Archive:Team Kodi manifesto: Difference between revisions
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The XBMC manifesto is [[Team-XBMC]]'s public declaration of the XBMC projects principles, philosophy | The XBMC manifesto is [[Team-XBMC]]'s public declaration of the XBMC projects principles, philosophy and intentions. This manifesto tries to outline the goals we aim and hope to achieve with XBMC and sum up the XBMC project's strategic direction for the present and the future. | ||
==User-friendliness is next to godlyness== | ==User-friendliness is next to godlyness== | ||
One major ongoing goal of [[Team-XBMC]] has always been to make XBMC and | One major ongoing goal of [[Team-XBMC]] has always been to make XBMC and it's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user_interface user interface] even more [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/intuitive intuitive] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user-friendliness user-friendly] for it's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user end-users], based on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle '''KISS''' ('''K'''eep '''I'''t '''S'''imple '''S'''tupid) principle] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplicity simplicity]]. It is our belief that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability usability] is the most important aspect of a media center like XBMC. Many other media center projects make user interface decisions by developers, who often have little experience in user interface design. In contrast, [[Team-XBMC]] does it's best to listen to XBMC's end-users to learn how XBMC is actually being used and how we can improve the user experience. We also aim to do regular overhauls, improving existing features/functions, and scrapping outdated code and features/functions (as "too much stuff" adds unnecessary complexity and can thus also be a bad thing). Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. | ||
===XBMC as a whole must...=== | ===XBMC as a whole must...=== | ||
*First and foremost be aimed at a large-screen (28" or more) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_interface 10-foot user interface] for the living-room experience. | *First and foremost be aimed at a large-screen (28" or more) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_interface 10-foot user interface] for the living-room experience. | ||
**Large menus, text/fonts and buttons that is designed to be navigated by a hand-held remote-control. | **Large menus, text/fonts and buttons that is designed to be navigated by a hand-held remote-control. | ||
*Be easy to install, set up | *Be easy to install, set up and maintain (so that our valuable end-users do not get fed up with it and quit). | ||
*Have an user interface that is simple and intuitive enough so that less tech-savvy people are not intimidated by it. | *Have an user interface that is simple and intuitive enough so that less tech-savvy people are not intimidated by it. | ||
**Make common usage easy, simple '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction Human–Computer Interaction (HCI)]', from the viewpoint of an ordinary user. | **Make common usage easy, simple '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction Human–Computer Interaction (HCI)]', from the viewpoint of an ordinary user. | ||
*Be able to play audio and video files that have been encoded using | *Be able to play audio and video files that have been encoded using DivX, XviD, etc. directly out-of-the-box. | ||
*Be able to | *Be able to organize audio and video files in an easy and user-friendly way. | ||
*Use standards and be consistent, (the Music section can for example not use completely different controls from the Video section). | *Use standards and be consistent, (the Music section can for example not use completely different controls from the Video section). | ||
*Perform actions in the GUI with as few 'clicks' as possible. | *Perform actions in the GUI with as few 'clicks' as possible. | ||
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*Require little to no non-GUI configuration (and all such non-GUI configuration should be done in just one file: [[AdvancedSettings.xml]]). | *Require little to no non-GUI configuration (and all such non-GUI configuration should be done in just one file: [[AdvancedSettings.xml]]). | ||
**There is still a little work to be done here, for example RSS-feeds settings need to moved to the GUI. | **There is still a little work to be done here, for example RSS-feeds settings need to moved to the GUI. | ||
*Be beautiful to look at, after all we hope you will be using it | *Be beautiful to look at, after all we hope you will be using it a lot! | ||
Revision as of 05:34, 10 September 2007
The XBMC manifesto is Team-XBMC's public declaration of the XBMC projects principles, philosophy and intentions. This manifesto tries to outline the goals we aim and hope to achieve with XBMC and sum up the XBMC project's strategic direction for the present and the future.
User-friendliness is next to godlyness
One major ongoing goal of Team-XBMC has always been to make XBMC and it's user interface even more intuitive and user-friendly for it's end-users, based on the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle of [simplicity]. It is our belief that usability is the most important aspect of a media center like XBMC. Many other media center projects make user interface decisions by developers, who often have little experience in user interface design. In contrast, Team-XBMC does it's best to listen to XBMC's end-users to learn how XBMC is actually being used and how we can improve the user experience. We also aim to do regular overhauls, improving existing features/functions, and scrapping outdated code and features/functions (as "too much stuff" adds unnecessary complexity and can thus also be a bad thing). Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
XBMC as a whole must...
- First and foremost be aimed at a large-screen (28" or more) 10-foot user interface for the living-room experience.
- Large menus, text/fonts and buttons that is designed to be navigated by a hand-held remote-control.
- Be easy to install, set up and maintain (so that our valuable end-users do not get fed up with it and quit).
- Have an user interface that is simple and intuitive enough so that less tech-savvy people are not intimidated by it.
- Make common usage easy, simple 'Human–Computer Interaction (HCI)', from the viewpoint of an ordinary user.
- Be able to play audio and video files that have been encoded using DivX, XviD, etc. directly out-of-the-box.
- Be able to organize audio and video files in an easy and user-friendly way.
- Use standards and be consistent, (the Music section can for example not use completely different controls from the Video section).
- Perform actions in the GUI with as few 'clicks' as possible.
- Be aimed at an international audience, internationalization and localization by supporting different languages, timezones and other regional differences
- Require little to no non-GUI configuration (and all such non-GUI configuration should be done in just one file: AdvancedSettings.xml).
- There is still a little work to be done here, for example RSS-feeds settings need to moved to the GUI.
- Be beautiful to look at, after all we hope you will be using it a lot!