Support New Social User Interface system Feedback

U can type without erasing by changing options / hud / fokus chatt or some like that unmark that.


1. New Colors: Insane lack of colors and someone colorblind really must have some intresting issues with this.

2. Make PMs pop up in windows again. We got private chatts etc now we do not need PM in chatt also.

3. Make font size customisable.

4. Fix the HoF/Global ad thingie. Its not good as is but atleast make it right.

5. When responding to PMs U end up back in local if U have a new PM tab.

6. Overall IRC al over again. I hated to learn al that back then and I wont love it much more now.

7. I WANT A NEW BACKGROUND


Overall maybe this was needed but in my humble opinion I think we might be screwing our newcommers abit. Now that first hour will be into. How do I speak to ppl igm.
Oh and one thing that botherd me ALOT was the fact that al chatt was active in space. It may sound stupid but I liked my space vast and silent. Now it feels like I have quarry in my spaceship. ):


this might get good but we need some tweaks

 

In all fairness, that is something that newbies struggled with before... the old system wasn't very intuitive either, at least not to all.

 

It needs a cleaner interface and we should be able to delete all the messages in the log.

I've been in EU for 8 years now I don't need the how to move about tutorials or the other three pages of them so I should be able to delete them.

I'd get rid of some of the styling on the windows and use a simpler one. More like the options dialog or even more like a normal mail client where we can just look at new messages or filter them down to type.

The UI is trying too hard.

The chat isn't the hardest thing newbies have to get used to tbh when people were more talkative they'd explain how to do stuff in the arrivals area now newbies are reliant on the few that can get there.

 

In my opinion, it's actually nice for new players. The rookie channel is the default channel, so they can start chatting and asking questions to everyone reading/monitoring the rookie channel.

 

One thing that's bugging me is that the message center and contacts tabs can't be moved but are stuck in one spot. Right now the message center tab is in blocking my loot messages.

 

Healing messages aren't working right. Self-healing is fine, but I just healed someone and got "You healed [blank] with 18.4 points" followed immediately by a double message saying "You healed [blank] with [blank] points". The former showed up in a window dedicated to all System messages. The latter, in a System > Damage window. By [blank], I mean it's just an extra space between words.

 

I generally like the increased functionality, although some things could work better.

However...

As many others have stated, the colors are terrible. Pastels, really? It's just a jumble of similar tones and I hate it, it doesn't look good and it's hard to pick things out. Can we at least get options that allow us to sort of recreate the old color scheme? I also don't need the fancy buttons/borders and space wasting design, I'd much prefer something more simplistic like the old system. How about a simple version we can choose as an option?

The "ears" at the top left and right edges need to go.

The red global thing that pops up needs to go.

It's really just depressing to look at the thing as it is.

 

With the social interface, it really makes me realize how every single system in the game uses a completely different UI and it looks like a disorganized hodge podge of unrelated windows. I understand using different colors for storage and repair and map and radar but seriously, there's no unifying element at all... fonts, sizes, borders are not just different but totally unrelated. I think it's time for a good UI change. I recommend MA hire a good designer to make a few different mockups and post them in a forum poll to get feedback from the users in regard to form and function.

 

Is it just me or are the timestamps wrong? When I press U to get a timestamp it shows me the correct time for my timezone, even though it's labeled EU time (I'm GMT+1). The times for messages in the message center show correct EU time.

I'd also like an option to increase the font size, best would be in the whole interface, but only chat will do. On a 1080p monitor the font isn't particularly comfortable to read especially with the color scheme and I'm staring at text all day at work so easier to read is always a plus for my eyes.

Another thing, some of my auctions ended/got BO before the VU and I never got to see the messages about them, but I can live with that. However, every time I log in I can hear the old notification sound for an auction message (I'm not in any LA etc.). Please remove that or let me see the messages and dismiss them.

