KGS Wishlist / General UI

Sub-page of KGSWishlist

4. General UI and Design Issues


  • Colour, maybe orange to match the webpages. -
  • Can we bring back the classic style Gray board. I miss it. -
  • It would be nice if the you cannot open a new game because you are already playing in one error were changed based upon the type of game that you are 'playing'. I can understand wanting to make it inconvenient to access game archives while actively playing against someone, but unless there are memory issues, if I am in a lecture or a demonstration game, it would be nice to be able to bring up games really quickly just to get a feel for a player's or reviewer's general style of play, without having to leave the main thread for very long. Similarly, it would be nice to look at the games of a challenger really quickly to determine approximate playing level, if for instance the challenger has played only against unrated opponents, or is uncertainly rated because of an all-loss record against (potentially) underrated opponents, or any combination of the two.++
  • When the cursor is not on the line where you try to type some text, it opens a KGS Help web page. Once like this I got 7 help windows which is quite annoying. I don't think someone who didn't pay attention the cursor was not on the line needs a KGS help. - Is it possible to remove this "feature" ?++
  • Unwanted Help Windows Often when trying to type in a KGS window the focus will be elsewhere and you will find yourself loading up a lot of help windows - my record is 8. Is there a problem with focus transfering too easily to the help key here??+++
  • One simple thing I noticed missing is the absence of hot keys for the file menus. eg: help should be accessible with alt-h. This wouldn't take long to fix
  • dnerra: This was once suggested in a RGG thread about go server clients, and I think it would be a great idea: A full-screen mode for playing/observing a game that would make one kind of forget that one is sitting in front of a computer. Imagine just seeing the go board in front of a dark background...yeah I know, there still have to a couple of buttons and the clock somewhere, but still. To many, part of the pleasure of go is the aesthetically pleasing game equipment after all. Is this possible at all in Java?
    • This would be great, and could work like a live screensaver- i'd definitely use this!! Perhaps something to always select the strongest games one after the other as one game finishes along with this?
    • puripuri: I support this idea wholeheartedly. I'm playing in KGS completely without a mouse in any case, by using the Windows numeral pad mouse (from accessability or whatever options) to move the cursor around. I'd be happy forever and after if I could just type the coordinates into a small input box to set the stone icon at that position, and then press some extra confirmation button or key to actually place the move. Cursor keys would move the stone after that? Also while at it, why not put keyboard shortcuts for changing the Editing Tools functions and selecting the option buttons, so everything necessary in the game window would work from keyboard only just like that... ;)
    • Shortcut and hotkeys would be awesome.+
      • Ctrl+I to find info about a player.
      • Ctrl+M to send a message.
      • to switch tools rapidly when editing a game, a bitlike arrow mode. It could be something like D for Delta, S for square, N for number, A for letter.
  • Always on top -ability. I'd really love to hang around in irc and play at the same time. -Mokki
    • Rakshasa: Isn't that a window-manager's task? (Though propably only available if you are using a real OS)
  • Tabbed game viewing, instead of pop-ups. +?+ +?+
  • Remember different window sizes for different board sizes as it's almost scary to play 19x19 and then open a 9x9 board with the same window size. Huge!
    • Rakshasa: This is especially annoying for people like me who often play 9x9's.
  • Ability to selectively "fix" game options so they cannot be changed by a challenger. Ability to filter out requests from guests or ~ ranked players who are weaker than you (auto-decline).+
    • wms: Sorry, but the killer here is that the game setup dialog is too complicated already. Too many things to tweak, too easy to forget one. Since pressing "decline" is easy and straightforward, I'm really reluctant to add another button and make an already-too-complicated GUI even more complicated.
    • Please consider it though. This one seems like a really nice idea
    • Mramahi1: Can you not add a button somewhere that shows advanced options but hides it if you do not wish to use them? That way you can add as many complicated options as you want and not confuse the normal users but still make the features available.
  • Joseba? Add "reason" to game challenge responses and rejects so that you can say something like "too much handicap", "too fast". The UI would only need to add one line called something like "remark to player". Alternatively, just make the existing "remark" line editable.+
    • (Hicham): I support this idea too. I often feel a bit unfriendly declining challenges without saying why. It feels unfriendly, also when I am on the recieving end.
  • Joseba? Add "chat" and "view user information" button in game setup dialog.
  • A single black/white stone icon to the left of the name, not 3 behind the name. Prisoners should be shown by count only, as showing black stones under white player's name makes it confusing. Moves per unit of time style (eg "3:04/7") is hard to read. I suggest either adding spaces (eg "3:04 / 7") or have 2 separate fields (eg "Time: 3:04, Moves: 7").
  • timer font: yellow on black; red is barely readable. +
