New User Interface

[tkarn]

A HeroLab with Realmworks look & feel would be nice. Maybe a Realmworks plug-in ....

[Merion]

Originally Posted by tkarn

A HeroLab with Realmworks look & feel would be nice. Maybe a Realmworks plug-in ....

Having the HL functionalities right in RW would be my wet dream! Not having to run an additional software would be great! But let's be realistic and just hope for a better polished UI.

Bringing it up to RW standards would not only be a major improvement, but also do wonders for corporate identity!

RW isn't the pinnacle of usability either, but it absolutely okay for nowadays standards and we are, of course, talking extremely complex software here.

[daplunk]

I was thinking about this today actually...

My concern is Realm Works can be challenging to move between tabs. Having it as separate apps or at least separate windows is actually much more efficient. You can switch from seeing the combat stats to check something about the story really quite easily because it's currently separated.

Agree though, I much prefer the look and feel of RW versus HL.

What I'm curious about though is are they doing more than just a UI over-haul? Is there plans to expand the functionality and if so has the community been consulted on the wish-list of features.

[MNBlockHead]

I find the GUI of the iPad version of HL to be pleasant enough.

I have two young kids that can play DnD with HL on their iPads for character sheets.

I still confusing myself with the desktop version.

ONE IMPORTANT CAVEAT - HL is blazing fast on my laptop compared to RW and most of my software. It never crashes, it is easy to navigate among characters in a portfolio and to pop into the tactical console. Whatever GUI improvements are made should not be at the expense of performance.

[Merion]

Originally Posted by daplunk

My concern is Realm Works can be challenging to move between tabs. Having it as separate apps or at least separate windows is actually much more efficient. You can switch from seeing the combat stats to check something about the story really quite easily because it's currently separated.

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

ONE IMPORTANT CAVEAT - HL is blazing fast on my laptop compared to RW and most of my software. It never crashes, it is easy to navigate among characters in a portfolio and to pop into the tactical console. Whatever GUI improvements are made should not be at the expense of performance.

Those are very important and valid points you raise!

[Ulfberht]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

I find the GUI of the iPad version of HL to be pleasant enough.

I am also a pretty big fan of the UI on the iPad. Its easily modified, pleasant graphics and font is easy to read.

[Merion]

Time to start being constructive!
As we don't know what's in the works, we might as well start uttering our wishes. I hear good things about the iPad version, which I can't verify lacking an iPad. But I thought I just post things here that I stumble about right along with a suggestion of how I think it would work better.

So my first one:

- Toolbar or Ribbon Menu
I was sceptical when Microsoft introduced ribbons but have come to appreciate them and devolop a dislike of traditional menus as the enforce too many clicks. As I primarily use the GM Tools for now, I'd love to have a GM Tools toolbar or ribbon present at any time, so I can access the encounter builder (which is lacking a shortcut) or tactical console with a single click.
I know one click instead of two doesn't sound like a big difference, but it's the percieved smoothness of the user experience that counts and there this makes a huge difference.

[daplunk]

Would be cool if that ribbon had a drop down menu showing the last time 10 monsters you added and when clicked it shortcuts to the add x amount of that monster popup.

[Farling]

Originally Posted by daplunk

Would be cool if that ribbon had a drop down menu showing the last time 10 monsters you added and when clicked it shortcuts to the add x amount of that monster popup.

The ribbon is a terrible idea for a lot of laptops where the screen tends to be a lot wider than it is high. A significant portion of the 768 or 1024 lines on the screen gets taken up by the ribbon.

[Merion]

Originally Posted by daplunk

Would be cool if that ribbon had a drop down menu showing the last time 10 monsters you added and when clicked it shortcuts to the add x amount of that monster popup.

Good idea!

Originally Posted by Farling

The ribbon is a terrible idea for a lot of laptops where the screen tends to be a lot wider than it is high. A significant portion of the 768 or 1024 lines on the screen gets taken up by the ribbon.

hmm... so make it optional or able to be minimized? Just like in many other programs where you have a menu in which you can check the toolbars to displayed. If you're working on a laptop, just uncheck all toolbars and you're fine.