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Changing Menu Organization? - Printable Version

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Changing Menu Organization? - BuddyFriendGuy - 06-14-2015

The content below is taken from the other thread about Private Servers. @sev suggested that I move that part out here.

Right now, under Multiplayer, we have Server, Create, Media, and Profile. I think Media and Profile shouldn't be under Multiplayer. I often try to find Profile in Settings. Something like this makes more sense to me:

Top: Single Player, Multiplayer, Media, Settings

Multiplayer: Public, Private, Create
Media: Demo, Screenshot, Music, Gallery (Weapon and Item explanation that I'm trying to add now)
Settings: Move Profile from Multiplayer to here. See details below.

There are a lot of 1st level sections in the Settings (Video, Effects, Audio, Game, Input, User, Misc, plus Profile), so I'd like a re-organization here, too:

Move effects under Video.
Delete User by doing the following:
Move User->menu skin and User->Language to Misc
Move User->Gore setting to Effects

So, we'll have in Settings:
Video, Audio, Game, Input, Profile, Misc

It is indeed drastic as @sev noted, but I just thought I'd start this discussion while I still have the beginner's eyes.

RE: Changing Menu Organization? - aa - 06-15-2015

I like the idea of reworking the layout as the current one keeps growing more messy and messy all the time. The nastiest part are the tabs in Settings. Seriously? Two rows? I think Nexuiz used to have it and It claustrophobic as hell, or worse, i don't really know if hell is claustrophobic. I was really glad when it was straightened in Xon for good. Now we are back to the horrible layout.
To a person who might look at it, it would more logically seem that the lower tabs are sub categories of the top tabs. Confusing either way.

Next, currently, all tabs are growing with multiple many-many tabs, with are pointless and confusing. The total number of sub sections should be removed to minimum. I am glad BuddyFriendGuy brought up the topic, his suggestions seem incredibly sane. Howether, I would at all costs refrain from adding 4 tabs, as it will ruin the overall design, make things look ugly. Under settings, Video and Effects should certainly be integrated together, leaving only main setting on top, for all of the extra bullshit, an Advanced button should work. I think, a good idea is to make a bunch of sliders, that will take control of major aspects of graphics, eg: A slider for resolution, A slider for texture size, a slider for lighting (which will go like: 0-No lighting 1-Vertex shading 2- Lightmaps 3-Dynamic lighting 4-Better dynamic etc), a slider for Bump mapping (0-No, 1- Normal mapping 2- Ofsset 3-relief mapping) and some others, eg detail level. This will help to keep the settings more clear and less technical, Providing more detailed options in the advanced window, available as a small button at the bottom of the page

RE: Changing Menu Organization? - BuddyFriendGuy - 07-03-2015

@aa, I think we can probably be more helpful if we propose something more solid. Let's explicitly list the menu items, rather than just a rough concept.

I'll list my idea here so we can start the discussion:
  • Singleplayer
  • Multiplayer
    • Join (replacing "Servers")
      • Public
      • Private
    • Create
  • Media
    • Videos (replacing "Demos")
    • Screenshots
    • Jukebox (replacing "Music Player")
    • Almanac (or "Gallery", to describe each item)
  • Settings
    • Profile
    • Hardware
      • Video
      • Effects (merged original "Effects" and "Game->Models")
      • Audio
    • Game
      • Control (original "Input")
      • Visual
        • View
        • HUD (merge "HUD" and "Crosshair")
        • Messages
      • Weapons
    • Misc (merged original "Misc" and "User")

The limitation is that we can't have too many items on each level; otherwise we'll need two rows to show them, and it's very confusing. Perhaps we can solve the problem by re-implementing the menu system into a breadcrumb-like navigator interface, but that's a lot of work, so I think for the time being, let's stick with the current design.

RE: Changing Menu Organization? - TimePath - 08-14-2015

How does this look? https://gitlab.com/xonotic/xonotic-data.pk3dir/merge_requests/179

RE: Changing Menu Organization? - Beagle - 08-14-2015

Agree with BuddyFriendGuy, it looks more simple and easier for the community and the new players.

RE: Changing Menu Organization? - aa - 08-15-2015

BuddyFriedGuy, I am sorry I haven't seen your post earlier, I do have things to say.

First of all we must avoid Exceeding 3 windows at all costs, because it totally breaks composition, and the overall view of the menu. I think it is quite acceptable to merge single and multi player for that purpose.
Second of all, we should avoid having a double stack of buttons, since it looks confusing , as I explained.

RE: Changing Menu Organization? - BuddyFriendGuy - 08-15-2015

(08-15-2015, 03:25 PM)aa Wrote: BuddyFriedGuy, I am sorry I haven't seen your post earlier, I do have things to say.

No problem.

(08-15-2015, 03:25 PM)aa Wrote: First of all we must avoid Exceeding 3 windows at all costs, because it totally breaks composition, and the overall view of the menu. I think it is quite acceptable to merge single and multi player for that purpose.

I have no problem with having 4 top sections instead of 3, if that helps the users to find things more easily. 5 may even work.

However, I agree with you that the layout needs to be designed to look less messy, as @sev mentioned in gitlab. I'm no designer, but I think it might help to at least have an equal-size window for each section.

   

(08-15-2015, 03:25 PM)aa Wrote: Second of all, we should avoid having a double stack of buttons, since it looks confusing , as I explained.

It is precisely my goal to reduce the number of functions in each level, to avoid having more than one row of buttons. It is a trade-off between the number of levels and the number of buttons in each level.