Shut off splash graphic in Vassal 3.0 ?

[bsmith]

I think the main argument for having separate playing and editing
applications is to avoid confusion for the larger group of users who
just play games using Vassal rather than designing modules. This
keeps the interface for just the players simpler, which is where a
more streamlined interface is more important.

I'm with tar on this. We need to assume that if players can be confused, they will be confused. So we need to keep the Player as lean and as simple as possible.

My take on this is if a player cannot figure out how to launch the editor then he/she probably should not be creating modules.

[bsmith]

Save Game
Save Game As
Save Log
Save Log As

This brings up an important point. Instead of "Save Log" it should really be called "Record Log". "Save" normally insinuates an immediate Open and Close of a file.

[uckelman]

Thus spake "bsmith":

I'm with tar on this. We need to assume that if players can be confused, the
y will be confused. So we need to keep the Player as lean and as simple as p
ossible.

My take on this is if a player cannot figure out how to launch the editor the
n he/she probably should not be creating modules.

There's a difference between what Rodney was proposing and what Thomas
is talking about. Dumping the Editor File menu into the Player File menu
would be a mess---you'd have at least 8 more options, most of which would
be disabled nearly all the time.

What I think Rodney was proposing is to have one item on the Player's File
menu which *launches* the Editor---but menu items which are applicable only
to the Editor would remain in the Editor's menus.

Do I have this right?

--
J.

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[uckelman]

Thus spake "bsmith":

Save Game
Save Game As
Save Log
Save Log As

This brings up an important point. Instead of "Save Log" it should really be
called "Record Log". "Save" normally insinuates an immediate Open and Close
of a file.

It isn't called "Save Log" right now. It's called "Begin Logfile". (That's
not changed from the way it was in 3.0, IIRC.)

--
J.

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[Tim M]

Joel, for me I notice that the splitter problem only seems to occur when the
wizard is enabled. It works fine when the wizard is off.

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[bsmith]

New build:

http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/tmp/vass ... vn3016.zip

- On first opening, the splash appears, which is nice. But the main window is then in the background. i.e. if I have another app open, the Vassal window will not be in focus.

- in prefs, replay is not capitalised near "Ask to ensure logging..."

- we need a way to separate the Preference sections, there are so many that it's hard to tell at a glance what is set and not set.

It's looking good though Joel, thanks.

[bsmith]

It isn't called "Save Log" right now. It's called "Begin Logfile".

Ah right you are, cheers.

[bsmith]

What I think Rodney was proposing is to have one item on the Player's File
menu which *launches* the Editor---but menu items which are applicable only
to the Editor would remain in the Editor's menus.

This is a more attractive option but does leave open the possibility a user will accidentally select it. You really don't want to hit "Launch Editor" when you meant to hit "End Logfile", this could end in disaster. I would recommend the Tools menu if we really need it in the Player at all.

[Tim M]

I'm for the one launch camp on this. Most of us module makers have very
little experience already when we jump in. We shouldn't make it that much
more harder for those that want to give it a try also, but don't know how to
go about. Engine can be challenging enough to weed out those that are just
poking around as it is

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[uckelman]

Thus spake "Tim McCaron":

I'm for the one launch camp on this. Most of us module makers have very
little experience already when we jump in. We shouldn't make it that much
more harder for those that want to give it a try also, but don't know how to
go about. Engine can be challenging enough to weed out those that are just
poking around as it is

Would having a clearly-labeled icon and shortcut for the editor solve this
problem? (This is how Cyberboard does it---the two programs are called
CBPlay and CBDesign, and their icons are different. I've been on the CB
mailing list for years and I don't recall anyone admitting to be being
confused by this.)

--
J.

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[Tim M]

Tools would be a good place for Editor.

Speaking of preferences what exactly does 'use null to view stacks' do? This
is new I think

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[rk]

--------------
New Module
Edit Module...
Save Module
Save Module As

with appropriate items grayed out as necessary. Since the editing
functionality is more of an advanced feature, I would put the edit
menu items in their own section of the menu rather than intersperse
them with the game playing items.

That makes sense. And it's perfectly fine to remove those menu items once they're not applicable. So after choosing "Play Module" they can all disappear.

I think the main argument for having separate playing and editing
applications is to avoid confusion for the larger group of users who
just play games using Vassal rather than designing modules.

One thing I really like is being able to keep the barrier low for users to move from playing to editing. I like the fact that people can play a module for a while and then one day ask themselves "Wonder what happens if I edit this module?" and ease into module design.

To make things easier on people who are only interested in playing, we should put effort into making executables that launch a module directly.

rk

This
keeps the interface for just the players simpler, which is where a
more streamlined interface is more important.



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[rk]

Speaking of preferences what exactly does 'use null to view stacks' do? This
is new I think

That should be "Use CTRL-Space to view stacks" It relates to the StackDetailViewer. The fact that it's showing 'null' probably means there's a key missing from the i18n properties file.

rk

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[bsmith]

This may be getting into RFE territory, but when you start the Vassal Editor it should bring up a file selector dialog with New, Open, Cancel options.

[uckelman]

Thus spake "Rodney Kinney":

That makes sense. And it's perfectly fine to remove those menu items once
they're not applicable. So after choosing "Play Module" they can all
disappear.

I totally disagree on this point. I think it's never fine to add or remove
items from menus in the menu bar at runtime. This terribly confusing---people
see items and then they're gone when they go back to look for them. This
is precisely the complaint I've frequently heard about the way that Windows
XP and programs like Office hide (and thereby reorder) seldom-used menu
entries. It's infuriating, because, you can't find things just by remembering
where they are.

--
J.

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