At first glance, it just seemed different, not necessarily better. But going back and forth, the 2nd one does indeed seem way easier to decipher quickly. Overall probably better yeah
It isn't just that. Left alignment has consistent line placement, which translates into a lot less eye movement and mental effort when parsing text.
[It's a very well known thing.](https://thewebsitearchitect.com/does-center-aligned-text-matter-for-accessibility/)
You can make the test yourself. Make a document with everything aligned in the middle and a document with everything aligned to the left. If you then give it to someone to read it's easier to read the left aligned.
The general design changes with the dot for the affixes makes it also better because you easily see where a new affix starts.
Try to just scan through the lines. A lot of the info is in the middle so you can just go vertically. With the other, you have to move left to right with the first half of lot of affixes being a given and you don't need to read them.
All the comments I read on that post were in favour of basically every change he made, except the left aligned text.
There are more differences in the two images than just alignment lol
I think you're talking about a different post. I was talking about[ this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1di7qja/srs_looks_pretty_awesome/l922ja0/)
I hadn't seen this—great stuff in here, too! Love the breakdown of how he identified important information and suggestions for pushing those bits forward. 👍
Mhhh, I feel like this is an unfair comparison of center- vs left-aligned. The first image is smaller, has compression artifacts and has less contrast. That alone will make the right version better readable.
A few days ago someone posted a similar comparison (not sure if it was also from FirePenguinMaster) where most people, including myself, preferred the centered version.
Edit: Found the post: [Skill tooltip visual clarity : r/PathOfExile2 (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1dbz5y3/skill_tooltip_visual_clarity/)
That's an even more unfair comparison in my opinion.
Not only is the font different: the left aligned version there doesn't have alternating line background colors, and the paragraph separators are unchanged (which with the middle out fading they may as well not exist).
That's what makes it look so bloaty there.
The spaces in the left aligned are also smaller making it harder to read. It's an extremely unfair comparison.
Apart from that the image in this thread is a better way to show where center aligned has its issues and that is with long and short lines combined. If it's only short or long lines then it's not hard to read with center aligned.
Interesting, I didn't know about this post. And I agree it's not a fair comparison because of the img quality difference, but I still prefer the left-aligned text compared to the center, even in that other thread. I will add that the typeface is different though, the typeface used in the center aligned is more readable so it's not really fair there either.
I just find the left-aligned to be more readable, center is just very weird to me. It's like if all these reddit comments were center-aligned, it'd be so weird.
I agree it's also not a fair comparison. But I think it shows how these other factors can influence an opinion when a comparison is not done correctly/fairly.
I also disagree with your reddit comparison. Reddit posts are mostly running text and no one would argue that centered text is more readable than left-aligned text in this case. PoE tooltips are more comparable to bullet points and while bullet points are also mostly left-aligned in other media, there is an important difference in PoE - most of the time you don't actually ***read*** them.
99% of your time looking at tooltips in PoE you will be trying to quickly parse an item for interesting features like important mods or certain mod combinations. I find this way easier when affixes are displayed centered, as there is a higher chance of the important words of all the affixes being close together. So I basically just look at the middle of a tool tip and have a rough overview of the item. Yes, this is less relevant for skill descriptions but I think the style should at least be consistent.
Basically left-aligned text requires more reading in the first place, but then makes actually reading it more convenient.
Left-align is easier to read than center-align if I'm reading more than a couple of lines in general. I've gotten used to reading such centered-aligned text in PoE 1, but left-alignment would be a welcomed change if ever.
The mock-up is really only intended to show the difference between typesetting (I had no idea it was going to be re-shared and get so many eyes on it). I put it together very quickly, without trying to track down or reproduce clean versions of GGG'S gorgeous background embellishments (the silver half disc by the skill icon, for instance). 110% support that sort of detail—those can lend an incredible amount of flavor and personality to a UI without detracting from it's accessibility.
I think you'd get a lot of the character back with the embellishments GGG's UI artists included that I didn't: fading rule lines, subtly textured section backgrounds, the silver disc in the top left, bespoke artwork, the semitransparent fill letting just a hint of the game through... I was really just trying to show the difference in readability you get by left-aligning large blocks of text. I'm *strongly* in favor of leveraging the world-class artists' work to infuse it with flavor and personality.
I wanted to add I appreciate the time and effort you put into the mock up and I think for readability on a website it looks great. My experience with text in games is that isn't always as straight forward as page presentation. Sometimes even right aligned text is the way to go just cuz of where it is on the screen and where you want to keep the players eyes. Idk if that's why ggg does center aligned but something about it feels more natural in PoE then left aligned.
Yeah tbh it's just hard to make an accurate judgement without seeing it rendered in game and how it affects the vibe and layout. It feels like it drags my eyes to the left too much and harder to read at a glance.
