More compact EPG layout so more channels are visible at once
*** Summarised idea from trials process ***
The EPG layout currently allows two lines per channel, one line for the programme title and then another mainly used for symbols. If this were all wrapped onto a single line (but with some padding so it does not look too tight) then it should be possible to display perhaps 9-10 channels on a screen rather than the current 6.
In combination with channel list management this could make it easier to review what is on across more channels without having to move up and down the guide as much.
Any EPG layout tweak may wish to also take in to account the separate point about displaying some of the synopsis of a programme when highlighted.
The EPG layout currently allows two lines per channel, one line for the programme title and then another mainly used for symbols. If this were all wrapped onto a single line (but with some padding so it does not look too tight) then it should be possible to display perhaps 9-10 channels on a screen rather than the current 6.
In combination with channel list management this could make it easier to review what is on across more channels without having to move up and down the guide as much.
Any EPG layout tweak may wish to also take in to account the separate point about displaying some of the synopsis of a programme when highlighted.
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This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
guide improvement.
1. Increasing the displayed time span
2. Allowing page by page navigation (like the other Humax boxes) would be better.
3. Not having to wait for the screen to re-drawn
I'd also like to see a larger in picture display, which like said above could be accommodated by reducing the lines per channel.
Pressing Zoom should cycle a set of EPG layouts with both smaller and larger font sizes. The EPG adjusting to fit more or less channels and time dependent on the font size. Whichever size you set saved as your default whenever you bring up the guide. The EPG would then continue to support those with sight problems and small tv's while being much more functional.
I don't think having a zoom mode that zooms out to make the text smaller though is going to help many people. The current text size is about as small as most people would like yet some people would like to see more information on one screen when at that text size and hence were suggesting a more compact layout/better use of the screen space for the EPG to show say 9 channels over a 2-3 hour window by default.
If at the current text size they could rework the layout to show say 9 channels in a 2.5 hour window that might give a good layout for those that want to see more. If they could then rework the zoom to instead say have a first zoom level that showed 6 channel over a 1.5 hour window (i.e. as much as is shown now) but now with a larger text size due to a more efficient layout that could be good for those who want a slightly larger text size. They could then have an even larger zoom mode that displayed say only 4 channels over a 1 hour window. If they then coupled this with the box remembering the zoom mode you last used as suggested above people would be able to choose the EPG text size layout that worked best for them.
The rest of the guide is much easier to read and an additional two or three channels could be added on each page of the guide.
Unfortunately it's performance is a bit flakey!
Maybe we could request implementing the skip buttons (which at present are unused when viewing the EPG) to move either an hour at a time or a page at a time?
Currently the "Available" programmes are displayed more brightly than the "Not available" (perhaps it is bold text rather than a normal font). This is quite clear and is all that is necessary.
At present when an item is selected the second line says either "TO WATCH, PRESS OK" or "NOT AVAILABLE". This is not necessary.
All that is needed is an error message which pops up if you click "OK" and the programme is not available.
(Even the most dozy of new users would soon learn the difference.)
The operation of this is actually a bit hit and miss but is obviously intended to address your problem.
This allows me to get a good overview of and evening's viewing on all of the channels I'm most interested in, all at once, and quickly to be able to get full information about any given programme simply by moving the cursor around.
By contrast, YouView only shows me 6 channels, without giving me any control (other than total deletion) over which ones I'll want to see at the same time (so I have to scroll up and down a lot to see the channels I'm most interested in), over only 1.5 hours (so I have to scroll left and right a lot to see what's on this evening), and I have to press the *i* button to see more information about a particular programme (so even when I can see channel and time for the programmes I'm interested in, I still can't see much information about them without pressing another button).
These things combined are yet another example of YouView making me press lots of buttons to be able to see the information that is easily to hand at a single button press on another of my PVRs, so that using it is very button-intensive.
Julie
P.S. On my other PVR, I can choose (or even create) my own skin for the colours, and choose the size of the text etc. too, so it's not an accessibility issue. It's simply an issue of optimising access to information in whatever format works best for the user (which will vary from one user to another - some may value high contrast and large fonts; others, like myself, value an overview of and more detailed information about their choice of most-watched channels, without having to continually press loads of buttons to get it).
