[mythtv] OSD timeout settings

[James Courtier-Dutton]

On 17 June 2010 00:16, Simon Kenyon <simon at koala.ie> wrote:
> Mark Kendall wrote:
>> With respect to the timeout settings, how many people would actually
>> notice and/or care if the default/fallback theme settings were 5
>> seconds in general and, say, 10 seconds for more verbose windows?
>> Indeed, how many themers would actually bother to change the defaults?
>> Furthermore, given that the themer has complete control of the
>> graphical presentation, text size, text font and to a lesser extent
>> the text actually presented, the timeouts are just another element of
>> that presentation. Sensible defaults for the timeouts are, I would
>> suggest, less likely to generate debate than something like font sizes
>> (which can't actually be changed without breaking the theme anyway).
>
> i had changed the defaults and i did care
> at this stage i've all but given up
>
> i'm afraid themes have become a "it's my way or the highway"
> and as for not being able to change fonts...

People can be very creative with themed GUI interfaces.
We should not restrict their creativity.
So, I think we should have user visible timeouts in units of
milliseconds. Use the same units for all timeouts.
Leave it up to the person doing the theme design to convert those
timeouts to "Slow, Medium, Fast" settings that the user can change.
The presentation of the OSD as well as the setup screens should both
be controlled by themes.
Also, what keys are used for what operation should also be controlled
by the theme.
Sensible defaults should be chosen for all values, so if a theme does
not set a particular value, the default will be acceptable until the
theme implements support for it.
For example, it should be possible, buy using a theme to make mythtv
user experience identical to a commercial set top box if a developer
wished to implement it. In this case, the navigation between screens
might be in a totally different order than the current myth menu
layout.

So, in summary, I think the mythfrontend theme support should be as
flexible as possible and not limited by one developer guessing at what
other developers might want.

Kind Regards

James