Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoltaroth-SOE
I may be alone in this, but I would prefer to see at least 2 windows - 1 for combat and 1 for chat both are central and should be viewed at the same time even by a newbie.
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I've always been torn between showing 1 or 2 chat windows myself. Personally I use 2 chat windows all the time because I want to see my outgoing damage separate from chat text.
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.