Fantasy Grounds needs a Design Overhaul

[Valyar]

I would hazard a guess the reason you dont have trouble with it is because you have used it since 2013... thats 9 years to figure it out.

A UI overhaul is clearly needed. Interfaces have improved and become easier for people to use. There are millions of dollars spent studying the best way to make a interface experience a pleasant one. A lot of it is available for free online. There are libraries on the topic. I've linked to them in the past, google if you're interested.

There have been pages of feedback on this topic for a while now. The issue is more than likely lack of resources.

+1

Also there is dramatic need for implementation of keyboard shortcut functionalities and registration function for custom shortcuts in rulesets. It is ridiculous with the increasing complexity of the base program and some rulesets to have the click fest we have today. My heart is teared apart when I say this, but - look at Foundry...

[SilentRuin]

I have read the opinions here, and there, and... I seem to see these repeated a lot. Well, makes me feel like I should express my own deep felt personal opinion on these matters. Now keep in mind, I'm known for my text walls you have to appreciate that context here. Ok here goes...


Meh.

[deer_buster]

Lets not rehash this again. If anyone wants to spend their time on this topic, how about reading the hundreds of posts previously made on this topic.

Everyone's opinion is valid...whether or not you agree with it. As a community leader, you should value feedback and not try to suppress it...as that is how communities die

[Jiminimonka]

Everyone's opinion is valid...whether or not you agree with it. As a community leader, you should value feedback and not try to suppress it...as that is how communities die

He's not doing that, he is saying don't make a new thread (started by a troll anyway) read the other ones.

[Axeking]

Everyone's opinion is valid...whether or not you agree with it. As a community leader, you should value feedback and not try to suppress it...as that is how communities die

Keep in mind that the OP has provided exactly ZERO suggestions of what needs fixing in his opinion. This is not useful feedback. Constructive criticism is what allows a community to thrive - not trolling...

[celestian]

Keep in mind that the OP has provided exactly ZERO suggestions of what needs fixing in his opinion. This is not useful feedback. Constructive criticism is what allows a community to thrive - not trolling...

He doesn't need to provide detailed feedback other than what he did. There are pages of it in the forums. While he might have simply replied to one of those and said he agreed he did not. That doesn't change the fact it's a common enough issue that one doesn't need to write out a detailed response on the matter.

[LordEntrails]

My intent was not to suppress discussion. Hopefully for those of you who have watched my behavior on this forum over the years have come to that opinion of me. If not, please PM with your observations as I would be happy to consider how I might change my behavior to make sure my intentions are clear.

My intent was to point out that this has been discussed at length before. That for those of us who have expressed our opinions on this subject at length, there is no need to restate those opinions. And that for those who have not, perhaps they would find it informative to read some of the previous discussions Their is lots of useful insight in those threads.

That in my opinion, everyone who has stated their opinion on this topic can, if they chose, spend their time on better FG things. Perhaps that is coding extensions and themes, preparing adventures, learning a new technique with story templates, recording a how to video, answering user questions on the forum, or however you chose to spend your leisure time; it may well be spent better elsewhere. Of course, that is everyone's own choice to make.

And, other than spending some time to collect the links to previous discussions which I've posted below, I do not intend to spend my leisure time restating my opinions or commenting on this topic. Enjoy.

- https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...-as-the-old-UI
- https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...p?52636-Fgu-ui
- https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...User-Interface
- https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...nt-Suggestions
- https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...UI-Improvments
- https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...unds-interface!

[Sulimo]

It's quite interesting to read through those older threads.

With the exception of small number (less than 5) of people, no one really provided any actionable suggestions. It was mostly just saying they did not like the UI.

What was especially interesting to me is that some people that said they did not like the UI, liked some other Themes. This tells me it's more about the look of the interface than how it works that is the problem. Fortunately this particular problem can be resolved with a Theme.


So there is a difference in not liking the way it looks versus the way it works. I think a lot of people may inadvertently conflate the two.



To drive the point home on the Theme being important, a while back (probably a couple of years ago now), I had a discussion elsewhere regarding Foundry.

The other person was complaining (maybe not the right word) about Dave's enthusiasm regarding the new (at the time) Assets window. This person thought it was crazy that he was so enthusiastic about it.

However, when I compared it to the Foundry Token picker, the way it worked (ignoring the visuals) was 90% the same, but this person just kept going on and on about how much better the Foundry interface was. It's certainly prettier, but I definitely disagree that it's fundamentally better.

Take away the prettier visuals, and the FG Asset Window and the Foundry Token picker were 90% the same. One thing Foundry does have over FG is the ability to browse the local file system for Tokens.

It's been a while since I looked at Foundry, so it could have changed. But to me, the the two are very close in the way they function, the main difference is in how they look. At least in the List View layout, I think FG has a slight advantage for touch interfaces as the area for each selection is larger. It's only an advantage on touch interfaces though, Foundry is more dense, and can display more at once. Once you switch to the grid view though, they are very close in how they work.








I will say I disagree with one suggestion in the other threads, that of the Radial context menu. I know some people would like a more drop down menu style. However, there is no consensus amongst designers as to which is better, at least from the studies I have read.

One area where a the radial type menu excels at is for touch driven interfaces. A lot of people have been asking for a mobile (iOS or Android) app. Using a drop down menu on a touch interface is painful unless it is made large enough (most are not large enough in my experience).

[Jiminimonka]

Most of FG UI problems are carry over from FGC interface, which WAS designed in the 1990s. But the point of relaunching Fantasy Grounds Unity (I have said this a few times already on these forums) was to enable a complete overhaul, while also maintaining backward complatibility with Classic.

Drop down menus are from the 1980s too by the way, modern UI's have buttons to click like FG does, which work better on touch screens.

Also, saying "I don't like something" and then not providing what you would like changed, is right up there with "I find that offensive". Almost.

Don't like it; what would you like to see changed and how?

Then when you get 10-15 people replying, why not take part?

[JustinFreitas]

Yeah but... not in classic. You could just shift-click a link, and it was shared. Now it is sooo much more clunky. I want the classic function back SO badly!!!

I love Classic soooo much. I still run all my games in it. I wish the new content was still being supplied!