[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Slashdot gripes

["Ross W. Wetmore" <rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:49 AM 01/09/11 +0200, Reinier Post wrote:
[...]
>Trent is exaggerating, but the comments weren't very favourable.
>Someone did remark that the isometric mode was ugly - I think
>the default mode should be trident or tinydent for the next release.
>What disappointed me most at the *lack* of comments.
{...]
>Can you  - as opposed to the Slashdot posters -  be more specific?
>I can list a few usability problems of my own, but they are minor.
[...]
>-- 
>Reinier

Personally, I would use isometric mode if a couple things were fixed
to put it on a more even footing with trident.

1)  There is a disconnect in the scrolling and mini-map integration.
    The fact that it is a rotation of the standard map to an abnomal
    angle, as opposed to being a properly oriented rectangular map
    in its own right is part of this. This may take some work, but I
    think "fixing the topology for isometric" is right up there with
    the other easy topology upgrades.

2)  The detail is too fine, compared to trident. I find I miss roads
    and rivers, and some of the vegetation backdrops would be more
    easily distinguished if there were just a few larger elements.
    Coarser features work better at fine resolutions (i.e. 1600x1200
    makes things look tiny). But rivers in trident are bad in swamps
    and some orientations of tiles with specials so this is not an 
    isolated issue.

3)  The colours are not sufficiently distinct to help with terrain 
    differentiation in many cases.

Largely though it is just a matter that I have to work harder when
using it, so haven't spent the effort to adjust. But if this barrier
were lowered a little, I'd probably remove the -t trident in my 
scripts.

Cheers,
RossW