Sort Conditions and Status Effects into columns

[M0nk3yy]

The Conditions and Status Effects are currently both sorted alphabetically and organised into rows rather than columns. If the goal of the Conditions area was to parse every condition as if reading in English, then row sorting left to right would be equally as good as vertical. However, in reality the goal of the Conditions area is to quickly scan and find the desired toggle, which favours vertical sorting. Effectively this is accomplished with columns by requiring you to move your eyes less. A common example would be a dictionary. Rather than bouncing back and forth between columns to find the desired word, you simply scan down in a straight line. Sorting through a dictionary that looked like the below would be very frustrating.

As a vertical list groups the first letters of the word close together, it requires minimal effort to scan and importantly - they are cognitively grouped together. Effectively we can interpret the beginning of each column as one entity, instead of hopping to a new word when moving along a row.

In cognitive ergonomics, the Gestalt Laws describe how we mentally see patterns in things. The Gestalt Law of Proximity describes how we mentally associate objects that are closer together into a group. Take the image below.

Generally, this image will be mentally interpreted as 6 columns of dots. There ARE of course 9 rows, but due to the spacing between vertical dots being small, we naturally mentally associate them as being grouped.

The same principle can be seen in the Conditions table. As the horizontal gap is large, it is natural to interpret them as columns first and foremost. To ensure ease of use, this should be utilized with the alphabetical sorting being in columns rather than rows.

The same principle applies to the Token HUD Status Effects window, which would benefit even though the spacing is slightly less pronounced. I do note that whilst the Status Effects do look like a table of images, they are of course still alphabetised and due to the overlap between the two areas, parity and consistency should be sought to keep things simple for the end user. It becomes much more pronounced if you have the names of the Statuses visible, but that is in the realm of modding.

An exception has been made for the "Dead" Status Effect and if that is desired then it can be left as is whilst still utilizing vertical sorting for the rest, though with this easier sorting method, perhaps the exception would not be necessary.

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed this TED talk.