Make the collision group editor better

As a Roblox developer it is currently a UX nightmare to use the collision groups editor.

When I opened the collision group editor earlier, I had no idea what I was looking at. I wasn’t sure how to add new collision groups, which is one of the core features, and there’s no confirmation that most of the buttons do what I think they do (only three of the five interface buttons have tooltips and collision groups are inherently non-visible things).

While this feature request is more generally “please improve the collision groups editor”, I feel like focus needs to be put on the process for adding collision groups.

While I was writing this post, I asked three people (two Roblox devs and one family member) what button they thought it was to a collision group and got these answers:

  • “At a glance, the big plus sign, but at a second glance the add group button” (via @Autterfly)
  • “The add group button?” (via @aaaaaaaaaaaaalice)
  • “Probably the add group button at the bottom” (my sister)

The consistency is nice, except that every single one of them is wrong. The “add group” button is a textbox and not a button.

For anyone not familiar, you have to type a name for a collision group into the text box and then press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard. There’s no mouse button to add a new group at all.

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Also the textbox is right-aligned for some reason.

Once you add a new group, the UI becomes a bit more intuitive, but the first hurdle is a very big one, and it’s still not immediately obvious what does what.

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The trashcan, pencil/paper icon, and plus button all have tooltips, which is great. I can guesswork my way into knowing what everything else does, but I would prefer to not have to. Please give the collision group editor a facelift, even if it’s just giving the remaining UI tooltips and improving the flow for adding new collision groups. I’d like to know what I’m doing when I open a widget.

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