Factorio Forums

TL;DR

When tabbing into a text field, auto-highlight the text to allow for quicker data entry.

What ?

This is mainly an annoyance when changing train station colors. After modifying the red value, I press tab to move to green. The UI behavior I am used to would normally highlight that text (green value in this case) and allow me to enter a new one. Instead, the cursor is placed at the end of the text and the new value is appended.

Why ?

Slight enhancement to the UI behavior, nothing ground breaking. Not sure if this would really be useful anywhere else in the UI, just where I notice it the most.

TL;DR

Instead of being at the end of the number in a field, tabbing through the logistic areas should highlight the number for easy replacing.

What ?

When setting logistic requests and trash numbers, tabbing currently places the cursor at the end of the number. I think it should instead highlight the number.

Why ?

When changing logistic requests, I generally want to change the number so drastically that it's quicker to type the new number in full than edit the number already. I never want to change - for example - 100 to 1000, or even 105 or something like that. I want to change it to 200. or 0. or 500.

Currently I need to delete the number and type the new number to accomplish this. Also, Windows (and many other UIs) already do this so my muscle memory usually ends up changing "100" to "100500" before I'm even consciously aware that it's all wrong.

I believe the current situation makes the game literally unplayable

Wholeheartedly +1.
I feel this should be the default behaviour when a filled field (now that sounds funny) is autoselected (or TAB-selected). Any field. At least it's what I expect in such situation based on the Interfaces I'm used to.

+1 indeed, I never use the number. Instead I want to curser up/down to add/sub 1 or shift cursor up/down to add/sub a stack.

Hey,
This is not exactly a bug, more an annoyance.
When you edit the X and Y grid size values, I click in the X: field, type my value and the press the Tab button to go to the Y: field.
Doing this, standard windows behavior would be to select the value currently present in that field so that if you start typing, you overwrite the value.
Currently this is not the case in factorio 1.0, the cursor ends up after the existing value so that when you start typing, it adds to the allready existing value.

This is also the case with the dialog boxes to set colors for train stops, trains etc... Tab puts the cursor at the end of the box and adds to the existing number instead of overwriting it.

I suggested this a while ago in Suggestions and expected 1000 +1's

I got 2.

Does nobody use the keyboard to go between fields?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=85303&p=495686

[Koub] Did a bit of merging of topics with the same suggestion.
Also related : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=48203

ssilk wrote: ↑

Wed May 27, 2020 12:57 am

+1 indeed, I never use the number.

Me neither

The use of TAB to navigate between fields has now become an almost ubiquitous UX across many applications and OSs, so many players would be used to, and even expect the same behaviour when presented with text fields in Factorio.

The other "standard" is automatically highlighting any existing values when the field is selected so new values can be entered if desired. Moving the cursor left or right then jumps to the beginning or end of the existing value allowing modification.

This kind of suggestion is a polish item that I would really like to see, so +1 from me.

I'm not sure I agree that this merge should have moved this into "Ideas and Suggestions" instead of "Bug Reports". The usability of tab+keyboard on these fields is pretty bad compared to what's expected from modern UX, and I think should remain in the bugs forum.

As a moderator, I always apply the same logic :
- if a feature works the way the devs have intended it, and we want it to work differently, it's a suggestion from the community.
- if the devs have intended something, but their implementation does not work as they intended (or makes the game crash), then its place is in bug reports.
UI imperfections are not bugs, unless they literally break the game, which isn't the case here. We just hope the devs will make the game better by adding our suggestion in their UI lib.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:04 am

I suggested this a while ago in Suggestions and expected 1000 +1's

I got 2.

Because it's a terrible idea.

Ever tried double click?

PyroFire wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:52 pm

Ever tried double click?

Double-clic value 1
Move hand from mouse to numpad
Change it to whatever value desired
Move back hand to mouse
Double-clic value 2
Move hand from mouse to numpad
Change it to whatever value desired
Move back hand to mouse
Double-clic value 3
Move hand from mouse to numpad
Change it to whatever value desired
Move back hand to mouse

vs

Press TAB (no need to move left hand)
Move hand from mouse to numpad
Change value 1
Press TAB
Change value 2
Press TAB
Change value 3
Move back hand on mouse.

For each additional value on a single tab, autoselect field contents allows additional time economy, removing the need to go back and forth between the mouse and the num pad.

PyroFire wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:52 pm

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:04 am

I suggested this a while ago in Suggestions and expected 1000 +1's

I got 2.

Because it's a terrible idea.

Ever tried double click?

Could you please expand on "Because it's a terrible idea", or was that an attempt at a humorous troll?

There is a reason why so many other applications follow the same principles when it comes to navigation. Sure, there are exceptions where the UI is completely unorthodox, or entirely cursor operated, but Factorio is not one of those examples. Familiar, and intuitive UI design reduces cognitive load, and Koub's example demonstrates this well. I would like my mental abilities (as limited as they are) to be applied to playing the game, and not trying to work out whether my inputs will be accepted or not from one screen to another.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:04 am

I got 2.

I set a very low bar when it comes to form and data field entry behavior in games, especially when keys can be mapped to control the game actions.
Nevertheless I agree that this is a fair expectation.

This recently reported problem is directly related to this suggestion and discussion.
[0.18.45] Cursor is not in the Name field after clicking to edit the blueprint book

When I press tab to move the focus into a numeric textfield containing "50", it is really unlikely that what I want to change it to is "501" or "50999", and very likely that I want to change it to "1" or "999". To that end, the UX would be streamlined if the contents were selected when it was focused, at least via keyboard navigation (script .focus() or mouse clicking are less clear cut).

ssilk wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 05, 2020 9:39 pm

Merged with existing topic -- ssilk

My request above was not related to this thread. I was referring to all numeric inputs, particularly in the settings dialogs, after they are already focused by the user. I was not asking for the focus behavior change discussed in this thread.