Talk about changes to the client

[Paul Franz]

For those that don't visit the Star Fleet Universe Discus board at
http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus , there is a topic that I started a
couple weeks ago.

The topic is "The New Look for the Client" I am outlining some changes
to the client. Because there have been complaints about the client not
being "modern" and I want to update the client in the hopes to retain
people and/or have more people signup.

The main reason for the topic is to highlight the changes that I plan on
doing to the client and hopefully get feedback on any changes that will
encourage current players to leave SFU Online.

If you have upgraded to version 4.3 which was released earlier this
month, the biggest change was to the "Bullpen" area. The current games
are listed in a floating window and the chat area is a separate window.
There are other changes like removing a few menu items that I felt were
not being used and when you click and drag on the game board is itself
it moves the board around.

There are a few that I just posted last night.

1.  Remove the menus from the client (specifically the ones at the top
of the window or screen) and either require people to use context/popup
menus or icons from a tool palette.

2. Make the current tool palette that is at the top of the board
floating (which can do now), but orient the palette to in a up/down
instead of left/right orientation.

3. Remove the tabs for the Impulse Chart, Notes and Logs. These will
still be available but only as floating windows. (There would be a tool
on the tool palette)


When it comes to some of the larger changes, like the idea of making the
client full screen, removing the window decoration, possibly even the
removing of the menus above. I would like to have people that would be
interested in trying out the changes without releasing the changes to
the whole community. That is I would like to have some Beta Testers for
that version of the client to get feedback from. If you are interested,
please tell me and I will put your name of the list and when I am ready
to put some of the changes in place make as release that is available to
those individuals.


Paul Franz
Owner of Franz Games
Proprietor of SFB Online
"May the Lord Grant You Extra Innings"