     This may seem a little thing, but it bothers me every game!
     Please change font color, or make it choseable. (Drunken)
  • Show game rules in the box over the game board (rule set, timing style). [Time style is obvious from the clocks.]
  • Ability to click on any user text in game window to set game to position when that text was typed.
  • When one accidently presses letter "u", do not right away send an undo request, but display a confirmation window asking user if this is what he/she wanted to do. +++++
  • Have focus go to the input field when you press the Escape key, in any window with an input field.+
    • Maybe not the Escape-key, but I like the idea. That would prevent the trouble a lot of reviewers have, when they want to type comment and instead activate lots of hot-keys.
  • On a more random note I recently found myself wishing it was possible to play entirely by keyboard.
  • Allow keyboard focus on game window so players can play using arrow keys + ENTER. As above, TAB key should allow focus to switch between "obvious" places+, which does not include up/down scroll buttons on scroll bars.
  • Guess the next move feature when observing games. Server can keep track of correct/incorrect guesses. Perhaps ability to see how other observers are doing. Very fun for guess the next move demonstrations. +++
  • When looking over completed games, Editing Tool must open. This causes serious delays trying to click through moves. Is this delay caused by the tool window updating? Is there a way to make prev/next work faster?
  • Add keyboard shortcuts for as much as possible, but especially for moving through games. Back, Forward, Previous Variation and Next Variation would be most useful.
    • Already there: left/right arrow for back/forward, ctrl + left/right arrow for previous/next comment or node and up/down for previous/next variation.
      • Ekted: Doesn't work for me. I tried it with the focus on every possible window/control.
    • Focus on one of the arrow buttons in the game window.
      • Ekted: Geez why so specific? Why can't it work like accelerators in Windows: the keys works no matter where the focus is.
      • wms: It isn't so specific. Actually, they work unless you have a text field focussed - then the text field "eats" the keystrokes. I think that this is the only way that things make sense, arrow keys have meaning when you are typing text so eating them seems right, but it can be annoying. And I don't want to switch to n/p/u/d and the hotkeys, then only Emacs users would be able to figure out what to do. I have considered trying to prevent the text fields from eating the keystrokes when the text field is empty, but that is tricky, I don't think that java doesn't provide explicit hooks to do this.
      • WarrenLewis: How about if focus is anywhere in the board area? But, not in text fields. I think that is what ggo does.
  • Ekted: Make "Open Games" tab optional. I think the proper way to handle open games is to show them in all rooms. That way you can talk in the room you are in, and still watch all games.
    • Neil: I hope it stays the way it is. Having lots of random open games inside every room makes those rooms harder to use. Well, I woudln't object to the open games list being closable, but I like that current step toward separating English room chat from the main game finding possibilities.
    • RussellKhan: One way I think would work nicely is to set it up so that one can switch the displayed game list between "Open Games" and the current room's game list while leaving the chat screen for the current room in the bottom panel.
  • Ekted: Allowing the open-ness of a game to be set by its creator is silly. If I want to see all games, I should be able to since I can find them all by subscribing to all rooms anyways. Open games should be ALL games in ALL public rooms. Additionally, if you enable open games, then the room they are in should show in the game list. ---
    • Neil: If I open up a game in a teaching room with the intent of teaching one person or one of a few people, or even just with the intent of playing one of a few friends, there's no sense putting it on the global list.
    • Ekted: If I have that teaching room open I can see your game, so I should be able to see that game in my "open games" window whether you want me to or not. Do not create situations where users are fighting over what one wants to show and what one wants to see when the information is public anyways.
    • Neil: If it's a private room the game offer won't be visible to you, and if it's a private game there's no point in you seeing the offer. How can two users fight over whether one user's game offer is visible in Open Games or not, by the way?
      • Ekted: My point is from the context of design. You can make a feature, then add an option for others to disable it, then add another option for others to override that, etc etc. Ultimately it's best if a user can see what he wants to see. If I can go to the French room and see all French games, then I should be able to see them in the open games list. Also, if I don't want to see the open games list at all, I should be able to turn it off.
      • Neil: What good is it to have the server show you games offered by people who don't want to play you? If you're not in the room the person is offering the game in, clearly the person does not want to play you, so there's no point in cluttering your list with the game or wasting the person's time by making him decline you. Information is not valuable in itself. The server should only tell you games that are relevant to you.
