UI Design

UI Design

Use this skill when the user asks for UI, interface, screen, HUD, menu, panel, dashboard, visual polish, or "make it look good" work.

Target

Code runs in Dora engine. Use Dora, DoraX, ImGui, or Dora UI APIs. Do not use DOM/browser APIs.

Design Workflow

Before editing, form a small design brief:

• Purpose: what the screen helps the user/player do.
• Mood: e.g. calm, playful, premium, cyber, minimal, arcade.
• Hierarchy: primary action, secondary actions, status/info.
• Constraints: screen size, input method, existing theme/assets.

Then implement from structure to detail:

1. Layout and information hierarchy.
2. Spacing scale and alignment.
3. Color palette and contrast.
4. Typography and iconography.
5. Interaction states and motion.
6. Empty/loading/error states.

Visual Quality Rules

• Do not ship plain default controls unless the user explicitly asks for plain UI.
• Use a cohesive palette: 1 primary color, 1 accent color, neutrals, and semantic colors.
• Use spacing consistently. Prefer a small scale such as 4/8/12/16/24/32.
• Make the primary action obvious; reduce competing visual emphasis.
• Prefer cards, panels, subtle borders, shadows/glow, and layered backgrounds over flat random boxes.
• Use contrast intentionally: readable text, muted secondary text, clear disabled states.
• Add hover/pressed/focus/selected/running states where the UI is interactive.
• Add subtle motion only when it communicates state; avoid noisy infinite animation.
• Keep UI responsive to window/screen size. Avoid hard-coded coordinates unless tied to View.size or a known container.
• If using icons, keep stroke weight/style consistent.

Dora Runtime UI Rules

When building UI inside a Dora game/workspace:

• Follow the dora-engine-coding skill first.
• Prefer .tsx with DoraX when JSX layout is useful; otherwise use Dora nodes directly.
• Use search_dora_doc before unfamiliar Dora UI APIs.
• Attach runtime UI to the correct Dora node (Director.ui, Director.entry, or the existing root) based on project conventions.
• Use View.size to position and scale HUD elements; support resizing where possible.
• Keep reusable UI in modules/components instead of dumping large UI code into init.ts when the UI has multiple sections.
• Avoid browser-only APIs: document, window, DOM events, HTML canvas, CSS files, npm UI libraries.

Core UI Components

UI Controls (Assets/Script/Lib/UI/Control/Basic/)

Director Roots

DoraX JSX Elements

Use .tsx files with DoraX for declarative UI:

// Intrinsic elements
<node>, <sprite>, <label>, <menu>, <align-node>
<draw-node>, <clip-node>, <grid>, <particle>, <tile-node>

// Actions
<move>, <opacity>, <scale>, <sequence>, <spawn>, <loop>

Use toNode() when the TSX tree only needs to be materialized once. For state-driven UI, mount a dynamic root with createRoot(parent) and render from a function that reads signal() values:

const count = signal(0);
const root = createRoot(parent);
root.render(() => <label text={`Count: ${count.value}`} />);
count.value += 1;

For dynamic sibling lists, provide stable key values. Omitted keys are only safe when child order and identity do not change.

Signals update only dynamic roots that read them during render. Unmount roots that are no longer needed with root.unmount(), and use onUnmount for deterministic cleanup when nodes are removed by diffing.

ImGui

For debug/development UI, use ImGui:

• Windows, buttons, sliders, color pickers
• Tables, tabs, menus, plots
• Style customization

Vector Graphics (nvg/VGNode)

For custom vector graphics:

• Paths, arcs, bezier curves
• Gradients, text rendering
• Scissoring, transforms

Suggested module split for larger Dora UI:

init.ts                  # entry wiring only
src/ui/theme.ts          # colors, spacing, fonts, helper constants
src/ui/components.tsx    # buttons/cards/badges/common widgets
src/ui/MainScreen.tsx    # composed screen/HUD

Implementation Checklist

Before finishing, verify:

• The correct runtime target was used.
• The UI has clear hierarchy and spacing.
• Colors are coherent and accessible enough for the background.
• Primary, secondary, disabled, loading, and error states are handled where relevant.
• Text does not overflow obvious containers.
• The code is wired into the actual entry/screen and is not orphaned.
• Build/transpile succeeds, and any per-file diagnostics are fixed.

Final Response

Briefly state:

• What UI was added or improved.
• Which files changed.
• How to run/preview it.
• Any design decisions worth noting.