Slipstream radial menu: category-first design (no "More >" chains) #199

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opened 2026-09-30 05:11:59 +00:00 by sky_line · 0 comments

sky_line commented

2026-09-30 05:11:59 +00:00

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Core idea

Top level = a few fixed categories, not actions: always in the same place for every target, so muscle memory carries over. Example set, to refine:
- Interact (touch, sit/stand, open, pay/buy)
- Social (profile, IM, call, friend, share, teleport)
- Edit / Build (edit, take, copy, return, delete)
- Look (zoom, camera, inspect, Lightbox)
- Moderate (mute/block, derender, report, eject/freeze)
- Wear (attach/detach/wear, outfit)
- Tools (texture refresh, reset skeleton, debug, scripts)
- one context slot for the most likely action on this target, e.g. Sit on a chair, Touch on a scripted object, Profile on an avatar.
- Categories with nothing applicable to the target stay in place, drawn disabled, so the layout never shifts.
Categories expand in place; no replacement pages. Hovering (or a short drag toward) a category grows it outward in one of two ways:
1. Outer ring arc: the category's items fan out as a second ring sector beyond the category's own slice. This suits roughly 3-10 items. Select by continuing the drag outward (marking-menu style).
2. Sub-radial: for large categories (e.g. Wear with attachment points), a new radial opens centred on the category, with the parent still visible and dimmed behind it. Leaving back toward the centre collapses it.
- Which mode a category uses is decided by item count or declared in XUI, not hard-coded.
Every item reachable in at most 2 steps from the centre. No "More", ever. If a category overflows the ring, the ring gets more segments (or two arcs), not a deeper level.

Interaction

Marking-menu gestures: press-drag-release selects without waiting for the menu to draw. Experts learn directions, e.g. right-drag up-right = IM. Click-release-click also works for new users.
Direction memory: item angles are stable per category across target types. An item that doesn't apply is disabled in place, not removed.
Keyboard: number keys / first letters for categories and items. Esc backs out one level.
Search-as-you-type at the centre: typing filters all actions for the target into a flat list. The escape hatch for rarely used items.
Hover tooltips on items with the full name (labels can be short or icon-first).
Optional recently used row in the context slot.

Visuals

Icon + short label per item. Scales with UI scale / font set (#193) and uses the pie font size.
Animated expand/collapse (fast, under 100 ms, respects a reduced-motion setting).
Skinnable colours through colors.xml, like the FS pie.
GPU-friendly drawing: one batched draw for rings/arcs through the UI renderer, not per-segment immediate-mode calls.

Architecture

Data-driven: a new XUI format (radial_*.xml) declares categories and items, reusing the same registered actions / enable / visible callbacks as the context menus and the FS pie. One action registry, three front-ends that can't drift.
One menu definition for all target types: land, self, avatar, object, own/other attachment, HUD, particle. Categories and items are filtered by target, instead of 7 separate hand-laid pies.
Target-type priorities decide the context slot and the default highlight.
Setting: RightClickMenuStyle with three values: context menu / classic pie (FS) / Slipstream radial. The Firestorm pie stays for people who want it.

Research

Marking menus (Kurtenbach & Buxton), Maya hotbox, Blender pie menus, game radial wheels (weapon/emote wheels), and the FS / V1 pie's known pain points.
Decide the category set from real usage: count which context-menu items people actually use, e.g. opt-in local usage counters.

Done when

Every action reachable in the context menus is reachable in the radial in at most 2 steps, with no "More".
Category positions are identical for every target type.
Gesture selection works without the menu having drawn.
It's selectable in Preferences alongside the FS pie and context menus.

Refs #137, #198

Design our own radial menu as an alternative to the Firestorm port (#137 / #198). It keeps the speed of a pie but drops the classic layout's weakest part: 8 fixed slices, with overflow pushed into nested **"More >"** sub-pies. That turns common actions into a guessing game ("was Mute on page 1 or under More > More?"), and the layout differs per target type. ## Core idea - **Top level = a few fixed categories**, not actions: always in the same place for every target, so muscle memory carries over. Example set, to refine: - **Interact** (touch, sit/stand, open, pay/buy) - **Social** (profile, IM, call, friend, share, teleport) - **Edit / Build** (edit, take, copy, return, delete) - **Look** (zoom, camera, inspect, Lightbox) - **Moderate** (mute/block, derender, report, eject/freeze) - **Wear** (attach/detach/wear, outfit) - **Tools** (texture refresh, reset skeleton, debug, scripts) - one **context slot** for the most likely action on this target, e.g. Sit on a chair, Touch on a scripted object, Profile on an avatar. - Categories with nothing applicable to the target stay in place, drawn disabled, so the layout never shifts. - **Categories expand in place; no replacement pages.** Hovering (or a short drag toward) a category grows it outward in one of two ways: 1. **Outer ring arc:** the category's items fan out as a second ring sector beyond the category's own slice. This suits roughly 3-10 items. Select by continuing the drag outward (marking-menu style). 2. **Sub-radial:** for large categories (e.g. Wear with attachment points), a new radial opens centred on the category, with the parent still visible and dimmed behind it. Leaving back toward the centre collapses it. - Which mode a category uses is decided by item count or declared in XUI, not hard-coded. - **Every item reachable in at most 2 steps** from the centre. No "More", ever. If a category overflows the ring, the ring gets more segments (or two arcs), not a deeper level. ## Interaction - **Marking-menu gestures:** press-drag-release selects without waiting for the menu to draw. Experts learn directions, e.g. right-drag up-right = IM. Click-release-click also works for new users. - **Direction memory:** item angles are stable per category across target types. An item that doesn't apply is disabled in place, not removed. - **Keyboard:** number keys / first letters for categories and items. Esc backs out one level. - **Search-as-you-type** at the centre: typing filters all actions for the target into a flat list. The escape hatch for rarely used items. - **Hover tooltips** on items with the full name (labels can be short or icon-first). - Optional **recently used** row in the context slot. ## Visuals - Icon + short label per item. Scales with UI scale / font set (#193) and uses the pie font size. - Animated expand/collapse (fast, under 100 ms, respects a reduced-motion setting). - Skinnable colours through colors.xml, like the FS pie. - **GPU-friendly drawing:** one batched draw for rings/arcs through the UI renderer, not per-segment immediate-mode calls. ## Architecture - **Data-driven:** a new XUI format (`radial_*.xml`) declares categories and items, reusing the **same registered actions / enable / visible callbacks** as the context menus and the FS pie. One action registry, three front-ends that can't drift. - **One menu definition for all target types:** land, self, avatar, object, own/other attachment, HUD, particle. Categories and items are filtered by target, instead of 7 separate hand-laid pies. - **Target-type priorities** decide the context slot and the default highlight. - **Setting:** `RightClickMenuStyle` with three values: context menu / classic pie (FS) / Slipstream radial. The Firestorm pie stays for people who want it. ## Research - Marking menus (Kurtenbach & Buxton), Maya hotbox, Blender pie menus, game radial wheels (weapon/emote wheels), and the FS / V1 pie's known pain points. - Decide the category set from real usage: count which context-menu items people actually use, e.g. opt-in local usage counters. ## Done when - Every action reachable in the context menus is reachable in the radial in at most 2 steps, with no "More". - Category positions are identical for every target type. - Gesture selection works without the menu having drawn. - It's selectable in Preferences alongside the FS pie and context menus. Refs #137, #198

sky_line added this to the Slipstream project

2026-10-06 15:04:15 +00:00

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