Have you ever played a custom map and seen some of those neat signs with the coloured text on them? Don't you wish you could make signs like that? Don't you wish you could do it without third-party software? Of course you do! The software already supports coloured text on signs, there just isn't a way to add it.
So let's change that, shall we?
I'm sure you have heard suggestions for inkwells before, and you know what...I'm not suggesting this replace them! If my idea were added, I think that other uses for Inkwells could and should be included as well. Let's talk details, though. First thing is how it would work. That's the easy part. You'd just go up to a sign with an inkwell, right click, and write text in the colour of the ink. Because I believe in making a reason to craft more than one, each inkwell would give you a set number of characters (that's letters and symbols) that you could type. When you save the text on a sign, it would subtract the appropriate amount of "durability" from your ink.
I suppose you're wondering how you would craft them, though. How does two recipes sound? The Inkwell, and the Ink Pot. Why two? The Ink Pot is the easy to make economy version, with a 250 character limit. The other? Naturally an Inkwell is a bit more costly, but also with twice as many uses. (Recipes made with Minecraft Recipe Designer.)
Ink Pot
Inkwell
In both cases, simply replace the Ink Sac with the colour of dye you want to use. It's important to note that, having a damage value, they would not be stackable. If this seems inconvenient, just remember, they could be crafted on the 2x2 grid. Why is that important? Because it means that if you need more than four of them, you can store all but the one you're currently using as raw materials, and make them "on the fly".
So, in conclusion, that's my take on Inkwells (and Ink Pots), the addition to Minecraft that could allow us to make coloured signs. Not to mention coloured text in writeable books, whenever we finally get those. Maybe you don't want coloured text, but just keep in mind a few things...
It would give dyes more use.
For people that put a lot of thought into aesthetics, this is huge.
It's not going to hurt any other aspect of the game.
Colour-coded signs are not only more readable, they're great for things like Zelda style text.
It's one more thing griefers have to do before they can plaster offensive BS all over your server.
I've seen them on some maps and they look cool and actually make a sign noticeable. I like how they can be made on the fly but you would still need a workbench for the sign. -.-
It has been brought to my attention that there are codes for coloured text in chat, though not widely known. Do these work with signs? If not, would them doing so be a better implementation than this?
It's a pretty neat idea. I have some sort of color-coded speech. For example, normal signs should be black while a certain character's dialogue should be blue.
Yes, that's the sort of thing I had in mind. I've seen Adventure maps that use this method, but it seems to require external programs, and I think it would be nice if the option were more generally accessible.
So let's change that, shall we?
I'm sure you have heard suggestions for inkwells before, and you know what...I'm not suggesting this replace them! If my idea were added, I think that other uses for Inkwells could and should be included as well. Let's talk details, though. First thing is how it would work. That's the easy part. You'd just go up to a sign with an inkwell, right click, and write text in the colour of the ink. Because I believe in making a reason to craft more than one, each inkwell would give you a set number of characters (that's letters and symbols) that you could type. When you save the text on a sign, it would subtract the appropriate amount of "durability" from your ink.
I suppose you're wondering how you would craft them, though. How does two recipes sound? The Inkwell, and the Ink Pot. Why two? The Ink Pot is the easy to make economy version, with a 250 character limit. The other? Naturally an Inkwell is a bit more costly, but also with twice as many uses.
(Recipes made with Minecraft Recipe Designer.)
Ink Pot
Inkwell
In both cases, simply replace the Ink Sac with the colour of dye you want to use. It's important to note that, having a damage value, they would not be stackable. If this seems inconvenient, just remember, they could be crafted on the 2x2 grid. Why is that important? Because it means that if you need more than four of them, you can store all but the one you're currently using as raw materials, and make them "on the fly".
So, in conclusion, that's my take on Inkwells (and Ink Pots), the addition to Minecraft that could allow us to make coloured signs. Not to mention coloured text in writeable books, whenever we finally get those. Maybe you don't want coloured text, but just keep in mind a few things...
- It would give dyes more use.
- For people that put a lot of thought into aesthetics, this is huge.
- It's not going to hurt any other aspect of the game.
- Colour-coded signs are not only more readable, they're great for things like Zelda style text.
- It's one more thing griefers have to do before they can plaster offensive BS all over your server.
Last of all, just thank you for your time!Funny, that's exactly how I felt about the OP!