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Web UI Improvements

R

rgbyhkr

Well-known member
Anyone else interested in seeing the Web UI improved? I mentioned this in another thread, so I'll just paste those comments here:

"Personally though, and I've made this suggestion directly to K, I think they should overhaul the Web UI. I'd like to see more done for music playback on both the "fullscreen" and handheld Web UI control templates. On the fullscreen version, I'd like to be able to browse cover art. For the handheld version, having java as a requirement just plain sucks. Ever try implementing Java on a PDA? Beyond that, and more importantly, the functionality of the handheld Web UI control is way too limiting. Now, you might ask what you need more than just basic control for when watching movies. Some folks may have more detailed uses, but generally I agree. For music listening however, they could do much more.

Imagine walking around a house with an iPhone or iPod Touch and controlling music from any or all of your players. You'd be able to browse your library, build a now playing list, see cover art of what is currently playing, etc. Sound farfetched? Well, it can already be done for remote control of various music apps. Check out how an application called Remote Buddy lets you use an iPhone or iPod Touch to control iTunes playback on a Mac:

http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?mo...jcode=html-141

Given the number of these devices out there, it makes sense to develop."

I know that AMX and Crestron installs can give users and integrators much of this, but it seems much simpler if K were doing it directly. The way I see it, if you're going to bother offering a Web UI at all, why not make it as useable as possible? ReQuest offers a customized Web UI for the Nokia N series of handheld internet tablets (http://www.request.com/products/freedom.asp). Olive does as well for their Opus music servers (http://www.olive.us/products/rondo.html). I have both an iPhone and a Nokia N810, so I'd welcome an optimized solution for either.

Jeff
 
Jeff,

I agree completely with your thoughts. Kaleidescape makes a tremendous product that is very easy to use and pretty much foolproof, particularly with respect to the movie portion of their product. I also completely agree that using Crestron and AMX with the K system does add tremendous additional flexibility. However, not every K user is going to add AMX or Crestron. As your comments indicate, the control of the music side of K could certainly use some improvements to provide much of what an AMX or Crestron system could provide.

Another request I would add, which I mention in the thread on the web tablet application, would be to have K expand that application to allow it to run in a Window, instead of mandatory full-screen, along with providing minimize and exit buttons for the application. As I explain in the other thread, this would make it much easier for a casual and non-technical person to be able to control the music that could be hooked up to a whole-house audio system without having to remember all the key presses necessary to use the standard web control application. People who are not really into understanding how this all works and who only use the system occasionally are not able to remember or figure that out. This should be a fairly quick and easy change to make and would provide a great deal of user friendliness for the casual user and our technologically challenged spouses who don't really understand what this is all about but simply want to be able to very easily choose an album and press the play button.

I certainly don't mean to hijack your thread because I also agree the changes you are suggesting are great also, particularly for those of us who really want to get the most out of the system. I just think they need to consider both the experienced users and their not-so-experienced spouses or casual guests and keep both of them in mind. Thanks for listening.

Scott
 
Would have to agree: the "handheld" UI's requirement for Java makes it less than useful, especially since its functionality is limited enough that it'd be pretty easy to implement with Javascript and AJAX.

I assume the downloadable Java for the 810 doesn't work sufficiently for this while we wait for a better solution?
 
Java on N800

Hi,

Check out http://www.pikesoft.com/blog/index.php?itemid=178 for a Java ME implementation for the N800. I haven't tested it myself, but will shortly. I too am interested in controlling the K with other types of devices than AMX/Crestron.

Perhaps Flash would be a better option since there seems to be broader support for it than Java in the A/V community

C
 
Or, truly, nothing so fancy! It's not like the web controllers or UI are complex beasts -- they can easily be implemented with AJAX/JavaScript/CSS in a way that would allow them to be supported by nearly all devices without any plugin mess.
 
Remotescape

rgbyhkr said:
Imagine walking around a house with an iPhone or iPod Touch and controlling music from any or all of your players. You'd be able to browse your library, build a now playing list, see cover art of what is currently playing, etc. Sound farfetched?

Jeff
Click to expand...

Hi Jeff - it's not farfetched at all. Check out Remotescape for iPhone/iPod at www.remotescape.com - a Kaleidescape control application for iPhone.

(Full disclosure: I am a cofounder of Remotescape.)
--DanC.
 
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