Lots of threads come up about a UI rewrite. How do you think the UI should work? I've put down some of my thoughts below.
My suggestion for building placement UI:
-Menu breakdown between Constructions, Mechanisms, Workshops, Furnaces, Defences, and Furniture.
-Can place building using the left-click standard to RTS games.
-Building material can be filled in automatically, and dwarves will always take the closest of a certain building material to the job.
-Wall placement can be click and drag. You should be able to place nodes and switch between "shortest distance" and "follow my curser" mode. You should be able to undo to the previous node. This means you could designate the entire fortress wall in one go.
UI for connecting up levers and pressure plates:
-You should have the option to click-to-select the thing to link up to a lever. You should also be able to reverse-designate from the item to a lever, also clicked on.
Designations UI:
-No comment on woodcutting as the new release has not come out yet.
-Mining, Cleaning, and Smoothing should have a click and drag option, and it should be possible to drag out a rectangle or oval. Right-click in "designate mining" should erase selection.
-When designating an engraving you should have some control over what gets engraved. Options can be "Engravings determined by owner", "Engravings determined by artisan", "Engraving set by player" (have a selection of choices to be set somehow). "Engravings determined by artisan" causes engravings to be determined as they are now.
Military UI:
-Can select military squads or dwarves by left-click or left-click and drag. Else have a military screen with hotkeyed squads you can switch between in addition to the current methods.
-Right click to move (individual dwarf or squad).
-Formation-setting and attack orders. These should not be absolute, and can be affected by the skill of the militia captain or by dwarves going into a martial trance.