Request Ability to Nest Platforms

[Ed Smith]

Basically as the title states. I would like to be able to nest a platform under another platform. I realize category view already services this to some extent, however in BigBox its not always preferable to use category view depending on the skin. It can break the expected use and navigation flow. I’d go so far to say that in certain situations category view negatively affects navigation in relation to other items that do not require nesting. Especially given that in most cases category view does not employ the use of the wheel. So in turn then, category view tends to strip away a lot of the custom art and appeal of BigBox.

The ability to nest platforms within each other would allow objects that require nesting to be displayed at the same level as traditional platforms (PS2, SNES, etc). without forcing the need to switch to category view and so avoiding the issues noted above. This would also allow for greater flexibility in general when it comes to end users ability to customize the focus of their Launchbox content.

[brian]

Thanks for the request. While it’s not what your asking for, there are a few things to note:

• In Big Box, Platform Categories filter can use wheels in every theme the same way the Platform filter can
• Platform Categories filter is flexible enough to make it look exactly like the Platforms filter, you would just have to remove the auto-created categories

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[Ed Smith]

Hmm… Yes I misspoke. Sorry, I guess I’ve got a little rust on my recollection in regards to Category View. I’ve been using a specific skin for awhile that uses text in that view. My fault.

Still when using Category View, it also then makes playlists part of the process of drilling down to the final item you are looking for, which can be a bit of a hindrance rather than a help. There are also situations where it would be ideal to have nested objects along side objects that contain content at its surface level.

Since you drew my attention back to Catagory View supporting the wheel… looking at my build I probably could adapt what is here in BigBox out to suit my needs, but I think it would be at the expense of Launchbox. I don’t think the sorting would translate well between the two. I also feel like its just not as intuitive. I’m sitting here sort of drawing a map in my head of how I could lay this out, vs “put platform inside platform” for the one specific thing I need and then I’m done.

It also occurs to me that playlists have a checkbox inside their settings window “Include playlist with platforms” or some such. Something equivalent for a Platform Category could also work well here.

At any rate, its a fair judgement that I could do some more experimenting on my end, but nesting platforms would go a long way to make the sort of sorting I am looking to do make a lot more sense. (to me). It also seems like this would best mirror file structure that a lot of users coming from sorting in folders would be familiar with.

Thanks for the reply though. Its great to see that there is a “suggestion box” for this awesome software!