Yes, my comments were with the new users in mind, I think they'd want an easy to see indicator about which spells cost concentration and also the possibility to cancel those spells from there by right clicking that they currently have. Of course every somewhat experienced users should know this by heart and won't ever need that indicator again, so to save space that's why I though that you could simply add an indicator to the maintained window instead (if you keep the buffs there). Or add a toggle, toggles are always good.
Same on the hotbars, I think new users need the spinners, but once you are settled in of course it would be nice to be able to toggle them off, I'm all for it. Also "clear all hotkeys" definitely needs to be (re)moved, no doubt about it. |
Just move clear all hot keys to hotbar settings window, in my opinion of course!
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Zone reuse:
Make persistent the primary tab! |
Did this idea already die :(
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I know I and probably most other people have been busy with the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year holidays. Once things settle back down to normality I am sure this thread will be come a bit more active.
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Hi all. I'm back from a long vacation and have caught up on this thread. I thought I might have a chance to keep up with it while I was gone, but that didn't happen.
I agree that the direction needs to be nailed down first because that will ultimately resolve many of the other issues when we know the answers to some of these basic questions. Quote:
1. Build a new UI that is more current and reflects the changes that have been made to both the game itself and UI Scripting/XML. Also focus on performance to minimize the impact that the UI has on frame rates. 2. The new UI should have a clean, fresh look with the XML reflecting a more organized structure lending itself to easier modding and customization. I'd like to see a more HUD-based approach with fixed elements rather than a floating window approach. 3. I think the target audience should reflect all play-styles with an emphasis more towards new and casual players. Advanced/hard-core players are more familiar with the inner-workings of the client and have a greater knowledge of client commands. They are more likely to switch to a third-party UI or use game commands as shortcuts regardless of how successful this new UI turns out. I think the greatest gains can be seen by making a UI that is friendlier and less daunting to new users yet provides enough accessibility to features for casual and even hard-core players that don't need that extra level of scripting and detail that third-party UI's often provide. 4. This UI will need to work like any other third-party UI. It cannot sit "on top" of the default UI with a simple toggle. It would have to be loaded like any other UI. If we end up patching this UI down with the default, we would make sure that switching between the two via /loadui command or in-game interface worked smoothly. 5. I would lean more towards leaving out advanced features like click-to-cure for some of the reasons I listed in #3. Its not my intent to create a UI that replaces the work you guys have done in your own custom UI's. |
Regarding #2 above - my only concern with a HUD based UI is the amount of screen real estate it would use up - one of my major grievances with the EQ2 interface from the beginning has been the absence of a EQ1 style "viewport" command - I would love to see the ability to keep UI elements from covering up any of the game world during play.
I realize this is not a small thing, but I think it would help the "immersion factor" immensely. |
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Secondly most of my suggestions would cater to new and old players with the option to toggle modes for more information. Or is this not something you would want to do? Essentially if I was to redo the entire UI I would make it so most windows cant move saves bags etc. Then make a entire portion of the options devoted to advanced features hiding aspects of the UI such as check boxes to show or hide windows and advanced features(like the extended info on maintained window). |
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I also think we could have an upper bar to incorporate other parts of the UI. Then windows such as the Group window and spell effects could appear on the side and are only visible when necessary. One of the problems though is that I'd really like to design the UI around 1 chat window with tabs because it will leave a lot more room for other elements and look a lot cleaner. Most advanced users will probably want more than 1 visible chat window, but I think for new and casual users 1 window open by default should be enough. |
I'd like to start drawing up some concepts in photoshop and posting them. I'm no graphic artist, but I'd love to contribute to a starting idea, and I'm agreeing with the fact of a more HUD display at the bottom.
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just some design thoughts....
