Talk:Interface

-- 19:09, 28 February 2006 (CST)While I think having the article is a very good thing, I think "Heads Up Display" isn't the preferred term in GW. We might keep it as redirect, but the terms used ingame and in the online manual are "Interface" (GUI) or simply "Screen". -- 21:08, 27 February 2006 (CST)


 * I agree. I much prefer "Game screen" or so. --Karlos 21:53, 27 February 2006 (CST)


 * For reference, the old Online Manual page in question can be found here. Again, "interface" and "screen" are the terms used here. I'd suggest we move the article to Interface, and leave possible alternative names as redirects. Okay? -- 22:37, 27 February 2006 (CST)


 * Also note that the category is called Category:User Interface. The names of the article and category should match. -- 00:44, 28 February 2006 (CST)


 * As a software guy, I'll tell you that "User Interface" is not just the screen, it's how the user interacts with the program. This is why command line parameters are listed there even though they are not "on the screen" per se. I prefer Screen or "Game Screen" because they are more user friendly terms than "Interface" which may not intuitively strike not-so-literate computer users as being the game screen. Game Screen is preferred to screen because it's more explicit in what it's referring to. --Karlos 09:36, 28 February 2006 (CST)


 * Game Screen sounds best to me. Clear, easy to understand, something even my technologically impaired mother could understand.  --Rainith 10:06, 28 February 2006 (CST)


 * I'd prefer Interface. It is a common term in gaming, and I think most gamers understand it. While most of the article will be about the GUI (the "screen"), we should also mention the CLI (command line interface) in the article. It may not be obvious to everyone that the chat window also serves as command line console.
 * Once the article is renamed and cleaned, we should replace the current link to the category on the Main Page with a link to the article.
 * If a majority prefers "(game) screen", I can live with that too, but I'd prefer if we'd keep it short and leave away the "game". Just plain Screen. But that's a minor detail, really. :) -- 19:09, 28 February 2006 (CST)
 * I agree with Tetris (big surprise!). Interface, or perhaps even User Interface (to separate it from, eg., Login Interface). 19:14, 28 February 2006 (CST)

Vote on Article Name
And thus we come to another showdown between the Republicans and the Democrats... What name should this article (talking about the different elements in the game screen) hold?


 * Heads Up Display (or HUD):


 * Interface:
 * 1) Tetris L,
 * 2) Bishop
 * 3) PanSola (second choice "Game Interface"; third choice "Gameplay Interface"; forth choice "User Interface"; fifth choice "GUI")
 * 4) Sagius Truthbarron (second choice "Game Interface"; third choice "Gameplay Interface"; fourth choice "GUI"; fifth choice "User Interface")
 * 5) Barek (second choice "User Interface", third choice "Screen Layout")
 * 6) Nilles
 * 7) JoDiamonds (Presuming IRV: Interface, User Interface, GUI, Gameplay Interface, Screen, Game Screen, HUD)
 * 8) James Sumners


 * User Interface:
 * 1) Ravious,
 * 2) Havral Glommon,
 * 3) Xeeron,
 * 4) 130.58,
 * 5) Stabber,
 * 6) FireFox,
 * 7) LordBiro


 * Screen:


 * Game screen:
 * 1) Karlos
 * 2) Rainith
 * 3) Shandy


 * Graphical User Interface (or GUI):
 * 1) Ishmaeel


 * Gameplay Interface (as opposed to Login Interface, Character Selection/Creation Interface):
 * 1) Si Tacuisses
 * 2) Wesrichards -unless this article will cover all Interfaces

Please sign your name behind the choice you like. If your choice is not listed, please add it at the bottom. --Karlos 21:40, 28 February 2006 (CST)


 * Are multiple votes allowed? I don't care much if it's plain "Interface" or if a Game(play)/Graphical/User/whatever is added as prefix. -- 23:28, 28 February 2006 (CST)
 * I concur. Vanilla interface is my favorite, but most prefixes will do. Game Screen, however, is right out (in part because it means something completely different). --Bishop 00:29, 1 March 2006 (CST)

I think we are talking about two different things here. I am talking about the game screen in which players play the game, not the "entire user interface" of the program. I think you guys need to think in a more user-friendly kind of way. With the exception of a few geeks like us, few users care to know all the different ways to interact with the program. Most would love a screen cap of the game screen however and an explanation of all the different elements on it. I do not see an all encompassing article about all the different ways to interact with the program as being a good thing. This is a geek approach.. A Functional listing of all the cool things I have put in this thing. Users though need to be told things in a way that interests them not us. There for it is best to always present interface elements to the user in the context of "here is what you need to do to achieve X"

