Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Talk about general things concerning Forged Alliance Forever.

Moderators: FtXCommando, Ze Dogfather

Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby Brutus5000 » 02 Jan 2019, 21:49

This is the discussion thread for this announcement. Please post suggestions for improvement of the Java client here.

If you want to discuss ui changes, please use screenshots and mark the areas your suggestion refers to.
The 9th Doctor wrote:You think it'll last forever, the people and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day it's all gone, even the sky.
Brutus5000
Councillor - DevOps
 
Posts: 366
Joined: 05 Aug 2016, 23:32
Has liked: 29 times
Been liked: 288 times
FAF User Name: brutus5000

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby PhilipJFry » 02 Jan 2019, 22:10

pls allow the java client to save the last x game logs of games played by a user so they can't destroy the info required to trace bugs by hosting a new game and thus overwriting their last game log
https://github.com/FAForever/downlords- ... issues/777
cats>dogs
post logs
User avatar
PhilipJFry
Supreme Commander
 
Posts: 2635
Joined: 23 Mar 2016, 21:16
Location: Austria
Has liked: 232 times
Been liked: 348 times
FAF User Name: PhilipJFry

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby moonbearonmeth » 03 Jan 2019, 04:49

If you make the background some non offensive FAF art that would be great. Or better yet let me easily choose my own offensive non FAF art.
Also reduce RAM consumption pls, the fact the client uses more memory than the actual game is ridiculous.
Ask me about my amazing content production to watch while you wait in a lobby.
User avatar
moonbearonmeth
Priest
 
Posts: 397
Joined: 15 Jul 2016, 21:15
Has liked: 166 times
Been liked: 225 times
FAF User Name: Suomi KP-31 desu

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby Apofenas » 03 Jan 2019, 06:40

Let's start with art. As Moon already stated, this is not SupCom. It was enough to put some shitty non-supcom pic on a website. Why do I have to watch another one in client? Srsly, this looks just as ugly as Kane in C&C rivals.

Even SupCom 2 art is better than whatever heresy is there.

UI
Than let's get to bugs:
When you enter the play tab, it is set to Table. So you press again and everything moves to sides like current nomad models.
Spoiler: show
Image

Than I press Titles and everything moves again.
Spoiler: show
Image


There is no border in chat to separate different sections. Means you can't really see where Chat or player list section ends and where typing section begins.
Spoiler: show
Image


The notify is waay too annoying. if you're doing something else (for example writing feedback), this window will be disctacting you all the time like that:
Spoiler: show
Image

That fucking ladder window was so annoying while I was writing this message!!!!
Pretty sure it can do something like that since i even had multiple ladder notify pop up.
Spoiler: show
Image

What I want to say is there has to be an option to make notify work only inside the client window and take less space just like in Python client.

Map vault.
When I get into vault, I want to see something new in a first place and freely browse the vault without additional clicks. If i want most liked, most popular ect maps i can use and easy filter.

IMO there should be different sections outside map vault called "Ladder maps" and "Featured maps"

Technical part:
For some reason i can't get proper connection in client. It just says Image
And glows non-stop like it tries to load something Image

I mean I openned ports and it works in that port, added rules to firewall (and yes, I tried turning it off). No use.
Spoiler: show
Image Image

What am i doing wrong?
downlords-faf-client.log
(86.04 KiB) Downloaded 157 times
BalanceVictim wrote:I tried it out, and yes, the anti-torpedo is a useful tool now. Sadly, the rest of the unit is still extremely weak compared to any other frig
Apofenas
Contributor
 
Posts: 747
Joined: 21 Jul 2013, 14:39
Has liked: 179 times
Been liked: 180 times
FAF User Name: Apofenas

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby biass » 03 Jan 2019, 08:12

moonbearonmeth wrote:Or better yet let me easily choose my own offensive non FAF art.


Probably this, just chuck in the good old #1c1c1c and then add an option to replace the login-background image.

Apofenas wrote:Even SupCom 2 art is better than whatever heresy is there.


