📋 Summary

In LaunchBox, when a playlist is sorted by fields like Progress, Rating, or Completion Status, games are displayed alphabetically within clear sub-groupings for each value. However, when viewing the same playlist in Big Box, these sub-groupings are lost and everything is shown as a single flat alphabetical list.

This request proposes extending LaunchBox-style sort groupings to all Big Box views, not just wheel-based layouts, so users retain the same contextual structure when browsing in Big Box.

❗ Problem

• Big Box currently flattens sorted playlists into a single alphabetical list.

• Important contextual groupings (e.g. In Progress, Beaten, Completed) are no longer visible.

• This makes it harder to understand why games are ordered the way they are.

• The experience feels inconsistent between LaunchBox and Big Box.

💡 Proposal

When a playlist in Big Box is sorted by a field that supports grouping (e.g. Progress, Rating, Status, Source):

• Display visual group headers for each sort value.

• Maintain alphabetical ordering within each group, just like LaunchBox.

• Apply this behavior to all Big Box views, including:

  • Text lists

  • Grid / wall views

  • Coverflow-style views

  • Horizontal and vertical wheel themes

Group headers could be:

• Text labels

• Section dividers

• Stylable theme elements (for theme authors)

🧩 Example Use Cases

• A playlist sorted by Progress shows:

  • In Progress

  • Beaten

  • Completed

  • Mastered

• A playlist sorted by My Star Rating shows:

  • ★★★★★

  • ★★★★☆

  • ★★★☆☆

• A playlist sorted by Release Year shows:

  • 1990

  • 1991

  • 1992

Instead of one long alphabetical list, users immediately understand the structure of their library.

📦 Benefits

• Restores feature parity between LaunchBox and Big Box.

• Makes Big Box playlists easier to understand at a glance.

• Improves navigation for large libraries.

• Enhances the usefulness of Progress Tracking, Ratings, and custom fields.

• Gives theme creators more tools to visually communicate structure.

💡 Notes

• Group headers should be optional and toggleable in Big Box settings.

• Theme authors could optionally style or suppress group headers per view.

• This would significantly improve Big Box usability without changing existing sorting logic.