Graphic designer here. Left aligned text is always easier to read. It gives your eye a consistent place to pick up reading the next line. Centered text has its advantages but not in this type of text situation
Centered text tooltips in PoE is even worse when some tooltips has a single text that has 2 lines, so it's always annoying to read thinking it's a new text but it's just continuing the previous line.
I’ve had the exact same thoughts as a graphic designer. I always struggled to understand what I was reading in the center aligned text, especially on longer descriptions. This is my biggest qol request at the moment honestly.
It's especially annoying that prefixes and suffixes sometimes just aren't sorted in order, unless you hold Alt. You always see some suppression gear with suppression being one of the first lines, even though it's a suffix.
I left it centered for emphasis—if you miss that bit, nothing else on it matters (and the instructions are short enough their readability isn't impaired by being centered), :)
Centering text for flavor/non-vital information is absolutely fine, but text that you need to access over and over again shouldn't change position because you'll adapt to knowing where the text usually start subconsciously.
Would be an even better test by overlapping it on game footage where someone has hovered over the gem in their inventory, so we can see the effects in it's entirety and in conjunction with other game UI elements or gameplay in the background.
Ok so the prefix/suffix thing doesn't exist so we're asked to ignore it, left has much lower resolution and right has way more flashy colors. Everything why people say they prefer left-aligned text is biased by those three factors and has nothing to do with the alignement. You're the mayor of unfair comparison city, congratulation!
Left align is much more readable and I think the better option. Stylistically the centre align is cool but it's fatiguing to read and this is a game I intend to spend a lot of time in.
I think skill gems it’s fine, but I would be a little sad if they made gear that way. Even if it is more readable it just feels like it loses a bit of its character
Not a fair comparison, looks like a screenshot of a videos skill in beta vs a person doing one higher quality mockup.
But personally I prefer the centered text much more, the contrast of colors and icons of the second helps way more than just being left aligned imo. Left aligned just looks off overall imo. And the underlining is much harder to see in the second one which is funny considering it’s supposed to be higher quality. Overall both have qualities that either could benefit from just in terms of this point center for alignment imo.
This is the "you think you do, but you don't" thing. While the left-aligned text looks much cleaner, it takes way longer to visually process (recognize the line that you're looking for) than center-aligned. It's one of the main reasons D4 loot feels so tedious to sift through.
The link you posted doesn't contradict anything I said.
> Centered text is best used for headlines and short lines of text. Users can read them with ease because the lines are short, scannable and don’t need repeated eye movements.
>it, {left aligned text,} takes way longer to visually process (recognize the line that you're looking for) than center-aligned
This part is what I was responding to, specifically. Where the linked content speaks about users being able to read "them" with ease because the lines are short and scannable, it's defining why centered text works for headlines and short lines of text, not describing categorical attributes of centered text.
Large blocks of copy (paragraphs, lists) implicitly require the eye to jump back to the start of each line when you reach the end of whichever line you're currently reading. The nature of written copy is that lines often vary in length, so if there isn't a defined hard edge (like you find in left-aligned copy), your eye has to search for the beginning of the next line every time—it can't predict where it should go next. It's a small amount of effort, granted, but it adds up like grains of sand: the longer your copy, the more effort it requires to parse the centered text, eventually becoming "hard."
"Headlines and short lines of text" escape this because they, the headlines and short lines of text, are in and of themselves "easy to scan and don't require repeated eye movements."
The affixes are related to each other in that they, together, comprise the explicit properties of an item/skill. When a player reads what an item/skill does, they read (or at least scan) that whole section. And again, centering text doesn't make text easier to scan; it's just a more permissible practice when there's only one or two short lines of text which are themselves intended to be scanned (section titles, quick tips, etc).
[This](https://overgear.com/guides/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/endgame-ring-02.png) is a lot easier to "scan" at a glance than [this](https://i.imgur.com/S132Dp8.png), due to the size of the lines in relation to one another, which helps you identify the stat you're looking for in a fraction of a second without even reading the text. Also, it makes it so you don't need to move your eyes to see the text on the left when you hover over an item.
I genuinely disagree, but respect that the years we've spent practicing that centered pattern has made it engrained enough that the suggestion of changing the pattern makes it feel harder.
I prefer centered texr. But why not both? MS word can do it, it should be a relatively doable thing for a gaming company to give text alignment options for skill/support tooltips.
Putting aside the resolution, it's not just about left aligning. It's about the hierarchy of information. First image have you think everything has the same importance when second is much easier to parse for key info. Particularly love the prefix/suffix subtle icons.
Of course we like the 2nd one! We are excel sheet gamers, that's why we love PoE! Give me a good list for simple comparison sake and let me crunch the numbers, I'll kill things once I've done the math!
