The newest testflight update to the Apple TV app is a step towards fixing the inexplicably stupid re-design of the movie details screen where important information was removed (directors, writers) to make way for a mainly useless social network row that is objectively a huge waste of space with little utility.
They have added “Directed by” back under the plot summary.
The Cast bubble row is now Cast & Crew, for most movies this will just be all cast bubbles (If the cast is small enough it seems you may see crew members like director/writer) with the last bubble being a “View All” link to the full Cast & Crew page where you can finally click on profile bubbles for writers and directors (and other crew).
It’s a nice step but it’s still far from ideal, or even good.
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Where is the “Written by” tag on the movie detail screen? We still have the giant mainly useless social network row, plenty of empty space, and yet no ability to quickly see who wrote a movie. Don’t dumb Plex down to be a clone of Netflix, make it something for people who love movies.
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Why isn’t the “Directed by” tag clickable? You can click on the plot summary, the “Activity by” line… it’d be really nice to have quick access to the Director AND WRITER bio pages. Just make the text “Directed by Guy Nattiv” clickable link to his details page. It takes to many swipes to get to the director page with the new design.
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Maybe it’s just the movies I’ve checked but it doesn’t seem like DP/Cinematographer is listed on the crew page.
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Information Density. There’s too much blank space on the movies detail screen. I have a 65" TV and with this newest update the cast names under the bubbles are getting cut off (ex. can’t see the bottoms of lower case g, y, etc.). I realize this requires more than just a redesign of this page but all that empty space above the movie title is a huge waste. That “Activity By” tab would be useful if Plex allowed tie-ins with existing social networks like Trakt/Letterboxd, but as it’s own Plex Media Universe network its next to useless for many Plex users. Even then it has too much padding above and below.
Like I said earlier Plex’s goal shouldn’t be to replicate the dumbed down interfaces of Netflix or Disney+. You are not Apple under Steve Jobs. Minimalism shouldn’t come before utility. Options for users are ok. In a power app like this a hefty options menu is ok. Be the best app for movie lovers, for tv lovers, for music lovers.