    • wms: The main reason that users can choose that their game not appear on the main list is because I have been told that some users only want to play with people they can talk to. If they make a game in the French room, it's pretty unlikely that a non-French speaker will see the game and start playing. It's not meant to hide information that somebody wants to see, it's just meant to make it more likely that a player gets the game that they want. As for private rooms & games, these never appear on the open game list, even if the user leaves the "open list" box checked.
      • Ekted: Allowing users to filter game challenges by rank/time is way more important than based on room.
  • Ekted: Users should be able to set some criteria for filtering what games are shown based on: absolute/relative, rank, ruleset, time system, time, censored players. I realize this is somewhat complex, but I only ever consider playing in a small subset of the game list, so why show it all? For example, I may want to only see games within 3 ranks of me, japanese rules, 15+ minutes, and NOT against anyone who I have marked as censored.
    • Neil: I think this has been discussed before elsewhere, with wms coming down in favor of UI simplicity. Maybe still survives in one of the archived discussion pages?
    • Matt Noonan: I would like to propose some kind of middle ground. There could be some controls at the bottom of the open games window with the simplest options, like "Minimum Rank", "Maximum Rank" and an "Alert" checkbox. If the box is checked and a new game offer appears in your range, the tab could turn blue.
  • Ekted: Setting of "open list" checkbox in create game dialog is not remembered between sessions. It always defaults to on.+
  • Ekted: Cloning a game you are watching is incredibly slow. It appears that the tools window is force-updated as each single move is received. It sometimes takes 60 seconds to get the whole game. An entire game is only a few K. This should take much less than 1 second to transmit.
  • rubilia: Make it easier to resume games.
    • Make an unfinished game appear in black font whenever both players are online, regardless if both players are in the associated room. If necessary, enter or even recreate the room on resume request.
    • For easier detecting of opportunities, let the "resume" button font be black only if any of the unfinished games is black.
  • (Sebastian:) I'd like to go even further. Ideally, as soon as both players are logged in, they would get automatic messages or a challenge.
    Details: If none of the players are currently in a game, create the challenge. If A is already playing, delay the message for him till he is done (according to the wish "Improve Talk To - part 2") and give B a message like: "A is currently playing. Click here to observe the game while you're waiting". (related: [1301])
    • rubilia: Actually, I wouldn't like players to be forced to continue the interrupted game. Maybe they could be forbidden to play new games for a while after rejecting a certain number of different game resume request, but they should still be able to chat. Anyway, my point is about the resume button design. I guess that's a rather minor change in terms of coding effort.
  • (Sebastian:) Another way to facilitate finishing disconnected games: Allow both players to declare the game as untimed. If I understand the logic correctly, this is necessary for the game to be finished on a move by move basis.
  • axd: The layout of the different cGoban windows is poor. I find the way window resize events manage the window layout irritating. Use a separate window for the goban, controls (keep on top) and chat/comment pane, generalize the use of docking, all to make more efficient use of the screen (an indication of inefficiency is the amount of visible green background!).
    • epilogue: if you don't want to introduce modularity, as suggested by axd, then please consider allowing user to resize the dimensions of both the chat space, game controls, and observers list.
  • Velobici: button to bring up a dialog box to leave a person a message from the "View User's Information" page.
  • geno: Let CGoban2 use X fonts (as opposed to "They must be true type (.ttf) fonts."). Add a font-selection dialog to choose fonts for Japanese, etc. (Strangely, Russian works out of the box, but not Japanese.) Make everything an option: "Any feature that can`t be turned off is a bug."
    • wms: I can't disagree more strongly about "any feature that can't be turned off is a bug". I feel, "any feature that people need to turn off with an option probably shouldn't be there in the first place - and any option that needs more than 5 seconds to understand definitely shouldn't be there." If a non-computer expert was shown a "Use X fonts or java fonts?" option, do you really think there's a snowball's chance in hell that they'll figure out what it means?
    • geno: Perhaps not, but couldn't options for advanced users be in, for instance, an "Advanced Options" dialog? I understand that most people don't want lots of options, but no one is better placed than the designer to add these things somewhere, anywhere.
    • geno: I still haven't gotten CGoban to display a monospaced font in the main window for NNGS without borking up the other windows, and I have spent the bulk of my free time over the last three days trying to get Japanese fonts into CGoban2. I have some experience, but I've never needed to learn font configuration.
    • geno: Or to approach things another way, why ever ask anyone to choose between X fonts and java fonts? Can't we use both? As for "probably shouldn't be there in the first place", different users like different features. One's not better than the other, it's a preference.
