Smallest Track Possible

[Lange]

Request for a Moab/Mortis-style track with the following changes:

1. Even smaller font (1 point less)
2. Get rid of the header/dead space
3. Transparent background and no frames
4. Use the Window Settings option for the following:
- Nothing: Do not show filters
- Frames: Show Con-Color Filter and Name Sort
- Frames and Titles: Show Con-Color Filter, Name Sort and PC/NPC Filter

[Zonx]

Unfortunately the filter controls are name and nesting dependant, so I doubt these can be made to use Title, Background or Frame option settings.

They could be hidden with buttons or mouseover events.

[Lange]

Ahh well. Thanks for the reply.

If by hidden buttons you mean you can get those nested elements to make themselves completely transparent except on mouse-over, that would probably still be a huge improvement.

The main problem I'm having is losing all that realestate on the side of my screen. Track groups by con color and then* name - so one type of mob could be in more than one spot on the list. Because of this, at the times I need to have it open, I often have to have it stretched quite large already, so any little bit of space savings helps.

[Kosmos]

I may dink with this in the future. I'm a ranger and I hardly ever use the thing beaucause it's so disturbing to my emertion factor. I hate to have anything on screen that is not needed...

What I had in mid would be very similar to what you were talking about.

It woud be a single lest on the left side of the screen.

Everythign would be transparent exect for the text names.
If you mouse over the top area it woudl bring up the varios menus, and

hopefuly I could make a version that auto hides, so the information is always there, if you just slid the window out with a button or something like the roll up windows that you aer seeing in mods now.

It will probably be a while before I get into that though, since it would take me a while.

[Zonx]

Yep, anything can be made invisible by default and visible only while your coursor is inside the window frame (or over some other thing in the window, or untill you click a button)

I suggest you screenshot your Track window, then use a paint program to color all the stuff you want invisble some obnoxious color, then post it here with some explaination of what you're after.

For example:
- Everything in Neon Pink should be invisible by default and visible when you mouseover any part of the window.

- Everything in Neon Green should be invisible until you mouseover the list area.

[Lange]

Cool. I'll check back with this thread when I get home tonight and try to throw something together. It won't be til late but I'll get some kind of SS up.

[Lange]

Got a few questions before I start trying to piece things together that may not be possible..
- Can Drop down buttons (like the one labeled 'All' in the picture below) be resized?
- Can they be rotated vertically?
- Can OK/Cancel buttons be resized? Rotated?
- Can the Sort button be made vertical?



Unfortunately, I don't have any graphic editing software here at work so I won't be able to mock-up a copy until tonight/tomorrow night.

Anyway, verbally, here is what I'm thinking..

1. All function buttons should be made as small as possible (the drop down menu just has to say NPC/PC/All for example), rotated vertically and placed off to the side of the actual window like the color buttons are in the example below.


2. All buttons should be hidden.

3. As long as mouse scrolling works, the scroll bar should be removed entirely.

4. Because all buttons are vertical, the minimum size would be a thin, vertical strip showing, perhaps, just 3 letters of the mob's name. Both the height and the width would be expandable.

5. There would be a right-hand and a left-hand version to allow people to place the window on either side of their screen. The buttons will be invisible, so - unlike the picture above - they would sit on the right hand side of the window so that the text box can rest flush with the edge of the screen.

[Kosmos]

So, when I get to working on this next, which features should I include?

Here's my list so far.

1. Top Button Panel will auto-hide and show with mouse over of the button panel area, but text will stay up as long as the tracking window is up.
This would give a picture like I posted above, but only the text.

2. Reduce font to Zapf14, or Chat-Font.
3. Attempt a OnHoverIn script to incearse the font size of the text of the selection you are hovered over. So as you go down the list with the mouse pointer, it would make the text for that selection bigger.

3. Include the NameHead sort function with a small button included on the button panel. I'll probably make this a single or double pixel underline of the button panel, that can be clicked on to sort the list.

4. Perhaps, include a 'tin't to the disabled filter buttons. I don't like that they are black when not being used, if you have a bunch of them turned off, you have to click them on and off to find the one you want, if you haven't memorized the position yet.

5. Maybe... Reverse everything for a right side screen verion. Text would be right justified, scroll bar on the rightside, baisicaly would be mirror image.

6. Personally I use the windows settings to have the bacnkground tint, if i need it. Is the background on the list needed? I took it out because I felt it was re-dundant, since the normal window background can now do the job, and the table backgoudn doesn't have any user controls.
At least this way the user can set it how the prefer.

So,
Any other suggestions?

[mortis42]

Dunno if it would be of nay use, but here is a file with Zapf10 that I made a while back.

[Kosmos]

Originally Posted by mortis42

Dunno if it would be of nay use, but here is a file with Zapf10 that I made a while back.

Nice, thanks!

[Kosmos]

Originally Posted by mortis42

Dunno if it would be of nay use, but here is a file with Zapf10 that I made a while back.

Do you have the .XML file for the font also?

[mortis42]

Originally Posted by Kosmos

Do you have the .XML file for the font also?

Woops, sorry, forgot to put it in.

[Kosmos]

Uploaded the new version of my tracking window.

[Kosmos]

Originally Posted by mortis42

Woops, sorry, forgot to put it in.

I can't get this Zapf10 to work, it just shows garbage.
I'm 99% sure I've done everything right. I think the XML is messed up or something.

[Kosmos]

Updated v2.0 Submitted for release.

You wanted small? You got small!!

But guess what... It Auto-Resizes on mouse over!!
Switching between 12 and 15 point font size.

Comments and suggestions can be put here.