On Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:38:45 +0000
James Turner wrote:
> Aha, and instantly we get a usability discussion:
 
> Right, you need the keys because you're working around a simulator bug 
> (frame-rate drops badly) using manual interaction. The correct fix isn't to 
> make the workaround-UI easier, it's fix the underlying issues, by making 
> adaptive-LOD work so we can achieve a target frame-rate reliably.

I do agree that would be the ideal... really I'm just saying that the fix ought 
to come and be proved satisfactory before the established "workaround" is 
removed.  Hopefully nobody was really suggesting that, but I think there is a 
horrible tendency in open source projects for similar things to happen -  
because removing the workaround or "cleaning up" the UI is generally 
significantly easier than fixing the problem, it's only the former that gets 
done!
 
> You're the third person to say the same thing. But again, you don't actually 
> want to change the FoV at all. What you're doing (and everyone else) is using 
> this feature to look around 3D cockpits, right? In other word, our cockpit 
> navigation UI needs some improvement :)

Actually I think our cockpit navigation UI works better than anything else I've 
ever used in over twenty years of flying flight sims :-)  It's not instantly 
intuitive, granted, and maybe there's room for improvement there, but I'd want 
to tread very carefully on this one as I think our method of interacting with 
the 3D cockpit using the mouse is generally very efficient indeed...

> Also, usability is hard :)
It is... and partly because everyone has different ideas on what's good and 
what isn't!  A lot of people seem to think that Apple's IOS UI approach is the 
greatest thing since sliced bread and I think it's one of the worst I've ever 
come across (Win8 is definitely worse, but not many people are insane enough to 
contest that view!)

What I wouldn't like to see (and I'm sure isn't intended) is that we end up 
with a Gnome3 / Metro style UI revamp where we get what one or two people (who 
_are_ doing the work from best intentions) no doubt  think is great and 
intuitive but most people find obtuse and retrogressive.  At least we're having 
a discussion about this first - I'm hopefully being excessively paranoid but 
the sort of "baby out with the bathwater" scenario has been all too common in 
recent years!

AJ
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