Usability survey: Is the main menu self-explanationary?

[Wuzzy]

I am starting a little survey directed to Minetest newbies asking one simple question:

If there is anything in Minetest's main menu you did not understand without asking other people or looking up external resources?

If you are not a Minetest newbie anymore, think back to the time where you were a Minetest newbie and think about if you misunderstand something back then.

If your answer was “No.” please also post in here and say which of the menu elements in the main menu is (or was) confusing to you.

Please note this poll is only for Minetest version 0.4.12. The main menu has changed in the past, so
You can see the version number in the upper left corner in the main menu and while playing.

I am doing this survey in the hope to find out whether there is a problem with the main menu and, if there is, where it lies. Thank you for your time. :-)

[rubenwardy]

I suggest "yes", "mostly", " mostly not", "no."
It gives you a sliding scale.

The main menu is ugly. The first version I played was 0.3.1, which was stable at the time. It only had a single page and looked like advanced. It still had much of these problems.

Young children won't know what "client" means. We need a menu more suited to a game. Instead of tabs, have vertical buttons. Most games have centralised buttons with back buttons for each page. Rename "client" to "multiplayer" and make "Server" an option within it. Freeminer's menu is good, although I don't like the color scheme.

Replace technical terms like "Node Highlighting" with something else. Maybe a drop down.

[Wuzzy]

I'll stick with this poll since 2 votes have already been given. Also, I wanted to keep it simple.

Anyways, this is not an exactly a survey about aesthetics but more about understanding.
But thanks for the input so far. :)

[rubenwardy]

"The main menu is ugly" was pretty much the only aesthetic comment I made XD.
The others are about user friendliness.

[firefox]

i voted "no" because i also had problems to get the difference between "client" and "server".
i did notice that the server list is at the "client" page but from it's name i would expect it to be at "server".

i sugest to change the names into "multiplayer" and "create server".

[GrammarGuy]

yeah, I agree that the client and server tabs are kind of misleading, but it's because on the "client" tab, YOU are the client, and on the server tab, YOU are the server.. basically.

[twoelk]

sadly I had to vote with no.

The problem is I pretty much like the design with tabs and after a little clicking around got an idea of what is what. Well except for creating new worlds from scratch. That sort of only made sense after I had understood what a mapgen is, what a game is and what a mod is. I mean what these things are in the Minetest universe and the insider language used there. Not that this was difficult to find out or was for long a mistery but it was not straight forward regarding the knowledge I had from other games.

But I guess I am not the targeted user of this survey.
I have a little nephew and a niece. The one is struggling with reading and trying to learn some computer game related terminology while the younger has just started to read. Before someone argues this game is thought for people who can allready read well and enjoy reading please keep in mind that many younger people and not too few older only read if they really have to and definitly no manuals or other documentations, escpecially if they are further than a click away from the main menu. Also consider that many people that do not speak any of the languages Minetest has been translated to as native language may have an even lower understanding of the menu language they can access.

So from this point of view as much as I despise it, a definite no.
Anything else than two clicks on some large green buttons that signal "this way to get a first game" is waaaay too complicated.

So yeah, the main menu splash screen should have two big buttons with pictograms. One starts a deafult game with default settings and another that leads to the list of servers.

Please do not kill the tabbed menu though. Keep it as "advanced menu" or something like that. So somewhere on the first screen there should be a somewhat smaller button that leads to a menu with generated worlds, loaded games and all the other goodies that are needed to make the game really fun. Of course I would go straight to the config file and add a setting that makes Minetest start in the tabbed menu just as it is now. No wait make that a little box to check in the tabbed menu of old.

As for the path to create a new customized and tweaked world , that is alltogether quite another story.

And yes please provide some place where a help system could be plugged in.

[12Me21]

There should be tabs for: singleplayer, multiplayer, and settings, (I know that it's "copying" minecraft, but it's a good system) I guess what is now the "server" tab should be placed in "multiplayer", but not be called "server" so people don't get confused.

[bdjnk]

The only tabs that will make sense to everyone are settings and credits, and only one seems useful. For six tabs, that's a terrible ratio. However even a complete neophyte would likely be able to create a new world and play it in single-player mode, without consulting external documentation, so I guess it could be worse...

[12Me21]

For a noob, the only tabs that make sense are settings and credits, and only one seems useful. For six tabs, that's a shite ratio. This noob would however, likely be able to create a new world and play it in single-player mode, without consulting external documentation, so I guess it could be worse...

I don't recall ever having trouble with starting a singleplayer world, or even getting on a server, when I was new. I think the menu may have been different then, though.

[Krock]

There should be tabs for: singleplayer, multiplayer, and settings,

"Multiplayer" and "Host" would be better IMO.
With those changes, the main menu is enough self-explanatory for regular players, perhaps some tooltips but more isn't required.

Additional windows for different types of settings would be welcome. A re-organized settings tab would help to solve the space problems and provide a better GUI for players.

[lightonflux]

The layout of the mod tab and configure window are confusing. At least some people i have introduced to MT were confused by it. I had to explain it, so it is definitely not self-explanatory.

[12Me21]

The layout of the mod tab and configure window are confusing. At least some people i have introduced to MT were confused by it. I had to explain it, so it is definitely not self-explanatory.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It shouldn't say "enable MP", it should say "enable modpack". MP is a stupid abbreviation that I had never heard of until then.
But other than that, it's fine. Maybe have the "configure" button say "configure mods" or just "mods" instead, though.

[myketronic]

I agree with the sentiment that the usability (self-explanatorianism?) really depends upon the user's overall skill and expertise with computers. Starting a singleplayer game is straight-forward - unless you hit the "Configure" button out of curiosity - then you're confronted with two different lists and checkboxes and options that don't have a clear impact.

If I wasn't overly familiar with the client/server paradigm, I'd be confused about the the tabs. You have a "Singleplayer" tab, then ... other stuff with "client" and "server". For the sake of continuity, those two could be consolidated into a single tab labeled "Multiplayer". That then turns into an exercise in making the client and server elements fit, for which I'm not trying to propose answers in this topic.

[12Me21]

you could rename client to "multiplater" and server to "create server" (I think)

[Sokomine]

Singleplayer, Multiplayer, New server and settings would be good options for the main menu. Texturepacks might as well be handled withhin the settings tab, Same goes for mods and credits.

It would be great if we could have a (tiny!) screenshot of what the player last saw in a particular world. That might make finding the right world or server again slightly easier.

[12Me21]

Singleplayer, Multiplayer, New server and settings would be good options for the main menu. Texturepacks might as well be handled withhin the settings tab, Same goes for mods and credits.

It would be great if we could have a (tiny!) screenshot of what the player last saw in a particular world. That might make finding the right world or server again slightly easier.

I think mods menu should be where it is now, since it makes the most since. It never seemed confusing to me.