4. General UI and Design Issues
Keyboard accelerators/shortcuts/hotkeys
Board and Stones
Visibility
Skins for the client, textures for board/stones
- caraoke?: it would be nice if I can skin the kgs clients - ie. different textures for board/stones.
When disconnecting, CGoban inactivates scrollbars and buttons
- When disconnecting from the Go server, CGoban inactivates all the scrollbars and buttons. It seems to be better if all these can still function. For example if someone has not yet saved his game and a lot more, those are need buttons to be still active.
Thanks Reza Fathzadeh (goalive on KGS)
All games tab, game window: difficulty finding the room of a game
- usagi: It came up in a lecture recently, and I had the idea: the window title should read "KGS: Ing's Goe Internet Class: jujo [9p]" not just "KGS: jujo [9p]". There was someone who had difficulty in locating the room from the active games tab.
- RueLue: The "Ongoing Games" tab shows the room of the game (v.3.4.5), but you're right: the game window could show, in which room the game is played. Imagine, you have 5 games from different rooms open and want to tell your buddy, which game the famous tesuji has. Possibly typing something like "load game 283" on a somehow hidden command line...
Buttons should tell more then only "Yes" / "No"
- Recently more and more applications have stopped displaying dialog boxes with "Yes" and "No" buttons on them. Instead the buttons say things like "Don't Save", "Save and Quit", etc. It would be good if the KGS client did more of this.
Function to page an admin from within games
- Have a function to page an Admin from within games, perhaps under Options? Provide a combo box with the reason for paging the admin, and perhaps give some general advice for some of the options (like when Escaper is selected). The page admin function should also be available from the main menu bar, perhaps under Help.
Indicate which of my "resume" games are waiting for me to move
- Please underline or otherwise indicate which of my "resume" games are waiting for me to move. Right now I have to open each one to see whether it is my move. Thanks. +
"Bar" behind the clock which is showing the left time
- I would like to have a "bar" behind the clock which is showing the left time graphically (Enable/Disable in options). Because it's hard for me to read the clock while playing. But it would be easy to fast glance on a bar which shrinks. DrZoom?
- The bar should be in the background of the clock, and the clock should be displayed on the clock. DrZoom?
Clock and result written in red on black background - better: customizable
- The clock and the result of a game written in red on black background is hard to see. The contrast is too low. Possible improvement = white on black. twintom?
- I agree. This red on black is too hard to see, and should be changed. The older I get, the worse this problem seems to get. Low priority suggestion: Allow users to choose colors for foreground and background for different text containers. Marathon
Anon: There could probably be a few tweaks of the main (english language, where language matters) UI to make things a bit more intuitive, especially for new users:
Rooms window: change menu name 'Play Go' to 'Automatch'
- The 'play go' menu should change to Automatch, which is what everyone calls the system, and which is more in line with other servers (it is, at least, with cyberoro).
Rooms window: change button name 'Custom Game' to 'New Game'
- Similarly, 'Custom Game' should just be called 'New Game', which is precisely the button that someone unfamiliar with the system would be looking for.
Rooms window: button for 'Automatch On/Off'
- The means for firing up automatch using the mouse should probably not be hidden under the menu bar at the top. It seems most logical to make it an 'Automatch On/Off' button, on the same bar as the 'New Game' and 'Resume' buttons. This should be much more conducive to running automatch at the same time as one posts a custom game, especially for users who tend not to use shortcuts so readily (and who are generally in the majority).
Rooms window: button for 'Register'
- Same goes for the option to register. Making a 'Register' button that only exists for guest accounts seems like a more transparent way of doing things, rather than placing it under the user menu. Consider making it red.
Fan tab: no display of private games.
- isshoni: In the Fan tab: No display of Private games. +
Fan tab: isn't highlighted, when fan game happening and I log on
- Jenny Radcliffe: In the Fan tab: (this might possibly only occur under Linux) The Fan tab is not highlighted if there is a Fan game happening when you log on.
Review mode: when control has changed hands, let "Control: username" flash
- In review mode, when control has changed hands, the Control:username text is highlighted with flashing red. +
Playing mode: let the taskbar tab flash, if it's my turn
- In game mode, when the game window is not active (i.e. when the player is surfing YouTube instead of watching the game) the taskbar tab flashes. Gaim, for example, does this for new messages IIRC. -
Applet: possibility to resize font
- floss: it would be great if users of the *applet* (browser version of cgoban) could resize font. this is an accessibility thing. thanks.
