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Re: Another Possible Solution to the Occupants Display Problem
Jim Kingdon wrote:
Instead of "Occs" or "OV", I think I'd go with an icon (if someone can
design one which makes sense and fits in 16x8 or so). Or maybe just
"...". That fits in almost any size box and seems to be kind of
logical for what the button does (and indicates).
This seems reasonable.
Or maybe just draw
the transport full-size in the "unit in a white box meaning occupants"
which the tcltk interface now uses at 16x16 (hmm, I guess that only
That's a thought. I wonder how obvious its intended meaning would be for
newbies?
For 11x11 (8x8), clicking anywhere in the transport should probably
bring up the occupant view popup.
Yes. Likewise at any magnification for clicking on occupants which
are displayed in the transport (in the 1-2 occupant case).
Hmmm... This would be overriding the meaning of a mouseclick on an unit.
But, I can see the advantage as well....
(If the idea is just get more info on an occ, then switch into survey
mode and click on it.)
But it seems odd for click to sometimes mean act on the unit and
sometimes mean bring up the popup. I'm thinking more that the popup
should be a mouseover (although I don't know about things like nested
popups in that context).
Wrt the magnifier idea that I had earlier, I had suggested that the
magnifications happen during a mouseover, only if a modifier key is
being pressed.
However, there are really only two universal modifier keys, shift and
control, and I would rather not use either of them for this, as I can
think of better uses for them. Also, there is the issue of dismissing a
popup/magnified transport box. Should it disappear when the mod key is
released? And, if so, then how do you get nested popups/magnified
transport boxes, or, at leat, just the one(s) you want? If we opt to use
escape, then there seems to be an asymmetry: mouseover+keydown to
invoke, but keypress to revoke.
These concerns are what made me shy away from the magnifier idea, and
suggest what I am now suggesting.
To address the question about what a click means....
The idea of using a click to bring up an occs display popup initially
concerned me in the same way that you seem to be concerned. But, then I
asked myself, "Are we really overriding the meaning of a click?" The
fact that we are clicking on a button in the transport box rather than
the transport itself makes me think we are okay in this regard. Context
can be preserved inside the popup boxes. If the cursor is in attack
mode, then clicking on the popup button will bring up a display of occs
to attack (assuming one can attempt such a thing). If the cursor is in
move mode, then clicking on the popup button will bring up a display of
occs that can be entered (after entering/passing through their transport
of course); the move/enter code still needs some work to properly handle
this, but I started looking into it a few months ago. (And got
sidetracked, as usual....) In survey mode, yada yada.... Etc, etc....
The main point here is that clicking on the button is not the same as
clicking on the transport (though at the lowest map zooms, clicking on a
transport may be the same as clicking on the popup button; but, this is
not a big deal, because the transport can be clicked on inside the
resulting popup window).
Also ACPs, materials and plans (hit points optionally, although there
is already a damage bar for that).
I might concede the ACP's, and possibly the goal and plan description. I
am less enthusiastic about materials; as it is, I am on the brink of
deciding whether to keep the materials in the unit info panel in the SDL
interface, or whether they should only be displayed (with the
possibility of showing more than 9 of them, and showing their icons, if
they have any) in a popup if a button in the unit info panel is clicked.
As long as we are bringing up a
popup, might as well make it possible to avoid having to glance over
to a separate unit details pane.
I agree with this in principle. The question is what is necessary for
the peruser to make an informed decision. Also, there is the question of
how much info would actually be available to the peruser. If I am
looking for something to attack and click on the popup button of an
enemy's unit view, I can really only know location.
I'm not as sure about location - it seems like the fact that you get
to the popup from the map maybe means location is reduant. It seems
kind of inelegant to be using a bunch of text if there is some way to
provide the information visually in a contextual way.
Point conceded. I guess this would leave us with name, ACP, health, and
goal and plan. Possibly materials, but I think a materials display
triggered by a button might be better. Most decisions don't involve
in-dpeth knowledge of materials, construction being a possible
exception. If I am attacking or moving, it is generally good enough to
just to see the "SupplyLow" indicator. IMO, the existing materials
display is inadequate and hogs too much space in comparison to its
relative worth.
Anyway, if the popup has this kind of information, it would be useful
to be able to bring up this popup by clicking on the transport itself
(or a unit with no occupants).
This is true. The info on the transport would be more than what is
provided by simply hovering the mouse over an unit. I guess this
bolsters the case for the kind of popup being proposed.
I don't remember what the other choices du jour were, but this one
seems promising. Or some variant thereof...
Good.
Eric