# Now that DoD is National ... How should DoD menu navigation work?



## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

There was a poll about this topic when DoD was first released as Cutting Edge software, but now that DoD has gone national and the user base is expanding, I think it's time to revisit the question of how menu navigation within DoD screens should work.

I have been using DoD since the first CE that enabled it, and I immensely dislike that DoD screens are presented as menus but don't behave like menus.

On every menu screen I can interact with, I can press CHANNEL/PAGE-DOWN and CHANNEL/PAGE-UP and move the selector to the bottom or top of the menu.

Sadly, DIRECTV chose to make CH-UP/DN move to the next or previous DoD menu. Nice idea, but horrible implementation. Why? When you launch DoD from the Quick Menu, you're taking to the DoD home page. If you spy that nice "More VOD" menu option at the bottom of the screen and try to get there with one CH-DN ... Woops! You're thrown out of DoD and taken to ... an XM station!

So you use a menu to get to another menu and ... get kicked out of the menus! :down:

As others have pointed out, the XM Station is "Virus", which often has crude, lewd, and rude content. So not only did you lose your original channel buffer (being maintained in the PIG while you are in the DoD menus), you're presented with potentially objectional "adult" content from Virus jockeys like Opie and Anthony.

*In my opinion, here's what DIRECTV should do:* Make CH-UP and CH-DN be screen navigation keys, just like everywhere else in the GUI, and make the unused *RED* and *GREEN* keys be the PREV and NEXT VOD keys (adding these next to YELLOW and BLUE at the bottom of every VOD Menu).

*What do you think DIRECTV should do, if anything?* Should DoD menu navigation be changed?

- Yes - change it: Use CH/PG-UP/DN for in-menu navigation and use RED/GREEN to switch to the previous or next DoD screen 
- Yes - change it: Use CH/PG-UP/DN for in-menu navigation and use some other way to switch to the previous or next DoD screen (describe in a response below)
- No - leave it as is: Continue using CH//PG-UP/DN to switch to the next or previous DoD screen; use single arrow UP/DN for in-menu navigation
- I don't care / I don't use DoD


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Somewhere between 1 and 2.. I have the "more vod" to change channels.. would like the channel up/down to just page in vod screens..


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## Coffey77 (Nov 12, 2006)

I agree with houskamp, I don't necessarily care if number 1 works and if they want to do number 2 (I voted for #2), that would be fine with me as well. I'm really pushing for the CH UP/DN change. I also posted this at the other thread:



High Technology said:


> 2. Change the behavior of the Move to Top action in the queue. Moving something to the top of queue should make it the current download, not the next download. For example, I queue up a few things and looking at the list decide I want to watch the third item. If I move it to the top, I would like the current download to pause and the new item to start downloading so I can begin watching it ASAP. This does raise a logic issue of what to do if the user is already watching the currently downloading show -- the easiest solution would be to have a pop up message saying that the current show is not complete, and ask for acknowledgement that the user wants to switch to the new item. In this case, the playback of the current show would stop when the end of the already downloaded portion is reached.


Thank you for posting this idea as it reminded me of one of my other "peeves". I agree that once you move a program to the top of the Queue, you should have the option to over-ride the first item on the list and begin download on the one you're Queue-ing.

Once you pause the initial downloading program, it should become movable and when you bump up another program, the new program should become the downloading priority.

-or- you should be able to select which program you want to download in no matter which order. If I want to start item 3, I should not have to move it to the top and then cancel download 1. I may still want download 1 but just not first. Now, unless there's another way, I have to delete download one and move download three to the top and restart the downloading... then go back and "find" download 1 again and add it back to the queue.

I hope it makes sense, I can try and clarify it if it's not so clear.


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

I voted for #2 because I do think the channel up/down should work like you said. 

As for the other part I don't really care how that is done.


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## Coffey77 (Nov 12, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> As others have pointed out, the XM Station is "Virus", which often has crude, lewd, and rude content. So not only did you lose your original channel buffer (being maintained in the PIG while you are in the DoD menus), you're presented with potentially objectional "adult" content from Virus jockeys like Opie and Anthony.


It was mentioned that I could "filter" this channel from my list - I don't want to have to filter _MY_ list and I'm sure there are many others out there that just wouldn't know how and wouldn't want to learn how. I don't even have kids yet and it bothers me. If I did have kids and they were searching for some Cartoon network stuff or whatever and they landed on the Virus channel - Mrs. Coffey would not be a happy camper and if Mrs. Coffey isn't happy, Mr. Coffey is DEFINATELY not going to be happy.


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## jes (Apr 21, 2007)

Drew2k said:


> ... but now that DoD has gone national and the user base is expanding...


