☂️ Gameplay: Issues with UI

[olanti-p]

There are quite a few issues with how the game interface works in the game from a user standpoint. Some of them stem from the underlying code issues (see #3144), while others are caused by overall lack of agreed-on standards for how the game UI should work.

• There is no full mouse support. Partial mouse support is present, but for many cases it’s impossible to interact with the UI using mouse.
• Many UIs have hidden features not communicated in any way. Most notable examples: partial drop/pickup, yield search in disassembly UI, autosort in the armor UI.
• Many UIs are clunky to use, and require the player to “get used to” them. Most notable: mod subtabs in mod manager, left/right movement in inventory UIs, right vs tab in options UI.
• The game tries to lay out UIs in a flexible manner and scale them with the game window size, but sometimes fails and ends up hiding important info. This is mostly relevant for small window sizes. Most notable: message log in the sidebar, item names (for example, fix: adds descriptive names to most guns #4299), vehicle management UI.
• Some UIs have inconsistent hotkeys. For example: Tab vs Left vs Right for horizontal navigation, Up vs Down vs PgUp vs PgDn for vertical, Esc vs Space vs Return vs Right for confirming input or closing windows.
• There is no consistent UI style. No common rules for how navigation works, for how menus look, for how hotkeys are displayed – it all differs on a case-by-case basis.

[olanti-p]

Some comments on this topic from the other issue:
#3144 (comment)
#3144 (comment)

[thedyze]

Commenting here to throw my vote for improving mouse support.
As a cataclysm noob I highly appreaciated the mouse support implemented in dda, where most menus felt like they were usable with mouse.
Moving the player is also way simpler using the mouse, especially when moving through forest etc.