Where things live in the window (2026-10-09)
Why
Features were added one at a time (scenery pickers, a greet button, games, a garden, gifts, fishing), each finding a spot of its own. The window had four stacked frames (top bar, card border, caption bar, toolbar) around a scene that should be the point of the app, and the same switch was named differently in the top bar, the tray and the menu bar. This settles one place for each kind of thing and one set of words.
Principles
- The scene is the window. The painting fills the yard's frame; everything else floats over it as small chips, as in games kept open all day (Animal Crossing, Spirit City).
- Doing is in the scene; configuring is in the panel. What a person does with friends (pat, talk, fish, catch, water, arrange gifts) happens on the yard itself or from the tools; what they set once lives in Settings.
- One name per switch, shown as a switch. Desktop mode is "Show on desktop" in the top bar, the tray and the menu bar alike; the top bar's button stays pressed while it is on instead of changing its words.
- Group by purpose. The tools are grouped as caring, growing and collecting, and playing; the panels as friends, inviting and (apart) settings.
- Every place has a keyboard way in. The panels and the two views have shortcuts on every system; on macOS they are also in the View menu.
The window
| Place | What is there | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Top bar | Brand; an update when one is known; the tabs Friend, Invite and a gear for Settings | Only where to go: how the yard is shown moved into the yard (2026-10-10) |
| Yard, top left | The scene label ("A clear midday in the yard"), which opens the time of day and weather; the friend count and agent work; the seasonal event on | One chip; the pickers are a menu, not always on screen. In a narrower yard the scene label stays whole: the event goes first, then the friend count |
| Yard, top right | The view controls, as a video player keeps its controls: Show on desktop (a switch, with Stroll beside it while on), Mini view, and the yard's sounds; the clock with the date (the time alone in a narrow yard); under them, the hint while there is something to learn | How the yard is shown is controlled on the yard; in a narrower yard the desktop switch keeps its icon and its words go to the tooltip |
| Yard, bottom | The tools as one floating row: Treat, Let them chat · Plant a seed (with the seed count), Album · Games (a menu; while a game is on it reads "End …") | In a narrow yard the tools keep their icons and drop their names; friends stand clear of them |
| Yard, in the scene | Friends (pat, drag, the name tag to talk; hearts on the tag for friendship), plants (click to water, right-click to pull), gifts (drag, right-click to put away), the lake (click to fish), butterflies, dragonflies and fireflies (click to catch) | A hand cursor shows over what can be caught |
| Side panel | Friend and Invite open beside the yard. The Friend panel is laid out like a messenger: the friend's name, its state and friendship at the top with a ⋯ menu (Friend settings, AI connection, Clear chat, Send away); the conversation filling the panel; the composer at the bottom with the AI the friend talks with and Bring friends in | A friend is talked to where it can be seen, and a new friend arrives in view |
| Settings sheet | General (language, start at login), The yard (let them chat, yard sounds and their volume), Coding agents, About and Quit, with an index of the sections | Nothing in Settings needs a view of the yard (what changes the scene, the time of day and the weather, is in the yard's own menu), so it opens wide over the yard and the yard keeps its size; a click beside it or Esc closes it |
| Album | Four books: Flowers, Fish, Bugs, Gifts, with the total found | Opened from the tools |
Outside the window
| Place | Items |
|---|---|
| Tray | Open the yard; Mini view, Show on desktop and (while on) Stroll around, with check marks, left out with no friend yet; Settings…, Check for updates…, About; Quit. A small mark when an agent waits or ran into trouble |
| macOS menu bar | PlayPets (About, Check for Updates, Settings, hiding, Quit); Edit; View (Friends ⌘1, Invite a Friend ⌘2, Mini view ⇧⌘M and Show on desktop ⇧⌘D with check marks, greyed with no friend yet; Yard Sounds ⇧⌘S); Window |
| Shortcuts | ⌘/Ctrl+1 Friend, +2 Invite, +, Settings, +Shift+M Mini view, +Shift+D Show on desktop, +Shift+S yard sounds; on macOS the menu bar takes the switches' keys, elsewhere the page does |
What changed
2026-10-10: Desktop mode and the mini view left the top bar for the yard's view controls; the Friend panel became a messenger layout, with what is done to the friend in its menu and the AI picker and group chat in the composer.
2026-10-10 (later): The Friend tab's header shows the friend's relationship as a chip (a click opens it in Friend settings) and a closeness row (the level and a bar), in place of the friendship shown before; hearts on the name tag now stand for closeness.
The caption bar and the toolbar became chips and a floating row over the scene; the two always-shown pickers became the scene label's menu.
The greet button was removed (it did little anyone would miss); games moved into one menu.
Desktop mode became a pressed switch with the tray's words; Settings became a gear; Settings gained a "The yard" group.
The album became the one place for everything found, so the garden, the gifts and the catches read as one collection.