That is true. They would be a lot easier to select from a list. But shiny > usability

You keep using that word, i do not think it means what you think it means.

My only issue is that I'm on the PC and the UI is terrible there. It's like at times the system doesn't know where my mouse curser is. Add to that using the wrong soul gem to recharge an item, selecting the wrong dialog, etc. I've had to reload more due to bad UI than anything else in this game.

I don't mind it looking like a spreadsheet, if it works. On the PC the UI is totally whack.

I do, but i use it as a shorthand way of saying design that looks good but is clumsy to use

That's because, unfortunately, Skyrim's UI was designed first for the consoles, then ported to the PC. That's why the PC UI is so damn clunky.

I'm so glad this place don't constantly complain, ever heard of 'Mordor' or EAUK.
I think the menus and everything is great. I do think magic (without enchanted armour) is a bit underpowered.

1. I've heard about this but I've never had this happen before - care to explain where and when?
2. Press tab. Or A. Or D. Unless you're using the shortcuts to access your menus in which case it requires a bit more button presses.
3. True.
4. True, and very annoying. This is because your mouse hovers over one line of dialogue which gets highlighted but the game selected another line which doesn't get highlighted.
5. Never really had a problem with this tbh.
6. True, pretty dumb.
7. VERY true! I never know when I've got a disease or whatever because there's no easy way to find out (the text that appears is very small). A really baffling decision.
8. Meh. Could be better, could be worse but not something I have a problem with.
9. Don't care.
10. Meh.

I really don't think the UI is as bad as some people make it out to be tbh, I never get annoyed by it (apart from the dialogue and active effects).

So in an attempt to streamline and simplify, they give us a UI that is basically just a wall of text. As if that isn't bad enough, containers aren't even alphabetized and there is no logic to what button you press for which command. How many times have you eaten an alchemy ingredient instead of taking it? Ever accidentally "take all" from your chest full of crafting materials when you only wanted one item? And don't even get me started on the merchant dialog. Ever bought/sold an item because you mixed up whose inventory was whose?
It's a joke from a movie ToJKa.

Ok I don't mean to start anything but as far as I can tell you are not a mod and while it is nice to enforce the rules like I have seen you doing on other threads when someone breaks them please stop telling people what to do, its getting really annoying, I would ignore you if I could ignore uncalled comments

Sorry for offtopicness

Ontopic:Never had any of the above issues on xbox version so seems ok to me

SkyUi... PC users problem solved.

1.) I have never experienced this. I'm not sure what the issue is.
2.) No you don't. You can use WSAD to navigate from one section of the menu to others without having to close the menu.
3.) Again, I have never experienced this. I'm not sure what the issue is.
4.) I have never had it select the wrong dialogue option, but I do know at times it can be slightly unresponsive.
5.) It is actually very simple and easy with a mouse and keyboard.
6.) This is how it was in Oblivion as well. In Oblivion, you would hit B or Tab to go to your Inventory / Magic menu, and there was another button / menu for journals, maps, and character information.
7.) I agree, but once I found out where they were, it was no hassle.
8.) 100% disagreed.
9.) I greatly enjoy the font. Just because it's not some old English font doesn't mean it doesn't fit.
10.) I don't even know the reference. I find Skyrim's UI to be one of the easiest to navigate, slickest, more aesthetically pleasing UI's I've encountered. Greatly enjoy Skyrim's UI.

Actually, HeavyMetalArchmage was 10 for 10 with his UI criticisms. The comment about using the command line is obviously intended as hyperbole to illustrate the awkwardness of the system.

Well since others are quoting this I thought I might.

Note I am on the PC and my resolution is 1280x1024, and yes, that seems to be a problem.

1) This happens to me all the time. I can't sell to any merchant without this happening at least once. Especially if I try to click on my Misc. section in inventory.
2) True. If I hit TAB to get to the main four sections I have to go all the way back out and hit TAB again to go from Inventory to Magic.
3) True. Sometimes I'll forget which works for which and try to use the mouse for a keyboard only screen or vice-versa.
4) Happens all the time! I constantly have to reload due to the wrong dialog being selected. I've gotten to the point that I quicksave before every conversation.
5) YES! Due to my screen size several perks I can't even get to once I've started up a tree unless I back all the way out and start over. Some perks are just always hard to reach and the keyboard does not always take me where I want to go.
6) It is a pain to have to go to a whole other set of menus to get to the Journal. Truth be told I thought there wasn't a journal for a long time cause I couldn't find it. Had to look up how to get to it.
7) Would love to see some kind of icon on the screen for some of these. Especially being diseased or poisoned. I almost became a vampire because I didn't know I was diseased.
8) Yep.
9) To be honest I haven't even noticed the font.
10) What?

I thought it was a quote from something.

And i'm not sure if he was addressing me or the OP, but i realize i've been using the word "shiny" a lot in regards to Skyrim.

Shiny as in "all shine, no substance" or shiny because you are a Firefly fan? (hint: either answer is acceptable)

Now I haven't played Skyrim on the PC, but every RPG game I've played on computer when your given a list of dialog responces you can either click or press a number 1 for the first option, 2 for the second etc. I remember doing it in the original fallout games, in the baldur's gate series, both dragon age games, though in the second one its really not recommended as you can't be sure which option on the wheel is option one.

So did bethesda actually leave that out in Skyrim? on the PC you can't use the numbers to select your dialog responses anymore.

Not familiar with that show, other than what i've heard on the internet. Sci-Fi, i believe? I don't think they've ever aired it here

To be perfectly honest, I prefer Skyrim's menu system. It is simple and straight forward and visually pleasing which alleviates some of the tedium when switching through skills and choosing what to put a point into.

You're not playing on the PC. The issue is the UI menu system was designed with the 360/PS3 in mind then ported to PC.

Fair point, however I thought that PC users could simply find a mod solution for practically anything (or at least it sure feels like that often) so I am probably not as sympathetic as I probably should.

Mods can't fix every problem, nor should they be required to do so. That's basically doing Bethesda's job for them.

I agree to a point, this just seems like a case of cant please everyone all of the time. More often than not the console users tend to get the short end of the stick so it feels like a nice change of pace in Skyrim that we were given more consideration. Unfortunately this does seem to come at the price of the PC users but again, what can be done. I have no experience with PC and dont pretend to know anything about programming in any sense of the word so feel free to take my opinion as the very narrow view that it is.

op wins the best thread of the day award

General design issues aside, which I would argue makes it a bad design regardless of platform, the PC version has some very real technical issues. First you have your UI as it was designed for the console. The selection remains in the same spot and your controls move the menu. That was ported directly across and mapped to the WASD keys. Then they decided to tack on the mouse controls (which really is important for a game on the PC). With a mouse, what is selected is whatever the cursor is pointing at. What I think happens is that the original stationary selection clashes with the mobile mouse selection and the system simply breaks on occassion. The result is that the selection becomes unresponsive. You move your cursor over something and the selection doesn't change. So when you click what you want, something else gets clicked instead. I've also had times when I've used my keyboard to navigate the menus where I've watched the selection move up and down with the rest, not actually changing. It's rather frustrating and not something a simple mod can really fix.

It's simply a product of Bethesda's poor UI design.