Feedback sought: Brief Prompt

[Morgenes]

Ok, so four days after being released there is exactly one person who has set this flag and left it on.  I realize that's one person who is happier (at least for the 12 minutes or so they played after setting that and hasn't been back).

So my question to you who are asking for more assistive features, did this miss the mark?  Is there some way it could be better?  Yummri, any feedback?  Anyone?

[evilcabbage]

I actually turned it on and tested it when you mentioned it being implemented, and it left a little >, but that's irrelevant. It seemed to work fine.

[Yummri]

It works great. At least I think so. The little > for me was a bit off putting. But overall I think it worked well.

My circumstances are a little different than some. And I can discuss that with you if you'd like.

I'm still talking with some of my friends about the game. And the prompt was one of the things they mentioned as a concern about accessibility. I think you'll find that it helps more than you're observing it does.

For example. I'm much more likely to use this prompt during wilderness travel in a group. So it will be used by me.

By the way. I need to thank you for working on these things so swiftly. Most of the games I've played these things go entirely ignoed. Its refreshing to see its different hear and its one of the reasons I'm enjoying my experience so much.

[Harmless]

When I've had PCs who were rarely in combat I wanted a similar feature in the past. I tested it, it works well so far.

This would be great for some of my merchants! (as it stands though I'd get nervous with it on. What with I SEE DEATH AROUND THA CORNER playing in my PCs mind 24/7.

It also works really well for my cellphone playtimes to make it far more readable

[LauraMars]

I'm going to give this a try and I'll report back here after I've used it for a couple of days.

[LauraMars]

Managed to gag the > using a mushclient trigger that was fairly easy to set up.

-> World properties
-> Triggers
-> Add
-> put > (with a space after it) in the trigger: field
-> check "omit from output" and "omit from logfile" (if you want to omit it from the logfile) in the sidebar

Wow my logs are going to be so clean!

[Morgenes]

I am explicitly adding that, do you think it should just not echo anything at all?  That's certainly possible.

[LauraMars]

It doesn't really bother me since I can gag it easily.  People with screen readers may find it irritating to hear a "less than" symbol spoken every line, but I don't want to presume I know what I'm talking about.

If there's a more functional reason the > is there that I'm not aware of, you may want to leave it in?  If not, I'm not sure why it's there to be honest.  To let people know it's ok to type a new line now, maybe?

I've been using brief prompt for approximately fifteen minutes now and I have to say I like it.  Haha.  RINGING ENDORSEMENT.

[Morgenes]

That is quite the endorsement thanks.  The only reason in my mind is kind of an 'acknowledge' that says we're done sending.  Some might thing the game is lagging or something, but I guess if that's what you're used to, there's no real point to sending it.

[LauraMars]

That is quite the endorsement thanks.  The only reason in my mind is kind of an 'acknowledge' that says we're done sending.  Some might thing the game is lagging or something, but I guess if that's what you're used to, there's no real point to sending it.

Hm. I can definitely see that, actually.  Lag panic hasn't struck me yet, but I think that's because my trigger doesn't actually remove the > -  The > still echos to me, but my client removes it when there's a new line of input.  So it isn't TRULY gone - I wonder how I'd feel if it was.

[LauraMars]

Also, brief prompt does not stay "on" when you log out and then log back in.  Not sure if this is intentional or not.

[DustMight]

I'm not sure I understand this.  Couldn't we just have a brief prompt via the prompt command?
What exactly does brief prompt do differently then just setting prompt >?

Edit to add:

Oh. I just read the helpfile.  Color me duh.
I'll use it for awhile and see what's what.

[Morgenes]

Also, brief prompt does not stay "on" when you log out and then log back in.  Not sure if this is intentional or not.

Good catch, next reboot it will.

[Yummri]

I can't gag the > it doesn't work and for me its a little annoying.

However, not everyone will be reading punctuation like I am. Its a setting in our reader options.

[LauraMars]

Also, brief prompt does not stay "on" when you log out and then log back in.  Not sure if this is intentional or not.

Good catch, next reboot it will.

Yep, now it sticks.

[Harmless]

if you could have it send a > ONLY when you enter a blank line... (by pressing enter to see if the mud pings back), then it'd be a lot better, yes?

As it is, it sends a > at the end of eq, look, etc, which makes it redundant given the mud just sent you stuff.

But if there's no way to have two different possibilities for what the prompt sends, > if you just hit enter and blank for all other situations, then I would opt for no text at all. This will clean up logs a bit more. if you want to see if mud responds, do anything that sends back text; save, press i or l, etc.

[Harmless]

oh. duh.

the ultimate option would be to allow the user to set a second prompt; their "brief" prompt.

This would mean the mud ahs to keep track of two personalized prompts for everybody... but it'd take care of Yummri's issue, and it would add additional functionality to this feature. (like if I ALWAYS want to see if I'm sitting/standing... which I often do always want to see. Then I can have that be my "brief" prompt.

that'd be coooooool.

[Eyeball]

I like the part about having the full prompt appear when something changes.

It would be great if there were another option, in which the full prompt is always displayed, but the things changing are highlighted. For example:

100/100H 112/120V 102/102T standing armed>
(fighting scrolls past, gets hit in the foot)
92/100H 112/120V 102/102T standing armed>
(fighting scrolls past, gets knocked onto his butt)
89/100H 112/120V 93/102T sitting armed>
(now he gets disarmed)
89/100H 112/120V 93/102T sitting unarmed>

and so forth.