    • wms: Advanced preferences is no better. Besides the UI complexity, it makes maintenance a nightmare; when somebody reports a crash, maybe it only happens if (for example) they have X11 fonts, with Japanese characters from the Mincho package, and have "show comments in game" shut off, and the board set to a custom color. Ugh. As for X11 fonts, that's not possible anyway as a stock checkbox - there are dozens of different font arrangements used under X11. I use the fonts that your java config has. If you want to use your X11 fonts, you can just reconfigure java. Believe me, X11 fonts are such a mess, that for you to reconfigure Java would be 100 times easier than for me to get a reasonable way of pulling X11 fonts into CGoban 2 (plus, of course, the X11 thing would be totally stupid for Windows and OS X).
    • geno: Ok, I understand now, thank you.
  • axd: provide access to the "Configure" window after having launched off-line; add a "show coordinates" toggle.
    • wms: Already there. Control-L toggles coordinates, and the configure button is always available as long as you don't close the main splash screen.
      • axd: Hello? Where are all the keyboard shortcuts documented, please? And where is this configure button when you load a game off-line? I'm running version 2.5.5 - also something that is not readily available when running in standalone.
  • holosys: a cosmetic request for the shell stones - would it be possible to have stones which display a plain surface now and again, instead of every single stone displaying a random grain pattern? I guess it would need to be a plain stone 50% of the time and a random grain pattern the other 50%. Just a nice to have, not a must have :-)
  • jhouse More context options when right clicking on a game. Specifically of interest to me is "view info" when right clicking on an open game to view the creator's info.
    • wms: HELP! THIS PAGE NEEDS A FAQ! Sorry jhouse, but you are about the 5th person to ask for this, and it's already there! Just click the game. Don't press "OK" to send in a challenge. Instead press the "?" button next to the player's name. You get their info. I prefer it there, because 99% of the time you are considering challenging the person; this way, if you decide that you want to, you already have the challenge window opened up, there was no need to open a popup menu.
    • GG?: I second jhouse's wish. It is an option that I intuitively expected in the game's context menu. And although I was looking, I did not find out about the "?" button myself but just learned that right here. Given that many people apparently have the same problem, maybe add the context menu entry? Please? :)
      • Oryx: Yes, the Game/? feature is great and very powerful -- but its counter intuitive. Can't the user's info be available from both places?
    • MK: It's not this page that needs a faq, it's KGS that needs an update on help files so that people find out what is possible on KGS and don't ask for it anymore...
    • (Sebastian:) [7001] You are right, MK! See discussion about help on the web.
  • When displaying a saved game (a .sgf file), I would like to see the file name displayed in the title bar. I have many saved games and, when I open a game for review, I don't always remember which file I opened. ++
  • Fwiffo: It would be nice if text from teachers in demonstration games was bold or a different color or something. +++++
    • Neil: Bold is out because it already is used to designate admins, but I'm sure this feature will go in as soon as Mr. Shubert gets a chance to use icons next to the names.
      • Fwiffo: I was talking about the text in the chat area, not the user list. It was prompted by a demonstration game where the teacher was typing in all caps so that they could be seen over the chatter of all the observers. Then there was even more chatter because people kept asking him why he was shouting. So he stopped using it, but then everyone started getting confused, so he switched back and forth for a while until everyone was annoyed. :-)
    • Neil: Yes, I missed the words "text from." I'm bet the icon idea will apply to both, though. :-)
    • RussellKhan: Perhaps another way of accomplishing this would be to allow users to select people whose text will be highlighted - maybe as a feature of the buddy list (maybe not, maybe entirely separate, as a per-session only setting).
  • Rakshasa: My picture is a png file with sharp edges, when it is resized in the game window it has some artifacts due to aliasing. Would it be too much work add some simple form of smoothing?+
    • Why not resize it yourself?
  • axd: generate variations of a move by right-clicking (as in Jago): sometimes I want to decide first on the options, then explore them; now, I need to go back and see if more options can be played (or, alternatively, place a stone, come back, place another stone, come back, etc). Ghost stones (brothers of the current move, already proposed in this page) would also be nice, because I always need to enter into a variation to see where it is.
  • uxs: If you open an SGF-file where one of the players has a very long name, the right part of the interface becomes as big as to be able to fit the name in it. As a consequence, the board on the left becomes very very small. It would be nice if either the name would be cut off if it becomes too big, or if it would wrap around.
  • Ability to show Webcam windows for users who have webcams so that we can see each other while they play +
  • wms: Got an email suggestion to be able to have people see where the teacher's mouse is during reviews/demonstrations, so the teacher can just say "over here..." and point, without having to put down marks.
    • RussellKhan: I don't think I like that idea, since the information would be lost in reviewing the SGF at later times.
