07-17-2006 08:18
I was browsing the notes from Last week's Second Views and my ears perked up at the talk concerning the awkward UI we have been using:

From: someone
- (LL) We know the viewer UI is complex and often unapproachable. Should we have 3 levels or modes in the interface, or even 3 different clients? EG builder, business owner, casual user.
- The UI is very difficult to teach to other users. Two building modes is very confusing.
- customizable UI could open up opportunity for different interfaces for different types of use.
- (LL) goal is to have an initial UI that's stripped down, then have to find a way to open up more complexity when they gain more experience


This reminded me of a few games I've played where you could create XML mods which altered the appearance and function of your UI in subtle but powerful ways. I believe WoW and EQ2 both have this feature. Many others do as well. The user community does an amazing job of providing useful, creative tools in this manner.

Since LL's original philosophy was to provide a development platform for users to create content, why not make the UI part of that creatable content? Save LL some programming time for fixing the real problems.
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