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[simonthedwarf]

I heard some dwarves have a well of that.

[kenpoaj]

I heard some dwarves have a well of that.

No, that's Unlife you are thinking of. Unless they are the chief medical dwarf 

[muzzz]

After my first, failed attempt at fort building I've decided to stick with rectangular forts for a bit. I don't have enough patience to designate a reasonably-sized fort out of 2-long walls. But even if the wallbuilding interface was more like the digging interface, you'd probably still have to break up (or partially suspend) larger constructions to deal with the dwarven factor.

As far as the current interface is concerned, I found that the order in which I construct things has a large impact on how efficiently I work. For example, I find myself pressing less unnecessary keys when constructing walls in order of orientation (first all north <-> south walls, then all east <-> west walls). YMMV, of course.

[slothen]

if it took any less keys to do anything we would need bigger keyboards.  Aside from the limit of 10x10 for constructions, I quite like how the current system works for building constructions.

[ddonohu2]

After a while you don't see b-C-w or similar anymore, all I see now is build wall, designate for digging, define zone, place stockpile. Seriously, I don't think about what I'm pressing, just what I want. Sooner or later it happens to everybody.

One exception to this is the few inconsistencies in the way things are defined, bridges being built with "g" but linked to a mechanism by "b", cages being "j" or "c", weapon racks being "w" sometimes and "r" others. It doesn't slow me down but I'm always aware of it in a way that galls me a little.

[Girlinhat]

I also wonder how new the poster is.  After about a week I learned bow to b-C-w just about faster than the screen can keep up.  At that point, it's not "three commands" but "one keystroke".  It becomes much easier then.

[arphen]

i use vim and emacs for coding, DF is primitive in comparsion ( interface wise)

[slothen]

i use vim and emacs for coding, DF is primitive in comparsion ( interface wise)

oh god.  I took an introductory programming course in C and they didn't point us to any software or text editors aside from remotely connecting to an emacs instance running on the school's server.  All we were trying to do was Foo and hello world and they were all like "just learn how to use it its awesome."  Then I changed majors.

[Mohreb el Yasim]

If it takes you 3 keys to build a wall, that problem means you don't know about uhjk and you should pay more attention to what's on the screen.

I think you mean uhkm.
Also op should have more patience.

well he migth really use uhjk i use them too, "c'est juste beacoupe plus pratique"²
²it is just easyer ... writen in french, adapted for french keyboards ...

[muzzz]

i use vim and emacs for coding, DF is primitive in comparsion ( interface wise)

It would be pretty awesome if repeating things was as easy in DF as it is in vim (and I presume emacs as well). Just '9u' instead of 'uuuuuuuuu' would already be great.

And it kinda scares me that I can type exactly 9 u's without consciously counting them...

[Anathema]

i use vim and emacs for coding, DF is primitive in comparsion ( interface wise)

oh god.  I took an introductory programming course in C and they didn't point us to any software or text editors aside from remotely connecting to an emacs instance running on the school's server.  All we were trying to do was Foo and hello world and they were all like "just learn how to use it its awesome."  Then I changed majors.

That's an awful way to learn programming. My university taught Java (with Netbeans, great IDE) exclusively for three semesters, by the fourth class it branched out into other languages, including remote connecting to a Linux server to program C in Vim like you did - you really shouldn't be thrown into that until you've learned the basics using a more user-friendly language and IDE. (Before someone chimes in with the obligatory "back in my day, programming in C on Unix was all we had, and we learned it just fine," I'll preemptively respond, "That's why there aren't enough programmers around today!"). By the way, as bad as DF's interface is, Vim is far worse for one reason: DF has that handy panel on the side that actually tells you right there what the keyboard commands do, you can figure out the command to do anything just by looking, in Vim you have to memorize/guess/look it up.

[Rolan7]

Sure it's logical!
build-> Construction -> wall.
Then 10 individual u's
Then move it into place
Then shift-enter and numpad-+ as necessary to choose the materials

Simple!  Now repeat all that another dozen times (except the b->C).

(in all seriousness, you do get used to it, but it's awkward.  It should be paintable like dig-designations.)
Now, the trade depot controls... those are terrible.  One really should use a macro for them, but the worst issue is the lack of filter-by-name.

[Mohreb el Yasim]

Then 10 individual u's

only 9
but honestly you can just make one u and hold it will repeat it-self and if you have something you migth do often use macros.
I don't think an interface needs to be complicated or primitive to be well made, in my opignon it should fitt it neads, and for that DF interface is quite great,
you will struggle first few hours you play with but that is not only for the interface !
then later ... you don't even notice it juste think and do ...
(well i begun coding on ZX Spectrum like 20 years ago ...  and i am 26 at the moment so that migth help as well ...)
UI is a + not a necesserity

[FearfulJesuit]

Man, I don't even notice anymore. My fingers have memorised dozens if not a hundred different key bindings.

[Andrakon]

Sure it's logical!
build-> Construction -> wall.
Then 10 individual u's
Then move it into place
Then shift-enter and numpad-+ as necessary to choose the materials

Simple!  Now repeat all that another dozen times (except the b->C).

(in all seriousness, you do get used to it, but it's awkward.  It should be paintable like dig-designations.)
Now, the trade depot controls... those are terrible.  One really should use a macro for them, but the worst issue is the lack of filter-by-name.

Wait what? It does have a filter by name. I use it all the time.  Or maybe I am just thinking of search for name and you are thinking excluding a name.