QuickTracks and QuickLinks in the Search screen

[johnwdubois]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Until now, the Search screen has been set up to block all user input (e.g. you can't make Track chains or Rez chains).
But sometimes, making a Track chain or Rez chain is exactly what you would want to do when looking at the Search results.
We can take advantage of the fact that there are no repeated words in the center line of the Search screen display (that is, the Hits are guaranteed to be unique tokens).

Screenshot Here is a Search screen example that would make a good QuickTrack and/or QuickLink. (SBC009)

Describe the solution you'd like Let the user mark QuickLinks, QuickTracks, and Track and Rez links in the Search screen, under certain controlled conditions.

1. Allow the user to drag a QuickLink down the center line, over some or all of the Hits. This should not produce any problems, because there are no duplicate words in the center line (guaranteed).
2. Once the user has all the words Rez-linked (or a subset of them, if they prefer to subtract/delete a few). they can switch back to the main screen to do the rest of their work there, with the usual resources and constraints.
3. Give users a QuickTrack option. This is new, but works basically the same as doing a single-column QuickLink, except it produces a Track chain as the output, instead of a Rez chain. In the Search grid, it should be limited to the center line.
4. The takeaway: Allow Rez links, Track links, QuickLinks, and QuickTracks in the center line of the Search screen (linking the Hit words), but not on either side of it. If people want to do more they can switch to the Main screen to do it.

Additional context: QuickTracks

1. Making a QuickTrack is very useful, and it's one of the first things a user will want to do in the Search screen.
2. Whether as a Rezzles player or as an efficient researcher, the user gets a nice advantage from doing the Search first, because it lines up all the "Georges" (or whatever) in one column, setting things up for a one-move QuickTrack that captures 5, 10, or more valid links in a Track chain.
3. But outside of the Search screen, it's unlikely that a QuickTrack will be useful. We could block it, or simply show the user a scary dialogue box ("Are you sure you want to make a Track chain?")

Food for thought: Should we allow multi-column QuickLinks in the Search screen?

1. Here is another example (see screenshot below) where it is useful to make a QuickTrack (and/or QuickLink) along the center line (Hits on "George"). But in this case, it is tempting to make some additional QuickLinks outside the center line, too ("reading" etc.). Of course, the user can make their QuickLink in the center-line of Search screen ("George"), and then switch back to the Main screen to do the rest ("Will", "reading" etc). But it's actually better set up to capture the QuickLinks in the Search screen, because they're already lined up here (but not necessarily in the Main screen).
2. The takeaway: Cases like this would argue for allowing Rez links and even QuickLinks outside the center line of the Search screen -- even though we will have to exercise caution to avoid creating a link between two (duplicated) copies of the same word or line.
3. One way to avoid the duplicate line problem is to make it so that the second instance of a line is unclickable. If the user tries to click on a second instance, we can make the cursor jump back to the first instance, so they'll get the idea.

(SBC032)

[johnwdubois]

Hi all, I've been thinking about Rez moves that could be allowed in the Search screen without too much difficulty. We can take advantage of the fact that there are no repeated words in the center line of the Search screen display (that is, the Hits are guaranteed to be unique tokens). So dragging a QuickLink down the center line, over some or all of the Hits, should not produce any problems. This is probably the first and only thing the user will want to do anyway, 95% of the time. The player gets a nice advantage from doing the search because it lines up all the "Georges" in one column, setting it up for a one-move QuickLink that captures 5, 10, or more valid links. Once they have all the words Rez-linked or Track-linked (or a subset of them, if they prefer to subtract/delete a few). they can switch back to the main screen and do the rest of their work there, with the usual resources and constraints. The takeaway: Allow Rez links, Track links, and QuickLinks in the center line of the Search screen (the Hits), but not on either side of it (for now). _{View in Slack}