      • axd: No need to record mouse positions; the proposed feature has a very good additional didactive value, especially now this voice capability has been introduced. And the teacher can always insert symbols if essential positions should be remembered in the SGF. (Actually the voice capability risks to dramatically reduce the amount of precious post-game analysis comments currently stored in an SGF!!)
  • Ellbur: For those who have a slow network connection or a really slow processor, it would be nice to have the client keep track of its own time. -
    • Fwiffo: This is discussed a bit on KGS Bugs. I do not think it is possible to do this securely, i.e. if the protocol allowed for this, it would be possible to create a hacked version of the client that would let you cheat on time.
  • axd: replay mode: because the move time info is available: not only the time, but also the time spent for the move could be displayed (between brackets?), as an indication how long the player thought about the move (forgetting about net lag etc); additionnally, [very insignificant feature, probably too much programming effort for what it's worth:] a switch allows the replay to take the real time spent instead of playing at a constant speed. (see also [ext] http://senseis.xmp.net/?diff=HowToRecordAGame&new=12)
  • Tom: A couple of times recently, I have observed people commenting inappropriately and unintentionally during teaching games. I think it would be good if there was some subtle reminder for non-players that their comments could be seen by the players. Maybe a red border round the text entry box, or text appearing red? I don't know what would be easier to implement. Thanks for reading :).
  • axd: Emit a very short click (far shorter than the stone played sound) for each prisoner taken. This may ... sound stupid, but if one is not fully watching the goban (as (s)he is supposed to be doing), it might sometimes be difficult to realise prisoners have been captured, and how much (no intention to know the exact number of prisoners, only an indication of magnitude). I would think of this typical ricketing sound made by beads on a string.+
  • axd: also provide an option to have a discrete click sound when navigating through the game tree: sometimes it is difficult to follow when a teacher advances fast, the eye cannot follow the moves; sound also gives an indication of the speed at which the game tree is traversed.
  • DnF: Show GMT time in the menubar (and maybe local time too). This would make it easier to communicate.+
    • Barthoze : I concur with this feature, it would be much easier to plan game and teaching, ideal when players aren't in the same timezone.
  • When giving somebody access to private games, it would be nice if there was a way to later take away that access, if it was necessary temporarily only.
  • Benjamin Geiger: I'd like support for MacOS X behavior: application menu, command-key shortcuts, etc. I'm not sure whether this is feasible with Java, but it would be nice if it is. (If not, not a problem. Thanks anyway.)+
  • Joonas Tyystjarvi: Just a minor thing. When using the "forward" button in the sgf editor, it's easy to accidentally click on the "close" button and have the editor close instantly. I think a solution would be either to swap its place with the "options" button or to always show the "are you sure?" confirmation dialog.+++
    • mdm: This has been implemented, but the message-box doesn't really solve the problem for me. It's just as annoying. Maybe the replay controls could be moved below the player names/pictures.
  • When the results dialog appears, make sure it is only in front of the associated game window (like gGo does), not front-and-centre of all windows.
  • When making a move on a game, send the move to the server before handling all the graphical stuff.
    • wms: Already works this way. As soon as I know that the mouse was clicked on a valid location, I send it to the server. Graphical changes don't happen until much after, in fact, until the move comes back from the server. I'm pretty puzzled by your request - obviously you saw something that you thought was a problem, and wrote this request as a result, so instead of trying to give the solution, could you state what the original problem was?
    • The problem, which may be unsolvable, is that whenever I click on a point, it takes at least a mintute before it finishes whatever it's doing. This gets progressively worse the longer I'm using CGoBan.
    • wms: Aha, the problem is not the graphical stuff, it's your network. When you click, first the move is sent to the server; then the "ghost" cursor stone goes away to let you know that the click was recognized; then the server sends the move back to you, at which point the client is displayed on your board. The "1 minute delay" you are seeing is netlag. Somewhere between you and the server there is some bad network congestion that is making the client --> server --> back to client message take a minute. The only solution is to fix the congestion (probably not possible), or to move to a different point on the internet (probably not practical).
    • But this happens even offline, and gets progressively worse. I think its the fault of my really old computer, but is there any way to use less memory?
    • Hu: Possibly programmed around by strategic and more frequent garbage collection? When this happens on my older computer, the disk light goes on solid.
    • wms: Ah, if it happens when offline, then must be something other than netlag. It might be, as hu implies, that your computer is thrashing its swap. More frequent garbage collection would mean it would use slightly less memory, but it would also slow everybody down by a lot, so probably not a good idea. If it is thrashing, then I don't know what to say, other than you need more RAM. :-(