As I understand DoD, as of today, you need an HR20-700... Until it includes all versions of HR20/HR21, I don't consider that "gone national", more like beta testing...


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

jes said:


> As I understand DoD, as of today, you need an HR20-700... Until it includes all versions of HR20/HR21, I don't consider that "gone national", more like beta testing...


Previously, DoD was only available to Cutting Edge testers. That is no longer the case, as it is now available to any HR20 -700 user regardless of participation in the Cutting Edge program, so it is "national".


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## lucky13 (Nov 27, 2006)

houskamp said:


> Somewhere between 1 and 2.. I have the "more vod" to change channels.. would like the channel up/down to just page in vod screens..





BMoreRavens said:


> I voted for #2 because I do think the channel up/down should work like you said.
> 
> As for the other part I don't really care how that is done.


Agree, agree.
If Ch Dn gets me to more VOD, I can navigate easily through the pages.
DOD is a menu disguised as a channel. It should work as a menu.


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## code4code5 (Aug 29, 2006)

The only place that Channel up/down doesn't work for page up/down is on the home screen, Channel 1000. Everywhere else, it works just as it should on my 100.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

code4code5 said:


> The only place that Channel up/down doesn't work for page up/down is on the home screen, Channel 1000. Everywhere else, it works just as it should on my 100.


Are you sayingn that if you go to channel 1202, CNN-DoD, you can press CHANNEL-DN and it doesn't switch to the DoD home menu, instead the highlight jumps to the bottom of the screen? That's not happening on my HR20-700.

On every DoD menu, CH-UP and CH-DN only change DoD screens, instead of moving the selector to the top or bottom of the menu.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

After a weekend and very few visitors (where is everyone!?), here's where we stand:

53 votes have been case, and * 72% want CH-UP/DN* to be changed, so they work as PG-UP/DN and not jump to another DoD menu.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Treating the DOD items as a special type of Guide menu items is sort of like the Unix convention of considering all sorts of things as files, e.g. device control entries, even though they may be very different from ordinary text or binary files. Being a Unix person, I don't have a problem with a "menu" which is a local grouping of items from the Guide. So I voted against your proposal.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

GregLee said:


> Treating the DOD items as a special type of Guide menu items is sort of like the Unix convention of considering all sorts of things as files, e.g. device control entries, even though they may be very different from ordinary text or binary files. Being a Unix person, I don't have a problem with a "menu" which is a local grouping of items from the Guide. So I voted against your proposal.


As a former UNIX guy, although I don't quite understand your reasoning, I welcome your participation in the poll!


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

The DoD navigation is quite inconsistent. At one time you can be in the left hand navi and hit page down it works as expected, navigating thru the list. But other times it will operate channel you are on.

I guess the answer is when operating in a displayed menu the CHAN/PAGE button should always be PAGE. Even if the menu is a channel itself.

Cheers,
Tom


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## say-what (Dec 14, 2006)

My preference has always been that ch up/down allow you to navigate from one VOD channel/page to the next. I don't like the jump to the top/bottom of the menu on the main page as there aren't that many options to choose from anyway. Besides, I think the average user will tend to "flip channels".


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

say-what said:


> My preference has always been that ch up/down allow you to navigate from one VOD channel/page to the next. I don't like the jump to the top/bottom of the menu on the main page as there aren't that many options to choose from anyway. Besides, I think the average user will tend to "flip channels".


I think that's really the question: What will the average user think when they see a DoD screen? That they're in a channel or in a menu? If they think they're in a menu, they'll probably expect menu-like behavior. If they think they're in a channel ... they'd expect CH+/- to change channels.

My belief is most users will think they're in a menu screen, just like the screen displayed when they hit LIST+YELLOW to get to their To Do List and their prioritizer, or MENU + SETUP, with the PIG in the top-right and a list of options down the left side of the screen.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

With 89 votes cast, 68.54% of the poll respondents want true menu navigation within the DoD screens, with CHANNEL-UP/DN working as PAGE-UP/PAGE-DN keys just like in the rest of the GUI.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

With 101 votes case, 72.28% of the poll respondents want true menu navigation within the DoD screens. 

Keep those votes coming!


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## Dan B (Mar 6, 2007)

I've accidentally switched to that XM channel a half dozen times since getting DoD yesterday, so...yeah I'd like to fix that.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Bump


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## Mixer (Sep 28, 2006)

I would agree that CH Up and Down should be a menu item as long as there was a way to page through the DoD Channels as described in choice 1. Red and Green is fine by me. If they did that I would make my up and down arrows on my Harmony 880 Red and Green and I would be a very happy person with the best of both worlds.


