A few suggestions

[jabohn]

Hi there. I've been using the Opacity skin for a long time and recently decided to switch to Ariana. I love the overall look but there are a couple of things that Opacity does that I'd love to see Ariana do too:
1. update library from the home screen - right now the only way to update the library that I can see is to go into the one of the sections like TV Shows or Movies and then bring up the side menu.
2. recently added / in progress - right now these items are all grouped together underneath the top buttons for both TV Shows and Movies etc. I'd like to see them contained only to their respective buttons. So when TV Shows is highlighted, only Recent/In Progress for TV Shows is underneath, and so forth.

And some additional suggestions:
3. I'd like to see the contextual menu work from the home screen too - long press on the remote to bring up options like Mark as Watched etc (maybe Update Library could be in this menu?).
4. A minor quibble, but I think the default font is terrible. Right away when switching to Ariana I found it very hard to read and frankly if there wasn't another option like Arial then I would have switched back to Opacity. The shapes of the letters make it way less readable and also they appear to be too thin.

Thanks for your consideration!

[pecinko]

I’m not sure what is the team’s opinion on this but from my perspective:

1) I see your point but only reasonable way would be to add an extra button dedicated to updating library. Not so nice, IMHO.

2) This would be confusing for younger or less advanced users and is better suited for vertical home menu.

3) I agree on context menu and it was considered already. This may come in future versions.

4) There were plans to use platform system font in skins. Currently Ariana uses best free font that I could find. There is a bit room for improvement still but we are close to limitations.

Thanks for suggestions. Is there anything else you found missing?

[jabohn]

Thanks. Those were the only things so far, but I've only had Ariana for less than a week.

1. so maybe when you add the contextual menu, add in Update Library? Then there's no need to add a button.
2. I just find there's a lot more scrolling when you start to have In Progress items for Movies and TV Shows. It can be up to 4 rows long in that case. Maybe an option can be added?

Just in general though, I do find the UI lags slightly. At least, in compared to Opacity, it seems that way.

[jabohn]

I just noticed something else. I never noticed the navigation sounds before making me wonder if it's skin related... the native tvOS sounds. I don't know what the intention is but it's not consistent, especially if you compare it to native tvOS apps, regarding the use of the low pitched boop vs. the high pitched beep.

Specifically I noticed that when tapping through the TV Shows list, left and right makes a lower pitched boop noise, and up and down do the same boop noise only for the first tap and then changes to the higher pitched beep noise until you switch directions, then you get one boop again followed but all beeps.

The same can be heard if you swipe rather than tap, although much quicker. It sounds like a bunch of beeps interspersed with the occasional boop.

[amet]

It’s not skin related, it’s in the core

[jabohn]

Okay, I wondered if it was. So I guess it's not a big deal but something to add a little polish too.

[jabohn]

I have one more suggestion - in Opacity when you first start up the app, the first section is selected, like Movies. In Ariana, nothing is selected at this point, so when you're navigating for the first time, it's always going to take one more extra tap to get to where you want to go. Perhaps Ariana can also select Movies by default?

I's also like to see the ability to arrange the order, so TV Shows is first (where I'm most likely to want to go).

[amet]

Order of the items is set in core, not skin related

[jabohn]

I just found something missing. There is no option to remove an entire season of a TV Show. You can remove a whole series or an individual episode but the Remove from Library button is missing when you manage a season.

[H.Bear]

1. update library from the home screen - right now the only way to update the library that I can see is to go into the one of the sections like TV Shows or Movies and then bring up the side menu.

I'm using MrMC on the ATV4K but I think this should work for most devices:

I used the Keymap Editor to set the Okay/Touchpad button - Long Press to update the library when on the Home Screen.

So on the Home Screen, press and hold of the Okay/Touchpad updates the library, on any other menu screen it brings up the context menu as per normal.

Works nicely for me and doesn't add another button to the Home Screen GUI.

Cheers,

- Bear