I was always a big fan of some of the "wrap around" UI's from EQ1 - if memory serves, our very own Cairenn had a very nice Celtic-Themed one that "framed" the screen all the way around... I'll have to go over to eqinterface and take a look around - its been a while :) also, I was looking at the LoN UI and I really like the way the left side menu "slides out" from the frame on mouseover - keeps things tidy while making it very easy to get at more info when wanted. |
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the hotbar drawr idea that is AWSOME i so want that BADLY!
that said....lol I think it would be nice to have a switch to change it from a basic ui and layout to an advanced one. I would like options for layout and setup for each specific class realistate is important to me. one thing i hate is the popup stuff blocking my access to clicking something i hate the way the hint popups tend to appear under other windows an auto scrolling ticker with the option to rewind fastforward would be GREAT as for looks something simple buut still screams FANTASY RPG thanks for reading my player feedback on your project I CANT WAIT! |
I'm very interested in being involved with this. I've been a professional UI designer/developer for over 20 years now and would love to see this become a shining example of good modern UI.
Basic Principles Progressive disclosure: A concept that involves setting up the UI to be as minimal as possible by default, but capable of increasing its feedback, options and/or complexity to suit the task and user preference. Function over Form: UI is not art. Yes it needs to look professional, but above all else it needs to be functional. UI also should not be the primary focus of any app, no more than a hammer and saw are the focus of a woodworking project. The entire purpose of the EQ2 UI is to facilitate interacting with the game world, thus should avoid obscuring the world with otherwise pointless or excessively large visual elements. What I'd Like Definition - Container: What we currently call a page, but tagged with an attribute that identifies it as a top level window wrapper. Containers would support some additional attributes irrelevant to nested pages... for example a titlebar/tray icon. Definition - Pallet: A new UI element with drag/drop support, data and display management for multiple containers. Ideally pallets could display a list of containers in a variety of ways (button list, link list, tab bank, etc. in both vertical and horizontal formats). Definition - Master Control: A new UI element that combines a special container with a nested drawer component. Id like to see the default "out of the box" UI fully functional from just 1 or 2 persistent master components that provide icon access to flyouts or drawers with all the secondary stuff, and a pallet schema that allows for user customization. Each master component would have a predefined list of secondary drawers that dock to it by default (Customizable in XML). Opening a drawer would cause a box to slide/expand out from the parent component (away from the nearest screen edge). Each drawer would have a detach button, converting it to a floating pallet that the user can place wherever. Pallets would have the following behaviors/options. 1) Drag and drop a pallet to a master control to change where it docks. 2) Drag and drop a pallet to another pallet to merge them under a single list control similar to how the chat window works now. The pallet should provide options for how the container list is displayed (Buttons, Text Links, Icons, horizontal, vertical, etc). 3) Close button that hides the pallet and restores all nested drawers to the master component they were last docked to. Probably a good idea to include a confirm dialog by default if the pallet has multiple nested containers. 4) Minimize button that reduces the pallet to a tray. 5) Collapse button that reduces the pallet to just its titlebar and link list. 6) A pallet with more than one nested container should display a link list. Selecting a container from the link list should display the associated container. Each container should be docked to the pallet bar with nearest screen corner determining what corner of the pallet bar the container is anchored to. 7) The pallet bar should be realizable independently of any of its nested containers. Gotta run... will post more when able, maybe work up some wireframes. |
Zonx, I think your basic principles are dead-on.
