Of a changing interface and Announcement #5828

[Aia del Mana]

I have noted of recent of the implementation of the newfound ability to customise one's interface; that which may alter how one shall perceive of the realm. For those for whom this is unfamiliar, the announcement were henceforth:

 https://magicduel.com/page/Announcement/view/5828

I have spent some time to ponder upon this, and although it may take some time to move the elements to one's liking, I am quite in favour of this newfound ability to do so (many thanks to @Muratus del Mur for this change).
 

A simple quest, then, but one which I hope will encourage of further improvements:

1. Change the layout, using the aforementioned feature, to that which were most ideal for thee.
2. Post of this layout (one would assume the "print screen" key to be of use) within this thread.

Each entrant may, as with all other contests of mine, create as many entries as possible, but where possible, I would that one should edit her own post in this contest, such that each post may have multiple entries within it.

 

Ah, and of course, prizes must be due for one's efforts, although one could also consider that I am hoping also to use an interface which were optimal; as may most of the realm. I will rate each entry based on its usability - consider, mayhap, if one were creating MagicDuel as one who should work for a portal-maker named for fruit.

The best entry on a desktop (large portal) entry will win their choice of any coloured creature released in the last two years (winderwild, moss, priest, elemental, 16th or 17th anniversary elucubratie)
The best entry on a mobile (small portal) entry will also win their choice of the above.
If the winner is the same for both, I will offer a wishpoint in addition to this.

The most amusing entry (from either size of portal) will also win their choice of any coloured creature released in the last two years, or, if so inclined, an certificate-item redeemable with myself for half a wishpoint (noting that I will only grant wishpoints in positive integer values; one will, of course, require a second for a redemption of this sort.)

Entrants shall have one week, starting from the date of this post. Although they may not contribute officially to the final score, I also encourage votes in support of or against entries that also bring enjoyment.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Aia del Mana
added the half-wishpoint reward

[jakubhi]

Maybe I should create a separate bug post for this.. but, the trigger windows is a bit broken, as shown on the screenshot below. This happens even if you change nothing, just click the "d" button and then the "s".

 

EDIT 1:

My setup (with misplaced help button because I can not save the layout with it in place):

 

With the help button in place:

 

Side note for probable bug - the idle / out buttons do not work with my setups

Edited December 4, 2022 by jakubhi

[Muratus del Mur]

I was hoping someone will share their setup eventually, thanks @Aia del Mana

There are indeed lots of bugs with this. In general if it is a feature i can not finish the same day, i need to announce it as it is or forget about it (otherwise who knows what i will do next day), and this one was too interesting to give up on it, but it requires a lot more time fixing.  The central area needs to remain the same, due to the legacy way this is created (iframe), so the elements inside that one can not be changed. However, if i see feedback on this, and see that this would be something you would like to see, i have some ideas on how to make the interface a lot ore configurable.

 

The only thing that is not yet clear for me if its possible or not, is the "responsiveness" of the page. But for this, i plan to make the palcements stored per resolution, so you will be able to edit the layout of the fullscreen window , but also half screen and whatever other versions you might be needing. 

 

This feature will be moved in "settings" under a new section for experimental features. Of course, entire md is experimental anyway, but by experimental feature i understand features released in a very unstable way, that i might just remove one day, if i decide they take us nowhere. Its equally possible that experimental features become permanent, and will be removed from the experimental section.

[lashtal]

This is an attempt to have all boxes arranged in a way I like.

Besides a minor glitch in upper left corner, I only have issues with the trigger box.

As jakubhi mentioned already, that box looks bugged: it's impossible to move it and fix it in another place (it keeps following the mouse/touchpad movements), and you can't pin/unpin it anymore. 

I tried using Firefox and Safari, with similar results.

Edit: despite having saved, once I logged out I lost all the changes I made.

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by lashtal
Idling / loggin out make you lose the changes.

[Aia del Mana]

A note in regard to elements which move with the cursor (and are impossible to "put down"):

One is able to release the element by clicking, if the cursor remains floating above the captured element. It is possible, however, for the element to move at a different pace to the cursor, and if moved far enough, one will find that the cursor no longer overlies the captured element (and thus one can no longer release it).

A workaround, presently, is to move items a short distance at a time, releasing them after this short distance, and then capturing them again.

 

 

 

Given the current implementation (awaiting further fixes by Mur,) for the purposes of this contest, I deem it reasonable to edit images to place elements that are otherwise problematic to move, provided they are already elements granted the ability to move.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Aia del Mana

[Muratus del Mur]

here is a small preview of something i worked on today... Be advised, you should turn back from the preview and not keep it activated, because wild things might happen in there, and i will not spend any second to fix accounts that get broken due to this.