  • Tamsin: I hope I've found the right place for my suggestion! Have you seen the new IGS client gIgo? It is superb. The feature I really like is its 3d display, which is absolutely breathtaking. Would it be possible to have such a display for KGS?
  • Spingle?: I couldn't find this suggestion anywhere. A way to jump to a name/rank in the sorted list of players. Press "j" to jump to "jaaaaa" for instance, I was initially thinking of this idea for the main games page in the english room, it is nice to see how many people of about the same rank are on. I guess this could also be done for rank. Thnx.
  • Conan: I have 2 suggestions. 1)some kind of library feature. just a button that takes the word and opens the browser to senseis link or something. This way people would stop asking "what is kikashi? " cuz its a pain :P
    • Oryx: I'd suggest as a rt-click on the word, have this in chat, room, and game comments. Also, have the lookup destination settable, in options, but in any case the lookup feature would be really powerful :D

2) the categories in the rooms thing is really primitive. It hurts more than helps, lookgin for a room is a real pain, maybe you could add a search feature in that too. I ve been driven insane looking for "something go club" when it was "the something go club".

  • Anonymous: Another idea: there should be an "official commentator" feature. The raw idea is that someone that is the OC can make variations that other observers can see, this way explaining through variations much more easier than using coordinates. Also it's practical and effective. Many times i see coordinates and i waste too much time to see the sequence or to refute it and stuff.
    • Hu: This already exists. The "OC" can "Clone Game" (in the Options menu) and accomplish all you suggest.
    • rubilia: Hmm, I like the above idea. It's not quite the same as to use a cloned game, since the clone would have to either be recreated again and again, corresponding with the player' moves in the original game, or replayed by the "OC" by hand (both of which seems too awkward for really taking place).
    • Hu: Actully, cloned games automatically update each move as played. Try one today (in the Options menu).
    • rubilia: Now, that's a nice surprise! Didn't know that. Has this feature been there all the time already?
  • Chris Hayashida: Can the focus on the login screen be set to the password field if the client remembers the login name? Similarly, it would be good if the keyboard focus changed to the chat line when you clicked on a room tab, so you could start typing immediately.
  • starline: In the game window, can the 'rules/game information' be moved out of 'options' and given its own button (maybe beneath the 'options' button)? Also, give the button the label 'game info' (not 'rules') to make it easiest to understand.
  • starline: Include the players rating (+ hyperlink to rating graph?) in 'rules/game information box'. Also, hyperlink the players name in that box to the players user info.
  • Mef: I didn't see this anywhere else, so I apologize if it's a repeat - With Simul games there's a nice tabbed UI for the person playing them, but if you want to spectate them you have to open up quite a few separate windows, perhaps a similar window could be made for the spectators so they could view all of the games in a simul?
    • Hu: Excellent suggestion, Mef. How about having that as a general option so that several unrelated games can be followed in that way. Would be useful for watching several slow tournament games at the same time, for example.
  • Ansgar?: Get rid of most of the popup dialogs. When I am observing a game and browsing at the same time, the result dialog is really disturbing. Same goes for the dialog when the teacher leaves a game review. +?+?
    • seiryu? most popups are useless so please remove these
  • Saparate the games played by ones buddies from the rest as the buddies themself are saprated in the users list. (At the "active games" window, not in each room.)
  • savra?: I would like to sort the tables like in GTK instead of the CGoban2 context menus. With the possiblity to sort from up to down and reverse.+
