Marked up image showing ship naming in 2.3beta5:
The location of ship names in the main view could be improved
1) Own ship's name (circled top left above Info panel)
Why is this here, except as an obvious reminder that 2.3 adds ship naming? We are unlikely to forget our own ship's name. Ship name plays no role in moment to moment gameplay. The cockpit UI already has a location for non-urgent data about our own ship - the Functions tab of the right cockpit UI panel, and there is the name and ship ID again.
When joining a multicrew session we might confuse it with our own ship? Unlikely, and this UI is not visible when a player is actively flying a SLF or using the gunner view anyway. Many proposed UI elements (direction of travel vector, arrow to targetted contact) have been rejected with the rationale that FD want to keep Elite's HUD uncluttered, but this name seems to have been added anyway.
2) Other ships' names (circled at bottom left target info panel)
Other ships' names have been shoehorned in above the ship type label. Again, this feels like a bodge. I'm a huge fan of ship names, but this plays a cosmetic only role. What is the most important information about a target in this list of attributes? Either its ship type, pilot rank or whether it's Wanted (which are indicators of risk to you) or the pilot name (which is used for identifying targets in missions, or for identifying other players, vs NPCs). Ship name comes a long way down the list. For symmetry with own ship name and thus putting things where users will expect to find them, I'd move it to the left hand UI panel target information, where bounty levels etc are also shown. If it must be in the target info box on the front cockpit view, present information it in order of importance;
[SHIP TYPE]
[PILOT NAME]
[SHIP NAME]
--------
[PILOT RANK]
[WANTED LEVEL] (consider placing these on one line, left/right justified, if possible due to translation requirements, as the combination of the two determines the risk they pose to the player)
The location of ship names in the main view could be improved
1) Own ship's name (circled top left above Info panel)
Why is this here, except as an obvious reminder that 2.3 adds ship naming? We are unlikely to forget our own ship's name. Ship name plays no role in moment to moment gameplay. The cockpit UI already has a location for non-urgent data about our own ship - the Functions tab of the right cockpit UI panel, and there is the name and ship ID again.
When joining a multicrew session we might confuse it with our own ship? Unlikely, and this UI is not visible when a player is actively flying a SLF or using the gunner view anyway. Many proposed UI elements (direction of travel vector, arrow to targetted contact) have been rejected with the rationale that FD want to keep Elite's HUD uncluttered, but this name seems to have been added anyway.
2) Other ships' names (circled at bottom left target info panel)
Other ships' names have been shoehorned in above the ship type label. Again, this feels like a bodge. I'm a huge fan of ship names, but this plays a cosmetic only role. What is the most important information about a target in this list of attributes? Either its ship type, pilot rank or whether it's Wanted (which are indicators of risk to you) or the pilot name (which is used for identifying targets in missions, or for identifying other players, vs NPCs). Ship name comes a long way down the list. For symmetry with own ship name and thus putting things where users will expect to find them, I'd move it to the left hand UI panel target information, where bounty levels etc are also shown. If it must be in the target info box on the front cockpit view, present information it in order of importance;
[SHIP TYPE]
[PILOT NAME]
[SHIP NAME]
--------
[PILOT RANK]
[WANTED LEVEL] (consider placing these on one line, left/right justified, if possible due to translation requirements, as the combination of the two determines the risk they pose to the player)