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Android App: make getting to TV shows more intuitive


Valmont

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Valmont

Getting to television shows is not intuitive for a new user, as there is no longer the side menu bar with access to all libraries, and it appears "My Media" is not a prominent default home screen item.

 

Possible solutions:

1. Make "My Media" the default Home screen section 1 item

 

2. Change the "film" icon on the bottom menu bar to "Media" or similar. Make the drop down menu for library selection in the top left hand corner a sliding selection similar to the "movies, suggestion, trailers, etc..." menu, or add a library selection screen protector to jumping into the library.

 

3. Bring back the side menu bar for the Android and Android TV apps.

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MBSki

Getting to television shows is not intuitive for a new user, as there is no longer the side menu bar with access to all libraries, and it appears "My Media" is not a prominent default home screen item.

 

Possible solutions:

 

3. Bring back the side menu bar for the Android and Android TV apps.

 

Agreed. Asked for the same thing in this post: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/83141-poll-consistent-design-and-feature-parity-across-all-platforms/page-4, but haven't gotten a response. It doesn't seem like the devs like the left nav fly out, but I'm not sure why. It works well and can be applied the same way on every platform.

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and it appears "My Media" is not a prominent default home screen item.

 

Hi, what makes you think this? Out of the box it's at the top of the home screen.

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Valmont

Understood. It may not have been there for me, as I upgraded from a previous version where I may have removed that row.

In either case, the Film button on the bottom menu could use a little bit of improvement to include other library types if that row is removed. Perhaps call it libraries instead?

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OK so i think this thread needs to be narrowed down to something more like it's hard to get to tv shows if I've configured my home screen a certain way.

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Valmont

Agreed. I may be a unique case, but without the my media row and the removal of the side menu, the film button becomes the only portal to the libraries. In that case, it being labeled as film can be confusing. It took me a little while to figure out what had happened without reading the release notes, and I've been using emby for two years.

It's sorted now in my case, the concern is for new users who configure "libraries" in the back end, but don't have a correspondingly labeled way to get to them on the front end. I'd hate to think someone got turned off to using emby as their media solution because of confusion.

Just a suggestion.

Edited by Valmont
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I'm afraid I'm a little confused.  You removed the "My Media" row from your home screen display and now cannot get to your libraries.  That's because they are shown on that row.  Why not just add that row back?

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Valmont

Of course I have since done that, but when the update occurred that removed the sidebar, the home screen was very confusing without that "my media" row. The bottom row menu remains confusing with a film button in my opinion.

Edited by Valmont
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Valmont

At the end of the day, I make the following more generic recommendations: Consider integration libraries into an unconfigurable place in the UI to prevent the user from placing themselves into a confusing situation. Repurpose the film button as a libraries button. Short of this, bring back the side menu.

Edited by Valmont
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MBSki

Thanks for the feedback. We'll look at improving it.

 

@@Luke That's good to hear. I know I've asked this several times before, but I haven't gotten a response so I'm going to try again. As a new user, I wasn't around for when the left nav fly out/side menu was available, and the discussion about getting rid of it. Can you explain why it's being removed from all the apps? The side menu is standard in just about every app in existence, and it works on every platform. Why not bring back something that is so universal and easy to use?

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We don't have a button to open it, therefore you can only discover it by swiping. Google recently shared usage data from their own apps demonstrating that something like only 1.5% of users use side swiping to open the menu.

 

It is OK to have a side pull out menu as an extra shortcut, but in our development we should not be treating it as primary navigation. Everything you need should be in front of you on-screen, and then, if  you're an advanced user, maybe you'll use the side pull out menu for quicker access.

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MBSki

Thanks Luke. 1.5% is really bad. Considering how often I use it, I never would've guessed such a low percentage. I'm ok with a side pull out as an extra shortcut, but those only exist in the web app currently. It's gone from both Android mobile and Android TV. At this point, maybe the side menu isn't the right approach, but rather some new thinking on library navigation that is more intuitive and consistent across platforms. Is that a fair assessment?

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Considering how often I use it, I never would've guessed such a low percentage. 

In Android 10 when you enable gesture navigation, you don't get left swipe menu pull-out anymore, and that usage data is why they didn't feel bad about doing that.

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Valmont

Are they phasing it out on Android TV apps as well? It's still standard in almost all media consumption apps on the platform as far as I can tell (i.e. Hulu, Netflix,D+, etc.).

Edited by Valmont
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Are they phasing it out on Android TV apps as well? It's still standard in almost all media consumption apps on the platform as far as I can tell (i.e. Hulu, Netflix,D+, etc.).

 

It is a little different on the TV platform because 1) it is always visible (as a small bar of icons usually) and 2) more easily discover-able because you "back" your way into it (instead of having to know some obscure gesture for it to appear).

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Valmont

Could it be brought back on that (Android TV) platform only? Or are the two Android clients too linked to do so?

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MBSki

Could it be brought back on that (Android TV) platform only? Or are the two Android clients too linked to do so?

 

Agreed, and Xbox One. It's still in the Web app, but that's the only place the left library nav still appears. Frankly I'm not sure I understand why it's being removed if the other standard apps (YouTube, Netflix, etc.) still have it. I get the point that functions should be right in front of you, but I'd gladly remove My Media from the home page if I could get to my libraries from a left library nav fly out.

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Could it be brought back on that (Android TV) platform only? Or are the two Android clients too linked to do so?

 

We never had a side-bar menu like you are describing on Android TV.  The side-bar that used to be there was nothing but a shortcut to the row headings on the screen.  It was not a list of your libraries or customizable, etc.

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MBSki

We never had a side-bar menu like you are describing on Android TV.  The side-bar that used to be there was nothing but a shortcut to the row headings on the screen.  It was not a list of your libraries or customizable, etc.

 

Right, a library list in left side-bar would be better. Any chance of that option?

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  • 1 year later...
cylynex

Old thread but still interested in this, as I've jumped back in to check out the updates and see it's still just a top menu.

Lack of a sidebar makes it a pain to navigate.  The top menu doesn't stick at the top, it scrolls, so if you are deep down the page on your list, you have to scroll all the way back up to get to your menu.  Even if you hit back, it actually opens the menu instead of popping you back to the top.  You can only see a few items at a time (if you are using text instead of the icons especially) and it's still not convenient to use.

This is the one feature that has kept me from using this as my primary media solution.

Anyway, feedback for what it's worth.

Edited by cylynex
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2 hours ago, cylynex said:

Old thread but still interested in this, as I've jumped back in to check out the updates and see it's still just a top menu.

Lack of a sidebar makes it a pain to navigate.  The top menu doesn't stick at the top, it scrolls, so if you are deep down the page on your list, you have to scroll all the way back up to get to your menu.  Even if you hit back, it actually opens the menu instead of popping you back to the top.  You can only see a few items at a time (if you are using text instead of the icons especially) and it's still not convenient to use.

This is the one feature that has kept me from using this as my primary media solution.

Anyway, feedback for what it's worth.

Are you using this on a TV device?

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cylynex
1 minute ago, Luke said:

Are you using this on a TV device?

Yes, Samsung TV.  If I use it on the browser I have the flyout window on the left, but not on the TV.

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