Social Interface Improvement Requests after VU 14.6.1

This update was well done. Here's a list of issues with the current chat system. If people want to contribute, post below and I'll add to the list.

1) Global bar causes focus on entering chat to be lost when a global is hit, randomly.
2) The global bar is now mis-sized compared to text, longer globals show up outside the box. In this way the red bar was better. It just needed to be movable.
3) Cant disable globals.

To be continued.

Time to refresh the list Many good improvements but also many could be done.

A little cosmetic suggestion. The placement of this little panel should be adjustable at least between these 2 positions so chat windows could be places next to each other without the gap and overlapping the audio panel:

I would like the option to remove the source tag on each line. Like [System: some message] to be shown only as [some message].

That would be great, it's really dumb to show the tags on every single line even more so when they are color coded.

Thanks.

I have to say, BIG FUCKING TEXT FONT FTW!!!!

Thanks MA, my old squinty cheech n chong eyes.... thank you!

I like this font/change Even better than the old style, it way it was before. this alone is worth any other BS problems to "put up with" (though renaming friends?? is a must have!)

Anyone know the code on this forum to cross out text? I'd like to update the finished items on this list.

Thanks,

- MR

Magyar_Republic said:

Anyone know the code on this forum to cross out text? I'd like to update the finished items on this list.

Thanks,

- MR

Click to expand...

? too short

doesnt seem to work

Magyar_Republic said:

Anyone know the code on this forum to cross out text? I'd like to update the finished items on this list.

Click to expand...

It's not in vBulletin by default, an admin must add a custom BB Code for it (and 711 apparently didn't). Anyone who did manage to strikethrough in the past (I'm sure I saw several occurrences) must have been used some web service.

All this i realy do miss..

Magyar_Republic said:

1) Each tab should have the ability to enter chat, and a selectable channel that chat is entered into.

12) Older folks are complaining that the colors are too dull. They would like to see the pallet expanded to include some bright colors, and perhaps the ability to adjust the contrast a bit to achieve a darker black on the chat window.
13) More filters could be added to refine what type of system messages appear.

16) Private messages should appear in their own tab.

22) Background color should be customizable.


26) Messages should be able to be removed from message interface.
27) Separate trade into #Buying and #Selling



32) Nearby names should not display in PvP



38) Please re-instate shortcuts for channels. /s for /society, /tr for trade, etc.

40) Default Item is displayed when linking items, not the actual item in question.

42) the tutorial messages in messaging center should be possible to delete/filter


46) all PMs should result in a notification
47) ingame events should be made more visible, maybe a special channel?
48) auction should also notify about when your bid is overbid by someone as before
49) Rookie Chat should display the planet the player is on next to the name.


52) Commands like /listmembers without parameters should work for the currently selected channel.

54) Maybe remove the buttons that invoke Contacts and Message Center and let people use standard buttons from Action Library and place them wherever they what. Don't know is it possible to display dynamic data, like a messages counter, on standard buttons - if not, create for that purpose a little movable panel similar to the Action Set panel in the top-left corner, kinda like (with icons clickable and opening corresponding sections):

To be continued...

Click to expand...

Would like 2 add that if right click on any name in chat or friendlist should give option whisper plus more options if wanted

This system looks very like AageofConan ,but there you have so much more settings and options.

Imo they did add many nice features in this patch, but there's still improvements that should be made for future patches.

1. Change the color of an avatar's name when they speak back to the old green, or allow us to change that.

2. Allow us to change background color of any chat.

3. Allow us to close system tab, or allow us to toggle some options, and add the options that we lost from previous chat. We should be able to set what messages to appear, example missed attacks/evaded, tool close to breaking/broken, healing messages etc. The "other" thing has too much info, so ya should spread the info into different categories.

4. Fix so we can copy messages from Message center.

5. When auto-fade is enabled, there's no need to have that border when you're typing. That only takes unnecessary space, that border can even be removed alltogether, and add similar border to the new hof ticker if ya want that. "Less is more".

6. These new colors are nice, but it would also be nice to be able to make custom colors.

7. Allow the option to change each tab's & message type's size, bold, italic etc. Currently we can only change all chats text size, personally I'd only wanna increase globals/hof size or add boldness to it, so it stands out more.