  • savra?: I think it is useful if it would possible to set white stones in the edit tool with the right mouse button instead of pressing shift + left mouse button. Or (maybe better) after clicking on a black stone switch the mode to set white stones and clicking on a white stone switches to set black stones. This is usefull if you only have one hand free, for example because you hold a book.
    • (Sebastian:) The second wouldn't work because this is the way to remove stones - which should remain. But you could implement the same logic I use in Miniban: Clicking on a black stone removes it. Clicking at the same spot again toggles to entering white stones. This has the advantage that you don't need to click on the menu when you set up a position. +
  • savra?: There should be a option to have sound in all games, but only in the window which has the focus.
  • mgoetze: Demonstration games with "Event" status should appear at the top of the active games list.+
  • infraredux: I would love to be able to sort games in a room by number of moves played so I can catch a game from close to the beginning.+
  • Let the clickable URLs in the chat honor the system default browser. Currently those links always open in IE while default browser is Firefox.
    • rubilia: Are you sure this isn't a matter of settings? I've never encountered the problem. Any non-IE default browser I have tried works fine here.
    • Oryx: works ok for me in Opera
  • Joseba? Netlag. I am playing over a DSL connection that does occationally cause more than 1min interruption of the connection. So in fast games I play a move, and then a minute later I lost by time. One alternative would be to determine the time a move was made on the client side, ie. send it with the move instead of taking the time when the command arrives at the server. I understand that for some reasonst this is not desirable, eg. it is open to manipulation and it may be unfair for the opponent. I propose to measure the netlag. Tell the netlag to the opponent thus giving the opportinuty to be nice and addtime. When a game is lost by time, first ask the opponent whether they want to win by time, and at the same time informing about the netlag. This way netlag no longer affects fast games between trusting, friedly people while a the same time negative effects are very limited.
    • Mef: This exists to some extent, you don't win on time until you either "Claim win" or your opponent tries to play.
  • Pugwash: Small point on layout of games window. It would be useful to be able to adjust the layout. The clock is on the wrong side for me (left-eyed!), and I lose track of the game time easily as a result.
  • shangchun: Would be really nice to have CGoban - Mac OS X clipboard communication.
    • wms: That's up to the Java system. Apple wrote it, so if the clipboard doesn't work, complain to them. :-(
    • Juan: Actually, the clipboard works OK with CGoban. You have to use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, like in Windows, as opposed to Cmd+C and Cmd+V, which is the Mac way. It took me a while to figure that one out :-(
      • :-) Lots of :-(... Really was just an observation. CGoban rules. And thanks for the ctrl- as modifier tip - I had just figured it out on my own. Shouldn't be hard to add the right shortcuts, but knowing this I will be just fine. Thanks.
  • wms: Got an email request for the ability to search all room descriptions for a specific word.
  • crux: The buddy list could show a "Last On" date for everyone.
  • Stormer: Ok this is asking a lot but Id like two related things to happen. Part one would be the ability to add variations to a game that you are spectating (without cloning the game in another room) Then part 2 is the cool part. the ability to kibitz a variation and have it show up in the chat log as some sort of hyperlinked text. A person could click the variation and it could be "added" as a variation to their copy of the game. I know its always a pain to get dans to comment on a game, but I think this all stems from the difficulty in typing out some very long sequences. If its easier for them to comment they might do it more. ^^ Also this might have some benefit to teaching games, allowing the students to ask a question and communicate a variation without the teacher having to momentarily "give them control" +

