@DaveG:
I know perfectly how that window looks. Thanks to a commit I have the unluck to have to use a magnifier to check out if what I am rolling over is really the mana bar or the stamina one ;-)
I really think that I have never said that the window before was the best you could have, as a matter of fact I was entitled to change it (and I was the first one this August suggesting several changes) :-), but I can assure you the latest window that is available is not better than the previous one and for clearly different reasons. If you cannot understand them, I really - again - suggest you to consult some basic HCI book (you can just check out one of the two manuals but if you want I have plenty I could suggest you).
If every game asks the players to worried to much about the GUI then they are games not realized for the user perspective and considering how many software applications are done respecting any usability principle it is not a surprising statement. Basically, just in the latest years this discipline has become important in software development and even companies are finally recruiting people just with that purpose (thing that before was not done at all).
And, yes, everybody agree that the previous one was taking space, but this one is \"unusable\" (using HCI terminology) as well. That is why it will be changed, yet again, in its own time and in its own way.
Anyway, I think that continuing arguing about it will not solve anything, considering that I could print here a book about how these things should be done and you could still try to convince me that the window as it is right now is perfect (but I don\'t believe so ;-) ).
@Induane: With sliding offscreen you mean that instead of being out of focus on the screen they should disappear (or become a little tiny line on the edge) and when you pass the mouse over them then you get the real window?
Would it be easy in your opinion to recognize and remember the position of the window you are going to look ? Is there a way that this information (which window is it) could be stored? Maybe a \"tooltip\"?
Personally, I think the chat window should be on top all the time since it contains information which should be read somehow (the game is still RPG oriented therefore I think \"communication\" is rather important). I agree with buddylist and shortcuts menu though, group window, etc.
The idea of having small icons for the shortcut window is nice (images are better than text if they are enough intuitive), but maybe reduce the costumization of it. I mean, there are tons of combinations you could use for a shortcut (and tons of new things that will probably be added in the game in the future, which makes the realization of new icons a quite \"heavy\" job). Maybe for the most \"popular ones\" there should be some icon for the others instead still the possibility of having text?
There is an editor for PAWS, pawseditor, which I think is available in CVS. Though, I have never used it (it was crashing at the time I was working on my own GUI for my own project).
I totally agree about the documentation. When I was working on Virtual Annel?v I had to write down in a notebook all the procedures I was using for adding things or simply for loading a map. Then, I was thinking I would have worked on some documentation after finished my thesis, but instead it hasn\'t been like that because atm the other problems (bugs and more bugs) have been taking the majority of my time.
PS API is nice but doesn\'t explain certain tricks or concepts you need to know for creating the world, for instance, in the way PS handles them better.
