Right, well obviously this is not an immediate goal, but I am sure that there will be a time when it is, and having discussed it beforehand I think would help significantly. So I've tried to come up with an initial plan for how this could work. Bear in mind that I have assumed that we'll have mouse support and that all features such as 'k' to view a unit are replaced with 'mouse over' to view a pop-up box with info about what you are mousing over. So, without further ado, here is my idea:
Structure:
- Pause (Space)
- Resources/Population
- Announcements
- Combat Reports
- Detailed Stock List
- Detailed Population Information
- Justice
- Kitchen Settings
- Civilisations
- View items
- View rooms
- Nobles
- Artifacts
- Orders
- Standing orders
- Squad control
- Jobs
- Planning/Construction
- Planning
- Designation (one time)
- Area to be mined
- Vein to be mined
- Channel to be dug
- Detail stone (if rough, smooth. If smooth, engrave)
- Carve Fortifications
- Designation (continuous)
- Trees to be cut
- Plants to be gathered
- Zones
- Burrow Control
- Remove designation
- Remove building/building plan
- Construction
- Food
- Butcher’s shop
- Kitchen
- Fishery
- Still
- Farm plot
- Kitchen Settings
- Glass
- Glass furnace
- Kiln
- Jeweller’s workshop
- Gem
- Metal
- Smelter
- Forge
- Wood furnace
- Craftsdwarf’s workshop
- Textile
- Plant
- Farm plot
- Farmer’s workshop
- Thresher
- Clothier’s shop
- Silk
- Dye
- Millstone
- Quern
- Dyer’s shop
- Wood
- Bowyer’s workshop
- Carpenter’s workshop
- Craftsdwarf’s workshop
- Siege workshop
- Wood furnace
- Soap
- Butcher’s shop
- Kitchen
- Wood furnace
- Alchemist’s laboratory
- Ashery
- Fuel
- Furniture
- Armour stand
- Bed
- Seat
- Table
- Coffin
- Chest
- Statue
- Window (choose material later)
- Cage
- Mechanisms/Stoneworking
- Mechanic's workshop
- Mason's workshop
- Craftsdwarf's workshop
- Help
- Step-by-step tutorial
- Materials info
- Industry info
(God damn that was a bitch to compile from word.)
Mock up to show the idea of consistent tabs (they would each have different stuff underneath them):
HereI will add more stuff to this later, but I think it conveys at least some of the idea.
I am going to do a full mock-up in flash, but I wanted to check if I'd missed any key functionality before I did/if there are any major changes. Also note that the major titles (Pause, Resource/Population, Announcements and Planning/Construction) are always on screen, as tabs that you can immediately switch to. Therefore the largest number of clicks to get something done is (by my calculation) 5 (to get to a magma glass smelter from, say, the announcements tab). Some elements appear multiple times, because they are related to multiple things. I designed this to try to reduce the need for reference to the wiki or tutorials.
Give me some constructive criticism please, along with your ideas.