8. Add an official Universal chat, that works like rookie but suited for any level of player who just wants to chat.

9. Local chat and Trade chat should work in whole planet, as if players made a custom channel but only work in planet. This would remove the need to have a trade/chat channel for each planet, and the planet would seem more alive.

10. Add an official Universal Trade channel.

11. Unify the rest of the UI like health bar/tool, radar, crafting, inventory/storages etc to look like hof ticker theme. Its simple and looks nice. The main point is to unify, just pick one. Currently everything doesn't fit together.

12. Add a new category for message center "Tutorials" and move all tutorials there.

13. Make a new separate tab for PM's, and all "whispers" will go there automatically. We can currently do this but, its buggy and cannot reply in the "PM" tab, plus we cannot even toggle off private messages from main chat currently (maybe that's why its bugged).

14. Hof ticker gets in focus after every global/hof if you got "Keep chat in focus while typing" on options. This is quite annoying, and makes a lot of windows show up. Hope ya fix it in next patch.

15. We should be able to move the Message center and Contacts icon to wherever we want. Currently Message centers is in place where the loot shows up (if you have loot windows disabled).



That's all I could think of right now, I believe with these changes this social UI would certainly improve EU even further.

Biggest issues for me now are:

• disabling a channel should remove previous lines as well as future ones;
• globals and HoFs should be separate channels.

In the old system I would very often switch off globals and scroll back to see what I'd missed after being afk or just for reference. I can't do that now so I end up missing stuff.

Oleg said:

Biggest issues for me now are:

• disabling a channel should remove previous lines as well as future ones;
• globals and HoFs should be separate channels.

Click to expand...

The latter... you can create a seperate tab for solely that. And can scroll back to see what u have missed.

Some improvements.. yes.

The biggest issue I have as well as a few others.. is how the old system was beautifully simple. and simplicity has its keys. While I am very happy to see the messaging system and even the notes (im not quite sure how i would use it as i'm used to paper, but nice), now this new UI has far too many steps.

If I wanted to talk in a channel for any length of time.... click the little box on the old system. while it IS nice to have customizable tabs.. you loose focus on the tab and instantly get transferred to whatever the last /X you were typing.

If I got a PM.. click the little box and it opens a PM window...and you can type away. DONE!! NOW... I have to either open the right hand f-list menu.. and click private message... or right click on the name in chat.. go to avatar.. then private message.. I even sent MYSELF several private messages (or whispers) just trying to click on the damn name of a friend as the rest of the chat screen scrolled by, not to mention the countless times I sent what I thought was a PM to regular chat at whatever tab and /x channel i was on last....and if you are typing fast and dont put exactly /w then the EXACT name of who you are whispering to.. then it gets lost.

If I wanted to send a PM.. it wasn't hard to just scroll through the F-list to send a PM.. unlike now its scroll.. click a new page.. scroll... hell I'm renaming friends by number just so they are on the first page.

I like the idea and overall new UI. but its gotten far more complex to just do simple things. keep the "click on name" in the chat window and have options, but this is all just a communications device in game. If you have 2 or 3 conversations going, between local, soc, private, team.. etc.. its almost impossible to quickly go from one to another, unless you actually like typing the /x before every single thing you type.. which in a hurry usually ends in errors.

I'm always operating with several PMs going, active in soc chat, all while busy with game play.

As I've stated, all over the forum, there are things I don't like or are getting used to. With PMs, one thing i do like is that once I have a PM going in its own separate PM box, when I get a second one going, I can drag and drop one PM box onto the other one which then merges them into the same box with a separate tab for each. I can keep dropping PM boxes for different people into that one box with everyone having their own tab. It works well.

What I don't like is how PMs are first delivered to me. It's cumbersome and problematic. We should simply go back to a little thing that lights up with a beep for a new PM from a new person. Delivering all new PMs into that main chat tab isn't good for a lot of reasons.

Magyar_Republic said:

Anyone know the code on this forum to cross out text? I'd like to update the finished items on this list.

Thanks,

- MR

Click to expand...

Easiest solution would be to change the color on the completed items to 'grey' them out.
And put in a line break between each group of 5 or so, so it's easier to read

/mod note/ I've moved all post-vu 14.6.1 responses over from the earlier thread, and renamed the threads to 'Social Interface' so that it clearly covers more than just 'Chat'.

I'll also sticky this thread in the Dev's Corner section until the next update, to make it easier for the Dev's to refer to in the short term. After the next patch, it will be unstuck and moved over to 'Bug Reports'.

