So Wait A Second, Why Are The Modding Stats Still Organized Poorly?

[taiiat]

the Stats showing us what our Equipment looks like currently, is certainly a big improvement over the past. it's not horrendous centered text with stats on a line after the the line tag (*cough* other parts of the UI that are still like this), it's also right where the Mods are, Et Cetera.

 

except, it's still organized poorly, and could utilize the space we have available much better.

 

how it looks currently:

 

 

there's so much negative space! and yet it's still disorganized and not neat looking at all. the only time we shouldn't be taking advantage of the space we have... is... well probably never.

 

so, if we just rearrange the current modules a bit, it could use the same amount of space, yet be organized so much better, and therefore quicker to read.

 

a few minutes in Photoshop should get the point across.

(Edit: oops! i forgot Magazine. Magazine and Reload would be separated into their own block for extra legibility then. it would probably come after the Accuracy / Fire Rate block)

 

the space i used above for the current Elements to move the Hints / Tips box, is space we already had. and space we were already using, since the title of the Item and it's Polarizations is up there too.

 

 

now, the Main Stats panel has more space to categorize things out neatly, and also fit more vertical slots for Damage Types, or just more stats if we need them - either way there's more overall space available while presenting the same amount of information in a more organized way.

 

 

 

Edit2:

today, i happened to be tweaking some Melee Weapons, updating the Mods on some Melee's i haven't touched in months.

and look what i saw.

 

that's just frustrating. the hints box doesn't even fit where it's placed. *ahem* this thread has a perfect place to move it that's completely out of the way.

Edited September 19, 2014 by taiiat

[SgtFlex]

Would seem better for me, hate looking endlessly through lines of text, sometimes I end up skipping right what Im looking for.l

 

One thing that isn't really a necessary, but really bugs me is when it tells me that Elemental Damage 1000 --> Elemental Damage 0

 

I really feel it isn't really necessary about telling me which elements im removing, simply because it confuses the hell out of me when Im switching elemental mods around and I think I got the wrong combo when I really dont, the UI is just showing crap I dont need to see.

Edited September 9, 2014 by SgtFlex

[(PSN)VoiD_Glitch]

I like the set-up but not the color scheme.

[Jahadaya]

+1 sir

[taiiat]

I like the set-up but not the color scheme.

it's just a layout example i made in like 5-10 minutes in Photoshop :v

 

i even tried to keep the same colors as that part of the UI in the game already has. gray geometry with white text on it.

Edited September 9, 2014 by taiiat

[Kinperor]

That would definitely improve the readability. 

 

We don't even need this much room for the damage type, if I'm not mistaken you'll get at most 6 (3 for IPS and 3 for elements), and I can't actually thing of a build with 4 elemental damage. 

[taiiat]

That would definitely improve the readability. 

 

We don't even need this much room for the damage type

you're right. we don't. we'll never have more than 6 Damage Types at any given time on any Weapon. (right now, atleast)

 

but there's space for atleast 10 with how i've rearranged things. more space while pieces taking up more space to be more organized :p

Edited September 9, 2014 by taiiat

[wadlo]

 

Just remove the Crit lines and add

 

CRITICAL ... ... ... ... 15% 2.0x

 

 

If people don't know which number is the chance and which is the multiplier... they don't need any of that info.

 

Keep in mind that the alignment of the text has to do with making enough space to show delta values. For example:

 

 

Also, showing info like "Wall Attack" and "Spin Attack" seems like it is only useful to 10% of the players, 10% of the time. Removing the info and letting people figure out "oh, that does triple damage" or letting them look up experiment values on the wiki could clean up the modding process. I mean, I do spin attacks, but I don't mod for spin attacks.

[taiiat]

Keep in mind that the alignment of the text has to do with making enough space to show delta values. For example:

 

Also, showing info like "Wall Attack" and "Spin Attack" seems like it is only useful to 10% of the players, 10% of the time.

the best part about these two things, is that there's still just as much horizontal space as there was before, so fitting two sets of numbers next to each other is the same as it is now.

 

and because of how much space we have, we can show any kind of Melee attack Type info without needing to worry about running out of real estate. we have tons of it.

[wadlo]

the best part about these two things, is that there's still just as much horizontal space as there was before, so fitting two sets of numbers next to each other is the same as it is now.

 

and because of how much space we have, we can show any kind of Melee attack Type info without needing to worry about running out of real estate. we have tons of it.

 

If we're cleaning it up, lets clean it up.

 

Sort things out, remove what people don't care about, add things that people want to ALWAYS know about.

 

I don't like things like the "hints and tips." Mostly because players outgrow it. Once you know the information in it, it doesn't go away. The box appears every time with an assumption that you will always read it.

 

Horizontal space is needed due to showing the delta caused by mod changes. Reducing the maximum length of any title ("Critical Multiplier") could reduce the total width needed for any combination of:

 

(Icon) TITLE (Icons) ... ... ... Old,Value >> New,Value

 

Trust me, the UI guys probably lose sleep over how to make all this stuff work.

 

Vertical space is needed to allow the display of information for any combination of mods/etc. I again refer to:

 

 

as probably/hopefully being the maximum number of things shown in the box. Cleaning up a thing here, a thing there can trickle down into a better overall interface.

Edited September 9, 2014 by wadlo

[taiiat]

Sort things out, remove what people don't care about, add things that people want to ALWAYS know about.

 

I don't like things like the "hints and tips."

 

Horizontal space is needed

Vertical space is needed

- there's plenty of space for all of the things you might care about in the box. there's tons of space.

i could see merit to being able to disable 'hints & tips', but there isn't really much harm if it's out of the way.

 

and we have plenty of Horizontal and Vertical space already. if we feel like there isn't enough Horizontal space for some reason, make the entire list wider. there's plenty of Real Estate there to use. if we need more of it, use more of it.

 

 

but you're saying a lot of words... and i can't find a point. you're saying that you don't want most of that information because you don't care about those stats, so they shouldn't be on the list.

 

but there's plenty of space to have them there while still being organized. taking them off the list wouldn't do anything but create more negative space. and we have plenty of that already.

[wadlo]

but you're saying a lot of words... and i can't find a point. you're saying that you don't want most of that information because you don't care about those stats, so they shouldn't be on the list.

 

:/

 

You're use of the phrase "negative space" implies that the space is not wasted. Another phrase would be "reserved space" as it is empty and reserved just in case room is needed for other combinations of text.

 

Your original post was stating that you liked the changes but felt there too much negative space, saying that you could reorganize the content to make it better. I was adding to your conversation, saying that if they cleaned up the text that is in there and made better use of the overall size of the reserved space, it wouldn't sometimes have an excess. This isn't just random conversation. If you reduce the amount of things you show, you don't have to consider how to order them.

 

Space doesn't necessarily need to be filled.

[taiiat]

You're use of the phrase "negative space" implies that the space is not wasted. Another phrase would be "reserved space" as it is empty and reserved just in case room is needed for other combinations of text.

 

Space doesn't necessarily need to be filled.

negative space is space we're not using. this includes areas of the UI that are blank and have no art there at all. it's space we could use if we needed it, but don't.

it isn't reserved though, it's being used as blank.

 

space doesn't need to be filled, but we have information, and we might as well display it instead of hide it since all of it can fit in an organized fashion in the same area.

[taiiat]

added addendum to the leading Post regarding the Hints box.