Anonymous: A graphical option for "fuzzy" stone placement, like that found in Kombilo and UliGo - i.e., stones do not appear perfectly on the intersections but slightly overlap, simulating the appearance of a "real" board. Just a bit of eye-candy, but worth considering.

deg: I would like to see some kind of improvement in the way people can ask a lecturer a question during a lecture. At the moment, questions are generally of the form 'what if a1 at b2?' Misunderstandings can easily occur, especially if the lecturer's first language is not English. Confusion can also arise over the context of the question. I think what is needed is some way to easily refer to a prior board position. To this end, to try to reduce ambiguity, and to filter specific questions from general chat, I suggest:

  • Some kind of board clone window that you can use to send the lecturer a board that contains your question. The position leading up to your question could be reduced to a simple board 'set-up'.
  • Or: Some kind of 'ask' button that brings up a form that you fill in containing 'move number', 'variation' and 'new move(s)' fields. Variations would need to be numbered - maybe have a tooltip that appears over a move in the game tree window, that would contain '53/3' when you move the mouse over move 53 (the third variation).
  • And/or: As well as a window containing the names of the viewers of a game, have a window showing people who have a question they want to ask. The lecturer clicks on a name, and gets their question in some form.

Warp: Add a new icon for tournament winners who are also administrators: A star with a little crown on top of it. (Actually four icons would have to be created, one for each color combination of the star and the crown.)

Warp: Perhaps make the icons optional (ie they could be turned off and on in the preferences dialog). If they are turned off, the empty column reserved for the icons could be removed.+

zinger: Not sure if anyone mentioned this before, but is it possible to have multiple graphics options for board and stones, and let the user choose? For all the great features of KGS and cgoban2, one thing I'm not especially fond of is the game display graphics, which is what I spend the most time looking at. This would be strictly client-side, of course, so it wouldn't burden the server code at all. Drawing new graphics shouldn't be needed - other existing sets could be imported. Perhaps ambitious users could even design their own.

playm8?: I have a small request that can probably also be solved by implementing zinger's request. When playing a game it might be nice if you can turn off the option to mark the last played move. This makes it easier to view the board as is and not give the last played move some special value/meaning.

char?: I hope play on PDA(PocketPC, zaurus, palm..). It's not use Java Swing class. Many PDA can not run Java1.3 (J2SDK) and display size is small (max VGA:640x480). So infomation area for PDA version is tabbed like opengame, activegame for size reduce and use J2ME or not use Java Swing.

Warp: This is a very minor cosmetic issue: I often play and watch games with the game window maximized. When watching games with lot of talking, the kibitz window gets naturally full of text. However, when I restore the window to its non-maximized size, the kibitz window gets scrolled to the middle of the text which was visible in the bigger size instead of the end. It would be more convenient if the text window scrolled so that the last line which was visible when the window was bigger would still be visible when the window gets smaller.


This is a copy of the living page "KGS Wishlist / General UI" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2005 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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