UI Improvement to Character Sheet

[joshua-igor]

The side panel of the character sheet is very crowded with letters, numbers and symbols, which can make new players very confused where to look at. By reducing the amount of information on the side panel, you can make it much more welcoming for new players while veterans can find a much more pleasing UI to look at. I propose two changes that can reduce the complexity of the side panel at the same time, not reducing any info that is necessary for the player.

1. Shields are not for everyone

Not everyone uses a shield on Pathfinder, some players might as well never use a shield on their entire adventuring carreers! So, having the shield info being displayed with their 0's stats on their sheet all the time is not beneficial at all. I propose to only show Shield info when there is a shield equipped on the character. Also the name of that section is called "Armor Class" but the actual Armor Class info is only a small portion of that section, the rest is all dedicated to shields and their stats. Claiming back that space would make the name of the section more sense.

Here is a mockup of what it would look like when the character has no shield equipped: And of course, after they equip a shield all the info would show up again as it currently is.

2. Modifiers buttons should not be separate buttons

Think about this, how do you modify the "Current HP" number? It is only natural that you click on it. But, how do you modify the "Max HP"? Well... you have to click on a separate exclusive button just for it... It feels quite unnatural to tell a new player that, in order to edit their "Perception" or "Initiative", they have to click on the button that is on the opposite side of the actual number they want to edit. Not only that, but the "Modifiers" button is also utilized to see what is being added to that stat. So, clicking on a button that is akin to the word "Modify" just to see what is being added to a number that is located elsewhere on the UI, can also feel a little unnatural to a new player. I can also say that having a button that repeats itself over and over and has both letters and a symbol can make the UI unnecessarily crowded. I can also say that the color red makes it look like it is a button that necessitates attention on clicking, when in fact it doesn't... Well, you can see that I don't like these buttons on the side panel and I think that the character sheet can only benefit by having these buttons being actually the number they are referencing. So, as an example, instead of clicking on the first "Modifers" button to see the popup panel that shows everything that is being added to the "Max HP" number, you would have to click on the actual "Max HP" number to bring up the same exact panel. The same thing for the second "Modifiers" button, that shows a panel with every number being added to the "Armor Class", to bring up that panel you just have to click on the Armor Class shield and so forth.

By eliminating those buttons here's how the side panel would look like on a mockup:

Before | After

By doing this the UI is much more clean, more intuitive and you don't lose any function at all. Maybe you can add a little Tooltip when hovering over the numbers that you can click, to make sure the players know they can click on it.

Conclusions

I'm completely open to opinions to these changes, I'm sure that many will feel it changes too much or they might deem unnecessary, but I truly believe that these changes are not only an opinion of mine but actual improvements to the User Experience of the character sheet, specially the second suggestion.

By making both changes that are proposed the side panel of the character sheet would look like this.

Before | After

[joshua-igor]

To make it clear, here is the theoretical location of the Modifiers button after they are removed:

Basically, all the numbers that you don't normally edit, are going to bring up that "Modifiers" panel, the exception being only the Current HP and Temp HP ones.

[TheRealValiantic]

I don't know if it's custom to leave messages on Github as I never use it, but I happened to browse it while logged in and just wanted to say: I really like the idea! A few of my player's have gotten overwhelmed before by all the changes, clicking on the thing you'd like to change makes a lot of sense to me. Having less "modifier" buttons all around sure cleans up the sheet.

Perhaps if this was implemented, consider giving people a choice between the old and the sleek version of the sheet if at all possible so people who are used to the current sheet don't stumble into any changes.

[joshua-igor]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I believe that adding a setting to use a "Classic" version of the side panel should accommodate anyone who can't get used to the changes.

[nikolaj-a]

This sounds a lot like things that could mostly be accomplished with a module that just hides part of the sheet.

[TheRealValiantic]

I'd personally prefer a more standardized approach that's easier to explain to new individuals ( "Hey there's two sheet options in case you prefer the other one. Click at the top right for 'slim' or 'sleek' (or whatever it'll be called) ") rather than a new module that must be configured by each person individually ( "Hey if you follow these X steps you can change the sheet around."). But I have no clue how much work a secondary sheet design would be, or how easy a module could hide things such as the modifier message boxes or the shield fields. For all I know it's UI would be as simple as an "Hide modifier messages" and "Hide shield if character is not using a shield." checkbox. (Coding to me remains magic to this day.)

All I know is that I like this sleek design a lot. :P It's really easy on the eyes.

[TMunsie]

As the system is technically official, we are likely going to continue putting the things that are official on the sheet. Hiding the modifiers instead of spelling everything out is an accommodation for space considerations, but further modification is likely going to have to live in a module. It is a good idea for one. The only section where we compute it out and the character sheet doesn't explicitly is hit points. Based on the volume of troubleshooting for new users, I would be loathe to eliminate that, plus it would break the rest of the design concept awkwardly.

AC section with shield info of official character sheet, for comparison:

Perception section with modifiers of official character sheet:

[joshua-igor]

I appreciate the honest response. But, regarding the Shield info, you wouldn't eliminate it, just hiding when not in use, just like the official sheet you do not write a "0" on every field that is not in use. You can already hide sections on the FoundryVTT sheet based on player's choice. I would understand if you didn't want to cross this line, but I believe it does not alter the perception of the official character sheet. Hiding the modifiers and putting them on the numbers themselves would already be a good space saving edit and be more intuitive to new players. I hope at least this modification can be done. Either way, I appreciate you giving this idea a thought.