Collection of interface improvements

[tuz]

Hi,

so far I have found just a few suggestions for interface improvements[1]. I'll try to change this.
These suggestions are considered for post-1.0 versions of openMW.
Any change, which was approved by the project members, should be optional and deselectable in the menu, so that the original interface can be restored.
This thread could serve as collection thread for interface improvements and prevent duplicated suggestions.

I'll start with the changes, which do not obviously change the interface found in vanilla Morrowind (vMW) and might be appropriate to be activated by default in the future. They are followed by changes, which alter the behaviour or appearance of vMW's interface in an obvious way.

1 Changes, which do not obviously touch vMW's interface
1.1 Mouse gestures in inventory
Click (all left/button1) an item and draw a line down: drop the item to the ground.
Click an item and draw a line up: use/equip item (equal to dropping it on character).
If a container is opened:
Click an item in the container and draw a line to the left: take item. Note: This can be confusing, if the default window positions are altered.
Click an item in inventory and draw a line to the right: Place item in container.
If the item is a stack and shift is not hold, open the stack selection window once the
gesture is completed.
1.2 Additional key shortcuts
Most windows have one to maximal two buttons offering ways to close them. The right button usually does nothing but to close the window, the left button actually does something and in most cases closes the window.
1.2.1 Space: close/cancel the dialogue/container/service/stack selection/book/journal etc. window [5].
Note: Closing containers should be triggered by a space release event, if possible. The event should be ignored, if 1.3.1 was used. Otherwise feature 1.3.1 would not work.
Closing containers with space is working in vMW for containers, which were not altered.
1.2.2 Shift+Space: take all/take/trade/enchant etc. - You get the idea.
1.3 Key/mouse combinations
1.3.1 Holding Space+Click on item: the item will be used/equipped, if applicable. In case of stacks one item is used/equipped.
1.3.2 Holding Alt+Click on item: move item instantly to/from container respectively.
1.3.3 Middle Click on item: drop item to the ground.
1.3.4 Holding Alt+Wheel Up on map: Switch to world map.
1.3.5 Holding Alt+Wheel Down on map: Switch to local map.
1.4 Miscallenous
Slider bar control: Holding Alt while moving the mouse wheel or pressing 'a'/'d' for horizontal scroll bars, respectively 'w'/'s' for vertical scrollbars should cause faster scrolling.
2 Changes, which do alter vMW's interface
2.1 Additional key shortcuts
2.1.1 Add a toggle sneak shortcut, for example on 'c'. Not sure, if this could be also be in 1.2.*.
2.2 Inventory
2.2.1 For opened containers: Place newly taken items at the beginning of the inventory drawing a red frame around them (equal to trade window behaviour), if the inventory filter matches them. They are sorted in once the container is closed.
2.2.2 Add sort methods: Additionally sort by weight, value and time (e.g. when the item was token). This might require additional icons matching the color theme and style of vMW. For initial implementation buttons with a,w,v,t letters would be sufficient. One could ask around in the wesnoth forums for help. They have great artists.
2.2.3 Currently the filter 'all' separates the different categories. Maybe there should be lines distiguishing those starting with a line on the left with the category name ('weapons') written top down.
It should be possible to disable the separation, which would be especially useful with the new filters (e.g. by adding a checkbox; this would require additional artwork).
2.2.4 Indicate, which items were stolen and display a tooltip where they were stolen. The game obviously knows that and it would be nice for thieves to know that too. This would require an additional icon for the items and a new button for the stack selection ('split thefts'), which would be accessable by Ctrl+Space, if 1.2 is implemented.
2.2.5 Further categorisation of items is mentioned in [12].
2.3 Spell window
2.3.1 Here definitely should be filters for magic schools (destruction, illusion etc.).
2.3.2 There should be a sort method for spell cost. Here are no icons needed. Just transform the text 'cost' into a button. Drawing a frame would be also suffictient. Make sure it will size correctly in the different translations.
2.4 Trade window
2.4.1 Allow digit input. Create an input field, where players can input there price. Enter should accept the trade (additionally to Ctrl+Space, if 1.2.2 is implemented). This obviously requires homing to the num pad. This feature might actually not be necessary in most cases, if feature 2.4.2 is implemented [2].
2.4.2 Add key/mouse combinations for counter buttons. Inspired by [2], thanks Chris.
Alt+Click on counter: increase/decrease by 10
Shift+Click on counter: inc/dec by 100
Ctrl+Click on counter: inc/dec by 1K
2.4.3 Alchemy window
A redesign was discussed in [3].
2.5 Selection windows (e.g. quick keys, picking alchemy ingredient etc.)
2.5.1 Hover an item/spell and press a number to bind it to the quick key indicating the selection by printing a number above the item [4] (nice idea; thanks).
