Please shrink the frame header buttons slightly

Post by **raiguard** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:06 pm

The original content of this post no longer applies, click here for my revised request.

Original post

Deadlock989 · Post by **Deadlock989** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:10 pm

I prefer them. They are easier to click on and it's easier to see the icon they contain.

They should stay as they are.

Post by **raiguard** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:18 pm

The thing is, these buttons are all things that you probably don't use most of the time. I usually never click on them - I press escape to close and Control + F to search. Having them small made sense in that context too.

But, just because I think so doesn't make it right. I recognize that I might have an unpopular opinion.

Deadlock989 · Post by **Deadlock989** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:23 pm

Here is an example of the new button scale where I'm using multiple buttons on the header. Before 0.18.13, the usable pixel area available to an icon inside the button was something like 10x10 pixels at 100% GUI scale. You can't do a lot with that. Now, it's actually readable. I can see that the "map marker" button is different from the "close" icon without having to put my reading glasses on. The scale of the buttons matches better with the scale of the draggable area and the font size of the title.

It's just ... better. Subjectively.

Post by **raiguard** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:30 pm

Readability is a valid point, I'll give you that. Though I never really had issues with telling them apart or clicking on them, I can understand that others might.

I did some experiments and found that it still looks pretty good if the size is set to 20 instead of 24. Right now the actual buttons are the same size as the "filler", but with the shadow it makes them look bigger. Shrinking them to 20 still improves readability, but also makes them consistent with the filler:

I like this quite a lot actually. Making them consistent with the filler texture makes them much less of an eyesore, while still being easier to click on and distinguish.

Post by **raiguard** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 1:49 am

So, after looking at the giant buttons for a while, I'm come around to realizing that making them bigger isn't all bad. However, I still think they're too big. The look clunky not purely because of their size, but because they don't align with the filler texture that is next to them.

So I'm changing my request to shrink the buttons to be visually the same height as the filler. This still allows for readable icons while making it a lot more visually appealing. I put together this GIF to compare what it is now, to what I am asking for it to be:

: a6880931-db94-4fda-ba54-3a1c892ead58.gif (6.79 KiB) Viewed 1293 times

The size I set them to for this experiment was 20, and it looks perfect. The buttons are right in the middle of being compact and unobtrusive, and easy to distinguish / click on. And although the actual button size is no longer the same as the filler texture, it visually matches now because of the shadow around the button, so it looks way better!

coppercoil · Post by **coppercoil** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 8:35 am

BTW if buttons are small, tight button spacing is also uncomfortable to click despite it looks good.

Deadlock989 · Post by **Deadlock989** » Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:49 am

Please leave them alone. I did the work of updating my mods to the new style, I don't want to redo it all a second time.

Factorio Forums