 

to activate the experimental fullscreen theme:

https://magicduel.com/layout_test.php?test=fullscreen

 

to go back to normal:

https://magicduel.com/layout_test.php?test=default

 

 

Use it together with the "Frosty" snow mode (lower left snow controls) . All pages are affected not just scene navigation.

If might look just as a page without the border and the background, but in addition to that, its also a fullscreen iframe, meaning that this time the entire content area is a single page, and eventually elements could be placed in any part of the screen. Its far from ready, and i don't know if it will ever be ready, but its an interesting view. 

 

I want to experiment more in this design direction, your feedback is most important.

 

[lashtal]

Sorry for being a pain...

But this recent change in interface makes MD barely playable for me.

Everything looks bigger, from fonts to windows, some backgrounds are blank, the trigger box overlaps the - + d r s buttons so I can't reshape anything anymore.

 

p.s. I haven't activated anything experimental, just trying to act normal 😜

 

Edit: my issues vanished during the last few hours. I don't know what caused them but since they're gone please ignore what I wrote.

Edited December 6, 2022 by lashtal
problems solved

[Ledah]

An attempt to make the interface have everything I care about when grinding in one space. I did try to move the timer above the prgress tracker, but no joy! Moved a few other things from the bottom I always forget about, like wishpoints and achievements.

[Ledah]

This was an attempt to make my MD experience as efficient as possible. As it is impossible or hard to do much of anything, I am 50/50 on whether it was a success.

[Chewett]

2 hours ago, Ledah said:

This was an attempt to make my MD experience as efficient as possible. As it is impossible or hard to do much of anything, I am 50/50 on whether it was a success.

Task Failed Successfully?

[Fyrd Argentus]

Just to be a contrarian or devil's advocate, I'll say I like to know where my controls are and have them stay put.

[MaGoHi]

i dont want to be mean, who am i kidding i dont care xD

its really not a good interface, i thought the idea was to make it playable on smartphones as well, that idea in itself is good, the implementation was just subpar

i'd love to see something actually efficient, sleek and intelligent, with important values clearly visible in a place where they make sense

[Else]

Large portal entry, 24 inch monitor. I would like to move the VE and Winertia bars to the left, but they seem bugged to me when leaving the edit mode. The most optimal option for me would be moving most of the draggable to the right, so the heat orbs can be close to "attack player" and move the Mood Panel and Triggers box to the left, but I believe the orbs and the Mood Panel can not be moved. Also the Help button drag area seems unnecessarily big and the letters next to the options circle in the left do not seem to accept changes in the layout.

Small portal entry: My best attempt, I do not recommend using this function for mobile.... too messy 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Else

[Aia del Mana]

I believe that all who would wish to enter this contest within its allotment-time have had ample opportunity to do so.

Lessons learned thus far:
1. The ability to customise the interface doth require of some improvement, but the ability to change it is an improvement, and if this were further refined, I will consider to run this contest again.
2. It is far too difficult to customise this upon a mobile portal with the current tools. I notice that the resolution of the only small-portal entry is still very large in terms of resolution, and it is very similar to that which one may call the default layout.
3. Even with smaller elements being mobile, the interface is primarily dependent on the centre-element, which contains the scene and its clickables and the communication-interface beneath it.


This stated, I do hope the frustrations of attempting to customise this were offset in part by the improvement in one's ability to perform within the realm. Henceforth, do find my opinions on the submissions - noting that I am very much aware of the limitations placed upon the contestants in this contest.

 

On 12/3/2022 at 10:57 PM, jakubhi said:

Maybe I should create a separate bug post for this.. but, the trigger windows is a bit broken, as shown on the screenshot below. This happens even if you change nothing, just click the "d" button and then the "s".

 

EDIT 1:

My setup (with misplaced help button because I can not save the layout with it in place):

 

With the help button in place:

 

Side note for probable bug - the idle / out buttons do not work with my setups

This appears to be quite a wide layout. I wonder if this is merely the size of the portal in question (noting that large portals do vary in large-ness).

I enjoy that the layout attempts to align the element-islands with each other in a logical manner, especially the Help, Credits, and News elements with the top bar. It would make sense then that the centre-element will take up the majority of the interface otherwise. Aesthetically, I believe this (the third submission with the help-button in place) is the nicest of all large-portal submissions, but I believe - by far - the most important element is missing; the chat-element. It is possible that this is merely a consequence of the dimensions of the portal in question, and so I am somewhat forgiving of this shortfall, and so, I will rate this 7/10 for usability (and mayhap, 9/10 for aesthetics, which, unfortunately, is not how the winner of each prize will be determined).

 

On 12/4/2022 at 7:12 PM, lashtal said:

This is an attempt to have all boxes arranged in a way I like.

Besides a minor glitch in upper left corner, I only have issues with the trigger box.