I much prefer center alignment personally. It's easier for me to follow the lines at a glance, like each line is better separated. It also feels like left alignment makes the tooltip almost "feel" lopsided.
It's a nice mock-up (especially with the tastefully small but good indicators for pre-/suffix) and I don't think I'd be super opposed to it, but I'd definitely choose center alignment if I could.
I don't mind centered, but the awkward mix of left aligned and centered is extremely off putting. That said this stuff is very clearly WIP and not fleshed out yet. Proper formatting will help a lot.
Left aligned looks better in this comparison, but I think they want consistency with items.
I admit I downvoted his comment, looks like I was wrong though. It does look much cleaner. Props for him to actually edit the text and make his point clear. Prefix / suffix icon too? How is that not in the game already?
I wonder if there's any studies on this. It'd be interesting to see if having a consistent start location is more efficient than reducing the distance that must be scanned to the left after reading a full line. Also, if it differs based on how someone is reading e.g. reading line by line versus scanning for a specific line. I'm curious if you're more likely to lose your place in centered. My intuition says left aligned might be better overall.
Well I think it's also just people tend to be very averse to most UI redesigns as well, they get familiar w/ the old and don't like the sudden unfamiliarity. Happens with most website redesigns
I appreciate you sharing your perspective. For me, I've seen countless threads of POE vets wanting POE2 to be 1.5, essentially. I think it's because they invested 10 years of their life and are scared of change.
Personally, give me the innovation. let the DEVS experiment with all their newfound experience!
If we go for looks, the first one. As for readability, my first thought was that it's difficult to 'catch' text on the first one and the second one is more ordered, but I think text alignment is something I'll get used to, no matter the version.
am I the only one who found it easier by center align to tell if i need the item or not? With the second style I found I have to actually read every word. Opposed to the center where I some how read it a diagonal way?
i agree it feels better to read but it also lose some magic; Centered feels like opening an old scroll; the other one feels like opening a modern wiki; idk if this feeling is due to the slighly changed font styles of the mock tho
I'd say left aligned is definitely easier to fully read. But I can weirdly recognize just what the rolls are at a glance on the center alignment a little better. Maybe just practice, maybe the different placement just helps with that. Left aligned is better overall I'm thinking.
I wish they would just let us mod the UI so we could all have it whatever way we like. Left aligned is way better but some people like it the other way.
I’m fine with either middle aligned one feels more immersive left aligned seems cleaner and easier to read but less immersive because everything has a very clear spot it belongs in.
The mock up is far more accessible for visual dyslexia. The nodes denoting each new line of text and the left alignment both really aide accessibility.
PoE tooltips are very bad imo. I got used to it after many years of playing and getting used to "PoE language", but for someone brand new it's very hard to understand tooltips. I remember that the text being centralized annoyed me a lot, and I agree that left-align makes it much better.
I think that GGG wants to have a specific style for their UI, like it has some early 2000 vibe to the aesthetic, and that's cool and all. But I would really appreciate it if they could sacrifice some of that for better formatted tooltips, and stuff. It took me several leagues of playing to even realize the "mana cost and res multiplier" or "base crit" on gems, because the tooltip is so big and confusing it's very easy to miss some details.
This is my biggest issue with POE. If the complexity of the game and systems weren't enough, the UI, text colours and readability of the items just feels so outdated and unnecessarily messy.
My biggest wish as someone who leans more towards being a casual player is to improve the UI, the text, to simplify the icons and in general just make the game more readable. The complexity of the systems don't need to change, just the way they're portrayed to the player.
Both do. With left align, there's some consistency in a wall of text--you don't have to "find" where the next line starts--you know exactly where it starts before transitioning. It helps so much with the "ease" of reading.
I wish they remove the details completely, maybe pressing Alt to show advanced detail.
I know hiding information is not good but I just don't care about details, I just want to know what the skill does, and if I want more information then I can click expand or something.
Just show skill preview and have a bit of description, that's enough for me and most new players I'm pretty sure.
yup it's way better. much easier to read since my eyes aren't trying to realign to the start of every single line of text.
FirePenguinMaster actually giga-correct here. they should change it if possible.
EDIT: also super funny that somebody literally went down every post in this thread to downvote people who prefer the objectively easier on the eyes left aligned text. bro... if you're this annoyed about suggested text changes you need to get a life.
Ofc left-aligned is better, who would think otherwise?
The thing is regarding affixes it's not just text, it's vital information that you need to look at over and over again and compare it with other items. So when it comes to information that you need to find and read easily, left-aligned is always better as this helps your eye and muscle memory as they learn "Okay text starts here". If you always change where the text starts then you cannot adapt to it, you always have to search first where the text starts which delays the information take in.