Unfortunately, my grand-daughter came round and slept in the same room as the Toppy, and for some reason it has now stopped working ...... there will be a wake held a week next Saturday.
Also, MyStuff came up on another thread (not so far from here, currently) as an example of an interface that YouView could well learn from, and all of us MyStuff fans got kicked a bit for being geeky nerds who fiddle with steam radios in our garden sheds.
The key thing, that I have been bashing away at on these forums since the beginning, is that the YouView design process needs to take more account of how many key-presses it takes to achieve an end result. MyStuff makes extensive use of all the keys, and it is all configurable to the level you want.
I believe that going to the level of MyStuff would be counter to the design aims of keeping away from complications, especially for Mrs Trellis, of North Wales. But YouView could get a lot of design ideas from MyStuff, I believe. As I have said before, if they added to their design criteria for EVERY change - "how can we implement this with the minimum number of key presses?" as one of the inputs for the design, then a lot of frustrations could be avoided.
I cite 2 examples.
1. The YouView button goes to "Guide". If I wanted the epg, I would press the Guide key ....! So why does the YouView button not go straight to the recordings, or at least MyView?
2. When hiding channels you have to put a tick in the box, AND THEN key down to get to the next channel. Presumably, if you have selected a channel to hide, then you want to move on to the next channel. Why does it not do this automatically? This effectively increases the number of key presses for this operation by the number of channels you are hiding - in my case about 50!
There are countless other examples I could cite - not making the Date/A-Z order of recordings sticky - have to select it EVERY time, if you want A-Z ....
So, design IN reduced key strokes, please YouView. Make the box more user-friendly. It is a superb functional box, with a few frustrations that could so easily be avoided, and I suspect with very little coding, in most cases.
YouView is at the other end of the scale. Pressing a button rarely takes you directly to where you want to be, and even when it does, half the time it hasn't selected anything, and pressing the "obvious" button to select something takes you back a step instead.
Because of the design decision to have the navigational stuff at the bottom of the screen, you have to press Down to move the cursor down within a page, but Right to move to the next page in your recordings, rather than continuing to use the Down button. (All of this could have been avoided by having the navigational stuff at the top, with sub-menus dropping down instead of popping up from the bottom, which would have allowed much more intuitive navigation.)
Having a dedicated Guide button, *and* making the YouView button default to Guide is just plain nuts. I could live with using the Play button (like Sky+, much as I'm not a fan of that UI either) to get directly to my recording list (after all, there is some logic to it - I want to Play one of my recordings), but that's already being used for a variation on much the same info that you could get by pressing the OK or Info buttons.
It's almost as if the design brief was to make sure that we don't waste any of those lovely buttons on the remote, and make sure the user has to press as many of them as often as possible. Maybe they're hoping to make a killing on selling replacements for worn out remotes?
Hi
It's been said on here by YouView staff that the remote's GUIDE button isn't a mandated part of the YouView spec and therefore it's conceivable that boxes could emerge without one.
Apparently the spec had to be flexible enough to allow manufacturers some leeway to differentiate their boxes (and, I suspect, prices) from one another.
This is why the YouView (Y) button defaults to the guide.
Presumably because HUMAX and TalkTalk decided to put a dedicated guide button on their remotes rather than a short cut to the recordings library.
As I say, it's been said on here (IIRC) that the button isn't part of the YouView spec.
I have not come across a modern TV or PVR yet that does not have a Guide/EPG button. It is a fundamental part of any modern device - like wheels on a car, and one of the most used features. The WHOLE of the marketing for YouView centres on the great functionality of the guide - it is central to the platform!
Ratifying a design brief that allows someone to make a YouView control WITHOUT a Guide/EPG button on the remote would be the same as Microsoft endorsing a Windows mouse with no left-click button, as long as the software put up a window on the screen when you pressed the right-click button asking whether you wanted left or right click. Insane.