Option to show or hide the kibitz window when observing or playing
- chrpa: Include option to show or hide the kibitz window when observing or playing the game. In my opinion the kibitz window is too large and cannot be lessen now.
Cloned game: easy "resynching"
- blubb: Provide a way to "resynch" a cloned game, allowing to jump to the position which is currently shown in the original game, without getting astray in the tree.
Games list: "Clone Game" in the context menu; "Clone Game(P)"
- Karl Knechtel: Add 'Clone Game' to the context sensitive menu offered by right-clicking a game in the list. Also, offer 'Clone Game(P)' whereever 'Clone Game' is offered.
Buddies, Fans, Ignored: allow notices
- Notes: allow notes to be recorded for each buddy. --Shay + +
- The same for "fans" (idols) RueLue
- The same for ignored users RueLue
Dialogues: right click on any name brings up user info
- Info on Dialogues: allow right click on any conversationist to pull up their info. Consider showing their rank next to name. +
Add Time - One Period
- Ability to add time equal to one overtime period to opponant's clock, instead of just 1 minute or 5 minutes. +
Colour, maybe orange to match the webpages
- Colour, maybe orange to match the webpages. --
- RueLue: have they ever been orange?
Bring back the classic style Gray board
- Can we bring back the classic style Gray board. I miss it. --
"You cannot open a new game because..." based upon the type of game that you are 'playing'
- 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.+++
Shortcuts, unwanted help windows (? DONE ?)
- 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??++++
- Karl Knechtel: Seems this comes up again and again (also on the page about hotkeys).
Missing hotkeys for the menus
- 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
Full-screen mode for playing/observing
- 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.
- A fullscreen mode (resulting in a bigger board) would also benefit users with weak eyes.
- Tapir: I support this idea. On a more wide than high laptop screen the board is rather small in the end.
Small input box to type the coordinates and set the stone with confirmation button
- puripuri: 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?
Shortcut / hotkeys for player's info, send message, editing tools
- (april 2004: 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... ;) (DONE)
- (may 2004): Shortcut and hotkeys would be awesome.+
- Ctrl+I to find info about a player.+
- So the shortcut would open the name input box? Good!
- Ctrl+M to send a message.+
- to switch tools rapidly when editing a game, a bit like arrow mode. It could be something like D for Delta, S for square, N for number, A for letter.
- Please look also on the (somehow) new KGS help page
Shortcuts-FAQ
Always-on-top ability
- 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
- Tabbed game viewing, instead of pop-ups. +?+ +?+++
- and switch between games with [Ctrl-Tab]
Remember different window sizes for different board sizes
- 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.
New game window: selectively "fix" game options; filter guests and ~-players (game options: DONE; filter guests etc.: REJECTED)
- (nov.2003): 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.
- RueLue (oct.2010): game settings can (only) be changed by the advertiser.
- Please consider it though. This one seems like a really nice idea
New game window: button for advanced options
- 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. +
- RueLue: and automatic switch back to simple settings
New game window: Add "reason" to game challenge responses and rejects; user info button (DONE)
- 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.
Game window: who plays black/white
- A single black/white stone icon to the left of the name, not 3 behind the name.
Game window: prisoners counter
- Prisoners should be shown by count only, as showing black stones under white player's name makes it confusing.
Game window: clock colour
- 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)
- + I would make the colour customizable though.
Game window: Show rules in the box over the board
- Show game rules in the box over the game board (rule set, timing style). [Time style is obvious from the clocks.]
Game window: click on any user chat text to jump to the related board position
- Ability to click on any user text in game window to set game to position when that text was typed.
Game window: shortcut "u", ask before send undo request
- (How old?): 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. +++++
- + Doesn't go far enough though... see my comments on hotkeys.
Escape-key should make the focus jump to the input field
- 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.
Possibility to play entirely by keyboard.
- On a more random note I recently found myself wishing it was possible to play entirely by keyboard.
- - Part of the reason for using the mouse is to reclaim some tiny semblance of the OTB feeling of placing a stone physically.
- Allow keyboard focus on game window so players can play using arrow keys + ENTER.
TAB key should switch the focus between "obvious" places
- 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
- 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. ++++
Review game: a way to make prev/next move work faster?
- (How old...): 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?
Observe game, review: problem with keyboard navigation
- 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.
- kouchi?: There needs to be an easy way to transfer focus away from the text field. Being at the keyboard and then having to switch to mouse to change the focus is annoying. How about having alt+arrow both navigate the game, and also change focus to the arrow keys?