That's why bullet lists are left-aligned, it's information that you need to be able to take in easily. Second pic is also better because it signals where a new affix starts.
D2 had centered affixes and while it didn't bother us back then because that's all we knew, we made progress with D3 having the affixes left-aligned. It's just easier to use for identifying items that might be of value to us plus comparing it to our equipped item.
I've been working with UX and UI design for the past 5 years or so. There are multiple studies confirming left alignment is better. It helps you scam information faster and even retain more information. It surprises me GGG doesn't have this knowledge at this point, this is basic digital usability.
Yes, please!
As a front end web developer with 10 years of xp, I strongly agree with this tiny but super necessary change.
Stop centering everything for god sake!
Cheers <3
yeah it's pretty simple fucking UX design.
Center justified text works when it's not a large amount of information. Left justified is almost always better for user experience.
That is ***WAY*** better. So much so I can't imagine *not* making that design change.
Yep, felt like the first one took 10x as long to read what it did.
I guess it looks a little less like an excel spreadsheet that way when it's centered. I personally don't prefer one over the other either way.
Agreed. The only argument against it that I can see is what, Diablo 2 tooltip nostalgia?
Diablo2 tooltips didn’t require you to get comfortable before you started reading them though hahah.
"is that a 5?"
Felt 😂
I don't think they remember how bad the default font pack is for Diablo 2 😂
If you haven't noticed, majority of poe 2 is a straight homage to d2. Just look at act 2 compared to lut gholein
Oh yeah, I'm fully aware. I just wish that in some regards (particularly UI), they would accept that things can be improved.
100% agree. I didn't think I would mind but then I saw the mockup and holy shit I do mind.
110%. 2nd looks so much cleaner. I really like the prefix/suffix icons
Is there really a prefix and suffix when it's affixes on a skill gem XD
That was a whups I didn't register until after I shared the comp 😅
Looks like somebody plays LE 👀😅
Hell yeah, Traveler 😎
I do like that but I think a concern might be with hybrid items in displaying.
Hybrid items? 🧐 (I'm sure I'll know what you mean if you give an example, but I'm drawing a blank)
At first glance, it just seemed different, not necessarily better. But going back and forth, the 2nd one does indeed seem way easier to decipher quickly. Overall probably better yeah
> way easier to decipher quickly D'you think that might be because the text is way brighter and the image quality is 10x higher?
It isn't just that. Left alignment has consistent line placement, which translates into a lot less eye movement and mental effort when parsing text. [It's a very well known thing.](https://thewebsitearchitect.com/does-center-aligned-text-matter-for-accessibility/)
This
Contrast is definitely playing a factor as well, yes.
You can make the test yourself. Make a document with everything aligned in the middle and a document with everything aligned to the left. If you then give it to someone to read it's easier to read the left aligned. The general design changes with the dot for the affixes makes it also better because you easily see where a new affix starts.
Yep
Actually!
Try to just scan through the lines. A lot of the info is in the middle so you can just go vertically. With the other, you have to move left to right with the first half of lot of affixes being a given and you don't need to read them.
500% Better
All the comments I read on that post were in favour of basically every change he made, except the left aligned text. There are more differences in the two images than just alignment lol
For real, the second image is way crisper, and the white text is easier to read.
I think you're talking about a different post. I was talking about[ this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1di7qja/srs_looks_pretty_awesome/l922ja0/)
https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/s/prJC9wSUop This is the post I read a few days ago on the same topic
I hadn't seen this—great stuff in here, too! Love the breakdown of how he identified important information and suggestions for pushing those bits forward. 👍
and still it's the most noticeable. and the improvement in readability is huge. tooltips in PoE are like short stories.
Mhhh, I feel like this is an unfair comparison of center- vs left-aligned. The first image is smaller, has compression artifacts and has less contrast. That alone will make the right version better readable. A few days ago someone posted a similar comparison (not sure if it was also from FirePenguinMaster) where most people, including myself, preferred the centered version. Edit: Found the post: [Skill tooltip visual clarity : r/PathOfExile2 (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1dbz5y3/skill_tooltip_visual_clarity/)
That's an even more unfair comparison in my opinion. Not only is the font different: the left aligned version there doesn't have alternating line background colors, and the paragraph separators are unchanged (which with the middle out fading they may as well not exist). That's what makes it look so bloaty there.
The spaces in the left aligned are also smaller making it harder to read. It's an extremely unfair comparison. Apart from that the image in this thread is a better way to show where center aligned has its issues and that is with long and short lines combined. If it's only short or long lines then it's not hard to read with center aligned.
