Netrek Client Packaging Survey

[James Cameron <quozl@us.netrek.org>]

Do you think the client (COW 3.00) is ready for distribution to the
freshmeat driven Linux newbie community, or should we at least make a
few minor changes first to increase acceptance?

Which of the following should be done before first release?
Please mark "yes" or "no" for each.
Read on for explanations.

    - gnome menu entries,
	- netrek newbie manual,
	- netrek client,
	- netrek web site,

    - netrek client features,
	- splash welcome,
	- first time warning to read newbie manual,
	- metaserver list (GTK),
	- twink buttons (GTK),
	- menu bar (GTK),
	- tooltips (GTK),
	- orphan keystrokes bound to tactical window,
	- .xtrekrc editor.

    - metaserver window,
	- indicate acceptance of selection,


Explanation of each of the above ...

    - gnome menu entries,
	- netrek newbie manual,
	- netrek client,
	- netrek web site,

The GNOME interface on Red Hat Linux provides a simple means to ensure
that applications have a menu option on the GNOME menus.  All we have to
do is create a file and an icon.  Rick Tanner and I are working on the
icons.  The question is how many menu options should the client install.
I would like all three, in the order above, perhaps in a Netrek submenu.

    - netrek client features,

These are features of the client as perceived by the user.

	- splash welcome,

Seems to add a minor bit of credibility, and it is easy to do, once the
client is encapsulated in GTK.  gum has it now (in CVS).  The current
COW welcome is text based and assumes you are a developer; it mentions
addresses to write to.

	- first time warning to read newbie manual,

The worst scenario is when someone installs the package, starts the
client, can't even figure out how to move his ship, sits at Earth and
fires torps at passing bombers.  They close the window and delete the
package.

What I would like is to warn them to read the manual or be frustrated. 
Since we packaged the manual, we can probably offer a "Read Manual Now"
button.  Creating a file in the user's login directory to say we have
offered this is probably the way to remember we have done it.

	- metaserver list (GTK),

This is placing the metaserver list into a GTK table widget just like
gum does.  It could be done as a standalone program that then forks the
client, but it would be better to do it as one program.  I'd also like
to explore loading the client pixmaps during the time that the user
selects the server she wants to play on.

	- twink buttons (GTK),

Purists will hate this, but this client isn't for purists.  It would be
a column of important functions down the left side of the tactical, in a
separate portion of the whole window, in GTK style, that will provide
the client keyboard functions as buttons.  Each button would also have
the keyboard key to use.  It will serve as a way to get moving early and
as a form of documentation.  "Power Users" would learn the keyboard
shortcuts.

	- menu bar (GTK),

Everything seems to need a menu bar.  Functions that have to be there
are "quit", and "help", but it would be simple and reasonable to place
every client function on the menu bar with the "accelerators" visible.

Just because the client always ran on "accelerators" doesn't mean we
can't make the users think that they are a feature.  ;-)

	- tooltips (GTK),

I asked an IRC contact to try the client I had packaged with RPM and
tell me what he found difficult to comprehend.  He had not tried Netrek
before.

He saw that one needed to read the manual first, and that once in the
game he didn't know what all the objects on screen were.  He hoped that
by moving the mouse to them, a popup window would appear that would
describe each object.  GTK calls these tooltips.

Purists will hate this too, and it would interfere with the game.
There has to be a way to turn it off.  If the player hits a few commands
in rapid succession it is clear that it doesn't need to be enabled.

	- orphan keystrokes bound to tactical window,

One of the big problems I have when I'm training a newbie is that they
expect keystrokes to be bound to the commands irrespective of where the
mouse is.  The client still has the "focus follows mouse" feel to it,
but most of the world has gone away from that.

On xsg I have already worked out a simple patch so that keystrokes that
are arriving for any window are bound to the tactical, unless they are
for the message line window.  This needs porting to COW.

	- .xtrekrc editor.

The option menus in COW are not "acceptable" nowadays, so I want to
create something like gum for the .xtrekrc editing.  I have a volunteer
already to help with this, more welcome.  

    - metaserver window,
	- indicate acceptance of selection,

My IRC contact also pointed out that the metaserver list did not "do
anything" when he clicked on a server.  This is a change; in 2.02 the
line went yellow in response to a click.  Now it does not.  But if I
rewrite that section in GTK it will not matter.

-- 
James Cameron                                      (quozl@us.netrek.org)

Linux, Firewalls, OpenVMS, Software Engineering, CGI, HTTP, X, C, FORTH,
COBOL, BASIC, DCL, csh, bash, ksh, sh, Electronics, Microcontrollers,
Disability Engineering, Netrek, Bicycles, Pedant, Farming, Home Control,
Remote Area Power, Greek Scholar, Tenor Vocalist, Church Sound, Husband.

"Specialisation is for insects." -- Robert Heinlein.