It is annoying to tell if you've read a skill magazine

[Gabe Lincoln]

Right now, there is no indication to tell if you've read any particular skill magazine you stumble across so you have to exit out of whatever you were doing go check the skill magazine tab, and remember what book you were planning to read. Often times this has led to me having to go back and forth between the skill screen and my inventory multiple times.

I would like an indicator on the magazine in the inventory or item summary of whether or not you've read any given skill magazine.

[FranticDan]

Top left icon, open book = you read it already

[Riamus]

Yeah, it is the same in books and magazines (after completing a magazine collection).  Closed book isn't read or completed, open is read or completed.

[SenLim]

Yea icon is there. I think it could have different indicator like color or text, or bigger icon... one time I chose the trader reward (a book) but I already read it (didn't pay attention to the icon). What a waste of reward.

[Syphon583]

For accessibility reasons, they can't rely on color alone. Sure they could make the icon bigger, but at what point is it big enough? There's always going to be those who think it needs to be bigger. I think a better solution is to just not have an icon for either the Read or Unread state. Personally, I think if I haven't read it, it shouldn't show any icon. Once I have read it, show an icon like a check mark instead of an ambiguous open or closed book.

[Riamus]

I think that one you figure out the open and closed book icon, it becomes natural to look at it and it works fine.  The issue is that it often isn't noticed by new players until someone points it out.

[Syphon583]

18 hours ago, Riamus said:

The issue is that it often isn't noticed by new players until someone points it out.

And that's the kicker. I'm a UX designer myself, and literally almost any UI/UX mechanic can be learned through repeated use. The trick is to make it as simple and easily understandable for new users as possible. If something can be designed in a way that requires little to no explanation up front, that's a huge win. Something like a read vs unread icon might seems small, but little things add up and the clearer you can make them go a long way in making for a better user experience.

 

TFP have stated a few times recently that they have hired a designer to update the UI. I really hope they've hired someone who will take user experience into account and not simply make the visuals more "pretty" or "modern".

[Abusimplea]

1 hour ago, Syphon583 said:

And that's the kicker. I'm a UX designer myself, and literally almost any UI/UX mechanic can be learned through repeated use. The trick is to make it as simple and easily understandable for new users as possible. If something can be designed in a way that requires little to no explanation up front, that's a huge win. Something like a read vs unread icon might seems small, but little things add up and the clearer you can make them go a long way in making for a better user experience.

There is maximally streamlined UI - and there is charme. Not having any icon for unread stuff could be good. Changing the nice open book icon into a generic checkmark would remove a small bit of charme though.

[Riamus]

2 hours ago, Syphon583 said:

TFP have stated a few times recently that they have hired a designer to update the UI. I really hope they've hired someone who will take user experience into account and not simply make the visuals more "pretty" or "modern".

I hope they don't make it too modern.  This is a postapocalyptic game.  The UI can be functional while still looking gritty and fitting the style of the game.  I especially they don't make the PC UI look like a console UI.  I hate it when games do that.

 

36 minutes ago, Abusimplea said:

There is maximally streamlined UI - and there is charme. Not having any icon for unread stuff could be good. Changing the nice open book icon into a generic checkmark would remove a small bit of charme though.

This is a good point.  They could consider a more visible color for the book icon so it stands out better.  That might be all that is needed.

[Abusimplea]

11 minutes ago, Riamus said:

They could consider a more visible color for the book icon so it stands out better.  That might be all that is needed.

That icon is white already. But like with all layered text and symbols, just slapping a contrast outline (maybe charcoal) on it would do the job no matter what nice and fancy book covers the arrtists come up in the future.

And i would certainly like them to come up with more colorful book covers without having to think about overlay legibility.

[Riamus]

2 hours ago, Abusimplea said:

That icon is white already. But like with all layered text and symbols, just slapping a contrast outline (maybe charcoal) on it would do the job no matter what nice and fancy book covers the arrtists come up in the future.

And i would certainly like them to come up with more colorful book covers without having to think about overlay legibility.

Yes, and the white isn't very noticeable.  Maybe an outline would help but it could be a more visible color as well.

[Syphon583]

On 7/14/2023 at 11:30 AM, Abusimplea said:

There is maximally streamlined UI - and there is charme. Not having any icon for unread stuff could be good. Changing the nice open book icon into a generic checkmark would remove a small bit of charme though.

I get what you are saying and having elements of charm are a fun way to liven up a design. However, charm should never detract from usability. IMO the benefit far outweighs the cost. It's clearly an issue because it's a subject that comes up several times every alpha.

[Abusimplea]

2 hours ago, Syphon583 said:

I get what you are saying and having elements of charm are a fun way to liven up a design. However, charm should never detract from usability. IMO the benefit far outweighs the cost. It's clearly an issue because it's a subject that comes up several times every alpha.

The functionality of a game is the fun of playing it. This is the beautiful version of Minecraft. The art is an important part of making it fun to play (that is why they redid the crafting stations - they didn't had enough immersion potential).

It is tons of tiny details like the book icon instead of a boring checkmark or that resource boulders splitting into smaller resourceboulders when mined that make up the immersion part of the game.

 

Issue 1: Some users don't notice the icon (yes, it is hard to see on some books).

Fix: Add a black outline so it is noticable layered on any book.

 

Issue 2: For some users the two icons look too similar (absolutely no similarity - but maybe with the wrong glasses there could be one).

Fix: Remove the unread icon.

 

No user complained about the icons being too beautiful or that their shape looks too much like what they actually are designed to signal (yes, i immedietely thought "wow, there is a read/unread marker on the books - that is a nice QOL feature to have" when i first saw them). They actually do their job pretty well. I didn't need to read the tutorial note to get what an open book means (and i interpreted the closed book as meaning "this is a book"). I am not so sure, that i would have known what a generic checkmark means.

There is no reason to make the remaining icon look generic. If anything - it would make that indicator less accessible because a checkmark could mean anything.

[warmer]

The problem with the indicator is it isn't intuitive for a new player. It would be better if it just said "known" instead of an indicator that already looks similar to the unread state. 

 

Even better, green not read, red already known zero confusion.

Edited July 19, 2023 by warmer (see edit history)

[Abusimplea]

2 hours ago, warmer said:

Even better, green not read, red already known zero confusion.

Red commonly means "can't use" in other games.

[warmer]

2 hours ago, Abusimplea said:

Red commonly means "can't use" in other games.

Ya as in it has no practical use for you

[Abusimplea]

3 hours ago, warmer said:

Ya as in it has no practical use for you

Actually more like needing a higher level to use the item. Has no practical use is (in the rare cases that it exists) grey.