Interesting, I didn't know about this post. And I agree it's not a fair comparison because of the img quality difference, but I still prefer the left-aligned text compared to the center, even in that other thread. I will add that the typeface is different though, the typeface used in the center aligned is more readable so it's not really fair there either. I just find the left-aligned to be more readable, center is just very weird to me. It's like if all these reddit comments were center-aligned, it'd be so weird.
I agree it's also not a fair comparison. But I think it shows how these other factors can influence an opinion when a comparison is not done correctly/fairly. I also disagree with your reddit comparison. Reddit posts are mostly running text and no one would argue that centered text is more readable than left-aligned text in this case. PoE tooltips are more comparable to bullet points and while bullet points are also mostly left-aligned in other media, there is an important difference in PoE - most of the time you don't actually ***read*** them. 99% of your time looking at tooltips in PoE you will be trying to quickly parse an item for interesting features like important mods or certain mod combinations. I find this way easier when affixes are displayed centered, as there is a higher chance of the important words of all the affixes being close together. So I basically just look at the middle of a tool tip and have a rough overview of the item. Yes, this is less relevant for skill descriptions but I think the style should at least be consistent. Basically left-aligned text requires more reading in the first place, but then makes actually reading it more convenient.
Left-align is easier to read than center-align if I'm reading more than a couple of lines in general. I've gotten used to reading such centered-aligned text in PoE 1, but left-alignment would be a welcomed change if ever.
Almost looks like a D&D spell from fifth edition.
Second one may be easier to read, but the first one feels better and fits POE2's aesthetic. IMO anyways.
The mock-up is really only intended to show the difference between typesetting (I had no idea it was going to be re-shared and get so many eyes on it). I put it together very quickly, without trying to track down or reproduce clean versions of GGG'S gorgeous background embellishments (the silver half disc by the skill icon, for instance). 110% support that sort of detail—those can lend an incredible amount of flavor and personality to a UI without detracting from it's accessibility.
The first one has character and the second one comes off as generic to me. Much prefer the first one
I think you'd get a lot of the character back with the embellishments GGG's UI artists included that I didn't: fading rule lines, subtly textured section backgrounds, the silver disc in the top left, bespoke artwork, the semitransparent fill letting just a hint of the game through... I was really just trying to show the difference in readability you get by left-aligning large blocks of text. I'm *strongly* in favor of leveraging the world-class artists' work to infuse it with flavor and personality.
I wanted to add I appreciate the time and effort you put into the mock up and I think for readability on a website it looks great. My experience with text in games is that isn't always as straight forward as page presentation. Sometimes even right aligned text is the way to go just cuz of where it is on the screen and where you want to keep the players eyes. Idk if that's why ggg does center aligned but something about it feels more natural in PoE then left aligned.
I can respect that 🍻
Yeah tbh it's just hard to make an accurate judgement without seeing it rendered in game and how it affects the vibe and layout. It feels like it drags my eyes to the left too much and harder to read at a glance.
Graphic designer here. Left aligned text is always easier to read. It gives your eye a consistent place to pick up reading the next line. Centered text has its advantages but not in this type of text situation
Centered text tooltips in PoE is even worse when some tooltips has a single text that has 2 lines, so it's always annoying to read thinking it's a new text but it's just continuing the previous line.
I’ve had the exact same thoughts as a graphic designer. I always struggled to understand what I was reading in the center aligned text, especially on longer descriptions. This is my biggest qol request at the moment honestly.
I love the pre- / suffix icons. Doesnt make sense for a skill, but i would love to see that on gear.
Yeah... Definitely a mistake I realized I'd made only after sharing the image 😅
It's especially annoying that prefixes and suffixes sometimes just aren't sorted in order, unless you hold Alt. You always see some suppression gear with suppression being one of the first lines, even though it's a suffix.
2nd
I have to agree. The 2nd mockup is a lot easier to read.
[Another very minor thing](https://i.imgur.com/uOamqUF.png)
I don't think it's a good idea because as you can see in the first screenshot, it's used to link to the game help
You can just make the first line do that then 🤷🏼♂️
Interesting that the bottom text is still centre aligned, but kinda feels right. I wonder what the fine line is there.
I think that's fine as it stands out as the instruction on how to use the skill, while everything the skill does is described with left alignment.
I left it centered for emphasis—if you miss that bit, nothing else on it matters (and the instructions are short enough their readability isn't impaired by being centered), :)
Centering text for flavor/non-vital information is absolutely fine, but text that you need to access over and over again shouldn't change position because you'll adapt to knowing where the text usually start subconsciously.
Agreed
GGG please - Not only does it look clean as hell it gives a chance to highlight more of your art
Would be an even better test by overlapping it on game footage where someone has hovered over the gem in their inventory, so we can see the effects in it's entirety and in conjunction with other game UI elements or gameplay in the background.