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## say-what (Dec 14, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> I think that's really the question: What will the average user think when they see a DoD screen? That they're in a channel or in a menu? If they think they're in a menu, they'll probably expect menu-like behavior. If they think they're in a channel ... they'd expect CH+/- to change channels.
> 
> My belief is most users will think they're in a menu screen, just like the screen displayed when they hit LIST+YELLOW to get to their To Do List and their prioritizer, or MENU + SETUP, with the PIG in the top-right and a list of options down the left side of the screen.


Well, I view them as a hybrid - individual channels with menu options. I use the nav buttons in the center of the remote to choose my options and the channel up/down to change VOD channels. Most people will look at it this way - if it's in the guide and has a channel number, I expect to be able to flip channels. I've never thought to use channel up/down to navigate the menu options outside of the GUI.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

say-what said:


> Well, I view them as a hybrid - individual channels with menu options. I use the nav buttons in the center of the remote to choose my options and the channel up/down to change VOD channels. Most people will look at it this way - if it's in the guide and has a channel number, I expect to be able to flip channels. I've never thought to use channel up/down to navigate the menu options outside of the GUI.


I guess the next question is .... How are people more likely to access Dod? From the Quick Menu, or from the Guide? I think the individual manner people use to access DoD will color their perception of whether or not they are looking at a menu or at a channel.

In addition, I think the persistence of the PIG for the channel being viewed prior to going to DoD also lends credence to the fact that a menu is on screen, not a channel. (After all, the PIG continues to show the current channel when you're in any other menu, and if you change channels, you lose the buffer. That's not the case with DoD. Punch in 1000 and you don't lose the buffer on whatever you were watching, so the effect doesn't "seem" like the channel changed.)\


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## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

The only thing I want is a one single screen with the alphabet on it which would allow me to select the first letter of the show rather than having to go through them in alphabetical order.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

It's dropped from 72% in favor of a navigation change to 70%, but that's still a good margin of voters asking for a change!


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## mpoyner (Aug 17, 2006)

Tom Robertson said:


> I guess the answer is when operating in a displayed menu the CHAN/PAGE button should always be PAGE. Even if the menu is a channel itself.


And there is the problem in a nutshell. Our DoD menus are considered to be both channels AND menus.

I must be the only person bothered by this, because I never get any responses when I post this complaint, but I can't for the life of me understand why the designers have chosen to make these channels (with channel numbers and some channel-type behavior).

These should be menus, with no channel numbers and no behavior that remotely resembles channels.

All this confusion would then be gone. The ch UP/DOWN buttons would behave the same as they do on all other UI menus, and that would make sense. You still have the picture in picture in the top right, so I don't think anything is taken away by using this approach.


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## mpoyner (Aug 17, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> My belief is most users will think they're in a menu screen


Drew, didn't see this post from you when I put up my previous one. I agree, most folks expect these to be menus, so any channel behavior is confusing to end users.


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## mpoyner (Aug 17, 2006)

Also, I'd like to renew my question from a few weeks ago: is there a specifically-assigned User Interface Specialist with knowledge of usability testing techniques assigned to this software team?

Because it's certainly not a coder's fault if usability problems are showing up on these menus, if in fact there is no one with UI interactivity experience involved.

Does anyone who has more knowledge of the team members know if there is such a person? Just curious. I'm happy with the HR20 overall, btw. Just see some small areas for improvement.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

I can't answer as to process DIRECTV has in place for UI creation and improvements, but it's clear from the results of this poll that many people are dissatisfied with the behavior of navigation within the DoD screens.

As mentioned, they look just like the menus prevalent in the UI, and when selecting On Demand from the quick menu, or even when typing in a DoD channel number (ex: 1202), the buffer retains what it was previously storing. This adds credence to the argument that users are not switching channels so much as displaying a menu system over the existing buffer. Since this is the case, the DoD menu system should be consistent with the rest of the GUI. 71% of the poll respondents agree ... Page-down should be page-down, not channel-down. Page-up should be page-up, not channel-up.


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## geneb11 (Mar 24, 2002)

Drew2k said:


> If you spy that nice "More VOD" menu option at the bottom of the screen and try to get there with one CH-DN ... Woops! You're thrown out of DoD and taken to ... an XM station!


I do that every time i'm in there.it's anoying.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

And we're back up over 71% asking for a change to menu navigation ... Keep those votes coming!


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> And we're back up over 71% asking for a change to menu navigation ... Keep those votes coming!


I should have posted an update much earlier than this, but DIRECTV has sent a new national update to all users in the past month fixing navigation as we had hoped! Thank you DIRECTV!


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