Please put some work into making the maps UI more usable for mouse and keyboard users.
In the fourth year of Elite Dangerous release, using a mouse on the galaxy and system maps remains an exercise in frustration largely because mouseover causes the focus to shift in system map and popups in the galaxy map. These have not been thought through for mouse use and are highly obstructive as below. I dont know how well it works for gamepad users, needless to say the mouse is not a gamepad and the two controllers need to be treated differently in ways appropriate to each.
There are system popups popping up everywhere when you try to navigate the galaxy map with a mouse as they inconveniently popup on mouseover which cannot be avoided due to the density of the systems. Exacerbating this they always locate towards the middle of the screen and then persist for too long after the mouseover has ceased, continuing to block selection of the other systems behind them at the center of the FOV that you want to examine, which is again exacerbated because the popup persists even longer while your mouse is over it. If popups could be easily dismissed with say a right click it would be better but they are popping up in the wrong location in the first place and should popup to one side of the screen, say top or bottom right corner, out of the way, so you can mouseover anything in the field of view without obstruction.
With the system map, just mousing over an item changes the focus of the info panel readout on the left side. So if say you select a station and choose the info panel tab and need to scroll the left info panel because the info goes off the bottom of the panel, you have to bring the mouse pointer off the item and over to the panel to scroll it, but if you then mouse over a sun or asteroid belt or any other icon you lose focus on the object you are trying to study and have to start again and trace a path from item to panel with the mouse pointer not touching any other icon, which given the layout of the system map is often a very tricky little minigame in its own right but is frustrating when you are in the middle of trying to discover a useful destination or avoid picking up a mission for prohibited goods! A minor inspection can take far longer and be far more laborious than it ought. With a mouse, item focus for info panel should be locked so as not to change on mouseover of another icon with a single LMB click on the icon and then unlocked with RMB in any location or another LMB on another icon, to enable the mouse to move across the map without changing the info panel focus. The way it is at the moment would be funny if it was not so obstructive.
The UI for PC kb/m(+js) is one of the main reasons I havent gotten into Elite despite getting a lifetime pass and DDF membership at the Kickstarter. I am a big fan having played the BBC Acorn micro version to elite status in the 80's and am disappointed the interface is so unintuitive and difficult to use with a mouse keyboard and joystick in ED as in my heart I always held Elite to be the epitome of intelligent design, which is why I feel hopeful these mouse issues will be recognised and rectified by FD. I understand other priorities have taken precedence like console and CQC and Jurassic World which is a remarkable product (which I own and play, being a zoology grad I find it very interesting) but please recognise this is a priority and fix it !
In the fourth year of Elite Dangerous release, using a mouse on the galaxy and system maps remains an exercise in frustration largely because mouseover causes the focus to shift in system map and popups in the galaxy map. These have not been thought through for mouse use and are highly obstructive as below. I dont know how well it works for gamepad users, needless to say the mouse is not a gamepad and the two controllers need to be treated differently in ways appropriate to each.
There are system popups popping up everywhere when you try to navigate the galaxy map with a mouse as they inconveniently popup on mouseover which cannot be avoided due to the density of the systems. Exacerbating this they always locate towards the middle of the screen and then persist for too long after the mouseover has ceased, continuing to block selection of the other systems behind them at the center of the FOV that you want to examine, which is again exacerbated because the popup persists even longer while your mouse is over it. If popups could be easily dismissed with say a right click it would be better but they are popping up in the wrong location in the first place and should popup to one side of the screen, say top or bottom right corner, out of the way, so you can mouseover anything in the field of view without obstruction.
With the system map, just mousing over an item changes the focus of the info panel readout on the left side. So if say you select a station and choose the info panel tab and need to scroll the left info panel because the info goes off the bottom of the panel, you have to bring the mouse pointer off the item and over to the panel to scroll it, but if you then mouse over a sun or asteroid belt or any other icon you lose focus on the object you are trying to study and have to start again and trace a path from item to panel with the mouse pointer not touching any other icon, which given the layout of the system map is often a very tricky little minigame in its own right but is frustrating when you are in the middle of trying to discover a useful destination or avoid picking up a mission for prohibited goods! A minor inspection can take far longer and be far more laborious than it ought. With a mouse, item focus for info panel should be locked so as not to change on mouseover of another icon with a single LMB click on the icon and then unlocked with RMB in any location or another LMB on another icon, to enable the mouse to move across the map without changing the info panel focus. The way it is at the moment would be funny if it was not so obstructive.
The UI for PC kb/m(+js) is one of the main reasons I havent gotten into Elite despite getting a lifetime pass and DDF membership at the Kickstarter. I am a big fan having played the BBC Acorn micro version to elite status in the 80's and am disappointed the interface is so unintuitive and difficult to use with a mouse keyboard and joystick in ED as in my heart I always held Elite to be the epitome of intelligent design, which is why I feel hopeful these mouse issues will be recognised and rectified by FD. I understand other priorities have taken precedence like console and CQC and Jurassic World which is a remarkable product (which I own and play, being a zoology grad I find it very interesting) but please recognise this is a priority and fix it !
