[Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Screen"
Moderator: EN - Forum Moderators
- Bad Player
- Posts: 7228
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 10:53 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: American
- Location: Under a bridge
[Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Screen"
Demonstration. (Examine stuff, look at how much nicer the pretty office is.)
Basically, scrap the bars at the top/bottom of the "bottom screen" when examining an area/pointing out a contradiction in a photo. The problem is that for the normal bottom screen those bars are included in the 192 px height, but get excluded when examining, resulting in a bottom screen that is higher than 192 px. The magically-expanding bottom screen is distracting and ugly, especially since it causes the bottom screen to stretch beyond the "boundaries" of the player. The bars at the top/bottom of the bottom screen are also a different size from when you have the regular text-advancement box compared to when you're examining stuff, which just makes it even wonkier.
Basically, scrap the bars at the top/bottom of the "bottom screen" when examining an area/pointing out a contradiction in a photo. The problem is that for the normal bottom screen those bars are included in the 192 px height, but get excluded when examining, resulting in a bottom screen that is higher than 192 px. The magically-expanding bottom screen is distracting and ugly, especially since it causes the bottom screen to stretch beyond the "boundaries" of the player. The bars at the top/bottom of the bottom screen are also a different size from when you have the regular text-advancement box compared to when you're examining stuff, which just makes it even wonkier.
- Reecer6
- Posts: 456
- Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:45 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: English and, for the most part, Spanish
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
I have to agree it looks nicer when the buttons are on top of the image, but the thing about that is that a lot of trials have been made assuming everyone will always be able to click on all of the screen. These buttons may cover up things you're meant to click on, or at least make it harder.
- Bad Player
- Posts: 7228
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 10:53 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: American
- Location: Under a bridge
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
I have no idea what you're talking about. What "buttons"? The only thing covering the image would be the back button (which it already partially covers), and I can't think of any trials where that would be a problem.
EDIT: Okay, now I see it. The demonstration is not what it should actually look like. The bars should be completely deleted, not overlaid on the image. This is just a mock-up to show the idea that making the bottom screen a constant size is more visually appealing than having it constantly stretch and shrink. (There's no way to make a demonstration in-editor of what it'd look like without the bars. The only way would be a mock-up screenshot, but... meh.)
EDIT: Okay, now I see it. The demonstration is not what it should actually look like. The bars should be completely deleted, not overlaid on the image. This is just a mock-up to show the idea that making the bottom screen a constant size is more visually appealing than having it constantly stretch and shrink. (There's no way to make a demonstration in-editor of what it'd look like without the bars. The only way would be a mock-up screenshot, but... meh.)
- Reecer6
- Posts: 456
- Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:45 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: English and, for the most part, Spanish
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
Sorry if I misunderstood what you meant; I kind of didn't read into it very far and also really haven't paid attention to how examination in the player looks, so I just kind of assumed I did understand it. :/
- Unas
- Admin / Site programmer
- Posts: 8850
- Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:43 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: Français, English, Español
- Contact:
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
I see your point, but I agree with Reecer6.
Since times immemorial, meaning since V1, the "point an area on a picture" action allowed specifying clickable areas everywhere on the picture, I certainly can't change that. It would be a major breaking of functionality.
Consider that having the full picture displayed with nothing over it is a non-negotiatable prerequisite : hiding any part of the picture is breaking the contract with the editor which allows you to set any area as clickable.
(In fact, it's true that currently the button takes something like 3px on the picture, which it probably shouldn't and I may fix - but it's unlikely that someone would make a clickable object only 3px high. Displaying the whole button over the picture, as you suggest, would however take up 22 pixels. That's far more likely to contain a clickable area.)
Now, we have two facts :
- The whole picture must be visible and clickable
- Some buttons need to be displayed along with it (currently only the back button)
This limits the options a little.
I'm open to discussions to improve the layout of course : if you believe that the buttons should be displayed on the side of the screen instead, why not. Or if they should be displayed between the two screens, maybe. Or they should be displayed over the screen, but hide themselves somehow when the player tries to examine what's beneath : great, but how to determine whether the user is trying to examine or to click the button ?
The question is much more complex than you seem to think
Since times immemorial, meaning since V1, the "point an area on a picture" action allowed specifying clickable areas everywhere on the picture, I certainly can't change that. It would be a major breaking of functionality.
Consider that having the full picture displayed with nothing over it is a non-negotiatable prerequisite : hiding any part of the picture is breaking the contract with the editor which allows you to set any area as clickable.
