Jacob Lojewski - 2011-09-02

Dubious said:

Sorry about the length of this, but I think it's worthwhile.

I really do understand the difference between the 'programmer' and 'user' viewpoints. (Been there, done that, created the T-shirt: "Users know what they want and expect programs to read their minds. Programmers are eternally frustrated because they always forget that users aren't.") Part of what I'm trying to help with.

Some of this arises from 'added functionality' syndrome. It might be less of a problem for a new user of WB with no preconceptions, but those of us who have been using it don't always notice the new features right away; just that things aren't working the same as before. Biggest problem I have with the whole color scheme theme used in WB is the need to either memorize all the different combinations of line and box colors for each tab (not practical with a failing memory) or create a 'cheatsheet' for oneself. (Easy enough when you use a dual monitor setup; less so with just one.) So my first usability suggestion would be to provide a 'pop-up' color code explanation for each tab. (Context menu option? But needs to be moveable so we can see the lines we are interested in interpreting.) WB doesn't seem to use the F1 key at all. Seems a perfect candidate, even if you eventually go to a tool bar interface. Initially just having the context section from the HTML doc for each tab would be great.

As for your "I guess I'm unclear as to what's unclear" point. Your explanation confirmed what I eventually concluded. Initially it was that what tweaks I could 'Apply' were dependent upon which INI was selected. Obvious from a programmers viewpoint; not obvious that I now not only could but MUST select the appropriate INI first. Part of this is because the INI selection box is to the right of the display of tweaks. From a layout viewpoint this makes perfect sense, but not logically: prerequisites should come before dependencies. When they can't, pointers are needed. Just glancing at the tweaks does not make it obvious which belong to which INI, until you notice the filename in brackets for each tweak. You addressed that with the color codes, but again, initially this was not recognized. It adds to the 'this is too complicated and ill-logical' initial reaction of newbies. What is needed is to make such explanations more in the way of 'pop-ups' (with a 'do not show this next time' checkbox for the experienced, and a way to re-enable it in the context menu for the forgetful) that appear every time you enter a new tab.

Second contributor was that 'All Natural.ini' was the initial INI selected in the picklist. Alphabetically is logical from a programmers view, but Oblivion.ini is what most users would expect. Suggest the default selection should be 'Oblivion.ini' instead. It has by far the majority of the desired tweaks. The obvious drawback is that users may not then realize that other INI tweaks may be available. (Not clear how to remedy this except in the tab 'What's this?' pop-up I suggested.) Also contributing is that 'All Natural' doesn't have tweaks per se; it must be manually editted. And resizing the WB window puts an empty unusable space between the 'Installer' column and the display of the INI file. (Later figured that space out. See below.) It does not seem to be possible to resize the INI file content display area (right-most column) at all (as of r1652). The selected INI is remembered from session to session, which is good.

The 'Sort by -> Valid Tweaks First' is indeed working as intended. It makes sense as default behavior. I do think a 'Show Invalid Tweaks' option (disabled by default) is a good idea. There then needs to be a notice to the effect that Invalid Tweaks were found, so people are aware of them. This should be a 'pop-up' or displayed at the top. Users should not be expected to scroll to the bottom to learn about errors. I believe there is an implicit expectation that all tweaks displayed are valid, so this is an excellent idea.

Finally, I just re-verified (r1652) that when 'All Natural.ini' is selected, the 'Duke Patrick' tweak is not visible even when scrolled completely at the bottom. I also tried 'browsing' to another INI (Advance Magecraft) and selected it. ALL the tweaks ('All Natural' and Oblivion) went 'orange' checkbox, and nothing else appeared in the window. The 'Duke Patricks - Combat Archery, ~Old Settings' tweak appears only when 'Oblivion.ini' or the latest 'Duke Patricks - Combat Archery.ini' file is selected, but so also does the 'All Natural.ini' Wizard Tweak. This appears to be a little inconsistent from the initial behavior when 'All Natural' was the default selection. When I browsed to the latest 'Duke Patricks - Combat Archery.ini' file, the '~Old Settings' tweak was sorted to the top and visible. What is still not clear, is how to get rid of that 'tweak' or which file it would be applied to if used? (At least I now know what that empty space between the 'Installer' and the 'INI contents' columns is intended for. It just needs to be resizable as well.)

Interface design is an on-going struggle, but the team is making great strides. Appreciate your consideration.

-Dubious-