Designing and Developing Kodi's Default Interface for a Seamless Media Experience—Used by Millions Around the Globe
Think iTunes in your browser controlling a stereo somewhere else
Kodi (formerly XBMC) is an open-source media player used by millions worldwide. Like iTunes, it lets users play and manage their music, movies, and TV shows—but the challenge lay in its user interface (UI). Initially designed for larger screens, it didn’t provide a seamless experience on mobile devices, which was becoming an increasingly popular method of interaction.
At Graham Agency, we saw an opportunity to create a better, more accessible interface for Kodi users. This evolved into Chorus, a dynamic, responsive web interface that allowed users to control their Kodi-powered media player from anywhere, via any device—be it a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop computer.
Kodi's original UI was designed with larger screens in mind, meaning mobile users experienced frustrations with navigation and usability. The challenge was clear: How could we redesign the UI to work seamlessly on mobile devices while maintaining its functionality and user-friendliness?
Additionally, Kodi was open-source software, so the existing community had contributed to the codebase over time. Customization was necessary to ensure the UI would function smoothly across a wide range of devices and screen sizes.
Graham Agency’s Jeremy took this challenge to heart, embarking on a journey to rework the Kodi UI. The project began as a simple tweak to make the interface mobile-friendly but quickly turned into an obsession—resulting in a complete overhaul of Kodi's web interface.
We delivered Chorus, an intuitive, dynamic web interface that allows users to browse and control their music, movies, and TV shows remotely via any modern web browser. With a design focused on clean aesthetics, easy navigation, and responsiveness across devices, we ensured the interface worked seamlessly on mobile, tablet, and desktop platforms.
The new Chorus UI quickly became the preferred interface for Kodi users around the world. It empowered users to control their media effortlessly, regardless of device or screen size. The project’s success can be attributed to its combination of technical excellence, user-focused design, and dedication to the open-source community.
Chorus continues to be used by millions of Kodi users, and the project’s source code is available on GitHub, allowing developers to contribute, learn, and expand upon the work.
Graham Agency's contribution to Kodi helped elevate the media experience for users and solidified our commitment to supporting the global developer community. Through this charity project, we not only improved the user experience for Kodi but also gave back to the tech industry we are so passionate about.
Chorus can be downloaded and integrated into any Kodi-powered system. It’s a plug-and-play solution that allows users to browse their media libraries and stream content directly from their web browsers.
A nice modern Web UI for your XBMC. Browse your Music, Movies or TV Shows from the comfort of your own web browser. You can play media via XBMC or stream it in your browser. Works best with Chrome but plays well with most modern browsers. Used by the Doghouse Media Team to control the shared office music box (an old PC running XBMC with Chorus, plugged into an amp and a NAS).
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