2.5.2 Simply use the inventory window to select an alchemy ingredient. (Can't think of a better way). An indication that it's a selection process and filtration of alchemy ingredients could be useful. Adding multiple ingredients at once should be supported. This might require a done button for the selection window.
2.6 Map
2.6.1 Allow note creation in world map [7] or optionally let local notes be displayed in world map.
2.6.2 Less limited scrolling in local and world map.
2.7 Journal
Suggestions are in [14].
2.8 HUD
Suggestions are in [2].
2.9 Miscallenous
2.9.1 Mark containers bodies, or wildlife as empty, if they are empty. This could be done by changing the font color of dead bodies or emptied flora or adding the tag '[empty]' to the name [8].
2.9.2 Similarly mark dungeons with a '[visited]' tag [9].
2.9.3 Save toggle sneak state and, if toggled, don't make NPCs greet you again, turning towards you. Would be useful for thieves. Could be difficult to implement, if the save file format mustn't change in post-1.0. Maybe 1.0 should ignore any additional elements in save files, making future changes possible.
2.9.4 Implementing a search engine for spells,inventory and journal was discussed in [11]. Could be handy.
2.9.5 Ability to delete saved games in game.[10]
2.9.6 Add a two-step filter for saves first by character and second by date [10]
2.9.7 Caps lock state should be detected. If caps lock is activated run immediately and don't wait for another caps lock key press, which is especially annoying, if you have to load often. If this is not possible, assume activation, if you get 'A','W','S','D' or 'Q' as input and Shift is not hold.
2.9.8 This option would allow use of smith utilities without taking them into inventory. This would require extending the crime system. Using stuff belonging to someone should create a bounty. Also there should be a take button for the affected repair window. Enabling this for alchemy ingredients does not make much sense, because you could always use just one utility additional to those you have in inventory.
2.9.9 Read books from containers are automatically added to the inventory in vMW when hitting the close button in vMW. There should be an option to disable this.
2.9.10 Automatic mouse cursor positioning: The mouse cursor should be positioned automatically on the close button for containers and on the cancel button for service windows. This allows fast exit for accidentally opened services and would be nice to have additional to Space key shortcut, because it's always good to offer multiple ways to do the same thing.
2.9.11 Creating an input box for slider bar values was mentioned, but it's already implemented according to [12].
The footnotes are in no relation to the writing order. I moved some entries and it's quite mixed up now.
[1]: Did a search for interface or window or hud. Sorry if I missed some.
[2]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1033
[3]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=759
[4]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1094
[5]: Mentioned in viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1490.
[6] viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2284
[7]: Took from BlueFootedBooby's comment in thread 2284. Mentioned also in viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1960.
[8]: Mentioned by thread starter in thread 2284, but I knew it already from Gothic 3 community patch.
[9]: Took from BlueFootedBooby's comment in thread 2284.
[10]: Mentioned in viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1341
[11]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1589
[12]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1311
[13]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=751
[14]: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=442
So that's it. Phew quite a list. Well, congratulations, if you got this far.
I might have omitted some suggestions I did not like. Sorry about that. This does not mean in reverse, that I do not like non-listed suggestions though. I might have overlooked some or was too lazy to include all.
Regarding the news post mentioning that there are no differences between vMW and openMW, well implementing these changes would certainly make a difference, although they are a huge amount of work.

If there is anything unclear or you have ideas to simplify some feature, feel free to ask and I'll update the related part. If you think, some feature is a piece of crap, please let your criticism be constructive.
Until openMW-1.0 is released I might have enough coding experience to implement some of these myself. Currently I have just basic Java and bash knowledge. I assume 1.0 is a bug free Morrowind with all quests working and extensively tested. Well, there are lots of quests...

tuz

[scrawl]

I just skimmed through the list, but there are some that are already implemented or no longer relevant.

Trade window Allow digit input. Create an input field, where players can input there price

Already done.

2.9.5 Ability to delete saved games in game.[10]

Already done.

Alchemy window - looks vastly different in OpenMW. Check it out for yourself.

[tuz]

Yes. Actually I read the 0.31 changelog, which listed a few implementations of my list. I'll check it out soon and see what is already implemented.
Thanks for pointing that out.

tuz