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6/09/2019 11:26 am  #1


Boats in Tracking improvements? i.e. Boat editor

Forgive me if anything I suggest is doable in a way not known to me...

I've "wrestled" with the "Boat editor" for years and am finally now (pre-Fastnet) realizing this is a good time to point out and ask for a few things that may help me and others.

1) "Select All" and "Clear All" are really "Plot All" and "Plot None" (or "Clear Plot" or some other language...) It seems like it would be a good idea to change these 'button' names...and maybe have a real "Select All"?

2) Actually "selecting" individual boats or all boats is done by clicking in the strangely not-obvious-at-all-unlabelled-void-of-space to the right of a boat's "plot" checkbox...  I am pleased to see/discover today that I can shift-click to select groups of boats or all boats...but this unlabelled space for selection has to be confusing to new users and some experienced users!?

To try and make my suggestions easier to see and understand I made a screen recording of my commentating and demonstrating my suggestions...  The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWRfaTx9eh8

3) Auto colour is great but sometimes I regret clicking it as the rainbow of colors can be a bit hard to sort out at times.  I'd love a "set color" for the selected boats or a revert to black (reset color?)...  Ideally I'd like to colorize individual classes or divisions the same color, but then also have the opportunity to change particularly boats which I may be keying off of as particularly well-sailed, competitive or just in a nice position as a future wind indicator.  If selecting boats in groups was obvious and easy to do with a shift click then "set color of selected" would be a sweet solution.

4) Sent in a separate email to YB and Nick would be the possibility of having a "Class" field in the boatsid file...  that in conjunction with these other selections would be very convenient.  

5) I've never used the Handicap field, I presume it is for IRC Handicap use/calculation?  Maybe the field could just be labelled "IRC Handicap" then and less mysterious for some?  Weenie I know...but hey clarity helps?  And I think reference boat is related right?  The 'Ref boat' is for the purposes of calculating the Handicap data that will appear in the Handicap calculator?  Again, I really don't use it... but if it is really IRC then maybe it gets labelled "IRC Ref Boat"?





 

 

6/10/2019 6:20 am  #2


Re: Boats in Tracking improvements? i.e. Boat editor

As a user of Race Tracking in larger fleets such as the Chicago-Mac (300+) I am thankful for this most instructive post as it "restores" a capability that I "lost" when Expedition-assigned database numbers were phased out several versions ago; specifically, the ability to rapidly delete individuals or groups of boats after a YB updated download.

Additionally, I would welcome the implementation of HL's recommendations concerning
1) re-labeling of some of the buttons in the Boat Editor and
2) enabling greater flexibility in the coloring options.

Thanks HL for illustrating the expansion of the unlabeled void in your YouTube video.         

 

6/10/2019 6:43 am  #3


Re: Boats in Tracking improvements? i.e. Boat editor

Thanks for the kinds words Joe.  I think the one thing I was thinking of but didn't say was the idea that once a group of boats is selected by selecting one and then shift-clicking the end of a range...it would be great to have a button that was "Plot Selected"...  So we'd have "Plot All", "Plot Selected" and "Plot None"...

Watch this space as I believe some progress on this made be made soon...nonetheless happy to help by identifying the "unlabelled void" for easy mass selection...  now if we could get even a sort on color in the meantime that would facilitate a lot, along with a certain amount of manual work still...

Again...standby for progress...  yb also involved now...

     Thread Starter
 

7/16/2019 6:03 am  #4


Re: Boats in Tracking improvements? i.e. Boat editor

Nick executed some very good improvements to the Boats screen in Tracking...  Note that you can now "shift click" select multiple boats and change their tracking color.  This in combination with the ability to now type in a Class# means you can "manage" and turn-off-and-on whom you see on screen in a busy "crowded" race.

Big thanks to Nick...as always!

     Thread Starter
 

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