BlueEyes said:

The latter... you can create a seperate tab for solely that. And can scroll back to see what u have missed.

Click to expand...

And I can make 18 different tabs so all the permutations I might want are covered, though that still won't separate HoFs no matter how many tabs I make.

Or I could go through chat.log deleting all the stuff I don't need before reading it all.

Or they could make it so I can just click one button to see what I want, like before.

Hm, so most of still actual suggestions are lost in now locked thread. Now it looks like the list of 50+ things that people wanted is fulfilled and the only problems are 3 in this OP.

Oleg said:

And I can make 18 different tabs so all the permutations I might want are covered, though that still won't separate HoFs no matter how many tabs I make.

Or I could go through chat.log deleting all the stuff I don't need before reading it all.

Or they could make it so I can just click one button to see what I want, like before.

Click to expand...

Only solution you can do for now is to sellect higher value on the global popup like 500ped ,iknow its not what you whant/mean but least it seperate low globals.

Svarog said:

Hm, so most of still actual suggestions are lost in now locked thread. Ok.

Click to expand...

No, nothing has been lost at all.
I've sent a pm to Magyar, suggesting he go through the old thread, and re-post any continuing issues in the OP of this thread.
I think it's a lot easier for the dev's see what issues are current by looking at the OP of a single stickied thread on the subject, rather than wading thru a bunch of suggestions and complaints that have already been addressed.


/on topic/
1. Recipient's name not always showing on sent offline messages in message list:

A couple of days ago I sent out 4 offline messages to soc members. In my messages list, although the 'Subject' is showing, only 2 of them have the recipients name showing, and 2 of them don't. I'm guessing this is some bug, but it's going to be pretty annoying if this continues and I have to riffle through various messages, trying to find the right person.

2. Color of person's name in chat.
People's name links in chat (ie the [xxx xxx xxx] ) are all in grey/blue color, and tend to disappear into the chat background a bit. Is there any reason they can't be in the same color as the rest of the chat line, or at least in a color at least as 'bright' as the rest of the line?

3. Unable to type in custom tabs.
I've created a separate tab for soc chat (to save scrolling up constantly while hunting etc) - but since the VU I can't type in it - cliking in the blank line at the bottom takes me back to the 'Main'Tab to respond.

The message center has too many messages

The old system for delivering messages to the user was simple, yet it worked well.

The new system for delivering messages to the user is complicated has the following problems as far as I see it:

1) I don't need a message when I begin to sell something. It's confusing.

2) give me a way to remove tutorial messages.

3) The "ended" or "x day" status text that appears under the neat icon doesn't always appear. Sometimes it appears seconds after opening the interface. Sometimes it appears later. Most of the time (for me) it never appears, making new sales and old sales messages indistinguishable from each other.

4) That new button you put on the upper left hand corner of my screen overlaps my (no loot window) loot info, causing both displays to be less than readable.

5) Draw a unique icon for "message center" and "adjusting sound effects" Using the same icon for both is lazy and confusing.

6) "cable slot adapter compon..." is not a unique identifier. need more characters or a hover state to let me know what I'm looking at. While you're at it. Name your items better. Stop using roman numerals for starters. Use real decimal numbers like real modern humans. (would make sorting auctions a whole lot easier. Efficient humans stopped using roman numerals hundreds of years ago because decimal numbers are IVCCXLII times better)

7) When I went to windowed mode (1024 x 768), the new contacts window is stuck on the left hand side of my screen, and I cannot move it.

8) Often new tabs don't have any chat context. Yea, that text string in the entry field that tells you what channel you're about to type into, it's blank. Fix that please. (the work-around is to give the tab another context, then remove it)

9) Thanks for giving us custom chat channels. It took a lot of work to educate and invite a few hundred people to my awesome new chat channel. Please give us some kind of warning when you're going to undo that and reset everything.

X) Messages about items sold to order don't show up in my message center until hours later.

11) Give us a consistent and intuitive way to close windows. Normal humans look for an "X" in the upper right hand corner to close windows. Breaking this convention is not cleaver. It's bad UI.

12) The old system allowed us to copy and paste text from notices. For example: Every time some noob levels up they could experience the joy of copy'n and paste'n that text into society chat. It's fun for them. It's fun for everybody. You killed the fun. Also there are MCXI other reasons why having the ability to select and copy text from notices was useful.