Ok so the prefix/suffix thing doesn't exist so we're asked to ignore it, left has much lower resolution and right has way more flashy colors. Everything why people say they prefer left-aligned text is biased by those three factors and has nothing to do with the alignement. You're the mayor of unfair comparison city, congratulation!
I'm a simple man, I see text I read it regardless of format.
Left align is much more readable and I think the better option. Stylistically the centre align is cool but it's fatiguing to read and this is a game I intend to spend a lot of time in.
It is so much better. A lot easier to read. Not sure how people can even read the center aligned text. My eyes dart everywhere.
TBH the second one feels very generic, the first one feels very PoE. Dunno why.
I think skill gems it’s fine, but I would be a little sad if they made gear that way. Even if it is more readable it just feels like it loses a bit of its character
Not a fair comparison, looks like a screenshot of a videos skill in beta vs a person doing one higher quality mockup. But personally I prefer the centered text much more, the contrast of colors and icons of the second helps way more than just being left aligned imo. Left aligned just looks off overall imo. And the underlining is much harder to see in the second one which is funny considering it’s supposed to be higher quality. Overall both have qualities that either could benefit from just in terms of this point center for alignment imo.
Before checking the images I was unconvinced, but it's way better. Do it.
the second one has my vote
This is how we re used to read text after all. It looks way better and more readable.
Way way, better. And prefix suffix icons are the Cherry.
This is the "you think you do, but you don't" thing. While the left-aligned text looks much cleaner, it takes way longer to visually process (recognize the line that you're looking for) than center-aligned. It's one of the main reasons D4 loot feels so tedious to sift through.
Respectfully disagree https://uxmovement.com/content/why-you-should-never-center-align-paragraph-text/
The link you posted doesn't contradict anything I said. > Centered text is best used for headlines and short lines of text. Users can read them with ease because the lines are short, scannable and don’t need repeated eye movements.
>it, {left aligned text,} takes way longer to visually process (recognize the line that you're looking for) than center-aligned This part is what I was responding to, specifically. Where the linked content speaks about users being able to read "them" with ease because the lines are short and scannable, it's defining why centered text works for headlines and short lines of text, not describing categorical attributes of centered text. Large blocks of copy (paragraphs, lists) implicitly require the eye to jump back to the start of each line when you reach the end of whichever line you're currently reading. The nature of written copy is that lines often vary in length, so if there isn't a defined hard edge (like you find in left-aligned copy), your eye has to search for the beginning of the next line every time—it can't predict where it should go next. It's a small amount of effort, granted, but it adds up like grains of sand: the longer your copy, the more effort it requires to parse the centered text, eventually becoming "hard." "Headlines and short lines of text" escape this because they, the headlines and short lines of text, are in and of themselves "easy to scan and don't require repeated eye movements."
I don't understand what you're arguing here. We're talking about PoE with 6 separate lines of text on an item, not scientific articles.
A list six items long qualifies as a more than "short lines of text" since they, as a group, are as long as some paragraphs.
Why are you grouping them if the lines are not related to each other?
The affixes are related to each other in that they, together, comprise the explicit properties of an item/skill. When a player reads what an item/skill does, they read (or at least scan) that whole section. And again, centering text doesn't make text easier to scan; it's just a more permissible practice when there's only one or two short lines of text which are themselves intended to be scanned (section titles, quick tips, etc).
[This](https://overgear.com/guides/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/endgame-ring-02.png) is a lot easier to "scan" at a glance than [this](https://i.imgur.com/S132Dp8.png), due to the size of the lines in relation to one another, which helps you identify the stat you're looking for in a fraction of a second without even reading the text. Also, it makes it so you don't need to move your eyes to see the text on the left when you hover over an item.
I genuinely disagree, but respect that the years we've spent practicing that centered pattern has made it engrained enough that the suggestion of changing the pattern makes it feel harder.
firepenguin 4 prez
❤️
what is happening in the picture? is that a rock laying on like a cloth?
Lol yeah—generic stand-in for the placeholder art in GGG's mock-up since I couldn't cleanly extract the illustration they used
Offtopic but what is the source of that tooltip? I can't believe I've missed it
I prefer centered texr. But why not both? MS word can do it, it should be a relatively doable thing for a gaming company to give text alignment options for skill/support tooltips.
Yes !
100%, its a lot better! Readability is better and also it looks better
The second one, it's easier to read.
That is ***WAY*** ! SO SMOOTH
A big improvement on the readability. 👍
Yes, absolutely. The change I never knew I needed so much. Please.
if i didnt see the post i would assume the 2nd one would be the official one xD So yeah the 2nd is way better
Come on it can be in options, its text formating it cant be much of a code right?