Make "Open Games" tab optional (DONE: button in rooms window, top right: "stack/unstack")
- 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.
Open games should be ALL games in ALL public rooms
- 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.
Criteria for filtering what games are shown
- 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.+
- goulo: I care about the time controls for games. It is a hassle to click on many games and see game after game which is too fast. Why can't the game list show an abbreviated hint about the time controls in game's line of text? It wouldn't take much text, e.g. "30M+BY" or "5M SD" or some such abbreviation system. That gives an idea if it's a game that will be too fast or too slow for my taste. If there's room to show "19x19" and "9x9", there is surely room to show "30M" or "1M", etc...++
New game window: "open list" checkbox switches back to "YES" for the next game (DONE)
- Ekted: Setting of "open list" checkbox in create game dialog is not remembered between sessions. It always defaults to on.+
Cloning a game is incredibly slow
- 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.
Interrupted games: make it easier to resume
- blubb: 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])
- blubb: 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.
Allow both players to declare the game as untimed to finish on a move by move basis
- (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.
Window resize events manage the window layout irritating
- 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.
User info window: button to leave a person a message
- Velobici: button to bring up a dialog box to leave a person a message from the "View User's Information" page.
Preferences: font-selection dialog, X11 fonts (REJECTED)
- 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.
"Configure" window offline, toggle coordinates on/off
- 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.
Cosmetic request for the shell stones
- 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 :-)
More context options when right clicking on a game
- 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.
Displaying a saved game (.sgf): file name in the title bar
- 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. ++
Demonstration games: text from teachers bold or something
- 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).
User info, pictures: add some simple form of smoothing
- 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?
Editor: generate variations of a move by right-clicking, ghost stones for variations
- 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.
Game window: show webcam
- Ability to show Webcam windows for users who have webcams so that we can see each other while they play +
Demo, lesson: have people see where the teacher's mouse is
- 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!!)
- tapir: I take group lessons from Guo Juan and the mouse icon hovering around is just a distraction imo.
Game: have the client keep track of its own time
- 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.
Replay mode: time, spent for the move, could be displayed, control replay speed
- 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
http://senseis.xmp.net/?diff=HowToRecordAGame&new=12)
Teaching game: reminder for observers, that comments can be seen by the players
- 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 :). + something, anyway.
Game: sound for captures
- 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.+-
Editor: sound when navigating through the game tree
- 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.
GMT in the menubar
- 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.
- blubb: Seconded - having a utc clock built into CGoban is a rather frequently made suggestion in public discussions at kgs.
A way to later take away access to private games (DONE), possibly temporarily only
- 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.
Support for MacOS X behavior: application menu, command-key shortcuts, etc.
- 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.)+
Game window: results dialog box only in front of the associated game window
- 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.
Game, Editor: time between making a move and appearence on the board
- 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 minute 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. :-(
- Anon: One cause of progressively using more and more memory occurs on linux systems when you have some IME like for example SCIM running.
3-D display
- Tamsin: I hope I've found the right place for my suggestion! Have you seen the new IGS client glgo? 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?
- TestPlay09: I second the wishes of Tamsin. I too, would like to see a 3d client for KGS, or at least contact Pandanet and ask them to make it possible to play on KGS with their glgo. Please! >.<
Names list: Jump to a name/rank in the sorted list of players
- 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.
Chat text, comments: library feature, button or context menu entry takes you to the page on Sensei's
- 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
Rooms: search in rooms list
- Conan: 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".
Game window: "official commentator" feature (DONE -> "Clone Game" in options of the game)
- 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.
- blubb: 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).
- blubb: Now, that's a nice surprise! Didn't know that. Has this feature been there all the time already?
Login screen: focus in the password field
- 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.
Game window: 'rules/game information' given its own button
- 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.
Game info: show/link players rating (and user info?)
- 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.
Simul game, observe: tabbed window (for all observed games?)
- 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.
Less pop up dialogs
- 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
- Karl Knechtel: Especially remove the popup with timer and loud bell for automatch games. It is unbelievably annoying. The intent, presumably, is to ensure that both players are ready; it makes more sense to offer each player a modal dialog box with a simple chime (same as the default "game accepted"/"error"/"pass" noise) and start the game once both players have hit OK.
Rooms: separate the games played by ones buddies from the rest
- Separate 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.)
Lists: sort lists up/down
- 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.+
Editor: set white/black/remove stones with mouse only
- 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. +
- Karl Knechtel: I like that from a power-user perspective, but it seems difficult to explain - it won't confuse the user when triggered accidentally, but it's difficult to stumble upon purposefully.
Games, observe: sound only in the window with focus
- savra?: There should be a option to have sound in all games, but only in the window which has the focus.
Demo, lesson: "event games" at the top of the active games list (DONE)
- mgoetze: Demonstration games with "Event" status should appear at the top of the active games list.+
Rooms: sort games by number of moves played
- 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.+
Chat: clickable URLs should open in the system's default browser
- Let the clickable URLs in the chat honor the system default browser. Currently those links always open in IE while default browser is Firefox.
- blubb: 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
Game: determine the time a move was made on the client side
- 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.
Game window: ability to adjust the layout
- 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.
Rooms list: search all descriptions for a specific word
- wms: Got an email request for the ability to search all room descriptions for a specific word.
Buddy list: show "Last On" date
- crux: The buddy list could show a "Last On" date for everyone.
Observe game: add variations (without cloning); kibitzed variation hyperlinked for showing up as variation
- 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" +-+
- Karl Knechtel: Cost/benefit ratio sounds insanely high to me.
- RueLue: Ctrl-click already sends the coordinates to the chat line (10/2010), but the rest is a good idea.
Game window, preferences: option for "fuzzy" stone placement,
- 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. Go to NaturalStonePlacement for a ready-made algorithm to do this. +
Lesson: some way to easily refer to a prior board position; list of observers with questions
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.
Icon for tournament winners who are also administrators
- 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.)
User lists: icons optional
- 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.+
Preferences: multiple graphics options for board and stones
- 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.
Game window, editor: turn off the option to mark the last played move
- 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.
Play on PDA(PocketPC, zaurus, palm..)
- 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.
- RueLue, oct.2010: partly this seems to meet the actual development status of CGoban for Android, but the last notice from wms, concerning other mobiles, rejected versions for other devices.
Observing: restoring the window to its non-maximized size scrolls the kibitzes to the middle of the text
- 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.
User lists: add some smiley to display a friend
- chrpa: Hello wms, can you add some smiley to display a friend and leave the friend in the order, not just at the top? Thank you. Hope it will help.
Editor, offline: "mark moves" option (circles) set to "on" by default
- Steve: I would prefer it if the "mark moves" option (which circles the last move) was set on by default when I open a SGF for local viewing.
Preferences: more graphic variations of boards and stones
- rs220675?: How is it with more graphic variations of boards and stones. Just some type of boards and stones, e.g. old-looking, wood, modern, green, yellow etc. pp....I really like the board & stone graphics so far, but with the time it becomes boring. So my proposal is all about game fun. Would be good if one could choose between two or three graphical setups...or if one could even create owm graphic setups (one of the reasons I chose KGS was, that the graphics is far better in my opinion than e.g. at IGS (even with good clients like gGo)
Game window: eliminate the "Close" Button
- vladox: I suggest to eliminate the "Close" Button from the Game window, since its redundant, and also is quite close to the back, forward buttons, causing the user to accidentally close the window while viewing a game. Thx. :-) +
- Karl Knechtel Emphatically agreed. I don't want to annoy people by putting multiple plusses, but I really feel like I should. :) The proper place for this button is nowhere at all; offering the ability to close windows is the OS's responsibility. I most often hit the thing while reviewing games for beginners. There have been occasions where I came back and noone was able to take or give control :(
Game window: cursor focus in the text input line as default
- lighthand?: can the cursor always normal and come back to the typing bar? Be there already for chat. Come back if u hit undo also?
User lists: mark people who have a game going
- erislover: I would love to see a bit of text, maybe a *, next to people in the rooms list who have a game going. I like to be a spectator in friends' games but to know whether they're in one you have to keep checking user info. +
Game window: opponent-left-game pop-up, direct pointer to the help page
- Cheyenne: Suggestion to add some text to the pop-up when your opponent leaves a game. There should be a direct pointer to the help or web page that describes what and how a possibly escaped game will be handled (along with the suggestions to maybe wait for your opponent to come back). This suggestion is to address a common occurance. Someone leaves a game, their opponent (the person who still is in the game) then starts asking a bunch of questions about escapers and what they should do, etc. Having some information within pop-up might eliminate some of this.
Preferences: several options for stone and board graphics; own custom (board/stone) graphics and sounds
- Ectospheno: I'd like to see several options for stone and board graphics like SenteGoban. IMHO the graphics for that program are a tad better.
substitute our own custom (board/stone) graphics and sounds
- Allow us to substitute our own custom (board/stone) graphics and sounds, people will then make 'sets' that anyone can download and drop in. Kill many birds with one stone.
Game window, editor: anytime anyone types a coordinate in chat, it will flash briefly on the board
- An option so that anytime anyone types a coordinate in chat, it will flash briefly on the board, good for kibitzer and spectators and teaching (use the same system as chat for who can see what).
Rooms: ajustment for pane sizes
- Grindel: An ajustment for pane sizes is needed. If you break a tab out to another pane, both panes take up half the window area. I would like a virticle size control to make the bottom pane smaller or larger, much like the control between the chat window and game list.
Disconnection: deactivated scrollbars and buttons
- Reza Fathzadeh: when disconnecting from the go server CGoban inactivates all the scrollbars and buttons. It seems to be better if all these can still function because for example someone has not yet saved his game and a lot more examples which need the buttons to be still active. +
- Karl Knechtel: The current effect is quite visually jarring, and also adds a lot to the total lag my system experiences whenever I lose my internet connection.
Preferences: save the sizes & positions of play windows and observation windows separately
- davidg: CGoban 3 should save the sizes & positions of play windows and observation windows separately. Playing and observing have different requirements. I often observe several games simultaneously, so I reduce the windows to fit several on the screen. But I only play one game at a time, and I want a single large window. Maximizing the window isn't sufficient; I don't always want a fullscreen view.
Panels: flexible panels, collapsable kibitz window, move around panels
- flexible panels would be such a big improvement, collapsable kibitz window and move around panels would really help a lot.
Observing: make the mouse wheel behave like prev/next move button
- Ansgar?: When watching or editing a game, make the mouse wheel behave like prev/next move button if used over the board.
Playing, observing: option to see game messages ("White resigns" etc.) within the chat area
- Caspar?: As recommended by Doug, I post an idea here. I have been playing and watching quite a little on KGS and I have a suggestion: Can you make it an option to post game messages within the chat area (maybe highlighted with another color) instead of an alert-like popup? This is because when you play and observe you have to click them away before you can play, and sometimes they popup in really a bad moment. Also when you have several observes open, it's confusing to me. I would use that for sure, even if I am not playing, and only observing one game! :-)
- Now Doug has kindly thought about it, and come up with the following: First, if you are observing several games, as you mention, how would you notice the game invitation in the chat? Would the observed games cover the chat area? Second, how would you stop the invitation from appearing to all the other people in the room? Have you considered the amount of game challenges and how to keep them from flooding the chat window?
- RueLue: "game invitation" - does this belong to CGoban 2 or CGoban3?
- What I think about this is as follows: Perhaps I used the wrong term with "chat" window. What I meant is the (perhaps called) kibitz box which belongs to the game window. So I would like messages that belong to a particular game (black left the game, the score is blabla, white resigns, black runs out of time etc) to appear in the according kibitz window. And only in the kibitz window of the game which the message belongs to. Of course this should be a preference, so that one can keep on having the popups, and those who prefer otherwise will get the messages in the kibitz window of the game the message refers to.
Here an example: I am watching a game, and all of a sudden I want to play too, and still want to follow the game I am watching in the same time. Now is it a blitz game and I have only 2 seconds left to play a move, and a popup says: black resigned! But it's the black player of the game I was observing. I get confused, I must click it away, and hurry to make my move. If this message appeared in the kibitz of the observed game, it wouldn't interfere with my game which I need to focus on.
I think there is no deal with flooding messages. Everyone who needs to get the message will get it. If they want, as a popup, and I will get it in the kibitz box of the game which the message belongs to.
Ability to change all colours of the interface
- bucko: Ability to change all colours of the interface. I use white on black for various reasons (it's easier to read, easier on the eyes, ...) and cgoban is the only application on my system which I am unable to configure to use this theme. Specifying -Dswing.defaultlaf=com.sun.java.swing.plaf.gtk.GTKLookAndFeel? as recommended at
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/lookandfeel/plaf.html appeared to be completely ignored. I rather expect that with the range of colours used by cgoban, I'd end up with a lot of white-on-white even if I did.
Remove sidebar like in IGS client
- xipe?: Remove sidebar like in IGS client. It takes way too much space
Toggle "show next move" like in IGS client.
- xipe?: Allow to toggle "show next move" like in IGS client. This helps greatly when replaying games
Rooms: Separate human games from robot games
- I'd like to see human games and robot games displayed in separate sections of the list window, or a control to suppress robot games.
Possiblity to save private messages into a text file
- leu: I'd like to have the possiblity to save private messages into a text file. Up to now, you can only keep or delete them.