So, an article explaining the game screen makes sense to a user. An article explaining how to set the password in the properties so as to avoid having o type it each time you log in is also useful. An article combining both in addition to how to take screenshots is, in my not so humble opinion, useless. That is what a category is for. Geeks fascinated about all elements of the UI can follow the category link and browse. But a complete reference of all UI features is NOT a good article. --Karlos 10:53, 1 March 2006 (CST)

I invoke the "Use Whatever The Game Calls It" Clause
The game calls the Drop Bundle Button, Chat, Compass, District LIst, Effects MOnitor, Experience Bar, Hints, Skill Bark, Skill Monitor, Upkeep Monitor, Skill Warmup, Menu, Energy Bar, Health Bar, Terget Display, Trade Button, and Weapon Bar as "interface elements". They are all part of the Interface that can be edited via the "Edit Interface" button. Thus I invoke the "Use Whatever The Game Calls It" clause, call a halt to the vote, and will summon the guards to drag anyone who try to call it by any name other than Interface to the Dungeon of Redirects. -PanSola 11:08, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * Ah, but you are manipulating the clause for you nefarious purposes! Because the same game inteface calls the "interface" in the main Option window as "Layout" (which I cactually like a LOT more than interface). I would prefer Layout or "Screen layout" to the ever so nerdy "interface" which is a ridiculous word referring to the medium between two entities. It is an abstraction of code that deals with the user vs code that "actually does something." As far as the user is concerned, he does not NEED to know that he is merely dealing with an "interface" and that the "real code" is in the DLL. A final plea for you all to get out of your nerdiness and assume a not-so-computer-literate user. --Karlos 11:21, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * Interface is not jargon. The word existed to describe the same kinds of things long before there were computers. 11:44, 1 March 2006 (CST)
 * I'm a mesmer! I m... I mean, Layout refers to the arrangement of interface elements! The Interface is composed of Interface Elements arranged in a Layout.  Besides, if not-so-computer-literate users need help with the word "interface", then we as a wiki should help them out when they see that word show up in the game! d-: -PanSola 12:33, 1 March 2006 (CST)
 * Medium for interaction between two things = interface. "Layout" is how all that stuff is arranged. More importantly, the first term is pretty familiar to anyone who's ever played a computer/video game, the second isn't. Heck, I wouldn't know what to make of an article just called "layout" at first glance. --130.58 12:57, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * Screen, Game Screen, Screen Layout are all far more intuitive than "interface." Prior to geeks thinking that referring to the screen as "Gooey" is cool, Interface was used as the medium between entities that allows them to interact with one another. You would not find an ATM being called "A Bank Interface" or a Cashier at a store called "Store-Buyer Interface." It is NOT intuitive. :) I guess this is a very subjective thing.


 * PanSola, we can redirect "Interface" to "Screen Layout" I have no issues with that. :) --Karlos 14:57, 1 March 2006 (CST)
 * First of all, whether "interface" is geeky or not, or whether it is or isn't intuitive, is not a settled debate. You have strong opinions on this matter, but they remain opinions. Secondly, even if we were to grant you the point that "interface" is not the intuitive word for it, that still leaves the argument for "screen layout" unstated. I might be biased here, but "screen layout" is definitely not the phrase I would key on when trying to learn about the UI. I might search for "HUD" before I search for "screen layout". Thirdly, you were disingenuous above with your comment that the game calles the interface "layout". In fact, the option is to decide the layout of the interface elements. Fourthly, because "interface" is not used for ATMs or grocery stores doesn't mean that it isn't apt here. ATMs and cashiers have common names not involving the word "interface", whereas the user interface of a program (and a game is a program) doesn't. To be perfectly clear, I would call the interaction with an ATM a use of an interface, as I would call the interaction with a cashier (human or machine) in a store. Lastly, unless you want to assert your unilateral will (which you can, since you have more privileges than us normal users), the majority here supports either "Interface" or "User Interface". 15:16, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * Just for the record: I don't think Karlos is saying that he will ignore the vote if it goes against him, I believe he is just trying to argue his case. --Rainith 15:26, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * Thank you my long lost evil twin. :) I see my side losing and, like a desparate Republican, I am making a final desparate push to change the opinion of swing voters! --Karlos 15:45, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * In game, you first select "Customize Layout", then "Edit Interface" to make changes to the layout of the interface. To me, if anyone was looking in GW for information on this, I would expect them to use in-game terminology in their search (ie: either Layout or Interface).  I can understand making redirects out of other terms that some users may consider using; but I agree with PanSola that the article itself should be titled based on the in-game name.  But, I'll leave it to the community vote; I don't think we should use the "in-game name clause" to try to bypass the vote process. --Barek 15:41, 1 March 2006 (CST)