In the Message Center the messages with sold items sometimes have their names cut off with no way to see the whole name (that I could find), mouse over doesn't work. For example I had two chips on auction: Electric Attack Nanochip I and Electric Attack Nanochip II. The message said only "Electric Attack Nanochip ...". Mouse over should reveal the whole name.

Also, a minor thing, the old auction message system used to give you the amount that is transferred to your PED card, now we get the sale price and the applicable fee separate. Any chance to add an entry for the total? For example (made up numbers) if I put up a 50 PED stack on auction with SB 52 PED and 53 PED BO and someone pays BO I used to get information that 52.95 PED was transferred to my account (53 PED sale price minus 5 PEC additional fee). Now I get two entries: sale price 53 PED and fee 0.05 PED. Not a terrible inconvenience, but in the old system I could just write down the number and now I have to subtract the fee first (yes, I do track my sales).

 

Yes I found this very annoying, particularly as the covered bit shows the actual ped value of the hof / global.

Other points of note :

Initially OI was bemused and confused with toooooooooooo much information. It must be said that after a few hours though of tinkering I started to get my head around the possibilities.

Obviously if you have too much info you can reduce this by limiting the different chats in each tab
Is the trade channel plnet or universe based, I tried to custmise a trade tab to only show trade messages, but I am not convinced I have set it up correctly.
Rookie channel is a good idea but I agree it should be planet specific or be customisable to be planet specific
Rookie channel is already being used for other nefarious purposes, can this be controlled
Soc channel seems like it needs more click each time you use it although I concede that I may just have to go through the learning curve
Chat text is not that clear, I have a friend who is visually impaired and had problems with the old text on a black background was hard for him to read, the new hexagonal greyed backeground and new text font / colours is even harder.
On the plus side this system has a lot of postive aspects to it, but again I am only starting to explore these although the potentials for player to player trade seem to be enhanced.
The custom chats are also a great idea so that I can have special chats with players I interact regularly with to have a shared chat channel. This makes organising events / hunts much easier

Over all a few issues but looks like a great start - well done MA

 

I waited to post until I had something to show, which if I get to choose looks way better with similar functionality.

• 5 Custom Channels
• same styling as we are used to that works
• click on Biography and a little popup comes up, no need to clutter FL with full
• still old auction messages for those who want (like me) and new
• no more "[local][player player player]*heart*: Message" taking up half the first line

The Name on the winner of a BuyOut bid I'm sure will disappear for same reason they don't show who is ordering stuff, in one way it's useful to have but in another I don't want to be shown as the buyer if I take a buyout so expect others feel the same.

I guess that was it, like it or hate it but here is a picture:
(Yes it's all fake, not trying to be tricky here. Just make sure you look at 100%(1776x999))
View attachment 9169

Edit:
Updated the chat a bit as people complained, spent less then 2min thinking it up but it's a concept.
and ignore fonts used in everything as it's the design of it that I wanted to show.
View attachment 9171
if you have a dark screen you might not see there is a gap between the chat channel tabs on top so there is a tab for each

 

omg, that is 10000% better!

MA, please contract Jenny ferr to redo the UI!

 

On the other viewpoint as a seller, I love seeing who is buying my stuff (now I know who I shouldn't tick off on the forums ). I really hope MA keeps it... but I can understand if they do remove it, though not be for the reason Jenny mentioned.

One other problem that is annoying me is that when you write a long message it does not just stop typing, it lets you type longer than the allowed length, so you have to delete an unspecified number of characters then try again, and again. I'd like to see the text cut off at the proper length (actually I'd like to see longer posts). You could also add a tiny little number at the end of the text entry bar showing the number of characters you have left.

Also, some people without experience in such things are finding the text controls (#Arkadia, /j, /c) confusing. I recommend that in addition to these shortcuts, there also be a graphical interface for all the chat commands. OR, come up with a good tutorial.

 

Here's an idea... looking at how Rookie chat has basically become "pirate bicker chat" at certain times of the day, how about making it so that anyone who is ignored by too many players (50, 100?) automatically can't post to rookie chat.

