until after Classic is removed.

chewitt

Dark theme coming soon 🙂 tvheadend/tvheadend2234

Chris G

chewitt

Fantastic.

Would you consider rebasing the Docker image to the Linuxservers.io one?

chewitt

Chris G Would you consider rebasing the Docker image to the Linuxservers.io one?

No. Why?

Chris G

chewitt

Because their base images support mods, custom startup scripts, custom services and effortless permissions handling.
https://docs.linuxserver.io/general/container-customization/#custom-scripts
I make use of this customisation but unfortunately they don’t maintain their image any more. They don’t accept pull requests and their bot just removes them after a while.

chewitt

I know j0hnnymoe/aptalca and will ping them for a chat.

Chris G

We should copy it and make it the official image. I will help maintain it if needs be.