Steam UI beta

[Calneon]

http://www.alttabbed.com/steam-client-beta-ui-upgrade/

What do you think of it?

[Isphera]

I like it. A lot.

Rather than opening a new window 5 times to find out some update news or get the game forum up, its all on the front page of the game, plus I really like the background changing to a screenshot of the game. The added feature of showing you who plays it and if they are online or not (from Community) is really nice, because it means I now know who has the game rather than asking everyone every time I want a game.

Installing the games is easier as well, and the interface is actually alot cleaner than it was before. That said, I would still prefer to have a time remaining on the screen rather than percentage and speed. To get the time, I have to start the game and watch the bar, which then stops all the others. The catagories feature is awesome though, since I can now sort games out into game series, along with stuff I play in teams, in casual groups or solo.

I would probably stay in detailed format, but looking at list and icon, I can see their appeal. Icon is probably my second favourite, but the fact that not all games have proper icons kinda turns me off it. List is a (very nice) upgrade of the old, but just doesn't appeal to me either. That said, those which prefer them will obviously love the changes made.

I am also in love with the store. It's looks so much nicer and it's a lot easier to navigate to where your going. They've also added a little description on the main pages, rather tham making you click on it to find it. I've noticed that it's a lot quicker in loading and searching. On the game pages themselves, the trailers start automatically, which is great, but annoying if your already listening to music.

[Colonel Mitch]

I think oric was a bit over exuberant with his keyboard there...

Its fine.

[Mr.Big]

semi ok, abit annoying but meeh,
also it redownloaded cod6, then corrupted cod6, and redownloaded 4gigs of corrupted files again...

[VoX]

Tis re-downloading MW2 for me as well, fail steam.

[D_K_Head]

The update really makes it easier to navigate... plus steam finally has support for the mouse wheel drag... that's a plus.

[VoX]

Ok, steam designers need a slap. I was using a Custom L4D one before this and it was better than this in every way.


Everything is over-glossed, there's massive wastes of space, the friends list has an insane amount of banding, actually, a LOT of things have banding! Valve have forgot one of the biggest things in design - Joe public can't afford 10-bit IPS panels and hardware calibrators! They've used gradients on very close colours, and while this looks all hunky dory for them, it looks shite for me and I'd assume quite a few other people too (My monitor doesn't band in normal usage, passes the test on lagom.nl as well.)

The interface feels sluggish and the buttons look pathetic and cheap.


I would go back to the old skin, however I'll have to use this when it's no longer a beta, plus I might as well leave it to download MW2. (Could re-install from disc but I'd rather not loose all my saves and have to start multi player from level 1 again =/)

Edit: Chat windows are now labelled "Chat with xxx" which is fucking pointless as you loose half their name and all of it if the bar has to shrink in size. "xxx - Chat" was so much better.

Not amused.

[Bloo]

I would go back to the old skin, however I'll have to use this when it's no longer a beta, plus I might as well leave it to download MW2. (Could re-install from disc but I'd rather not loose all my saves and have to start multi player from level 1 again =/)



While I don't actually care about the rest of the post, as for me the beta is no better or worse than the original, but you don't need to start back at level 1 in MP. Your level is saved online I think, it's basically the main benefit of IWNet.

[Calneon]

I agree with the gradient issue, they look bad on my Hazro (vertical banding issue).

[VoX]

May try a disc re-install then, although I wasn't planning on playing tonight anyway.


New message sound is tacky, it's all been made for the 10 year old audience steam now has due to MW2. Chaz and I could do a better job.

[VoX]

Ok, it just started MW2 again and is going for 11GB instead of 7GB this time.


I've never really minded steam, actually thought it was quite useful, however this is just appalling.

[Chalex4]

Wow, it's quite buggy on first load. When I launched news/games for the first time, it hung for about 20 seconds. It's fine now, but that's something they need to fix.

Overall though, it's better than the previous system. I like that I can deal with my invites from the steam friends window, browse the store faster, and enjoy a prettier interface.

However, although the gradient banding isn't noticeable on my screen unless I put my nose next to the monitor, it's still annoying that it exists. I'm also not so keen on the grey logo

New:
http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/5822/newsteamlogo.png

Old:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8760/oldsteamlogo.png

The old one always stood out more on my taskbar, and didn't fade into the background like the new one. I also agree with Vox regarding the chat problem, I hope other people have suggested that to the developers.

[Calneon]

Yeah everything will be pointed out.

[Colonel Mitch]

I prefer the old one because i dont like change. otherwise i dont see any banding or whatever and its fine. although it is re-downloading all 11gb of MW2 for no apparent reason...

[Target]

I dnt get why they changed it, it worked perfectly, the only criticism was the community and store but they were pretty easy to navigate :S

[Mr.Big]

Well, they have fixed up a few things, and the icon does not appear so grayish anymore its blackish now :p

[Chalex4]

True, I prefer the system tray image now.