Inventory Tab is Bad UI Design

[andrak]

This is just bad user interface design, no excuse.

I have no refinery, no passenger cabins and no cargo yet, not only are these icons cluttering up the tabs on the left and wasting time cycling through, refinery is given a prominence in this menu that it does not deserve.

This is probably due to the flavour of the month mining update that FD thinks is the best thing since sliced bread (but isn't), just as CQC was added as a rank when it was flavour of the month, before dying painfully due to any lack of depth, development time or imagination.

Please hide cargo when there is none, refinery where there is none and cabins when there are none. Simple.

 

[number2301]

They addressed that on one of the livestreams. They chose to always have all of the tabs there to give a more consistent experience, rather than having it change all the time.

 

[Florenus]

Yep, people learn to do things by muscle memory, so having this dynamic would slow them down

 

[babelfisch]

Yep, people learn to do things by muscle memory, so having this dynamic would slow them down

I guess it also makes stuff like voice attack easier.

 

[Daynen]

I'm actually with the OP on this one; as many other menus change contextually (navigation, anyone?) I don't see the "consistency" in them wanting a "consistent experience" here. They don't even have the decency to separate manufactured mats from raw ones, let alone remove menu bloat for unequipped features. If you have to develop muscle memory to correctly navigate your menus, maybe it's time for the menus to receive some slimming. This is Elite Dangerous, not the 2018 Olympic Menu Gymnastics.

 

[PiLhEaD]

I guess it also makes stuff like voice attack easier.

Yup, complex macros would be nigh impossible otherwise.

 

[Florenus]

They don't even have the decency to separate manufactured mats from raw ones

You can use filters for that. It's on material's page.

 

[Factabulous]

I'm actually with the OP on this one; as many other menus change contextually (navigation, anyone?)

The contents of the display panes (like Navigation) change, but the menu layout is consistent I think? And if they aren't then expect them to change, as it seems FDev are going down that route in GU design.

Personally I prefer a GUI that shows you where options can appear - nothing worse than seeing an option and then not being able to find it (e.g. the old menus hid reboot / repair when in SC, so people often struggled to work out where to find it - if you could find it in SC then you would at least know it was disabled).

 

[babelfisch]

Yup, complex macros would be nigh impossible otherwise.

So it's actually good design but people simply considered less possibilities than FDEV. Maybe the thread should be renamed?

 

[Aashenfox]

Yes, the practical concerns outweigh whether or not it is best practice at UI design university. It is this way by necessity.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

I guess it also makes stuff like voice attack easier.

This.

 

[sollisb]

They addressed that on one of the livestreams. They chose to always have all of the tabs there to give a more consistent experience, rather than having it change all the time.

Yet they managed to change almost all the pre-existing keystrokes.

 

[zebcarter]

Just imagine synthesizing ammo or heat sinks in a tight battle with an Thargoid interceptor and being constantly required to look where the g tab is. +1 to FD for not changing it.


(The Request docking UI change is bad enough .)

 

[Factabulous]

(The Request docking UI change is bad enough ��.)

heh - I got used to the new one in beta, when the beta ended I had to relearn the old one - glad it's flipped back again as (on my setup) it's more intuitive the way it is

 

[Pville_Piper]

The refinery has always been just below the inventory...

 

[Termite Altair]

Meh, the inventory tabs seem fine to me... the only UI changes that slightly bother me are the Messages tab now being in second position on the comms panel (I almost never use it!) and having to switch between combat and analysis mode (not really a big issue, just not sure what the point is as it currently stands).

 

[nanite2000]

Yet they managed to change almost all the pre-existing keystrokes.

That’s because they changed the UI layout.