I am interested in a file browser specifically for use on large screens and from a distance; like a big screen TV at home, or a video wall in a corporate environment. Functionally, this is nothing different than a normal file browser. The only differences are the WAY the content is presented on the screen. This means:
--LARGE fonts & BIG buttons. Unlike the way most of us computer geeks, you can't have a lot of writing, little buttons, little menus, 15 things on the menu bar, etc. It's gotta be very similar to ios/android interfaces in that there are only 3-4 things to do on any given screen. All the text is a very large percentage of the screen, and the buttons are huge. For example, with a mouse on my computer monitor, I can easily click on a button that is like a half-inch big. But on this kind of TV screen, the button would need to be like 6 inches. These are the kinds of scales I'm talking about. So it's all about having less content on the screen, but easier reading and navigation.
Now, my primary intention for such a software is to stick on a external hard drive and browse the files when I connect it to a computer that's attached to a tv. Things like watching videos at other people's homes, and giving presentations at work when a monitor and computer are already present.
XBMC already can do most of this, as it relates to movies. But XBMC is still not truly portable yet. And development is slow because XBMC has to do everything itself. That is, it needs to be a file browser, video player (codecs included), etc. all in XBMC. And since it is handling file browsing duties, it is very finicky on how the files are named and organized, for it to work optimally with it's interface. I want to avoid this. I want my files to be named and organized however the hell I want. I just need a file browser with big buttons and fonts.
Furthermore, this allows me to use whatever player and software I prefer. For example, I may be a stubborn person, and I prefer Light Alloy for playing my videos over XBMC because of the way I've set up the mouse options. So I just need the file browser, not the player.
And this is more complicated than simply increasing the font in the windows display options. I've already tried that. It's a stupid way to do it. Because the fact is that Windows is meant to be used with the screen 12 inches from your face and a mouse in your hand, where you can easily make very precise micro movements. If you increase the font in the system settings, you'll end up with tiny buttons with HUGE words stuffed into them. It doesn't work.
--LARGE fonts & BIG buttons. Unlike the way most of us computer geeks, you can't have a lot of writing, little buttons, little menus, 15 things on the menu bar, etc. It's gotta be very similar to ios/android interfaces in that there are only 3-4 things to do on any given screen. All the text is a very large percentage of the screen, and the buttons are huge. For example, with a mouse on my computer monitor, I can easily click on a button that is like a half-inch big. But on this kind of TV screen, the button would need to be like 6 inches. These are the kinds of scales I'm talking about. So it's all about having less content on the screen, but easier reading and navigation.
Now, my primary intention for such a software is to stick on a external hard drive and browse the files when I connect it to a computer that's attached to a tv. Things like watching videos at other people's homes, and giving presentations at work when a monitor and computer are already present.
XBMC already can do most of this, as it relates to movies. But XBMC is still not truly portable yet. And development is slow because XBMC has to do everything itself. That is, it needs to be a file browser, video player (codecs included), etc. all in XBMC. And since it is handling file browsing duties, it is very finicky on how the files are named and organized, for it to work optimally with it's interface. I want to avoid this. I want my files to be named and organized however the hell I want. I just need a file browser with big buttons and fonts.
Furthermore, this allows me to use whatever player and software I prefer. For example, I may be a stubborn person, and I prefer Light Alloy for playing my videos over XBMC because of the way I've set up the mouse options. So I just need the file browser, not the player.
And this is more complicated than simply increasing the font in the windows display options. I've already tried that. It's a stupid way to do it. Because the fact is that Windows is meant to be used with the screen 12 inches from your face and a mouse in your hand, where you can easily make very precise micro movements. If you increase the font in the system settings, you'll end up with tiny buttons with HUGE words stuffed into them. It doesn't work.
