GUI suggestion

[Karotte]

hm, i see CA have the most potential of TA mods (no joke) (why did the most playing BA?)

but what i want to say is: I see oftne by buyable Games that they have a fix menu. but by Spring isnt is. Maby you should made it fix like Surpreme comande or WC3.

[Gota]

Emmanuel?

[Saktoth]

You mean a menu before you start the game, that gives you options? Spring singleplayer (for what it is) has one. Spring multiplayer has the lobby, so there is no reason to have a pregame menu.

If you mean an ingame menu, we have one- press escape. Its being worked on, see the GUI thread.

[CarRepairer]

I'd love to put the menu at the top. You know, like the menu at the top of your browser. It's crazy I know. But res bars would have to move elsewhere and I'm having a hard time convincing spring players that this is indeed not the end of the world! My resbars are at the bottom of the screen.

[Pxtl]

What, like a full-length menu-bar? Yeah, I'd be annoyed - those things are a huge waste of space. But otherwise, I wouldn't mind nudging the minimap down a few dozen pixels and sticking a few menu-buttons over it or something.

[Licho]

It could also be vertical.

[Pxtl]

We're talking about a menu, right?

What goes in a normal menu:

File, Edit, View, Tools, Window, Help.

Damned few of those apply to CA. Edit? No copy/paste, so basically it's a place for the "options". Window? Spring is a single-window app, not an MDI app.

So really, we want File, View, Tools, Help.

File contains exit/save, view contains camera/viewing widgets, tools contains all other widgets (and the Options panel), and help contains information.... and I only suggest keeping so many because of nostalgia for the Windows Standard list. Really, though, a File menu is kind of a waste for 2 options, one of which is broken. And the difference between View and Tools could be kind of confusing in Spring.

So really, we need the current 2 - Options and Help. That's it.

You could cram the two menu buttons over the minimap, horizontally. Click them and they drop down their list of options.

[CarRepairer]

I had a horizontal bar setup but it got messed up when Licho added the volume bar and other stuff. That's okay since I can fix it to work again, and it should go at the top like other programs.

[Neddie]

I believe he is talking about a fixed GUI, where you can't move around the elements and instead have a coherent, minimal interface. I don't think he is talking about a "menu" at all, just the interface.

[CarRepairer]

Exactly. The problem is in order to decide on fixed positions, we have to design the entire UI from start to finish. Moveable elements allow us to be lazy right now and let people do the work of placing them as they see fit until we come up with a final plan. We can't assign all but one or two elements a fixed position, it has to be all or none.

[Neddie]

I'm well aware of the problems entailed.

Anyway, it is unlikely that CA will develop a fixed GUI, given the large number of widget extensions and variable widget use among players.

[Pxtl]

Exactly. The problem is in order to decide on fixed positions, we have to design the entire UI from start to finish. Moveable elements allow us to be lazy right now and let people do the work of placing them as they see fit until we come up with a final plan. We can't assign all but one or two elements a fixed position, it has to be all or none.

Yes, but core elements - the minimap, the buttons, the menu, the resource-bars - those things can be fixed-position. I mean, look at windows - where's the "lock my widgets" command same as the "lock teh taskbar" in windows? Clicking around and accidentally dragging the resource-bars or resizing the frustratingly non-revertable minimap (and why the hell does it not preserve aspect ratio by default) is really annoying.... but that's a complaint I have about Spring in general... I don't recall if those frustrations come up in CA>

[MidKnight]

For easy reading purposes:

Hm, I see that CA has the most potential of the *A mods, no joke. (Why do most people play BA?)

Anyways, what i want to say is this: Many commercial games have a 'fixed' menu, but Spring does not. Maybe you should made it fixed like Supreme commander or WC3.

[jK]

I'm well aware of the problems entailed.

Anyway, it is unlikely that CA will develop a fixed GUI, given the large number of widget extensions and variable widget use among players.

It's tricky but it's possible. Chili will have its own stage for this: so called "Themes" (in contrast to "Skins" which change the visual appearance of controls).

[Neddie]

Thank you. I've been working on one myself.

[Karotte]

OK, that you see what i mean i did somthing with GIMP (im amatuer in GIMP )

now look :

[Jazcash]

No 1998 GUI for me thank you very much.

Try wording your opinion in a nicer way, please.

"I think that way of doing it looks outdated, possibly try something more innovative?" delivers the point and sounds less caustic.

[Karotte]

? 1998 GUI wtf, i've sad im a noob in GIMP, its only a suggestion!

[MidKnight]

It's a nice idea, but many games (The Blizzard RTSs, Heroes of Newerth, Age of empires/mythology, the Empire Earth series, etc.) use it, and because most people today use widescreens, we think that putting the GUI on the side will let people see more of the game on their screen.

Sorry, I didn't explain it very well.

[Karotte]

ok, then turn my picture on 90 degrees
NO, then made a fix menu an the side! Because this GUI nw is really big chaos! to much stand-alone menus and colors and to diferent sizes!
Please, do ANYTHING!