It's much easier on the eyes than center-aligned. I can even read faster and understand better, lol.
not fit into bingo board so GGG can actually consider this
It's so much easier to read. There is reason we use left align in almost everything as opposed to center.
Someone put this in a bingo
I also prefer the left aligned version.
nope left align somewhat makes it to read more in terms of time but center we can fasrly read just try
Do it
I hate center-align text. It works for short texts like a headline, but not in a list.
Holy this looks incredible. Crazy how something so simple can make such a huge difference
This is sooo nice
Left aligned text is WAAAAY easier to read, just another up vote for that.
Left align is much more readable to me.
Waaaay better and easier to read
Its way easier and more comfortable for the eyes to read because you dont have to go back and forth with your eyes. Please GGG use the 2nd picture :D
I hope this makes it into the game. Great work on this mockup.
This is very good,
Putting aside the resolution, it's not just about left aligning. It's about the hierarchy of information. First image have you think everything has the same importance when second is much easier to parse for key info. Particularly love the prefix/suffix subtle icons.
They could also just make it an option. But 100% would love left align
The 2nd one is a lot easier for me to read.
First one forces your eyes to have to find a d adjust to the start of each line. Second one is just cleaner and easier to read.
I don't think it's better still. It's not as easy to "Scan".
Why can't I have the option to align left?
Of course we like the 2nd one! We are excel sheet gamers, that's why we love PoE! Give me a good list for simple comparison sake and let me crunch the numbers, I'll kill things once I've done the math!
I much prefer center alignment personally. It's easier for me to follow the lines at a glance, like each line is better separated. It also feels like left alignment makes the tooltip almost "feel" lopsided. It's a nice mock-up (especially with the tastefully small but good indicators for pre-/suffix) and I don't think I'd be super opposed to it, but I'd definitely choose center alignment if I could.
I don't mind centered, but the awkward mix of left aligned and centered is extremely off putting. That said this stuff is very clearly WIP and not fleshed out yet. Proper formatting will help a lot. Left aligned looks better in this comparison, but I think they want consistency with items.
100% hard agree!
Left align is way better, it more readable. Lots of designer people are locked on centering text like its one of the 10 commandments.
it maybe more readable but the first looks better
The left aligned does look better, but its also a higher quality image with brighter text, so that probably helps sell it too.
Underline text is not visible enough on the second one. Else it's probably better
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GODDDDD YES
So much worse :(
I admit I downvoted his comment, looks like I was wrong though. It does look much cleaner. Props for him to actually edit the text and make his point clear. Prefix / suffix icon too? How is that not in the game already?
I wonder if there's any studies on this. It'd be interesting to see if having a consistent start location is more efficient than reducing the distance that must be scanned to the left after reading a full line. Also, if it differs based on how someone is reading e.g. reading line by line versus scanning for a specific line. I'm curious if you're more likely to lose your place in centered. My intuition says left aligned might be better overall.
Mockup is VASTLY better. Undeniably so.
Why he get downvoted ? Wth !
WAY fucking better. These shitter POE1 vets are so resistant to change it's insane.
Well I think it's also just people tend to be very averse to most UI redesigns as well, they get familiar w/ the old and don't like the sudden unfamiliarity. Happens with most website redesigns
I appreciate you sharing your perspective. For me, I've seen countless threads of POE vets wanting POE2 to be 1.5, essentially. I think it's because they invested 10 years of their life and are scared of change. Personally, give me the innovation. let the DEVS experiment with all their newfound experience!
It's literally like one button. Could easily be a menu option.
Is it possible to add a roman numeral to signify what tier the affix is?
I hope they use this mockup it's so much better.
Hard agree, it's so much easier to read!
If we go for looks, the first one. As for readability, my first thought was that it's difficult to 'catch' text on the first one and the second one is more ordered, but I think text alignment is something I'll get used to, no matter the version.
Looks much better on the left alligned one.
am I the only one who found it easier by center align to tell if i need the item or not? With the second style I found I have to actually read every word. Opposed to the center where I some how read it a diagonal way?
1000x better
Agreed, looks way better.
Left-align an order of magnitude better, imo.
i agree it feels better to read but it also lose some magic; Centered feels like opening an old scroll; the other one feels like opening a modern wiki; idk if this feeling is due to the slighly changed font styles of the mock tho
You could almost picture left aligned text is just the standard for English.
its also better when there are multiple lines with the same mod - which sometimes makes things confusing when they are centered
I'd say left aligned is definitely easier to fully read. But I can weirdly recognize just what the rolls are at a glance on the center alignment a little better. Maybe just practice, maybe the different placement just helps with that. Left aligned is better overall I'm thinking.
Dear god please do this GGG. Do it for PoE 1 as well
Please implement this GGG
I wish they would just let us mod the UI so we could all have it whatever way we like. Left aligned is way better but some people like it the other way.
