Posted - 2011.07.06 21:26:00 - [1]

 

Edited by: Sebastien Starstrider on 06/07/2011 21:44:36
Edited by: Sebastien Starstrider on 06/07/2011 21:44:07
Edited by: Sebastien Starstrider on 06/07/2011 21:26:54
Hello, ladies and gentlemen of the stellar council chambers! I do not currently and have never frequented this place, though I found myself talking to some alliance-mates about a somewhat bothersome issue, an issue which has bothered me for some amount of time, but for which I never thought to bring up here. Now I am here, though, and hopefully this proposal finds some support!

The local chat tab is a very handy tool. Not only is it handy for allowing you to chat with the locals, but even more importantly it allows you to see who is present in your current solar system. This is especially important if you're involved in a declaration of war, are the recipient of a war declaration, or just happen to be roaming around in low/null security space. I imagine that pilots of null security alliances might also be able to relate, once I explain the issue.

As it stands, you can only see who is in your local area by having the local chat open. Unfortunately there is a minimum width of the local chat, which is rather wide if you are one using it as an observational tool and not as a means of communication. If you want to have the maximum viewing capacity of local persons at once, you also have to make it fairly tall. This is very nice and almost completely necessary if you happen to be in systems of over hundreds of pilots. Unfortunately, having a very tall local tab, with the restraints of the minimum width, tend to create a giant block that clutters your interface.

This is how I organize my interface currently.

Please visit your user settings to re-enable images.

I was thinking of ways to get around this issue, and came up with another layout. While it takes less space and gives more viewing capacity, it has the limitation of being unable to grab the slider bar to scroll up and down the list quickly, meaning you have to click a portrait and then use your mousewheel to slide up and down and view everybody in local. An added bonus is the inability to be baited into smacktalk!

Please visit your user settings to re-enable images.

What I propose is something to make this very painless and simple. I photoshopped (more like microsoft painted) this image to demonstrate what I am proposing. Although I expect the finished product would look a little better, it should at least get the idea across.

Please visit your user settings to re-enable images.

My Proposal: Allow an option to completely remove the chat from local chat tab. Only display portraits with their standing icons and have a slider bar which allows the player to scroll up and down swiftly. In this way, people can ignore local chat while still viewing pilots in their system, thus minimizing the amount of space used on the interface!