 * I'm not too fond of this discussion but actually, my fist try on the article in question was "Interface". And by the way, it's still not redirecting and that is, what's more important than the name under which it is finally stored. The people on charge might want to look after that, thank you. :) --Nilles 09:12, 4 March 2006 (CST)

Vote status
So, just out of curiosity ... is this vote still open (if so, when's the vote close date?), or was it abandoned and/or forgotten? --161.88.255.140 04:21, 9 March 2006 (CST)


 * Good point. Final Decision: Move to Interface with redirects going to it from screen heads up display and user interface and any other name we can concoct. If I hear no objections by tonight, I will carry it out. --Karlos 10:12, 9 March 2006 (CST)


 * RECENT INFO: In the recent update, the changes to the game screen were called "User Interface Updates". Does this not settle the debate once and for all? 20:28, 10 March 2006 (CST)


 * No, not really. ANet's language is not very precise in update descriptions. Quite the opposite. Often it is full of errors and inaccuracies. Check the original wording of Game updates/20060302 (the wikified version has many typos fixed already). Most of the quest names are wrong, for example. "Husbands Epitaph" ... 'nuf said.
 * Anyway ... I think it is time to close the vote. -- 20:37, 10 March 2006 (CST)

Mysterious lightning
Since beta, a small lighting bolt keeps appearing and disappearing in the upper right corner of my UI. It's usually next to some alternating figure in "MB". I guess it's some kind of notice on bandwith use or data to be downloaded or otherwise processed, but I never found any documentation on it. If it is bandwith or download volume, why does the the figure alternate and not decreasy steadily? Why is the unit MB and not smaller one and why does it appear sometimes and remains hidden otherwise? Can anyone tell? o_0 --Nilles 09:21, 4 March 2006 (CST)
 * I am guessing here: I think the lightning bolt appears when your network connection is having issues.  My presumption is that the MB rating is some kind of ongoing bandwidth rating, but who knows what kind of units it is?  Maybe it's MB/minute or something crazy.  I don't assume it's actually downloading a specific thing when it shows this, but rather that the constant updates to the game world (whatever instance or district you are in) are having problems. --JoDiamonds 04:09, 9 March 2006 (CST)


 * As far as I know - I haven't read this from an official source, though - this symbol notifies you when the game is performing a streaming update. When an game update is released, initially the game will only download a portion of the update, only the date that is cruical for the patch to function, or whatever. Everything else is updated silently in the background, during gameplay (also, when changing districts / entering a new area). The small lightning bolt will appear when the game checks on updates and the MB number shows the ammount of data that is downloaded (I'm not sure whether this is actually Megabyte here, but maybe rather Megabit). You will notice that the lightning bolt shows quite frequently, but mostly you will only see a number beside it shortly after a game update, when there is data to be downloaded. Also you will notice that after a game update, if you start the game and let it idle in the login screen until the number stopped increasing, you will not experience any delay caused by downloads when changing districts, later during gameplay. --Eightyfour-onesevenfive 05:28, 9 March 2006 (CST)
 * You are absolutely right here. Some good evidence are the latest huge amounts that have been downloaded lately (in preparation of chapter 2). After the latest updates the icon and the numbers showed downloads go over 200MB. After this i checkked my GW.dat, which had also increased in size. --Gem 05:34, 9 March 2006 (CST)

Am I supposed to deduce that you people have so fast connections that you haven't even seen the KB mark next to the figure?:) Anyway, the "lightning" really means that client is downloading streamed updates and the figure shows the amount downloaded. Also, I'm pretty confident that my connection is not THAT slow that KB and MB stand for Kilobits/Megabits. Not sure about the KB but I think MB stands for Mighty Blow --Ishmaeel 17:17, 10 March 2006 (CST)


 * Agree, I've taken a closer look at it now with today's update and it seems to me it indeed is Megabytes (I also noticed the KB ;). On a site note: I've already downloaded more than 200 MB today and it still is going. Anet always keeps telling this game works nicely with low bandwidth connections. Well, this may be true as far as normal gameplay is concerned, but how on earth someone with, say, a 56k dialup connection is supposed to finish this update is a mystery to me. --Eightyfour-onesevenfive 04:26, 11 March 2006 (CST)


 * I have to agree on the streaming update thing. It looks like the figure displays the threshold of data to be downloaded. When idling, this number increases until the update is finished. When you're playing or creating a character, the download threshold is kept low in favour of better performance. --Nilles 18:56, 12 March 2006 (CST)