gui layout

[Silentwings]

This is not one size fits all - and for now all layouts/colours/alphas are there as options - but here's some recent work & curious for thoughts.







(the final one is my own preference)

[hokomoko]

I like my minimap in top left corner, so that rules out #2

While #4 is aesthetically packed, it intrudes the central space too much (which is a big no no).

#3 may be an option, I have to think about it.
#1, #5 and #6 are identical except colour, and personally I prefer #1 since I like my menus "tangible"
There's a slight issue with these in how the Economy/Battle/Factory buttons are in the middle of nowhere, I would suggest to align them with the bottom of the screen (commands may need to be moved right a bit).

EDIT:
This is the silhouette of 1,5,6: (drawn by hand in gimp)



I think it's clearly seen how the build menu tab buttons and (to a lesser effect) the unit states evade the centre of your screen in an unusual manner.
In general you'd want to leave a large uninterrupted space in the centre for the player to work with.

Also note how the right of the screen is entirely unused.
Since most players use left to right languages, and we are used to look in the left side of the screen, I think everything below the resource bar is less in focus, so that entire free space is not very useful.

Random idea: add a counter to buttons that counts clicks, dump the results to the infolog, play and see what you use and how much.

[Silentwings]

right of the screen is entirely unused.

The player list expands; it might easily be 2-3x its visible height in the (2v2+1spec) screenshot. Clicking the "vol" button on the music player also drops down some extra sliders; there isn't really free space there.

The build menu also expands (slightly) rightwards to include more buttons, when needed - which will make the issue you highlight more obvious.

Ty for comments.

[FabriceFABS]

I follow Hoko for mostly all his choices.

right of the screen is entirely unused.

The player list expands; it might easily be 2-3x its visible height in the (2v2+1spec) screenshot. Clicking the "vol" button on the music player also drops down some extra sliders; there isn't really free space there.
...

As a Chicken player, I also tell that there is the Chicken Widget placed on the right too, you can see it below.
I didn't noticed minimap is now on top since 5489 (or before...)

I don't know if I'm going out of the topic, but I don't see the point to have full transparency on icons, build icons... (could fit to console, playerlist... for instance).
Apha, even set on max in interface option is not enough imo, unit icon build is confuse and annoying in some case.
Here -white- seems be the best choice. Team color is a nice idea, but somewhat less pronounced is maybe a better render choice (I precise my color is blue 255).

[hokomoko]

I've fiddled with the GUI layout a bit and got to this:


some issues still exist:
1) The gap in the unit state menu is annoying EDIT: I've moved it to right under the minimap, seems like a great place :)
2) The Eco/Battle/Fac buttons change their place when the number of columns changes (it's probably possible to move them somewhere else)
3) The build menu needs tooltips like the order menu - having to point at a building and look somewhere else in order to know what it is is bad. Redundancy with the unit info panel would bother me much less.

I think it can be made better by snapping the player list to the top (where the music player is) and then snap the build menu to the bottom right.

Another thing to consider is merging the com counter with resource bar. Then you can hide the music player (it's unused 99% of the time).

[scifi]

I've fiddled with the GUI layout a bit and got to this:


some issues still exist:
1) The gap in the unit state menu is annoying EDIT: I've moved it to right under the minimap, seems like a great place :)
2) The Eco/Battle/Fac buttons change their place when the number of columns changes (it's probably possible to move them somewhere else)
3) The build menu needs tooltips like the order menu - having to point at a building and look somewhere else in order to know what it is is bad. Redundancy with the unit info panel would bother me much less.

I think it can be made better by snapping the player list to the top (where the music player is) and then snap the build menu to the bottom right.

Another thing to consider is merging the com counter with resource bar. Then you can hide the music player (it's unused 99% of the time).

Looks way better, the only thing i dislike heavily is the cheer amount of buttons on the left side, they should be clustered maybe horizontaly in to bottom of the screen, or on a corner together with the unit tooltip.

[Ares]

I like #3 from top.

Unit and minimap are seperated, so it it doesnt feel too cluttered. Unit icon and unit commands are adjacent, which is logical.

Unsure why the commands along the bottom go across two lines, I think I would prefer one, or ideally in a small left aligned grid in a similar manner to the build menu.

I think it would be good if the build menu took up less screen space, it feels less compact than the current (buildmenu size and buttons in #4 with the positioning of #3 might be good).

Minimap in bottom left is how it is implemented in starcraft games, I don't oppose that, it makes minimap use easier for low sensitivity mouse users.

Personally I have my entire UI flipped with menus on the right like in Red Alert, I think moving mouse right -> left rapidly is more precise, especially at low sensitivity than left to right - because your arm will be parallel with your body when interacting with units, rather than menus.

[hokomoko]

they don't appear in this thread, but I really like the new build menu category buttons!

[Silentwings]

[FLOZi]

Very slick. The sort of thing I wanted for MCL weight categories.

*Cue gajop reiterating that weight is irrelevant, only abilities matter*

[MasterBel2]

I personally like #3 It feels ordered. To have the repeat on/ other thing list floating around not anchored to anything as in 1,2,4,6 (If I count right) is kinda awkward, imo. I also like the Uit icon in the bottom left, though really think it could be smaller. I'm not sure what it does for multiple units, I like how BA has each individual category of unit that is selected as well as the unit numbers. I really like the idea of everything being the same width, height, etc, and it kinda looks ungainly to me when it isn't. Personally I like having the sides of the screen exposed, at least one perpetually and both if I'm not ordering a unit around.

I'd agree with Fabrice on that it's not quite right having so much transparent. I dislike it, actually. For the controls to be distinctly seperate from the game below would be my preference.

[Silentwings]

Fyi the UI has now changed enough (as a result of peoples responses) that there isn't much point reviewing the pictures at the start of the thread; I'll make a new one.

it's not quite right having so much transparent

The alpha can be changed using the ingame menu.