Imhothar Xarodit
Minmatar Wolverine Solutions Dead Mans Hand
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Posted - 2009.04.15 19:16:00 -
[1]
Seriously CCP, modal dialog boxes are a thing of the ancient past. It started annoying me more and more recently and I really have to ask you, CCP's UI designers, why there are so many modal dialogs in the game.
So UI designers, what are your reasons for having modal dialogs? Is it:
- Because you want the users full attention on the dialog?
- You want to prevent the user from changing anything related to the dialog?
- The way the server works requires the dialog to be modal?
It would be nice if an actual UI developer could put down some comments and explanations.
If c is the case then bad luck, there won't be much you can do to get rid of it unless changing the server code.
If the answer however is a or b then there is room for much improvement. Reason a is no valid reason at all. Let the user decide what they want their attention at. It happens a lot to me that a modal dialog pops up, I see someone chatting with me but cannot answer unless I dismiss the dialog. This is bad UI design.
If the answer is reason b then it can stil be improved. Have the dialog track and react to the relevant changes. Check the required pre-/postconditions when the dialog is about to be dismissed. Enable/disbale the relevant dialog buttons as reaction to failed conditions (with explanations of course). You cannot, for example, use the in-game notepad to write down information of this dialog, or to chat etc. This is bad UI and application design.
So much for dialog boxes. Another very annoying thing is the modal progress bar when doing certain things.
Example: Why do you have to lock up the UI while a S&I job is being installed? If the answer is "to prevent the user from moving the blueprint or materials" then the reason is invalid again. Have the server lock the blueprint and materials so they cannot be modified. There is no reason for a progress bar. The user is only interested if the operation failed and succeeded, not in the installing process itself. The morale: move more operations to the background, the user does not need to see every single procedure in a progress bar, especially not when it is blocking the whole UI. This is bad Ui and application design.
I once again have to refer to the so-hated World of Warcraft. Yes people will flame at me for even mentioning the game, but the truth is that WoW's UI is top. Forget the ability of customization for now. Even the default interface is much more streamlined, consistent and NEVER blocks the UI. The player can move his character around and use actions nomatter how many dialogs are open. None is preventing the player from interacting the 3D world (unless its a full-screen window like the map of course). If a dialog is up that would resutlt in a certain action, and youchange something in the game that would make this action fail, the dialog is notified about this change and disables its buttons accordingly.
Dialog boxes that are only there to inform the player about something and have simple Ok/Cancel boxes are not giant obstrusive windows in the middle of the screen but smaller subtle ones in the upper scren region, so they don't block your whole sight.
The EVE UI is one of the things that makes the game a pain. It is not the looks, that makes it so bad, but rather the way it works. Important information resetting on session changes, modal dialogs, inconsistency in the way information is displayed (sometimes big numbers have comma-delimeters, sometimes not etc), table tooltips simply duplicating the table content instead of providing other usefull info, etc. The UI is what every players has to deal with, the UI is the primary means of interacting with the game, it must not be a challenge but rather a help.
A challenging UI does not make the game challenging. A challenging game can stil have a usefull, helpfull and easy-to-use UI.
The game itself should be challenging, not the game's user interface.
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