It is supcom 2 art, i have however made you an alternative

Image

if you're forcing me onto it i might as well send it to hell so i guess i will write something up
Map thread: https://bit.ly/2PBsa5H

Petricpwnz wrote:biass on his campaign to cleanse and remake every single map of FAF because he is an untolerating reincarnation of mapping hitler
User avatar
biass
Contributor
 
Posts: 2239
Joined: 03 Dec 2015, 07:54
Has liked: 598 times
Been liked: 662 times
FAF User Name: biass

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby biass » 03 Jan 2019, 08:34

actually before i start, is support for half the width of a monitor in the pipeline or? because on all screens there is just some massive issues
Map thread: https://bit.ly/2PBsa5H

Petricpwnz wrote:biass on his campaign to cleanse and remake every single map of FAF because he is an untolerating reincarnation of mapping hitler
User avatar
biass
Contributor
 
Posts: 2239
Joined: 03 Dec 2015, 07:54
Has liked: 598 times
Been liked: 662 times
FAF User Name: biass

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby nine2 » 03 Jan 2019, 08:52

there you are contributing again biass
nine2
Councillor - Promotion
 
Posts: 2416
Joined: 16 Apr 2013, 10:10
Has liked: 285 times
Been liked: 515 times
FAF User Name: Anihilnine

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby biass » 03 Jan 2019, 09:02

if i am forced to use it i might have to but i really rather not
Map thread: https://bit.ly/2PBsa5H

Petricpwnz wrote:biass on his campaign to cleanse and remake every single map of FAF because he is an untolerating reincarnation of mapping hitler
User avatar
biass
Contributor
 
Posts: 2239
Joined: 03 Dec 2015, 07:54
Has liked: 598 times
Been liked: 662 times
FAF User Name: biass

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby Petricpwnz » 03 Jan 2019, 10:27

Ok here is all the feedback of a seasoned aeolus warrior with lightyears of client and chat navigation experience under his belt.
I put quite some effort into collecting all those points and would R E A L L Y like to see them if not addressed then at least discussed.


I'm gonna focus on what's bad because what's good is fine as it is.


1. Features
Problem: Initially I wanted to just write the changed styles out myself instead of saying what to change but it proved too tryhard with restarting the client and what not.

Proposal: "Refresh styles" button like in python client. There is a theme section in settings, but no idea if it even works, and there is no tooltips or info on that.


2. Client responsiveness
Problem: Layout is fine if you don't go into autistic screen sizes but I often keep my client on 2nd small screen in windowed mode along with some second window which means the client is gonna be pretty small, let's see how that looks.
Spoiler: show
Image
You can see not all the tabs are showing, in python client you can scroll through them but here you can't do anything. Pretty much unusable if you want to move from tab to tab.

Proposal: Switch navigation to vertical/more compact or both on small window size. Or at the very least make scrolling work.



!CRITICAL! Problem: No "dragging" header to grab, only real reliable way is to use this area here
Spoiler: show
Image

But on small window sizes this area does not exist, making dragging actually impossible
Spoiler: show
Image

Proposal: A header that will hold window buttons and dragging ability, see discord
Spoiler: show
Image



Problem: Userlist on smaller window sizes takes up a lot of space
Spoiler: show
Image

Proposal: A small toggle above it to show/hide the userlist.


3. UI/UX
Problem: Not gonna question the background image choice over solid color, but all the headers should use a different background.

Solution:
Spoiler: show
Image
but not assfugly. Maybe edit the image to fade into that color too.



Problem: No chat topic is displayed unlike python client, that's really not good considering mods put all sorts of useful information for noobs there all the time.

Proposal: Uhh... Put the chat topic in?



Problem: Literally insufferable alignment of names in chat.

Proposal: Please please please switch this disease
Spoiler: show
Image
to align names to the right of the column.



Problem: Can't apply custom colors to whole usergroups like friends/mods at once, a pretty big quality of life feature.

Proposal: Be able to apply colors to groups of users.



Problem: The duplication of users in userlist across different usergroups is a bad decision imo
Spoiler: show
Image


Proposal: Have them displayed only once in the highest priority usergroup: mods > friend/foe > faf user > irc



!CRITICAL! Problem: Downlords client has surpassed python in power by a long shot, but things like (this is all one list)
Spoiler: show
Image
Spoiler: show
Image
is what needs work. Huge array of options which is great for whatever edge case you need. Only problem is that 95% of the time I just wanna sort by rating and maybe map, and it takes me like 10 seconds to locate those in this huge list. Every time I want to find something.

Proposal: Save your filtering choice/allow to set a custom default. Also something like splitting criteria by primary/secondary, maybe color coding. Would also be nice to save the vault sub-tab so you don't have to load map vault every time you want to go watch some replays.


