Forums » Suggestions

Sell Display in Commerce/Cargo

May 26, 2006 Dihelical Synthesis link
I think it's rather unintuitive...

Here's a breakdown of what it is now:

You have the current sell price first as a number in green or red, and then in parentheses, you have the price you bought it for. If the price you bought it for, is more than the sell price, then the sell price is red, and if it's less, then the sell price is green. So if you have a unit of lux that you bought for 1140 somewhere, and can sell for 3140 on location, it would read "3140 (1140)" with 3140 in green

Now first off, I don't need a red or green coloring of the left number to tell me if it's bigger than the right number, and I'd like to think that most if not all VO players are capable of that level of simple math (><?).

Secondly, red or green indicates profit or loss, so intuitively, so shouldn't the number that is colored that way?

Parentheses usually indicate profit ot loss (typically loss)... that's kinda confusing. Every time I look at 3140 in green, I instinctively think that I'm making a profit of 3140, and then I have a double-take when it's the OTHER number in parentheses, and confusion only gets worse from there until I work out how exactly VO is displaying these numbers.

So here's what I suggest:

Have it display the sell price first (in white), and then in parentheses after the sell price, have it show the profit/loss (based on the initial purchase price, and tinted red/green to indicate which) When SELECTED, the info panel would show the initial purchase price, in case you actually care and are too lazy to do the math. Since profit/loss is naturally more useful than the initial purchase price when selling, then it's natural it be easier to determine when selling. So if you have a unit of lux that you bought for 1140 somewhere, and can sell for 3140 on location, it would read "3140 (2000)" with 2000 in green. To make it even MORE intuitive, you could make it left-aligned, so the actual sell prices line up neatly.
May 27, 2006 incarnate link
Noted, I'll take that into account when I redo those interfaces.
May 27, 2006 LostCommander link
Sounds excellent. Thank you very much.
May 28, 2006 TRS link
The format as currently presented 1234(567) is contextually correct.

Sometimes negitive numbers are represented by parens. 1234(567) means 1234 and negitive 567. The 567 is negitive in the context that it is in contrast to the selling price.

What you are asking for is a profit field.