(In fact, it's true that currently the button takes something like 3px on the picture, which it probably shouldn't and I may fix - but it's unlikely that someone would make a clickable object only 3px high. Displaying the whole button over the picture, as you suggest, would however take up 22 pixels. That's far more likely to contain a clickable area.)
Now, we have two facts :
- The whole picture must be visible and clickable
- Some buttons need to be displayed along with it (currently only the back button)
This limits the options a little.
I'm open to discussions to improve the layout of course : if you believe that the buttons should be displayed on the side of the screen instead, why not. Or if they should be displayed between the two screens, maybe. Or they should be displayed over the screen, but hide themselves somehow when the player tries to examine what's beneath : great, but how to determine whether the user is trying to examine or to click the button ?
The question is much more complex than you seem to think
- Bad Player
- Posts: 7228
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 10:53 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: American
- Location: Under a bridge
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
Then just put a small back button to the left or right below the screen. Heck, maybe it could go between the two screens or something. It'd still look nicer than having the bottom screen extend beyond the "boundaries" of the player.
- Calvinball
- Posts: 530
- Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:28 am
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: English
- Location: Out of town; will be back!
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
It does look a bit funky. The best looking idea to me would be putting it to the right or something, so that way it fits within the "boundaries" of the player, though I have no idea what kind of programming tricks Unas would have to pull to change that part of the UI now that V6 is already released.
The score is still Q to 12. Shirley Homes avatar by my Invisible Friend. They're an awesome artist!
A huge thanks to my Invisible Friend for this AMAZING Shirley Homes art!
Shirley Homes
Connie Harper
A big thanks to gotMLK7 for this Shirley Homes and Connie Harper art. He is an awesome artist!
A huge thanks to my Invisible Friend for this AMAZING Shirley Homes art!
Shirley Homes
Connie Harper
A big thanks to gotMLK7 for this Shirley Homes and Connie Harper art. He is an awesome artist!
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
Or, you could simply expand the lower screen entirely. You would have extra empty space during dialogue, but it wouldn't look quite so awkward during investigation.
- Unas
- Admin / Site programmer
- Posts: 8850
- Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:43 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: Français, English, Español
- Contact:
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
Okay, I'll experiment with putting the button on the side and other possibilities
- Bad Player
- Posts: 7228
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 10:53 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: American
- Location: Under a bridge
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
This is possible, but Unas (or someone) would need to redo all the bottom screen graphics to make them bigger, expand the layout of the player itself, and it'd cause the bottom screen to permanently be bigger than the top screen. Removing the bars when examining and moving the back button out of the way just seems a bit easier to me.TheDoctor wrote:Or, you could simply expand the lower screen entirely. You would have extra empty space during dialogue, but it wouldn't look quite so awkward during investigation.
- Ferdielance
- Posts: 778
- Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:46 am
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: English
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
I should note that many of my engines and games rely on the possibility of a gigantic bottom screen. Part of the niceness of AAO is that you're not 100% restricted to AA format, and you can get some remarkable effects with judicious use of the extra real estate in evidence and the "touchscreen." Moving the buttons PROBABLY won't break this, but I just want to enjoin Unas to please remember the use case where the image is big!
Which, of course, can never be expected to look entirely nice, but currently works quite well...
Which, of course, can never be expected to look entirely nice, but currently works quite well...
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
- Unas
- Admin / Site programmer
- Posts: 8850
- Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:43 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: Français, English, Español
- Contact:
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
Of course, Being able to set any image and see it entirely is part of the "contract" with the editor I mentioned above, I won't change that.
I'm willing to improve the display for standard-size pictures, but not at the cost of breaking the display for everything else
I'm willing to improve the display for standard-size pictures, but not at the cost of breaking the display for everything else
- E.D.Revolution
- Posts: 5743
- Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:00 pm
- Gender: Male
- Spoken languages: English and decent Spanish
- Location: Across dimensions, transcending universes
Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre
...or you could set your pic to be 162 px high. That'd solve that problem. -_-
If you do care about authenticity, you would realize the top and bottom 15 pixels are not used in examining a pic. If you do not care about authenticity, then there isn't much I can suggest here. It does look funky, but there isn't much I can offer to this problem that hasn't already been suggested.
If you do care about authenticity, you would realize the top and bottom 15 pixels are not used in examining a pic. If you do not care about authenticity, then there isn't much I can suggest here. It does look funky, but there isn't much I can offer to this problem that hasn't already been suggested.