Putting together a new Linux HTPC build and looking for a 10ft UI WM/DE to use with it. Essentially, it would be a launcher for a few PWAs (Emby, Netflix, etc) as well as Steam and maybe some emulators. Navigation would likely be a wireless keyboard and, if absolutely necessary, mouse (goal is to get a bluetooth remote working and use that, but that's the next phase).
I haven't used Kodi since it was still Xbox Media Center (running on an actual Xbox lol), but would it be a good choice? I used it forever ago as the dashboard for my modded Xbox, and it was great. However, for this, I'd rather not run Kodi, if possible, since Emby already covers those use-cases.
If there's no "dedicated" one, any recommendations for which regular DE might be best modifiable/extendable to work for that purpose?
I've recently retired an old aio to be our tv using libreelec. There's a new-ish bundled skin called copacetic which is highly configurable and I'm slowly organising the interface to move away from the conventional menu style interface that most other skins still use to something more like the interface of a steaming service. Copacetic has a video that demos some of what you can do.