Here's an early preview of the new user interface we've been working on for Foldit. The idea is that you can select parts of the protein and all actions are contextually available based on your selection, instead of having separate modes.
</param></param></param></embed>I think it will be a big improvement.
Any thoughts? Questions? Suggestions?
It will take some getting used to but it looks amazing. I definitely like the all-in-one look.
I think that we probably want to select multiple residues pretty often. Maybe that action shouldn't require a Shift+
Click?
We'll know when we test it. For what it's worth, pretty much all RTS games use a shift-click for multiple selection. Double-click to select all the residues in a secondary structure would probably take care of the rest.
looks good :D
What have you done to the options bar with undo graph etc.?
So, a click selects a residue, and if you click and hold you can drag it around?
How does these 2 react to each other?
Does a drag on activated sections deactivates the selection?
Can you drag only the selected parts or do you need to freeze?
"If user selects single residue, insert/delete menu pops up"
I have a little doubt on that. I think that could cause misclicks (like it is today with right click for moving, which sometimes makes a band cause you are on a residue - in a tightly packed zoomed-in sight its hard to find a free spot). And in this case its a very drastic error.
The popping of the tweak could ba a bit faster I thin ;) (Great way of doing this!)
Is there a "(de)select all" key/picture?
Icon bar:
That I think can be done better.
a) The on/off is not useful for experienced players. For beginners (in the tutorial) that could help. But veterans know this stuff ;)
My option would be to have all icons visible all the time, lighted if possible, dark if not. (perhaps chooseable between the 2 options)
b) works when everything is visible: As we all don't want to learn a action-alphabet, then have the tools numbered - choosen by the player. Most easiest way would be if you mouse-over a icon, you can press a number and then have that number assigned. I would e.g. choose 1 for shake, 2 for wiggle and 3 for restore very best and 4 for rebuild. (Of course, normal hotkeys still work.)
With this, you could even rearrange the number-hotkeys in a matter of seconds for different game phases or puzzles.
(c) and if we are working with numbers, alt+number should activate the corresponding recipe. There is a ticket somewhere with this already, if I remember correctly.
ChristianK: ctr/shift/alt for selecting more than one i standard everywhere. And how do you want to select more without?
I want that a click on B deselects A, otherwise I would have to deselect A.
On the other hand you are right, selecting more then one if likely the most used…
What about that: a click selects everytime, to deselect you have to use shift, but a shift-click on the background deselects all? Just an idea…
Middle click?
Giving one mouseclick two pull one mouse click to selecting and one click to freezing doesn't seem optimal.
Middle click cound also mark multiple residues and afterwards freezing all marked residues could be an action that could be selected.
[quote]For what it's worth, pretty much all RTS games use a shift-click for multiple selection.[/quote]
I think holding a button pressed and then selecting everything happens more often in RTS games.
Additionally fold.it isn't a game where I have 100+ actions/minute and therefore I am not highly focused on getting both of my hands to work as fast as possible.
"Additionally fold.it isn't a game where I have 100+ actions/minute and therefore I am not highly focused on getting both of my hands to work as fast as possible."
But beeing able to make it faster means smoother game handling - and the possibility to be faster ;)
What did you mean with "one click to freeze"? Thats already done so - middle button.
When I play an RTS I will have one of my hands at all times near the shift button and it will take me as much time to press Shift+Rightclick as it will take me to simply press Rightclick. In fold.it my left hand isn't always at the keyboard in position to press shift because I'm not typing commands with that hand on the keyboard.
Yeah it is. I think that selecting multiple residues is a more important operation than freezing. Therefore selcting multiple residues should require one click while freezing might require more than one click.
I hate that I cannot edit ^^
I wrote wrong above, because I though what to do with right button ^^
"like it is today with right click for moving," I meant the middle button. You click for freeze, but sometimes you move the mouse and make a (small, often invisible) band. I fear that for the left button, but that needs testing. People are more agile with the left click then with the middle button ;) On the other hand, fast clicking with these + and - near the targets… a switch for design is propably the better way.
I think there already is a way to select multiple residues… Just shift-click and all residues between the one you click on and the selected residues will become selected. That's what it says in the video, right? Ctrl-click to add one at a time? And double-click to select everything within one secondary structure?
"What have you done to the options bar with undo graph etc.?"
We're not sure yet. We still have to come up with a final design that includes all the options and chat. Do you have any suggestions?
"My option would be to have all icons visible all the time, lighted if possible, dark if not. (perhaps chooseable between the 2 options)"
This is something we are considering. However, one consideration is that there may be any number of Recipes applicable to the current selection, and if all possible Recipes were shown at once, there would not be room enough on the screen.
Hotkeys would still work, tied to specific actions like W for Wiggle. These would also be easily customizable.