Auto-updater UI

[Tims]

Although they're very old, the Warcraft III website were amazing graphically :

http://classic.battle.net/war3/human/
http://classic.battle.net/war3/orc/
http://classic.battle.net/war3/nightelf/
http://classic.battle.net/war3/undead/

I love how they adapt the universe of each race to the layout of the website. You can also see that the layout is 100% fluid & resizable, for such an old website made with tables it's an impressive work.

[BlackHole]

Yeah, the Warcraft3 site was amazing in design. Also check http://classic.battle.net/war3/races.shtml for a quick overview of all the races and their styles.

@Ozymandias: I'd love to see that.
You may want to add a text label with the progress then, since such (wonderful) animations make it a bit difficult to see how much percent is actually completed.

- Black
Perl is designed to give you several ways to do anything, so consider picking the most readable one.

[TheBigCheese]

Feel free to pitch in mockups like Ozymandias, that would be very helpful.

Either something like this (Just a random idea, it looks okay I guess, maybe a variation on it):

or keep the background black and change the toolbar to be a brown.

Edit: Looking at it now, the brown I chose was a horrible choice, but you get the idea. It makes it feel more 'alive' in a way. Possibly add vines and the like as embellishment down the sides and across the top?

Edit2: Or just let people choose between a few color schemes, like Steam.

[Jeff]

Different themes would be super easy to do, since it's all CSS.

My current plan is to keep "system" stuff like the editor UI, auto-updater, settings, webkitten, mod browser, etc. with the clean theme. Maybe it makes sense to make everything look overgrowthy though. I'll have to think about it.

[Tims]

Don't waste your time working on a complex layout, all the work is already done and I think we prefer to have the game and the editor finished instead of spending time on details that are not essentials for usability.

[Uberbeard]

I say it all the time but Form = Function. Your menus should be clear and work properly well before you tart them up with all manner of smanchy vines and stuff. I think loading bars and superficial details are a wonderful way to give a sense of engrossment, but anything too much and it becomes difficult to track, or even appreciate.

I looked at the Warcraft 3 website and, sure it's nice, but I can't stare at any one piece of art included in the design because it's EVERYWHERE.

Plus you guys have to think about the users of your game, making sure it's accessible is an often overlooked part of the design process and requires some serious consideration and iteration after iteration to make sure it works.

[TheBigCheese]

Also, I actually modded the image files in the webkitten browser to make that screenshot, not photoshop. What about having a category in the mod browser for UI mods? People could make whatever the heck they felt like and upload it for other people to use. Since it's all done in html, they could rearrange the buttons, or even add new ones if they researched enough into the JS.

[Tonjevic]

To be honest, I think vines everywhere would look tacky as hell.