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Changes in BlueprintMenus

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#Blueprint Menus ¶

Hello, ¶
this is a proposal for reworking the menu windows for wares, workers and buildings. Some proposals and discussion have already been made in the [forum](http://wl.widelands.org/forum/topic/490/) and the [wiki](http://wl.widelands.org/wiki/UsabilityWareSorting/). I want to turn the discussion more concrete (lists for all tribes, specific aspects of the different windows concerned) and complete (illustration, trading). ¶

The menus for wares, workers and buildings are present in the following menus: ¶

* Wares: headquarter / warehouse / stock menu, ware statistics, in-game ware help, construction site box (some wares) ¶
* Workers: headquarter / warehouse / stock menu, probably in future: in-game help (like the ware help) ¶
* Buildings: action box (when choosing which building to be built), building statistics (here also the military buildings of other tribes are shown), probably in future: in-game help ¶

There are two big things to think of: First, the sorting of the items in meaningful categories. Second, the illustration in the game which should make these categories understandable, make the items quickly findable, but should not make the windows too big. ¶

##Categories ¶
###Wares + workers ¶
I suggest 6 thematical categories: transport, construction, food, resources, tools, war. ¶
The items included in these categories for the different tribes are shown in the [pdf Sorting wares and workers](http://www.widelands.org/~sirver/wl/blueprint_menus/sorting_wares_workers.pdf) ¶

The categories itself are in order of „appearance“ when playing widelands. The items are arranged from simple to complex, e.g. wheat before bread before ration. ¶

There are some wares which could be sorted in two categories, e.g. barbarians axe (tool, war) or empire marble (construction, resources). I tried different categories, but found no one perfect. If somebody finds one....? I suggest to show these wares in one of the categories only. We will accustom ourselves to where the ware is shown like we did with the present completly irregular menus. ¶

**Alternative solutions** ¶
There was the question to eventually show wares together with the according workers or buildings. In my opinion, two different tabs for wares and workers are indispensable. It is not faisible to arrange all workers with their wares (and buildings) without making it confusing because: ¶
1.There are so much overlaps e.g. empire wheat is a product of the farmer/farm and a precursor for the baker/bakery + brewer/brewery + pig breeder/piggery + donkey breeder/donkeyfarm + shepherd/sheepfarm. So the ware wheat would appear in 6 places, what would make the menu confusing and huge! ¶
2. There are too much different things which should be shown together: worker + building + tool + precursor ware + product. This would make it more difficult to quickly check the quantitiy of wares (e.g. how much trunk is in the headquarter) and it would also make the menu very large. ¶
? So for showing the connection between the wares, workers and buildings, I suggest a presentation as a network, like in Sirver's [barbarians pdf](http://wl.widelands.org/wlmedia/news/uploaded/Barbarians.pdf). This is something to show on the homepage on the tribe‘s side or in future in the in-game help. ¶

There also was the proposal to list the items in alphabetical order. I do not prefer this, because I find the thematical order more intuitive. For example, while playing, I want to know if I did all to push my construction sector. So I look in the construction category, no matter if the men who provide us with trunks are called lumberjack and ranger or woodcutter and forester. ¶

###Buildings ¶
As in the action box we have to sort the buildings according to their size (small, medium, big building, mine), I suggest to do this also in the other boxes (present: building statistics, in future: in-game help). As second classification, I suggest the same thematical order as proposed for wares and workers. ¶
This gets the order shown in the [pdf Sorting buildings](http://www.widelands.org/~sirver/wl/blueprint_menus/sorting_buildings.pdf) ¶
A particularity of the buildings statistic is the listing of other tribe‘s military buildings that the player has captured. I suggest to list them in the big categories (small, medium, big, mine) after the military buildings of the own tribe. I would not make a new category, because foreign military buildings captured from the same tribe as the player are also listed together with the military buildings built by the player himself. ¶
Furthermore, in the building statistics, we have to list the enhanced buildings. I suggest to list them directly after the unenhanced they once were. ¶


##Illustration ¶
###Wares + workers ¶
To use the present cute icons, I suggest to just reassort them in the box. In the headquarter / warehouse / stock menu, there are presently 5 columns with 8 items each. I propose to fill the 6 categories in the 5 columns, with the first two categories (transport, construction) in the first column, because they have very few items. To make the columns clear, it would be useful to make strong vertical lines between them, perhaps even a header. ¶
Another possibility (to save place) is to list the items in order of the categories one after another in lines, regardless the columns. This makes the window as small as possible, but for each tribe, the wares and workers have another place and the according wares and workers do not always appear in the same position of the menu. I judge this con bigger than the advantage of saving some place. ¶
This is a schematical example for the wares and workers menu sorted by categories, where you can see the arrangement in columns and the place it takes: ¶
TODO Graphik von zwei Beispiel-Tabellen ¶

###Buildings ¶
For the buildings menus (action box and building statistics) we need two different illustrations, because of the different buildings shown (enhanced or foreign captured buildings) and the much more information shown in for each building in the building statistics. ¶
For the action box, I suggest to let the present boxes and their tabs and just reassort the order of the buildings according to the six thematical categories. This is because a sorting in small, medium and big buildings is necessary and additional sorting according the thematical categories would make the box very large. ¶
For the buildings statistics, I propose also to let the present list, because it provides enough place to show the information for each building (how many of the building type the player owns and how good their productivity is). I would rearrange the items in the list either according to the categories small - medium - big and second according to the thematical categories or only in the six thematical categories. ¶
The enhanced buildings could be shown indented after the original building to make it clear where they come from. ¶

###Trading ¶
Another point to think of when changing the menus is the illustration of traded wares, because trading is one of the future projects. The traded wares may be the same as the ones from the own tribe (e.g. trunk) or others (e.g. gold yarn), which normally this tribe doesn‘t own but trades between two other players. Because the own wares cannot be seperated in original own and traded wares, I suggest to make a new tab in the ware statistics which shows the traded wares and the player with whom one is trading. ¶
In the headquarter / warehouse / stock menu, I‘d add also the traded wares in a new tab, but here only the new wares (from a foreign tribe) because the others (e.g. trunk) are put together with the original own wares in the first tab. ¶

##Conclusion ¶
I hope to reactivate the discussion about the menus and to read your opinion soon. The aim is to have a documented example of how some of the experienced players and developers would like the new menus. So a developer who can feel the itch in his fingers to rework the menus can directly start. And I hope that this developer exists... :-) ¶
Greetings, ¶
Kristin