As jakubhi mentioned already, that box looks bugged: it's impossible to move it and fix it in another place (it keeps following the mouse/touchpad movements), and you can't pin/unpin it anymore. 

I tried using Firefox and Safari, with similar results.

Edit: despite having saved, once I logged out I lost all the changes I made.

 

This is, mayhap, most reminiscent of the old layout, where information had been displayed all within a column (albeit upon the right side, rather than the left), and perhaps that which those who favour the Flash-based layout would prefer most out of the submissions in question. Given the interface as it stands, I think this one makes best use of the centre-element, and perhaps is the most logical of all the submissions in question, as most large portals are proportionally breadthful. It is (through no fault of the submittor in question) somewhat similar to the previous, but perhaps makes better use of vertical space, and so, this receives 8/10 for usability.

 

On 12/10/2022 at 3:29 AM, Ledah said:

An attempt to make the interface have everything I care about when grinding in one space. I did try to move the timer above the prgress tracker, but no joy! Moved a few other things from the bottom I always forget about, like wishpoints and achievements.

This is, by far, the most creative of the interfaces submitted. For the intended purpose (which, as it appears, the submittor has claimed, is to optimise the ability to undertake combat in rapid sequence); the vitality and winertia islands are in a surprisingly useful location, and the progress-symbol along with it (one believes this may be to retain the aesthetic of the two islands aside this element). Moving the Triggers box to close the gap also makes for a cleaner experience (of course, choosing to omit the central element background makes for quite the opposite). An odd consequence of this is that the scene in question will also have all the clickies stand out, which is a significant visual detractor in terms of aesthetic value. One however notes that this contest is not based on aesthetic and I would argue that this actually increases the usability of the scene artwork and clickies in question; this, however, is far outweighed by the loss of readability of text within the scene in question. Still, one appreciates the design flexibility which is created by the transparent centre element.

Of the submissions in question, I like this the most, and if it were to exist in a functional way, I think this makes best use of the horizontal space in a way that none of the other submissions are able, so I will grant it 9/10.

To elaborate on implications for this submission and how it may be applied to Mur's development ( @Muratus del Mur - read this bit if nothing else):

I feel that the one overwhelmingly correct change between the old (Flash-based) interface and the new were a better use of horizontal space, which this submission, I believe, does best.

 

On 12/10/2022 at 3:30 AM, Ledah said:

This was an attempt to make my MD experience as efficient as possible. As it is impossible or hard to do much of anything, I am 50/50 on whether it was a success.

 

On 12/3/2022 at 10:24 PM, Aia del Mana said:

Each entrant may, as with all other contests of mine, create as many entries as possible, but where possible, I would that one should edit her own post in this contest, such that each post may have multiple entries within it.

I believe this is the only attempt at an amusing layout. A fleeting observation would be that if one were to merely decrease the width of this window in question, it could perhaps become somewhat of a useful small-portal entry.

 

On 12/10/2022 at 12:01 PM, Else said:

Large portal entry, 24 inch monitor. I would like to move the VE and Winertia bars to the left, but they seem bugged to me when leaving the edit mode. The most optimal option for me would be moving most of the draggable to the right, so the heat orbs can be close to "attack player" and move the Mood Panel and Triggers box to the left, but I believe the orbs and the Mood Panel can not be moved. Also the Help button drag area seems unnecessarily big and the letters next to the options circle in the left do not seem to accept changes in the layout.

Small portal entry: My best attempt, I do not recommend using this function for mobile.... too messy 

For the large-portal entry: Placing the vitality and winertia bars along with the other elements along the left side is, I believe, the highlight of this layout, and indeed where I would favour their placement also (noting, of course, the observation that they will not remain there once editing the interface were complete). Otherwise, the elements on the left side were as usable as either of the first two submissions owing to the similarity of this area, and so I will also grant 8/10.


For the small-portal entry: This is the only small-portal entry, and as observed, not only had it been very difficult for most to make this happen (myself included), but the requirement to do so was that the portal was essentially a large one in terms of the size of elements displayed. However, I will accept that this is, indeed, upon a small portal, and thus, wins its category by default.

Thus:

@Ledah wins the large-portal prize, and also the most amusing prize, and @Else wins the small-portal prize.

Ledah, please post in this thread, in a single post, which creature were desired for the large-portal prize, and whether a creature or half-wishpoint certificate were desired for the other.
Else, please also post thy desired prize within this thread.

I hope to run this contest again, but perhaps Mur may first add additional methods to alter the interface.

[Aia del Mana]

For those curious, this were my present interface:

[Else]

I will take a colored bird please

[Ledah]

Let none doubt my reading comprehension skills!

Please may I have a coloured pope and half a WP

Cheers for the quest and the incentive to really try this feature out.

[Aia del Mana]

All prizes for this contest have been delivered.


One wonders now whether she shall ever create a second half-wishpoint promissory note.