[vlc] Re: VLC - Feature Suggestion ....

[Sigmund Augdal]

Lots of good points here, but I will not comment on most of them right now.
Just wanted to say that I never needed to go into preferences just to play a
dvd. And I think that in the avarage case you don't need to do anything
special just to play a dvd.

Sigmund

On Fri, Jul 25, 2003 at 10:20:03PM +0100, Raphael McKenna wrote:
> Guys
> 
> I am a newbie to VideoLan, and think it is great. My suggestions for
> future work are as follows:
> 
> VLC is technically excellent, and if you are a techie, I am sure it is
> adequately documented, logical and intuitive (especially when combined
> with the source code).
> 
> However, if you are not a techie/Unix - let's say a MS Windows user, and
> a dumb one at that, then it is TERRIBLE. A great system has been let
> down by a combination of interface design, poor default parameters, and
> user documentation.
> 
> Taking the default VLC, as downloaded and installed under Windows:
> (a) Can it play a DVD, without tweaking some in-depth parameters - NO
> (b) Can I stream a file or DVD, without further tweaking? - NO
> 
> I have just managed to do both, but only after long hours fiddling with
> parameters etc. (recent e-mails helped a lot)
> 
> Enough of the ranting, here's some positive suggestions:
> 
> DOCUMENTATION
> 
> * Too many information sources:
> - documents such as UserGuide, QuickStart, HowTo, FAQ
> - help files accessible via VLC (-help option etc) 
> These sources are inconsistent, and no single one seems to be a
> definitive source of information - you have to wade through them all.
> 
> * Can you not make all this online Help info available via Windows Help
> ?
> At the moment, this gives very little info indeed - some versions of VLC
> do not even give the Version Number here, let alone Help.
> 
> * Examples of inconsistency include:
> a) SOUT parameter - mentioned in a worked example in the documentation,
> but not mentioned in the on-line help
> b) DVDOLD parameter - as above
> c) usage of @ and // when using streaming IP addresses unclear -
> documentation switches between these conventions without explaining why
> d) Recent e-mails have made clear that you have to disable Menu Support
> if you want to stream a DVD...but I could not find out how to do so from
> the command line (command line help does not mention this option at all)
> 
> INTERFACE:
> Currently the poor user is bewildered by quite complex options. I am not
> an Interface Designer, but this really needs to be addressed! 
> 
> I had to go into the Preferences - Advanced Options just to play a DVD
> for the first time! Surely the defaults should support this! 
> The Interface Design needs to support an IDIOT, who just wants to:
> - play a DVD
> - play a file
> - Unicast a DVD
> - Unicast a file
> One (crude) way MIGHT be to have a menu structure of:
> - NEWBIE
> 	play DVD
> 	play file
> 	Unicast DVD
> 	Unicast File
> - EXPERT
> 	whatever you want here
> b) Possibly another option would be to have predefined set of files
> containing all these preferences/settings, along with a utility to apply
> them?
> 
> * Mailgroup on Website:
> Could you not make the SPAM filtering rules more visible here? I was
> posting messages which were being judged as Spam without me catching on
> ( I did say I was a newbie).
> 
> I appreciate that VLC is Open Source /Freeware whatever, and that you
> guys are doing this for yourselves... but you have a great piece of
> software, which is spoiled by some easy to fix weaknesses - although
> such tasks may not give the developer any great sense of achievement,
> they certainly will make the users experience MUCH better. "The ship has
> been spoilt for a ha'pence worth of tar"
> 
> In the short term, I would suggest reviewing the documentation - the
> interface issue will probably be more contentious, and take longer.
> 
> Finally, putting my money where my mouth is, I have some time over the
> next couple of weeks - if I could have someone knowledgeable (in the UK)
> to talk to, I would be happy to enhance some of the (English)
> documentation.
> 
> Cheers
> Raphael
> (PS: Please take this constructively - I do think it's a great piece of
> software!)
> 
> 
> -- 
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