[Nyr]

Having never seen ginka highlight things...I think that would be something you'd have to script on the client?

[Barsook]

I have seen it but with combat code.

[Delirium]

Eyeball- check out Agent's infobar script for MUSHclient.

[Barsook]

Or use triggers.

[bcw81]

Having never seen ginka highlight things...I think that would be something you'd have to script on the client?

The "Toggle ANSI/VT100 mode" option on the main screen will make certain messages (only related to combat and other harmful methods) bold the sdesc (or the YOU) of any person or thing having damage inflicted. I think that's what they're talking about.

[Eyeball]

The "Toggle ANSI/VT100 mode" option on the main screen will make certain messages (only related to combat and other harmful methods) bold the sdesc (or the YOU) of any person or thing having damage inflicted. I think that's what they're talking about.

That was my source of "inspiration", yes.

[Fujikoma]

Wow! Neat!

Ok, I have to turn it off because I like being able to see my stat numbers with a simple carriage return (is that the right term?), but it looks like a step in the right direction.

[Yummri]

 I'm using this quite regularly in wilderness areas to help with movement spam and can tell already that I'm going to use this a ton when playing a merchant or sneaky type.

Again though that > is annoying me. Stupid client wont get rid of it.

[Morgenes]

I'll pull it.

[DustMight]

Tried it for awhile and while interesting, don't think I'll use it.
I like knowing the day and time, encumbrance and such at a glance.

I'm really thankful for the many options of the prompt command, though, thank you!

I don't know if I'm a typical user though - I have a 5 line prompt which uses client-side triggers to sculpt many status messages into more friendly phrases, sometimes abstracting encumbrance levels (using unencumbered, encumbered, over-encumbered and "DROP SOMETHING PLEASE" for example), bolding and capping words like UNARMED or SNEAKING (as well as changing colors) so I know when I've been disarmed in combat (with a combat character) or if I'm still sneaking (with sneaky types).

But - it's a nice option, the brief prompt. 

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Yeh, I think it's an awesome option, Morg. I don't know that it will be used a lot, but the option for it is awesome. Thanks.

[RogueGunslinger]

What Venomz said. Thanks for your time.

[LauraMars]

I have been using brief prompt as I said I would, and here is my feedback.  Even as a sighted player, I have a lot of use for brief prompt and would encourage people to give it a try.  The complete lack of prompt (i.e. using an infobar), is something that I have not been able to get used to using.  I dislike that I have absolutely no history about what has gone on with my character.  Sometimes, being able to scroll back up the screen and note that Sergeant Talia took off 50 stun with that unspeakable bludgeon to the neck during sparring can be important, but using infobar leaves no trace of what has happened with your character - all infobar tells you is what is currently going on with your character. Having a prompt is nice for analyzing death logs as well (if you're into that sort of thing - which I am).  When using infobar, it has been tricky to train my eyes to glance at the bottom of the screen during high stress situations (this indirectly led to a death in one case.)  So basically - infobar doesn't work for me, though I absolutely love how it cuts down on screen clutter.

Having a prompt on EVERY line is often just annoying, unneeded screen spam, especially for a more social role - not to mention it clutters my logs up unnecessarily!  Being able to have the prompt appear conditionally is useful, and it's a good compromise between the spam-reducing infobar and the ubiquitous, non-brief prompt.  When I see my prompt, I know something has changed, so it's time to pay attention!

To sum things up, I like brief prompt a lot and am pleased with this addition - I think it is a great tool for sighted and visually impaired people alike.  Thanks, Morgenes!

edit: Oh, and to those who like to see what's going on at a glance (like DustMight), you can always type "prompt" by itself to display your prompt.  The mud auto-accepts the abbreviation "pro" - but I aliased it to "pr" because I can type that more quickly.  This might not be what you want to do, but just in case you didn't know - that's an option.

[valeria]

I've recently tried this out, and it is awesome.

I do agree with the suggestion about letting someone configure their 'brief' prompt not to return anything.  The ">" keeps psyching me out, especially since it's normally at the END of my regular prompt, but I'm not sure this suggestion is critical.

However, I do find this aspect more annoying: if you type "prompt" to display your prompt, but something in the prompt has changed, it returns your prompt twice.  It would be nice if it would recognize when typing "prompt" will cause the prompt double up, and only display the prompt once.

[Morgenes]

I've recently tried this out, and it is awesome.

I do agree with the suggestion about letting someone configure their 'brief' prompt not to return anything.  The ">" keeps psyching me out, especially since it's normally at the END of my regular prompt, but I'm not sure this suggestion is critical.

However, I do find this aspect more annoying: if you type "prompt" to display your prompt, but something in the prompt has changed, it returns your prompt twice.  It would be nice if it would recognize when typing "prompt" will cause the prompt double up, and only display the prompt once.

I've removed the '>' for no prompt already, next reboot should fix that for everyone.

I hadn't thought of the last bit, thanks for catching that.  I should have it fixed so you don't get a double prompt.

[valeria]

Awesome 

[Harmless]

Mm. Not having that > there is such sweet, sweet emptiness. Love how that looks, actually.

I can even have fun spacing out my logs now. If someone says something important, I can scroll a few blank lines for emphasis later... this is cool. Thanks again morg.