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[JasonMel]

You've got three similar UI widgets that are totally independent: activity zones, stockpiles, and burrows. (Really, designating rooms from furniture is a fourth -- dining rooms, barracks, bedrooms, etc.) Confusion could be reduced by combining all three (four?) into one interface, the zone, using the current, and very nice, creation interface from burrows.

(As an aside, I hate the name "burrow," because burrows have nothing to do with digging cozy quarters and everything to do with confinement. To give an example based on my experience, one of the first things I created was a bedroom for my leader, and I made it his "burrow" because it sounded cozy and prestigious. And then I couldn't figure out why he never left his bedroom for a year -- he almost starved and dehydrated, and his skill set atrophied. I'm not saying what I did wasn't stupid, but it might be a good idea to discourage such stupidity with a better name. Here's my quick starter brainstorm: "work area," "workplace," "restriction zone," "work confinement," "confinement area," "confinement zone"...)

I like the fact that the three types are differentiated visually, but they are so similar in form that they should be created the same way, using the lovely mouse-based interface for creating burrows which makes it so easy to add or subtract individual tiles from individual zones. This would imply choosing one of the three types on creation: Stockpile zone, activity zone, or "confinement zone" (or whatever you want to replace "burrow" with). I would suggest remaking rooms defined from furniture as merely a specialized activity zone that requires the presence of that furniture.

The "q" key could then query everything, be it a building or zone. For overlapping zones, cycle through them with "q" the same way you cycle through overlapping units with "v". Also, fold "t" into "q".

In general, I justify my suggestions by saying that, since it looks like you might never stop adding features to DF, you may want to at least take a break from it to polish what you have already in terms of user-friendliness.

[sockless]

It has been suggested before that we get rid of room designation from furniture and use zones instead. Toady is actually working towards that in a way, the new stuff he adds in uses zones, like the Hospital. Stockpiles are sort of different and I think that they should be left as they are now.

I don't really use burrows so I can't really comment on them.

[JasonMel]

I'm not suggesting that stockpile behavior be changed, or making stockpiles merely another type of zone. They seem to work pretty well, especially after learning how easy it is to customize what's stored in them. I'm only suggesting that they be set up the way burrows are set up.

Try setting up a burrow, just to see how nice it is. Hit "w" for burrow, "a" to add one to the list, and "enter" to define it. Then paint it down with the mouse, or use the traditional rectangular method from zones and piles. You can even escape out, do other things, then go back to the burrow list and add tiles to it exactly the same way. Subtracting tiles is just as easy; one keypress takes you to erasure mode. I would love to be able to set zones, rooms, and stockpiles this way, and clear up the hotkey menu in the process.

[greenskye]

While I think the stockpile designation is pretty good right now, it would be nice to expand/contract an existing stockpile without having to delete it and re-designate.

[Dradym]

this is an example of how i think the game needs a bit of streamlining...but then it would be less hard frustrating dwarfy.

but seriously, im sure toady has plans to do this sometime before DF ver1