4. Bugs (?)
Problem: I dunno what's up with local replay vault but it seems to just be missing any replays after my rename from Whiteheart
Spoiler: show
Image

Can't find anything no matter how I sort. All the replays are in the same folder and show up fine in python client.

Proposal: Fix pls.



!CRITICAL! Problem: Colored users only apply to past messages and don't work on upcoming ones. I'm not kidding when I say critical because lack of proper chat experience is the sole reason I always stuck to the python client. Here I apply a color to ThomasHiatt and it applies to his old message but not the new ones -
Spoiler: show
Image
This is a dealbreaker when it comes to reading chat, 70% of the time I completely ignore anything that isn't colored blue in python client.

Proposal: Color all chat messages.


Problem: https://puu.sh/CqY9U/81f43725b8.mp4 when min width userlist and scrolling through it

Proposal: Fix pls.


Some, like the doubling of usernames or header color is a suggestion, but most others are more like VERY SUGGESTIVE SUGGESTIONS. Hope they get enough attention.

Cheers, ya boi.
Blackheart wrote:actually i love lolis and want petry to be my waifu


Scientifically proving that Blackheart is a weeb - https://imgur.com/a/J436c | https://clips.twitch.tv/AssiduousAverageOxMikeHogu

Best meme of 2017 - https://puu.sh/yLsvH/abbf54eb99.mp4
User avatar
Petricpwnz
Priest
 
Posts: 464
Joined: 30 Aug 2012, 01:48
Has liked: 442 times
Been liked: 473 times
FAF User Name: Fremy_Speeddraw

Re: Client transition - constructive feedback thread

Postby biass » 03 Jan 2019, 13:19

I've had the client sat there for a while and really had a look and while i could blow the ever-living heckers out of it i really am only posting this out of necessity.

Two things, first is that i use it snapped to one half of my monitor for most of the time, which makes the java client look really really bad, and two, i swapped out the background image for that flat #1c1c1c i talked about because i really cannot stand the background image, like why dude, just why...

chat:

Image

So in order:
1 and 2. The massive distance between the user and the message they typed makes it extremely difficult to associate the two, this is made worse when a user types multiple lines it starts to break vertical alignment by a few pixels
When a name is too big, it pushes the text away which makes it even harder to read as it garbles up the alignment even more. Resulting in this huge mess that combined without this background made it just unbearable and in time i just really wanted to turn off my testing and go back to python.

I would recommend Aligning every name to the right, keeping every message start from the same point horizontally and if names are too big, hide the end with a simple ...
Also, add a : to the end of each name, this will hopefully negate the need for a dividing line/rule/etc.

3. The message entry box probably needs a lil bit of padding on the left as your message is almost touching the end of the client, maybe just a few px, to where the start of the avatars are? Also forgot the mention the messages go so far to the right that they essentially touch the timer, and then links just dont have line breaks and they disappear offscreen leaving some random scroll bar for no reason

4. Super annoying, if i make the screen any smaller it just pushed it off screen, this happens all over the client and is really bad in for example the games tab where menu options are pushed behind the giant fuckoff map preview if you happen to be using the tiles option, which is really the only viable option is you use it at this width because one fifth of the screen is reserved for a nav menu with only 3 links..

5. Small nitpick, needs something to distinguish it as a sub heading rather than just being text. Also would love to be able to see user rating with a mouseover.

6. This icon really makes no sense to me. is it a torch? a key? im yet to figure it out.

7. All the things down here are bound to some width percentage that makes all of them unreadable.

8. Doubling on petry suggestion to make a draggable area

This client has a lot of issues with displaying things width wise but that is all i'll go over atm, really would rather not be forced to use this as it is now so do please listen to what is said, also please change that disgusting background image

oh yeah suggested by rackover that notif sound burns out my eardrums and i already have a blocked ear as it is like cmon
Last edited by biass on 03 Jan 2019, 14:07, edited 2 times in total.
Map thread: https://bit.ly/2PBsa5H

Petricpwnz wrote:biass on his campaign to cleanse and remake every single map of FAF because he is an untolerating reincarnation of mapping hitler
User avatar
biass
Contributor
 
Posts: 2239
Joined: 03 Dec 2015, 07:54
Has liked: 598 times
Been liked: 662 times
FAF User Name: biass

Next

Return to General Discussions

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest