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Author Topic: The Hyperbolic Update...  (Read 2053 times)

Physics_Hacker

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The Hyperbolic Update...
« on: June 05, 2018, 09:46:32 AM »
I'm really not sure about this...
Devs, you guys changed the properties panels all up and made the orbital elements section completely different, as well as jumbling everything up... I don't know if it's because I'm just not used to it yet, or if its actually clumsy, but I can barely use the properties panel anymore and it takes me five times as long to do the same thing with the orbital elements... If asked how to make the properties panel better and the orbital elements better for hyperbolic orbits I wouldn't have changed up the UI this much...
And for what its worth, it might just be easier to have a dropdown menu to differentiate the normal orbital elements arrangement from the hyperbolic-oriented one...
And…you removed the orbital elements section from the first tab of the properties panel, so I keep scrolling down to change the orbit of something quickly, but it's not there...

I'm probably just not used to it yet,  but so far this new properties panel is quite annoying…


Jar

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Re: The Hyperbolic Update...
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2018, 11:51:01 AM »
Thanks for the feedback, we appreciate hearing what people think of the changes we've made. We did do some rearranging to the Properties panel, though it wasn't really for the sake of hyperbolic orbits. Improving the Properties panel is something we've been wanting to do for a while, and it just seemed like a good time to make some of those changes. We plan to make some more changes, as well, so please keep providing feedback.  :)

We recognize that some changes might feel jarring, especially for things you work with a lot. But at the same time, we don't want that to prevent us from making improvements that we think are better for first-time users and also for veteran players, at least in the long run once accustomed to the changes. We're still in active development, and we're still figuring out how to make the UI both approachable and powerful.

Here's what we had in mind for some of these changes:
1. Make the Overview tab a bit simpler and less intimidating, to allow for quick access to basic properties, with more advanced controls accessible via other tabs
2. Rearrange Motion tab to include the most relevant information near the top
3. Reorder Orbital Elements to more clearly show how the values are related to each other
4. Rename some Orbital Elements for clarity and accuracy
5. Allow for more precise control of orbital elements with the added ability to lock Semi-Major Axis, Pericenter, Apocenter, and Eccentricity

So the first question is, do you agree with these goals? If so, do you think the changes we made addressed these goals? If not, how do you think we could better work toward these?