Since the UI or design change, whatever it was that we got notifications about months ago, have we lost all ability to customize the home screen… or at least the order?
I know I can remove items as well as go to libraries and add items there to the home screen, but on the Roku app, or the browser for that matter, I can’t figure out how to just move stuff around.
(I just noticed that everything is in the order of my sidebar. That’s not the order I want on my home screen, though. I just tried to move items, too, to see if it was coincidence, but can’t. I’ll create a new post for that.)
Yes, changing the order of the sidebar seems to change the order of items on the home screen, which is ridiculous.
I have 13 libraries, not including the stuff I don’t care about that comes with Plex. I have things in the sidebar sorted alphabetically to make them easier to find. That doesn’t mean I want Recent Movies halfway down my home screen.
I’m amazed that concept should have to be explained. Am I missing something? I find it hard to believe we went from ‘customization’ to ‘no customization,’ which is technically what this is.
I once had 29 - until I realized Plex only works right if you have 1 (Each - Shows/Movies). Folks with a bunch of libraries are going to have difficulties. Who knows what the future will bring, but in my recent past, my future held me doing a bunch of labor and turning many libraries into few.
It was painful.
I still have the scars.
Plex works (a little) better now as far as having almost no bloody control over it with Auto-Pilot fully engaged.
I’m generally pretty happy with the changes as versions go by, but much like having the list of selectable letters on the right side of the screen instead of the left, it seems like some of the decisions are completely bone-headed.
Regarding the Plex-supplied media, I just said I didn’t care about it, not that I didn’t want it. So, they sit down at the bottom of my list. If there’s something I don’t have, it’s nice to have them easily accessible to look for through Plex.
As for condensing libraries, there’s really not much further down I can take it. I did previously have our ‘Shorts’ in with our Docs & Live content, but if you’re in the mood for one, you’re not going to want to browser through the other. I’m not using Plex for storage, I’m using it for in-the-moment discovery.
And, I guess I actually only have 12. I counted Podcasts in my previous post.
I know tone can be hard to convey via text, but I’m not sure how I could get my set up to “work right” without crossing content types in my libraries, which to me wouldn’t be working right.
Between a sidebar and main screen, we could have (and previously had) the ability to find content using two methods in one UI. I personally did a ‘content-type & alphabetical’ thing in the sidebar and ‘most used’ in the main screen. I kept putting off doing a deep dive on the new layout assuming I was missing something. So, it was disappointing to see this removal of customization options.
Note:
There are shortcomings to putting 500 items in a Collection. Still - it beats fighting Plex in The Multiple Library World War of 2021.
There are those of us that really want Smart Collections to ease some of that pain, but currently - they’re bugged. Shared Users can’t see what in one for TV Shows.
I think this is a perfect example of people interacting and making decisions differently, which is a good reasons to have functionality be open, not restricted.
I just did a quick peek and we have 89 collections in 1033 item movie library. These are collections I created to make it easier to access themed items we want to watch. I don’t have Plex pull collection info. So, if I add those to the library screen, we now have 1122 items we need to wade through to get what we want. Also, it seems like a lot of those are redundant if you were to filter by genre. We’re primarily actor & director fans, so scrolling through titles is generally how we decide what we’re looking for, not “Hey, I’m in the mood to watch a movie from 1960.”
But, my point is… it looks like you do. So that works for you. So, Plex removing collections or even the ability to include collections is a bad idea. Reducing customization is always going to negatively affect a group of users. Removing that customization from ‘step 1,’ i.e. the home screen, makes no sense to me at all.
I only use the Sort Title - I used a 4 digit number with 10 (0010) between each one, so I can add later without (too much) drama. I also created those wonderful posters, in MS Paint, using 2 colors, with letters big enough for all us old folks to see - unlike that blurry-white smear under them that youthful Plex Developers invented.
I do NOT let Plex automatically manage my collections. ALL my movies (6800+) are in one, or more.
The only way I could maintain the Genre/Other Separations we’re used to without fighting Plex with Multiple Libraries was to use Collections. No one around here is going to gleefully drill for Westerns, for instance, by clicking 31 times on our Roku Remotes - so Collections it is.
Sometimes a ‘Work-Around’ is a lot of ‘Work’ - that’s why they put it in the name…