 

Fantastic Idea!

 

Instead of having to use #Calypso or #Arkadia or #ArkTrade etc done by players.
They can make the local chat and the trade chat work in whole planet that the respective player is in.
This means no need for those channels anymore.
Then they can add a Universal chat and Universal trade, like rookie. (Only possible to disable). So you don't need to /join it.

This will totally improve the experience i believe, and removes the need to have a channel of each planet chat and trade. They start to clutter up pretty fast.

I honestly can't see any downsides to this.

More room for other custom channels. Less clutter. Perfect imo.

 

I know most/all has been said already, but more voices might help to push the envelope.
So I'm adding my feedback to the pile:

Room for improvement:
- The text is very small / can't be resized.
- The (pale) colors are hard to read/distinguish.
- Background can't be customized (to untextured/plain).
- The HOF ticker is too big, disruptive and badly placed.
- Typing area is very, very small (& no notification of too long text cut-off).
- Can't turn universal chat off / can't turn planet specific chat on (eg. for rookies).
- Tutorial messages can't be deleted / individually closed.
- There is no spam filter in chat (& default set to repeat text).
- Long chat text can overlap.
- Message button overlaps loot listings & disables custom buttons underneath it.
- Can't move 'Private chats' to it's own tab from 'Main' tab (still need to type in 'Main').
- Redundant sound notification to notify you of your own typing.
- Notification icons are easier/quicker missed when not centrally shown.
- Position/time buttons only work in 'System tab', in other tabs it needs 'commands'.
- Chat time-stamps have disappeared (combined with no chat log = vague support cases).
- Chat logs are not logging every chat.
- Showing avatar names 'in vicinity', is not practical in (lootable) PvP. (I know they know)

Nice new UI features:
- Off line messaging.____________[Great the recipient doesn't even need to be on your FL for this.]
- Item linking.___________________[Useful, and for sales it might even be better if instead of 'default' it's your own item (tiers)]
- Copy/paste function.
- Sticky note.________________[Very practical, next will be a calculator?]
- Society filter in contacts.
- Ignore/mute individual avatar._[Enough said.]
- Full avatar name showing on hover over.
- Auction messages collected.__[Nice, next would be the ability select different viewing orders, instead of just by date?]

- Very much in favor of planet specific channels.
I thought the main idea about different planets, was that you were separated (even in AH). So suddenly having an universal chat seems.. weird.
(It takes (up to) an hour to fly to another planet, but despite that distance; I can magically talk with anyone, no matter where they are?
While for trade, where it could be handy to have planet-wide chat; it's still limited to local chat.)

- Especially the Rookie channel, which atm is the standard (ab)used channel, should be made planet specific.
One of the reasons I'm suggesting to new players to go to Ark, is because it has a nice(r) community: the rookie channel chat I've read so far, doesn't really help in that regard. (Thumbs up for Neil's suggestion.)

- Also, I don't know if it's just because of my settings/monitor; but even if the UI windows are at their smallest, they still take up 2/3 of my screen in windowed mode (I'm not able to play in full screen mode).
Which is fine if that's all you're doing, but during other activities it becomes a bit crowded on my screen.
(Again thumbs up for Neil's other suggestion, and Jenny's example.)


Nevertheless, it always takes some time to get used to a new system. But after a while, most will probably be just fine with it.
There are a lot of extra features added, and some of those may even become indispensable, once/after we get used to them.
So even though it's already here to stay: hopefully there's still room to tweak some things a bit, to make the end result more user friendly.
Eg. since I don't have 20/20 vision: this gives me a headache.

 

Jenny, that's awesome. The more I use the current UI, the less I like it over the old one. More basic as it was and lacking certain useful features (offline messaging, item linking, etc.), it was way more functional and clean.

 

updated the chat a little bit to give an idea what could be done and still keep the overall design concept clean and useful