skotz
commented
4 years ago My concern is that too much is being added to the toolbar. Maybe the move history could be a collapsible side panel, and the player 1/2 selection stuff could be a new game popup. I agree that having the "player to move" outline color the same as the "last move" color is confusing, but maybe we could just pick a different color for the turn clock instead. I don't think it makes sense to have the turn clock highlight the previous person to move (unless maybe it's in analysis mode).
One of the GUIs I've used for chess engines for a long time now is Arena. Granted it's not the most intuitive UI out there either, but it's worth a reference.
simondorfman
Ok, I went a little overboard perhaps, redesigning too much, but I started with some solid problems and solution ideas. I'll start with those.
Problem # 1: I love the new turn clock, but I found a problem with it. The yellow outline showing whose turn it is, conflicts with the mental model of the yellow outline showing what was last played. Solution idea: outline the last turn played on the turn clock, and point to the current player's turn with a clock-hand-style arrow.
Problem # 2: The "Turn 5" in the upper left is still confusing. The most important question it's answering is "Whose turn is it?". I want to replace it with a "Whose Turn is it?" information window. Column J in the attached spreadsheet.
top UI redesign v2.xlsx
The general idea with this redesign is to make the game window a bit taller and use the new space to make the UI at the top taller, maybe 3 or 4 rows high instead of just one row high.
Problem # 3: Starting a new game involved choosing options on the right, then clicking the new game button on the left. I want the choices to happen in a left-to-right fashion. I made a few other changes I thought would be an improvement, including putting them under a descriptive header "New Game" so it's clear what all these controls are about. Columns B, C, D in excel doc linked above.
New idea, game log: I think this would help make it clear what is happening and what has happened. Also, I like the idea of highlighting it yellow while navigating through a game and allowing rows to be clicked on to navigate to that game-state. Columns E, F, G, H in excel doc linked above.
Game review controls larger: Make them easier to see and use. Turn 4 / 4 larger here replaces the need to have a turn number in the old UI in the upper left.
Options, move them to the far right on, column L.
Please push back on all these ideas. UX is hard.