Possibility to hide the chat window
- I want to be able to disappear the chat window. Sometimes opponents are chatty and I don't want to talk and their talk appearing, is distracting. Worse, I had 2 cases, where opponents were unhappy with me taking "too much" time (I had plenty of time on the clock), and they were just constantly sending voluminous garbage, to urge me to move already! -- Mark Galeck, April 23, 2010
Game: when time runs out, enter a "pass" move
- When the time is up so that I lose on time, why not just enter a "pass" on my behalf (possibly multiple times). A lot of times I just don't manage to make that one click, anywhere would be better than just losing, just pass me if I don't make it. -- Mark Galeck, April 23, 2010
Observing: history access through goban
- There's a nice feature in UI another user taught me: when you shift click the left button on the goban, you navigate through history. This works either in past or future, and is really easier to use than the tree view. However, when you click in the future, you must do it blindly: for sure the stone is not here at the time. Besides, when you click in the past, you're also a little bit blind, as you're missing the sequence order information that you've got in the tree view. So what do you think of the following behavior?
- When you press down the shift key, then the goban displays the future stones slightly transparent and superimposes the stones number on all stones.
- If you release the shift key, everything goes back to normal.
- If you left click a stone, then you go the history where the stone was or will be played, which is the current behavior.
- It would also be interesting to see where variations are located, maybe by rounding the key stones with a round circle. When you're on a key stone, i.e. one for which a variation exists, the other variations are also displayed when shift key is down (green cross for example, I've seen this in jago), and you can click on them also to select the variation. -- Hulahup?, 10 nov. 2008.
Preferences: different sounds, more preferences
- There has been some discussion concerning the sounds recently. Some people don't like the sounds, but don't want to mute them. They would prefer to have different sounds. In some discussions, there was some talk of hacking into the JAR file to find the offending sound resource, and replacing it with a more preferred one. I suggest that more preferences be made available in the client. The user would have options for each specific sound: disable, select from some "built in" sounds, or allow the user to specify another sound resource on his/her computer. (This last wouldn't work in the applet version.) -- Marathon, 7 Nov. 2009.
Preferences: change the font
- I might like to see a change of font, perhaps a serif font. The current font makes it hard to distinguish some letters from others. This makes it easier for trolls to spoof well known users. -- UnclMartin?, 11 Feb. 2010.
Preferences: "no avatars" check box
- One user seems to be a bit sensitive to certain avatars. I wonder if there might be others? I suggest adding a "no avatars" check box in preferences. When this is checked, either avatars would not be shown, or they would appear as a gray rectangle. -- UnclMartin?, 19 Feb. 2010.
Games list: Open games grouped
- Personal experience shows that the most important pieces of information regarding a game are:
- board size
- time settings
- game type (free/ranked/etc.)
- Of those, board size is something people usually decide on before going through the list of open games. Then comes searching through the list with mouseover for tooltips to check the time settings, paired with looking at the "R" or "F" flag at the far left. I suggest that the games be grouped to elucidate this:
19x19 ———
R MacTheFast[4d] Blitz, 5d+ please
R TheCaptain[4d] Fast
F kissmz[1d] Medium
R mike2[4k] Medium, 4k only
13x13 ———
F randomgast Blitz
9x9 ———
F wwwwwwwwww Fast
F DrPerryCox[-] Medium
37x37 ———
beerslayer[-] Long
Tooltips would still provide further information about the game. Standard board sizes would come first in the list, with nonstandard sizes sorted below, if any.
Accessibility
Change color of time display (red/black hard to see with visual impairment)
- kirkmc? I would like to see the time display a different color. I don't have very good eyesight, and red on black is about the hardest thing to see. I've made mistakes seeing, say, 3s as 8s when looking at the time. Can you change it to yellow or green, which are much easier to see, or change the background from black; or make the clock color a user preference? +
Mouse
Mouse anti-slip system in the final (two?) seconds of thinking time
- Bass 2010-03-06: Mouse anti-slip system should not prevent a move in the final (two?) seconds of thinking time. During those seconds the choice is between a possible misclick and instant death.
Icon
Cgoban3 icon needs some polishing
- The Cgoban3 icon needs some polishing. It is really ugly compared to all the other icons on my desktop. -
Special icons for the different CGoban windows in the task bar
- RueLue: Jago (as example) has special icons for the different windows in the task bar. Would be nice to have this also in CGoban. It is easier to chose the right window, when you have several CGoban windows open. (no need to have these icons with 1000 or more bytes)