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03/13/14, 08:42 PM   #1
Moonraker
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[Mac] Minion beta - General Feedback

General First Impression:

Overall the Minion Mac beta seems well though out and functions as expected with a clean and clear UI. It was responsive and 'snappy' in use and offers a lot of easily accessible detail which adds to the usability for me. The dark grey and black windows look good and main text is clear though perhaps the text is too dark overall. I did find difficulty with subtitles and detail text in legibility and some eye strain after using it for a while at my native resolution of 2560 x 1440. The font type is generally fine though it is quite light and tends to exacerbate the issue with smaller font sizes. I did like the font type used aesthetically.

For a beta product it seems pretty polished and really a welcome change from other add-on managers in which it felt a lot more polished and user-friendly if not strictly Apple-esque. There are some issues I found which have been posted separately which is to be expected in a beta product.

I do want to take the chance to applaud the decision to make a Mac version available. it is a very welcome addition to the options available, especially for ESO but I am sure for other games like WoW in the future.

Feedback:

On the Minion Help & Support page there is currently no Mac Installation guide which would be useful even though it is pretty straightforward

On the same page the Uninstall instructions are not complete for the Mac Uninstall.

Currently it reads:

Mac
Open your applications folder and drag the Minion app to your trash.
In addition the installation also adds two other items which would need to be uninstalled manually or with an app such as AppCleaner (Free);

Applications/Minion.app
~/Library/Preferences/com.zam.minion.minion.plist
~y/Library/Saved Application State/com.zam.minion.minion.savedState
In the Info.plist it gives OS X 10.7.4 as the Minimum system version. On the Mac OS X download button it shows OS X 10.8 or later. Not sure which is the accurate version.

On the Support page it reads:

When you submit your bug report, please include the following information:

Your minion#.log (located in your Documents folder under .minion).
Your minion.xml (located in your Documents folder under .minion).
A screenshot of the problem if applicable.
What operating system are you using Minion with?
There is no minion#.log or minion.xml files or any minion files in Documents on the Mac version. I could not find them anywhere else so assume they are PC specific? The only related file was a;

~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/Minion_8E4F93C1-A90A-533B-8270-4D8320B03560.plist

Not sure if would be helpful or not.

While automatically logging in the main window is blurred out which is a bit disconcerting but not a big issue. Just not used to it.

Logging in, once the initial login problem was resolved, is fast and doesn't slow access.

The interface is clean and the add-on icons clear and crisp.

On my native 2560 x 1440 the font was a little small for some of the sub titles i.e. Data Mods under Esohead. It is readable but strains my eyes after a while. I appreciate that this is not an average resolution but some way to alter font size would be nice.

Main menu is clear, simple and easy to use.

Clicking through to add-ons is responsive and the detail window contains a lot of useful detail which I liked. I would say that the Visit Website in the top right under the Instal button was very small at my resolution and barely readable.

Links to the ESOUI web site worked fine.

Clicking thumbnail images initiated a larger graphic download which took a little time but loaded fine. The problem with fullscreen shots was that the detail was so small as to make it fairly useless in previewing the add-on in action. There doesn't appear to be any way to enlarge the image from that shown when the thumbnail image is clicked. This is at 2560 x 1440.

Cklicking Esc to exit images worked fine.

Downloads seemed fast.

The Find More function was very impressive. Lots of options, fast and easy to navigate. Text again was a little small for my resolution/ eyes on detail text. Add-on titles were fine.

Minion was running at around 3.0% of CPU and did not appear to have any obvious memory issue in the short time tested. The Virtual Memory size was around 8GB which seems large but is allocated by the OS so probably not an issue. Real memory size was around 310MB.

It does seem to share a tendency with Java apps in the latest Mavericks 10.9.2 in generating 'wakeups_resource.spin' system reports after a Console message. This is related to the new feature added in the update. I found more detail on this a week ago here. They will include some general details including:
Command: Minion
Path: /Applications/Minion.app/Contents/MacOS/Minion
Version: 1.0 (100)
Parent: launchd [176]

PID: 671
Event: wakeups (microstackshots only)
Wakeups: 284 wakeups per second for 159 seconds
Duration: 159.00s
Steps: 157
They do not seem to be an issue other than the reports mount up over time and the Console messages.

I was able to alter the Path under Options to point to the PTS version and that worked fine. It wasn't clear when the path actually updates when changed. I assumed after a relaunch? The directory window was Windows-like and not so intuitive to navigate as I am used to in OS X but as I knew where to look it was only a minor inconvenience.

Could there be issues when viewing the window with a Retina display? It does seem high resolution.

It took me a little while to work out how to return to the initial Featured screen (house icon top right) after opening the other menu windows. Perhaps if the house icon was a more more opaque white or a little larger to make it more prominent.

The Build (bottom left) version number appears hexadecimal still. Just an observation.

The Minimise 'bar' and Quit X are very close together. It was quite easy to click the wrong one by mistake.

it would be nice to be able to click on an Author's name in a detail panel to go directly to their other add-ons.

There was no click-through or fast way get to the ZAM or MMOUI/ Minion web site from the main window.

Considered next to the Minion window which is has a clear and definite style with the dark colour pallet, I found the current Minion app icon not so appropriate and felt rather outdated. I can seed the attempt at humour but it felt rather too 'childlike' (Monsters Inc.?!) in comparison to the apps design. It is not immediately obvious what it represents (I can see that it is a big eye and a fang in a mouth) Initial feeling is that it doesn't do justice to the app or really reflect the purpose and nature of the app. That's my personal view.

For reference my setup;

System: iMac 27-inch, Late 2013/ 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5/ 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3/ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB/ OS X 10.9.2

Last edited by Moonraker : 03/13/14 at 09:18 PM.
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03/14/14, 12:59 PM   #2
Dolby
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The minion#.log and minion.xml are located in ~/.minion/ (your user directory ~). This is for both OSX and Windows.

Thanks for the feedback, still reading through it.

Last edited by Dolby : 03/14/14 at 01:03 PM.
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03/14/14, 01:28 PM   #3
Moonraker
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Originally Posted by Dolby View Post
The minion#.log and minion.xml are located in ~/.minion/ (your user directory ~). This is for both OSX and Windows.

Thanks for the feedback, still reading through it.
OK. The folder is hidden by default which is not very intuitive. Unless I missed something. I accessed them via Go To Folder in the menu bar.

Last edited by Moonraker : 03/14/14 at 01:32 PM.
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ESOUI » Site Forums » Minion » [Mac] Minion beta - General Feedback

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