Navigation wheel feedback

[Accipiter]

Poll

What do you think of the navigation wheel?

• I love it! So quick and easy to use.
• It is okay. I use it to navigate in known places.
• I like listing exits, but I don’t need/want the directional quick-buttons.
• I prefer to hide the wheel. Best would be to get rid of it all.

Background

In Release v1.52.0 - Navigation I added exit icons and a navigation wheel.

My impression is that exit icons are generally seen as positive, but the navigation wheel seems to be given mixed reviews; while easy to access and quick to use, the 8 directional quick nav buttons doesn’t always translate well to rooms’ free form style of exits.

With Release v1.52.2 - Navigation tweaks I added the center button to list all room exits:

_{Maybe down icon is a poor choice of for stepping into the water!}

This gives mobile players a way to access and use all exits without opening Room Info.

Next step

I am considering scrapping the navigation wheel altogether, and to replace it with an “Exits” button that does the same thing as the center button does now; shows a list of exits.

So, to give me more info on how to continue, please vote on the poll!
And if you wish to add something, drop a reply.

[Accipiter]

Thanks for the votes, all!

While most of you do not seem to mind the navigation wheel, I am trying out alternatives to replace it with just some way of listing the exits:

Exits badge

I am not a big fan of this. When the area doesn’t exist, the exit button moves to the right, giving it a rather mis-aligned look:

That might be resolved by having a mini-map placeholder for rooms without areas, or areas without map. But… mmm… I am not sure.

Also, with the exit list opened after a click on the badge, the list will cover most of the mini-map:

Exits button

Another alternative would be to create a button for exits and have it as a mini-map button:

(It should not be a circle, but rather some other suitable design)

It takes less space and is less in-your-face.

Just like the Exits badge suggestion; if an area mini-map is not available, the button would then end up below the toggle button ( x ).
Though, the exits-list seen when licking it, would not cover the map, which is good.

Nngh…!

Okay. I might need help here.
Anyone wants to share their ideas on how you want to access an Exits list without opening a side-panel?

[Shinyuu]

I think in here we optimise only for the mobile layout, right? And the best option to have, then is something you can reach out wih your thumb (I suppose you don’t travel around much with the keyboard open as otherwise the point’s moot).

I’m not specifically advocating for the exits inline the way we trialled them; but maybe there’s a better way to represent those? Having them dumped into the scrollback for every place you go will surely take up a lot of valuable screen space. But what if you limited that to, say, one row of buttons following the travel which would have the first keyword of the exit (to keep them short), and dump the rest into a ... button. That way you can easily reach for more popular/important directions and still have ways to get to the rest in two taps. All while using one hand and holding a lickable ice cream in the other one.

[Accipiter]

@Shinyuu

I think in here we optimise only for the mobile layout, right?

Primarily, yes, but not only.
I see use for desktop users exploring through rooms with varied length of descriptions, making the current Room Info exit list less accessible. Or while viewing the bigger area-map on the right-side panel, while trying to navigate yourself to a interesting looking spot.
But in any case - yes, the focus is on mobile users.

While one-handed mobile navigation is nice, I don’t see it as a must. Two handed can do as well.

@Shinyuu

I’m not specifically advocating for the exits inline the way we trialled them; but maybe there’s a better way to represent those?

I liked them though!
_{For the rest of you - we are talking about a trial of displaying part of the room description + clickable exit texts in the chat log when you enter a room.}

But they only work while exploring - not for leaving a chatty room, as the exits will already have scrolled out of view.

And also, they are static. It is not much of a problem now, but I can imagine it being more of an issue when scripts allows exits to appear/disappear as trains rolls into the station, later to leave.

So, even if we could have it, I still think we need to be able to view an up-to-date exit list in a simple way.

[Windchaser]

I was too late to notice the poll, but I like the navigation buttons. (I’m on desktop.)

[Vernon_Otter]

I’d like to add my 2 cents here… As it is, I’m now having to scroll up from the characters & exits to the hierarchy buttons to check room occupants on that level, then go back to the local level and scroll down to navigate to the next room (because I just can’t seem to remember which direction I might need to go for an exit), then back up to go back to the hierarchy to check other rooms, etc. (And this doesn’t include trouble with a zooming map on some areas where scrolling up on the bar and getting the cursor over the image zooms it instead of scrolling the panel…) I’m getting used to it, but it’s a bit of a challenge with all the scrolling up and down.

I know it would benefit me to have some other way to navigate with exit names while still on other levels of the hierarchy so I’m not switching, scrolling, clicking, scrolling, switching, … Maybe when you hover over the wheel icon the exit name pops up or something? Or tapping the exit counter shows a second copy of the exit list, similar to image 3… I’m probably not best to ask on what to do, I just know it’s a lot of extra work when I have to go to a number of different sub-areas and keep checking back to see where those people are to pick the next sub-area. Before, it was clicking the room name and getting the hierarchy and then collapsing it, not nearly as much scrolling around then.

[the-floof]

I have an issue about this- On mobile, the area listing blocks out my messages. I like to see them while I’m typing so I can write a good reply.
Here is a picture to show

Yet another thing that goes away when I go into full screen, but which I don’t like to do as I lose track of time.
Halp this is a very annoying layout thing