I was reading the
comments on TIGSource about the last release of DF and there where a lot of complaints (as usual) about the UI but they weren't related to the lack of graphics as much as related to the complexity of the controls.
In this regard. I would like to do something more constructive other than bitch about the controls and ask which UI control thing you would like Toady to change the most and how.
For me. I think the one thing that would reduce a lot of the complexity of the UI is adding a more generic TAB or mouse mechanism to select which menu the player wishes to interact with instead of having a shortcut for every command on every menu displayed at the same time. This would eliminate for example the need to use the arrows to scroll a menu, the +,-,*,/ keys to scroll another, and the U,H,K,M keys to scroll yet another at the same time.
I know one could learn to play this way and some people actually like it this way. But the fact is that having so many buttons for what is basically the same functionality but in different menus is confusing and even pointless when you don't actually have to manipulate 2 or 3 menus at the same time. It's also counterintuitive in some cases when for example in one menu has to use some scroll scheme and in a completely unrelated but similar menu have to use another. Even someone who has been playing this game for so long as me fumbles with the controls once in a while due to this.
I know there are some cases where complex scrolling schemes are necessary. But I think all of them can be condensed to using only the arrows and <,> with shift/control for 10x jumps in map views and Home, End, PgUp, PgDown in menu and legend views, while using TAB to switch control between concurrent menus. The current function of TAB which is to hide menus and maps can be replaced for actual shortcuts to show/hide each specific menu/map instead of a single button to show/hide them all.