The Half-Life MOD called "Natural Selection" -- which I haven't played but I think is a kind of humans-vs.-Aliens (the capital letter tells you I'm referring to the movie with the same name) -- has a menu that pops up in the center of the screen and I think has 4 items arranged orthagonally around the center of the screen (which is the crosshair location, since this is a first-person shooter). It could also be used with the keyboard, for those truly hardcore folks who can or must play FPSs without using mouselook.
It's used for players to call for reinforcement (and other radio calls), and to signal the unit commander (another player with a different view of the action) to send them more armor or ammo (which the commander-player can transport to you-- neat). I've heard great things, but I've got enough games to play as it is.
But of course FPS players encounter Fitts' Law constantly, at least if the game is any good.
The hierarchical menus. It's hard to pick an item in a submenu without sliding off the top and falling out of the menu. It's easier after you figure out that you can err on the side of the mouse sliding upward when you pick a menu, and then err on the side of the mouse sliding downward when you pick an item (so that the action isn't wholly dependent on keeping the mouse pointer within a tiny horizontal gutter). But that in itself involves training yourself to perform a weird looping action in which you come down through the menu bar, then loop around underneath and hit the menu item from below. At the very least there ought to be a significant buffer zone between the two menus.
Drop menus would actually be better, much as I hate them in Web pages. From a usability standpoint the old sidebar is really what you want, though it's ugly. pootrootbeer mentioned that he was actually unable to find the "Update Journal" link in the new skin and had to figure out how to change the skin back before he could post. It's there, but it's buried in the first submenu.
In appearance and coding, I think it's a fine skin. It just has a glaring usability problem.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2003-09-05 04:01 am (UTC)I've run into one program (the client for Second Life) that uses circular pop up menus. Not only is it a 'new' looking tihng, it's also fast.
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Date: 2003-09-05 06:41 pm (UTC)It's used for players to call for reinforcement (and other radio calls), and to signal the unit commander (another player with a different view of the action) to send them more armor or ammo (which the commander-player can transport to you-- neat). I've heard great things, but I've got enough games to play as it is.
But of course FPS players encounter Fitts' Law constantly, at least if the game is any good.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-05 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-05 12:44 pm (UTC)Drop menus would actually be better, much as I hate them in Web pages. From a usability standpoint the old sidebar is really what you want, though it's ugly.
In appearance and coding, I think it's a fine skin. It just has a glaring usability problem.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-05 10:34 pm (UTC)As for Poot, well, i mock his inability to find it. I went looking for "Recent" and found it under "Journal", which seems perfectly reasonable.
So i don't think the usability is problematic. SO THERE.