Improving usability of logistics slots

[Zaflis]

There are a few issues with current UI, which overall means more clicks needed than in old UI. It comes down to few things:

1) When making a new filter by clicking an empty slot, you need to click the empty filter slot again too to select something to it. There is no reason for this middlestep, It should just open automatically when empty slot is clicked.

two_clicks.png (25.29 KiB) Viewed 1607 times

2) When making a new filter by holding an item in hand, it still keeps the item in hand while the new filter UI is open. This is a distraction, would be better if hand is cleared when it's not needed.

request_cursor.png (26.49 KiB) Viewed 1607 times

In screenshot the filter is already set to wagons, no need to have it in hand anymore.


3) Sometimes Enter key doesn't close the filter UI. It appears this happens if the filter icon is the last clicked element, then Enter key does not respond even if pressed repeatedly.


4) Using mousewheel is interacting with slider element that was last clicked. It would be more intuitive if it would respond to currently focused element. In this case last clicked element was the "max" slider, so using mousewheel up moves the "max" which was not what player wanted:

wheel_slider.png (7.63 KiB) Viewed 1607 times

[ssilk]

1) yes!
similar suggestion:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=82654 Keyboard entry for new “set request" pop-up windows (and requests, and combinators)

2) that works only, if the inventory isn’t full. And it’s the same behavior all over in game. IMHO low chance to be implemented.

3) see above link: that should open the item selection and not close. IMHO.

4) also colliding with general GUI behavior. Focused element should be handleable by keyboard. Doesn’t work, if keyboard-action moves that element below the mouse.

[Zaflis]

2) You are forgetting that item in hand is not actually there, it's a reference to inventory. There's no issue of space. It's just the same as pressing Q, except if i remember right, Q does nothing while that UI is open. Think of anything you would do with the item in hand after setting the filter. Is there any use at all? Because i can't think of any...

4) Focused element should always be handleable by mousewheel as a general rule. If that's not the case right now then it's imo a mistake. There are some cases where that actually is true already, like the slider for train schedules waiting time.

[ssilk]

2: hm. I’m sure I had such issues lately. Sadly the iPad Factorio version is still a dream, because then I could test it now.

4: against all conventions. look how operating system / forms in browsers work. You need a really good reason to do that and I don’t see it here, because the current behavior is also “right” in its kind of logic.

[Zaflis]

4: against all conventions. look how operating system / forms in browsers work. You need a really good reason to do that and I don’t see it here, because the current behavior is also “right” in its kind of logic.

As far as i can see, all established conventions work as i'm suggesting; they scroll what i'm focusing.

Notepad++ example from settings menu, this slider was best example i could think of:

settings.jpg (4.54 KiB) Viewed 1561 times

Windows 10 has this setting on where you can scroll window that is under cursor too:
https://www.groovypost.com/wp-content/u ... ttings.png

On the otherhand i can't give a single example of where you'd be able to scroll something after clicking it first. In Windows environment for example MSPaint when you have a large picture and there's horizontal and vertical bars, the mousewheel will always affect only vertical bar regardless if you have clicked the horizontal one.
File explorer is scrolling the list i'm focusing mouse on, etc...

[ssilk]

This works as you said, because focus on a slider makes the slider moving. One element (box around the slider) is linked with another.

But in this case this links cannot be properly made, the box around the sliders has the focus but it’s action cannot be linked to the two subelements, because that would not make any sense.