Unfortunately the features you're describing would take a LOT of code work and I don't know that I'd be able to tackle something that big in my spare time. I'm certainly willing to give code support when needed but I think in general we should try to make the UI work with the current implementation and UIScripting capability. We can probably use Effectors to create sliding windows that move in and out on certain events, so I think that level of polish is achievable. But the ability to dock and undock windows would be pretty difficult at this point. I worked on some ideas last night for common controls like buttons because I really wanted to get started on something. I think our first step is to mock up some layouts for the main HUD windows that are up all the time. The graphic polish doesnt have to be there yet, we just need to get placement and size nailed down. Then we can have some artists mock up some textures that fit the layout. If anyone has ideas for how you'd like to see the windows organized, feel free to whip up something quick and dirty and post it here. I'll try to work on a couple of ideas myself to at least get the ball rolling. Sometimes its easier to get participation when you have a starting point and people can at least say what they like or don't like. To start, these are the windows I think we need to organize into the HUD. 1 Chat Window with tabs 2 or 3 Hotbars (I think thats about all we could fit into an integrated HUD. Additional hotbars would probably need to float. I really want to implement the drawer concept so that 3 hotbars would be enough for most people) XP Bar Casting Bar Group Window Player Info Window Target Window Implied Target Window Mini Map Compass Clock Quest Helper Maintained Buffs Spell Effects Detrimental Effects Threat Meter (Many people may want to turn off the threat meter, but I think it should be designed so that when its on, it looks like its part of the top or bottom HUD bar and not be a floating window. Let me know what you think. |
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What is your default resolution you are shooting for. Knowing that will help determine the flow of the HUD. If its rather small then less feedback data can be done other wise more feedback can be incorporated.
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It's not necessary to watch the damage window with the floating combat numbers. And with the ammount of numbers that can fly by, you really won't be missing anything. Thus, I think the advanced/veteran user can do 1 chat channel. Plus I find multiple chat windows cause more FPS drops... I can't believe some play with 5 chat windows, seems very inefficient. |
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The biggest problem is that making a permanent space for a second chat window eats up a LOT of screen real-estate and can turn a relatively clean, minimum UI into something more beastly. I think it comes down to making a decision about aesthetics. The advanced user could always open a second window and find a place for it, but I'm not sure if making a dedicated spot for it in the default configuration would suit the needs of the most people. I expect this is just the first of many issues that people will feel strongly about on both sides. Perhaps anyone that's thinking about submitting some layout mockups could try it both ways. I'll try to make some time to do a couple rough layouts in Photoshop tonight just for window placement and see what it looks like with both 1 and 2 chat windows. Its also possible that we could come up with 2 different layouts for the same UI. Most of the windows and common UI elements would be the same, but the windows that make up the bottom HUD bar would be slightly different to accomodate 1 or 2 chat windows. We might even be able to do this with scripting so its the same UI with different window options depending on the layout you choose. I also agree with Drums that it would be nice to see as much performance gain as possible by keeping UI elements to a minimum. |
Two chat boxes is useless in my opinion, you cant keep up combat scrolling by and pay attention to what you should be while fighting. Most people use the combat tab for after a wipe to see what was happening not to watch during the fight.
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2 chat windows.
1 covers actual chat I care about while doing some serious adventuring/raiding, i.e. say, shout, tells, group, raid and guild chat. The other stuff you don't want pushing off chat or visa-versa goes in the second window. In my case I've also split the second window into several tabs - Combat, Spells and Pets, Channels, Loot. What's displayed in the second window depends alot on what I'm doing at the moment, but its something I want to refer to frequently without having to click a control and also don't want interfering with my regular chat stream. Absolutely a personal preference that has little to do with experience. I've been Raiding pretty hard core since EQ1 Luclin. I could live with 1 chat window if I had to... but I wouldn't like it. |
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IMO allow the UI to support multiple chat windows, but start the new user off with a single window with just a couple of tabs. Also, it'd be helpful if somewhere there was a description of all the text selection checkboxes and the kinds of text they control. Some are obvious, but other times it's not clear what falls into which category. |
Old habits die hard, that's for sure. But like I said above, I was also someone who did the more than 1 chat window, and started out that way in EQ2.
While I do find it annoying to have to scroll over (say you have too many chat tabs in one window), it'd still probably work better for the implementation as Rothgar stated. Personally I wish custom sound triggers existed in-game, rather than through external log readers. I simply just don't like turn on logging unless I really wanna test out DPS. Another thing that I hate, is you can only totally filter out so much through options. The rest is controlled through Chat Filters, and they have to go SOMEWHERE. If you uncheck it from a secondary tab/window... it goes back to Main chat..... annoying to me... Ok getting off track :rolleyes: Hoping to mess with mock-ups here soon... |
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