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[Baffler]

I am in about the opposite position as OP, having just returned to DF after a few months hiatus. The version is still the same but I am very excited to get back to it. The reason I stopped, however, wasn't because of the UI, which I got the hang of after a few weeks (Though the finer points of the military system still escape me), but the game itself. I found myself doing more or less the same thing every time I embarked. Dig a hallway, Depot, farms, workshops, living quarters... It just ended up repetitive for me. Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but for all its depth it doesn't vary all that much.

[PatriotSaint]

First off, let me be honest. DF is probably the best game and simulation I've played and enjoyed, and still play and enjoy Ever. Period.

Now... Let me be frank.

DF probably has the worst UI I've ever had to deal with. Ever. Period. Not even games with nonexistent UIs can parallel the frustration, the pain, the brain-numbing and blinding inefficiency and ineptitude of the interface, everywhere and anywhere I have the displeasure of not just compensating with, but almost fighting with, constantly.

Not to mention it happens to be one of the ugliest... things... I've seen in a loooooong time.

Bested only by the illegitimate offspring of The Elephant Man and The Wicked Witch after 10 generations of incest and a painter's knife to every facial feature, and then to my own eyes, which would probably go even more blind after some well-spent time in the "Ugly Matrix" (Think "Matrix", but everything that has to do with "Matrix" is superseded by "EEEEEEEEEWWWW"), if I didn't resort to the Phoebus tileset. And then, only perhaps.

*cough*

Glad that's out of my system now. For now.  XD

[Puzzlemaker]

First off, let me be honest. DF is probably the best game and simulation I've played and enjoyed, and still play and enjoy Ever. Period.

Now... Let me be frank.

DF probably has the worst UI I've ever had to deal with. Ever. Period. Not even games with nonexistent UIs can parallel the frustration, the pain, the brain-numbing and blinding inefficiency and ineptitude of the interface, everywhere and anywhere I have the displeasure of not just compensating with, but almost fighting with, constantly.

Yep that just about sums it up for me.  I really, really wish either Toady would re-do the UI, or at least put in hooks via a library or something that allows someone else to do the UI.  Seriously, it's ridiculous.  Maybe we should start a pot to have UI improvement?  I would be willing to throw in some money.

[lue]

That was satire? Maybe if I remembered who the real OP was it would've been obvious to me .

Maybe the reason I feel that years go by too quickly in DF is because I get tired of doing the same repetitive things in the caravan trading screens and so I wish it would be longer between having to repeat them. That would be a UI thing. I tend to try to play with no more than 30 or so dwarves because any more than that and I lose connection with individual dwarves. That's arguably a UI thing, too.

I'd call those gameplay mechanic issues rather than UI issues, unless you mean something different about the trading screens.

Probably the most annoying times are when I have to scroll through an interminable list to find an item.

Come to think of it, that's probably my only real complaint for the UI: that more lists in DF need the "filter string" option.

Yep that just about sums it up for me.  I really, really wish either Toady would re-do the UI, or at least put in hooks via a library or something that allows someone else to do the UI.  Seriously, it's ridiculous.  Maybe we should start a pot to have UI improvement?  I would be willing to throw in some money.

Again, there's the g_src directory (at least in the linux tarballs). Someone more familiar with it would be able to say how much of the UI that has a part in. If it handles most, if not all, of the UI, there's the chance someone motivated enough could change it into a better UI.

[Putnam]

It handles the SDL and nothing else, AFAIK.

[DG]

That was satire?

An attempt. 

Maybe the reason I feel that years go by too quickly in DF is because I get tired of doing the same repetitive things in the caravan trading screens and so I wish it would be longer between having to repeat them. That would be a UI thing. I tend to try to play with no more than 30 or so dwarves because any more than that and I lose connection with individual dwarves. That's arguably a UI thing, too.

I'd call those gameplay mechanic issues rather than UI issues, unless you mean something different about the trading screens.

Something like a trading template could ease the repetition if you generally tend to request the same things every time. It would save you from going through the long lists lists every year at least. Especially if you're picking out everything that's steel for melting because you can't simply request the amount of steel you want. Some of the UI problems are exacerbated by the current game play. It's not always a clear cut UI problem in isolation.

[Makbeth]

I guess that post was pretty reckless; if there was anything in it worth communicating, it got lost in the generalizations I made later about the whole "losing is fun" thing.  I should have thought more carefully before posting that rant; it didn't really belong in there anyway.