Thanks.

I'd just like to add, that after the last update, the message center has the same "scrolls to position X by itself" as the Contacts list.
Also, clicking away entering/leaving LA messages is a bit of a pain now...

Great post by truantduck , and a great summary of what needs to be done with the new UI in order to become easier to use and fun.

I have no problems with roman numerals myself, usually real-life gunnery use them (Mk. II etc), but I understand some would find typing "socket III c" annoying. Just my II cents

EDIT: I edited my post for clarity as the mod merged threads. Funny how the OP threads are never merged into the earlier ones, but has the direct support of the mods for his wanna-be community organizer role.

The same community about he said it has heads in their ass just last week. Way to go Serica - I do not want my posts on that blowhard threads!

/mod note/ merged thread.

Magyar will be updating the list in the OP, so that the dev's have a single list to check through instead of multiple threads in different sections.

I can't be watching 24/7 though, so if anyone notices a thread in a different forum section that's relevant to this thread, please post a link to it here to make Magyar's (and the mods') life a life a bit easier

Serica said:

3. Unable to type in custom tabs.
I've created a separate tab for soc chat (to save scrolling up constantly while hunting etc) - but since the VU I can't type in it - cliking in the blank line at the bottom takes me back to the 'Main'Tab to respond.

Click to expand...

you need to click the channel name, and then you can start typing. if that dont make sense, I will make a SS after work

A lot of requests got ignored or didnt make it to the list.

Will take it as is.
With time will learn to ignore first column with [System] or [Rookie] or [Local] or [Society].
Hard to know with who you are talking as name is so dark that is unreadable.
Fortunaltely there is litle heart icon indicating that im chating with frend whoever is he.

Still no way to flag items of my interest and get message once they are available on auction.

Probably will get used to not buy anything from aucttion because BO - Buy Out was not fixed after patch and is public - seller get mesage who bought item.
Thats quite drastic change from years of Buy Out anonimity.

Maybe is done for security reasons and in that case - if needed could create alt ava and join the hordes of alts who shit on auction for years.

As many requests were ignored i think is not worth to repeat them again.

More for the list :

Chats are not being logged still in the log files , only global hof and skill messages are being logged.
this is really important !

Chat tabs are not lockable , there should be an option to lock the tabs in place.
Stupid ears are still there , would it not be possible to move notifications down to the top of the chat box ? as notifications are not obvious enough.
Tutorials are not removable.
No option to completely remove system message box or disable the skill or damage messages that come up in there.

it appears that Force chat is still bugged. Sometimes takes ages to get a message through if at all, it appears that if you jump in and out of a seat on mothership this sometimes fixes it for a while.

The "Me" name although kind of fixed still has problems. When in quad it shows the full name not the one chosen in the avatar name section.

Waypoints in space show ???

Too many un-obvious sounds.

Friendlist stays in background when you close and open it again with the shortcut.

Anoying if you have to move/close other windows to get to the friendlist

SoReal said:

Waypoints in space show ???

Click to expand...

space waypoints worked correctly for me a few hours ago...but i was passenger...Ill be flying solo later today so I'll double check

I would like to keep the simple, sober, straightforward auto-faded interface style, but I can't, because the the opacity is way to low,
partially unreadable text messages depending on the game's background.
Opacity should be adjustable by user from 0% to 100%!

Plus, when hovering the mouse cursor over the auto-faded chat interface I don't want the "fancy" graphics of the non-auto-faded interface to show up again, never, it's annoying and invasive.

Thanks in advance

The HOF Ticker Filtering doesn't save, need to adjust it after each login.

* Both the "Contacts" and "Message Center" windows are now scrolled to the bottom when being opened after being minimized if the information has changed. They should both be scrolled to the top of page #1 automatically - or at least where they were when closed.

* When auctions have been extended by a bid in the last five minutes the time left is not updated in the "Message Center", instead it shows negative numbers.

* I was offline when I got invited to a channel and didn't have notice I had been invited, which would have been helpful.

* When moving into and out of a LA the messages displayed are different sizes and the buttons to close them aren't in the top right where it should be. It's not a big deal but it's annoying.

Overall I like the new functionality, but I would appreciate it if the 'look' was less distracting - more like a real Heads Up Display where the useful information is given, but it does not distract from what you are trying to do.