[Dev Blog] Desktop Tuesday, Skinning the Crafting UI!

http://stonehearth.net/2013/09/24/desktop-tuesday-skinning-the-crafting-ui/

CSS as the design language is super awesome. That will definitely add a lot of flexibility. :+1:

P.S. I’m surprised @voxel_pirate and @SteveAdamo! I definitely would have thought that after 22 entire minutes, you guys would have been able to have picked up on this before me!

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Looking great! Would love a live stream soon! Been missing them!

Well, I think we may still have a week to go before their next stream… unless I’m miscounting (let me know, steve and vox)…

The DT said maybe later in the week :pray:

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apologies to the masses… was out for a birthday dinner for my daughter… :wink:

the last stream was on the 13th, making this 2 weeks later… they have said 2-3 weeks between streams is the norm, and based on the blog comments, we should see one soon…

maybe we can do a live stream later this week or early next week

NO LIFE 4 U! GET BACK TO WORK!

I didn’t even read this yet, thanks for posting it.

:sob:

The whole skinning process is driven by CSS. So as a modder, if you’re ambitious enough to mod in your own crafter, you’ll be able to specify a stylesheet that replaces the interface graphics with your own.

this… so much this:+1:

i havent cranked out CSS in ages, and i have never been more excited to blow the dust off my m@d skillz…

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So this is a little different than we saw with the carpenter UI recently. I noticed they changed it to “create some now X” or “when stocks fall below X”.

Will they work cooperatively, so in the screenshot you could either use the top radio button and make 5 now, or choose the bottom radio button and it will make 5 when stocks fall below 1?

Will both options queue up 5 and keep them in queue even without enough resources?

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good eye… it changed from “craft X right now” to “craft some now X”, and “maintain X in inventory” to “when stocks fall below X”…

subtle, but i like the change… :+1:

i hope they operate like check boxes, as opposed to radio buttons… i can see them working together very effectively… @Tom probably only has one selected, so the viewer can differentiate between an “on” and “off” state in the screenshot…

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Yeah, there are this very rare moments where sleep > Stonehearth :wink:.

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very rare… but they pop up from time to time… :smile:

seeing as the weaver’s screen is “nearly complete”, i am guessing the recipe sheet alone will be what differentiates the UI, as opposed to the entire crafting window? i seem to recall @Tom adjusting more colors and pieces in the overall interface…

Personally I dislike the wool and needles icon, I’d probably prefer something more like the anvil with a more monochromatic style, smaller and without the huge shadows and such. Give me a bit and I’ll have a mockup up.

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Quite honestly, I’d prefer if there was an actual “switch” as opposed to checkboxes or radio buttons. If you want to make one right now click the craft button, if you want to make sure there is a minimum stock flip the switch and leave it “on.” You can still craft things right now even with the switch on. Just more visually clear I think.

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Agreed @Xavion. I watched the livestream where he created the icon but I prefer the anvil. I have nothing against the ball of yarn and knitting needles symbol – but I thought the layout, feel and look of the anvil made it really “pop” as an interface button. When I look at the weaver UI I’d have no idea that was the button to push to craft something if I hadn’t watched him model it. I would think it was just additional decoration.

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Tada, pretty much exactly the same only much, much better. I’d’ve put a bit more effort into copying the wool and needles well and rebalancing the colours but minecraft is calling me to return. But I think this does look better than the other one myself and could be improved by playing around colours and the sticky off bit.

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unless im missing something, i think we’re talking about the same thing… :wink:

the first option lets you craft something now… so, you open the UI, have that selected, click the “craft” button and the crafter is off and running (crafting X goods right now)…

the second option you can also select, so that after the X goods she is making right now (which will sit in inventory) are spent, she will then continue to maintain Y levels as long as you have the necessary materials…

and im assuming the idea would be to have the anvil “framed” in a similar fashion? all the crafter icons would follow the same pattern, to help tie all the UIs together?

@Xavion huge fan of where you were going with that. Much prefer the “button” keep it’s general style from UI to UI.

@SteveAdamo We are :smile: the “minimum stock” feature itself is already implemented. I was just speaking towards the graphical representation. I hope it looks more like a light-switch. I think that a checkbox or radio button used there would be fine but then there shouldn’t be one next to the “craft some now” Does that make sense? Haha
Either A: Turn the minimum stock radio/checkbox into a light-switch
or
B: Remove the checkbox next to the “make some now” and just have one checkbox next to “minimum stock.” Then if you want to craft now there’s no need for a button or checkbox or switch, just click the craft button.

Hope that’s clear :stuck_out_tongue:

You’re both right in that I wanted to show that using the same button from the older ones works still. I’m not too much a fan of the perspective and feel like the icon would be better suited to one of the icon for crafting a basic weavers bench (where the spool is) but I don’t how you’d fix the perspective really other than to try a different one. But the main thing I wanted to show is that you don’t need that weird icon/shadow pair and that the other one totally worked. There wasn’t really a need to change it and whatever they decide on should be consistent throughout all crafters for simplicity and familiarity, it gives people an actual reference for their own as well.

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oh, yes indeed… much clearer… and it makes sense as well… :smile:

obviously, if we open the crafting screen, more than likely we’re wanting to craft something now… so, provide a means to input how many, and then click the craft button… no real need to have the option to craft now ticked as well…

if i had to guess, the screen simply defaults to the “craft now” option, so you open the window, select the recipe, click craft, and you’re good…

we simply have the option to flip on the “maintain” setting, adjust the number, and basically “set it and forget it”…