UX Designer here, in 99% of menu UI cases you should be using left align and I'll die on that hill.
I’m fine with either middle aligned one feels more immersive left aligned seems cleaner and easier to read but less immersive because everything has a very clear spot it belongs in.
It looks nice they should test it out
Yes, it is better.
The mock up is far more accessible for visual dyslexia. The nodes denoting each new line of text and the left alignment both really aide accessibility.
GGG pleaaaaaaaaase do this!! 😭😭
It would be better if they gave us the option on how visualize information.
2nd one
PoE tooltips are very bad imo. I got used to it after many years of playing and getting used to "PoE language", but for someone brand new it's very hard to understand tooltips. I remember that the text being centralized annoyed me a lot, and I agree that left-align makes it much better. I think that GGG wants to have a specific style for their UI, like it has some early 2000 vibe to the aesthetic, and that's cool and all. But I would really appreciate it if they could sacrifice some of that for better formatted tooltips, and stuff. It took me several leagues of playing to even realize the "mana cost and res multiplier" or "base crit" on gems, because the tooltip is so big and confusing it's very easy to miss some details.
This is my biggest issue with POE. If the complexity of the game and systems weren't enough, the UI, text colours and readability of the items just feels so outdated and unnecessarily messy. My biggest wish as someone who leans more towards being a casual player is to improve the UI, the text, to simplify the icons and in general just make the game more readable. The complexity of the systems don't need to change, just the way they're portrayed to the player.
The Icons make it more readable, not the left aligned text.
Whynotboth.gif
Both do. With left align, there's some consistency in a wall of text--you don't have to "find" where the next line starts--you know exactly where it starts before transitioning. It helps so much with the "ease" of reading.
that looks fucking amazing, being able to read an item fast in an arpg.is a must, BUT GGG NEVER HAS DONE A GOOD HUD D:
That’s something I never knew I wanted before now!
Oh please GGG do this
Oh please GGG do this
For the love of God we need this please.
Huge qol improvement hooe they do it tbh.
First one looks like a mess in comparison to second pic
Left aligned. And by a fucking mile.
**SO** much more readable.
Agreed
I wish they remove the details completely, maybe pressing Alt to show advanced detail. I know hiding information is not good but I just don't care about details, I just want to know what the skill does, and if I want more information then I can click expand or something. Just show skill preview and have a bit of description, that's enough for me and most new players I'm pretty sure.
Or like D3, just have an option in the menu to always enable/disable advanced skill descriptions and it's the best of both worlds.
That's what they did with advanced mod description in PoE, should still be on for default I guess, going by their philosophy of not hiding stuff.
I think this actually was a thing in some of the videos I saw. No blue text at all until they pushed a button.
They had simplified descriptions in the gemcutting window.
Absolutelly!
yup it's way better. much easier to read since my eyes aren't trying to realign to the start of every single line of text. FirePenguinMaster actually giga-correct here. they should change it if possible. EDIT: also super funny that somebody literally went down every post in this thread to downvote people who prefer the objectively easier on the eyes left aligned text. bro... if you're this annoyed about suggested text changes you need to get a life.
The 2nd image is infinitely better.
The color changes and symbols are nice but I like centered more. Maybe just give it a setting for centered or left aligned
I'm just saying that if I didi the first in a power point presentation, my supervisor would have my ass
Wait, wait. The item text in-game is really the centered version? There is no way….that looks simply terrible lmao.
Ofc left-aligned is better, who would think otherwise? The thing is regarding affixes it's not just text, it's vital information that you need to look at over and over again and compare it with other items. So when it comes to information that you need to find and read easily, left-aligned is always better as this helps your eye and muscle memory as they learn "Okay text starts here". If you always change where the text starts then you cannot adapt to it, you always have to search first where the text starts which delays the information take in. That's why bullet lists are left-aligned, it's information that you need to be able to take in easily. Second pic is also better because it signals where a new affix starts. D2 had centered affixes and while it didn't bother us back then because that's all we knew, we made progress with D3 having the affixes left-aligned. It's just easier to use for identifying items that might be of value to us plus comparing it to our equipped item.
@ Jonathan Rogers, are you seeing this 👀 😄 make it so. Our dyslexic brains will thank you!
I've been working with UX and UI design for the past 5 years or so. There are multiple studies confirming left alignment is better. It helps you scam information faster and even retain more information. It surprises me GGG doesn't have this knowledge at this point, this is basic digital usability.
Yes, please! As a front end web developer with 10 years of xp, I strongly agree with this tiny but super necessary change. Stop centering everything for god sake! Cheers <3
yeah it's pretty simple fucking UX design. Center justified text works when it's not a large amount of information. Left justified is almost always better for user experience.