The Suggestion:
Currently pressing ESC on the Plexamp media player returns to the menus. I propose extending that function; from the menus, ESC would return to the home menu and from that menu ESC would seek to exit the program. Not unlike the control scheme of PlexHTPC.
The Context:
While building a HTPC i decided I wanted to include Plexamp; it’s a good player and has become quite feature rich. I use it on my phone often. At first I was surprised to see there was no way to navigate menus using the keyboard. Investigating that, I found it was a feature with wide support 6 years ago. Reflecting on the current state I realized that trying to use the current menus with a remote control would be just as easy as using a system file explorer with one. With even a medium scale of files it becomes burdensome. Ultimately I can see where it would be unfeasible. Sad but true.
On this journey I spent a great deal of time with the desktop player and, like many, I found having no in-app method for terminating the program awkward. Most importantly I tend to use a Desktop via the keyboard only as much as possible. Having to hunt down the program in the bar while sound I no longer want to hear plays breaks my general flow and were I to switch to a desktop without such a panel, terminating Plexamp would be even more cumbersome.
So again I suggest using the ESC to gracefully terminate the program. It is the only keyboard navigation that seems reasonable, straight forward, and useful to me. As for my HTPC, I’m likely to go with a phone controlled headless option if I do it at all. Maybe pair it with Xscreensaver.
