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Old December 30th, 2003, 10:52 AM
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Arralen Arralen is offline
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Default Re: Looking back at Dom1.....

And while you're counting those mouse-miles .. do a "screen usability check", or however you might call it:

If you devided each screen layout in rectangles, how much %tage of each screen is (screenshot with color-overlays in painting program is helpful):

1) useful and well-placed info
2) useful, but redundant or time-consuming to come by info that should be presented elsewhere / different
3) info that isn't necessary, but doesn't distract as well
4) incomplete info, that needs more clicks/mouseovers to reveal the full info but makes accessing the starting page impossible/diffcult at the same time
4) distracting info or eye-candy, that actually takes away from the main purpose of the screen
5) nothing, really

The main screen isn't that bad in this regard (esp. compared to DOM1). The transparent menues are a really helpful feature, as they allow to keep a general overview while zooming in on the active prov. and it's neighbours at the same time. (Never missed an enemy army in the vincinity, what happend to me sometimes in DOM1 when it was "just offscreen"..)

But the "status bar" mixes up empire and province info, but does hide some necessary of the latter. (concure with apoger on this).

I would suggest e.g. moving "Treasury, Total Income, Upkeep" to an "empire status row" at the top of the screen, which is docked to the frame to avoid wasting valuable screen space (from the center). You'll have be careful with this not to break the overall appearence, though.
Thinking 'bout it, things like gem income / treasury would fit into that status row as well.

yours,
A.
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