Sorting By... Suggestion

[blgentry 49]

I few days ago, I side loaded the Emby Android client onto my Nvidia Shield.  Previously I was using the Emby for AndroidTV.  One feature of the ATV version is that the sort has the most common sorting items grouped together. 

Namely:
Sort by Title

Sort by Date Added

 

These are right next to each other, at the top of the list.  So, using a remote control to select these options is pretty fast.

By contrast, on the Android version, these sort items are alphabetical.  So going from Date to Title takes quite a few presses of the down or up key on the remote.  This is quite a bit slower and less friendly for someone using the Android version of Emby on a device that is controlled with a handheld remote control.  

 

I can think of several ways to make this easier:

 

1.  Have the Android App remember the last 2 or 3 Sort By settings and put them at the top of the list.  Thus your most used Sorts will be right at the top and easy to use.  You might add a setting to turn on and off this "most recent sorts" feature for those that do not like that behavior.

2.  Or have a Setting for each sort by item that can be turned on and off.  For me personally, I only ever sort by these two items (Title or Date).  I would turn off all others if it was an available setting.

 

All of this assumes that the Android client is "the future" for AndroidTV based devices and that development of the AndroidTV app is mostly over.

 

Thanks for reading my suggestion.

 

Brian.

[Luke 37099]

Hi, I think the idea of ordering the latest based on usage does have some merit.

The question is whether people will start complaining that it seems to random or out of control.

[blgentry 49]

From past experience, the safest way to do things like this is to make an option that is off by default.  That way the new behavior can be an "opt in" for those that want it and it does not change anything for everyone else.

 

Thanks,

Brian.