Readability

[socantra]

Ted,

Okay, that one was so easy, I'll push my luck. The other main thing I would like to see is more readable screens. I know I've mentioned it before and I figure it must not be easy or you probably would have done it by now..

You are doing so much that I hesitate to mention it again, but I notice from reading other posts that I am apparently not the only old fart with bad eyesight around here.

If you can find a way to close the task pane and bring the handicapping screens up to full size, I think that would do the trick.

The visibility problems have me still falling back on Validator, but the joy of having the TPRs available in RDSS keeps drawing me more and more into the program. I'm doing eye exercises, but would appreciate you doing whatever you can whenever you can.

The program is developing really nicely and is turning into one of the best handicapping tools I've ever seen. Its great work and much appreciated.

Thanks,

Dick

[Ted Craven]

Dick,

You can get a lot just by asking! The expanded fonts (essentially a zoom or magnification functionality) is a bit bigger than a breadbasket, though certainly one of the #1 requests. First I have to amke more space to zoom into. On 1024 x 768 screens, that means toggling off the Sidebar, on larger screens we can use space to the right. I have to go over resizing all the visible components, adding some vertical sliders when you've zoomed too large, etc.

I've got a few other things I need to do first, though, but I'll work on it definitely.

Ted

[socantra]

Thanks Ted.

I appreciate the fact that you have many things on the table to get done. That is one reason that I haven't harped on this issue more.

I feel that toggling off the sidebar or taskpane would go a long way toward solving the problem. If you can bring the main screnn up full, I don't believe any further zooming would be required. I also have little sympathy for those who want more readability at higher resplutions. It would be nice, but the 1st problem should be to provide semi-universal readability at the minimum reslution. If I have to give up the bonuses of higher resolution, I can live with that.

I will not push the issue any further, as I realize there are many things you want and need to do and must prioritize your time in order to make the most productive use of it. For myself though, that means that I must continue to use Validator as my day to day program and experiment with RDSS when possible.

Dick

[JimG]

Originally Posted by socantra

Thanks Ted.

I feel that toggling off the sidebar or taskpane would go a long way toward solving the problem. If you can bring the main screnn up full, I don't believe any further zooming would be required. I also have little sympathy for those who want more readability at higher resplutions. It would be nice, but the 1st problem should be to provide semi-universal readability at the minimum reslution. If I have to give up the bonuses of higher resolution, I can live with that.

Dick

Add me to the list that believes if the main screen were to be full screen, as we say in the south, "we would be in tall cotton".

Jim

[froggy]

RDSS

I have settled on 1024 X 768 as the best setting for me.
I can see the tiny numbers like 1.6 lengths behind without squinting too much.
I use the "Original" panel and the "Primary" panels to select from.
Then I go back and forth to and from analysis to make my final decisions
I have no use for the "Race Cards by Date" area except maybe once or twice during a session to change cards.

I am a little curious as to why at times when I am in a hurry it takes so long to respond.

I certainly does a great job and is as advertised.

Froggy

[admin]

I understand that Ted is working on variable versions
can I ask are you using a desktop computer ???

I am living on the road these days and all I have is my laptop
its a funky size thing like a letterbox spaggetti western
so the verticle layouy of the screens is not working too well

I know Ted will do a great job as usual

Thanks
Bill

[Ted Craven]

In the horses' Past Performance displays, the 2 panel layout is sized for 1024 x 768 screens, that is, you can see 10 running lines on 2 panels, a small header at the top for the horse name, etc and room at the bottom for the other race tabs.

If you want to increase the font size, say by 10% or 15% or whatever, the data display area will increase not only width-wise but also height-wise. Toggling off the Sidebar gives you the extra screen width to do this, but you're still stuck with only 768 vertical pixels. As currently configured, we must maintain, the array of tabs along the bottom to both change races and to redisplay the card summary. Therefore, every increase in font size (e.g. by a zoom/magnification feature) eats into the space in the 2 panels for displaying 10 running lines. We can certainly scroll the data displays, but that starts to suck fast. I can make it so you can toggle off the display of the 2nd panel and have only the top panel, which you could then zoom to quite a large size - enough for even Mr Magoo.

On larger displays (1280 x 1024+), the software is configured for 3 panels - you see the Analysis panel with its ratings recalculating in real-time with each paceline addition/deletion. At these resolutions, there is more width for zooming, but again, you start to lose data display area vertically.

The data is currently displayed in Arial 9 point font. A 20% magnification gives you about 11 points. Below is a screenshot with the upper Original display and bottom Analysis display at 20% magnification.

There's definitely something that can be done, but these are some of the issues related to increased readability. None of it is difficult to do, it's just design choices to be made.

All comments welcomed!

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Originally Posted by admin

my laptop its a funky size thing like a letterbox spaggetti western so the verticle layouy of the screens is not working too well
Bill

Bill, what is your screen resolution (what is your computer make and model)? You refer to a 'letterbox' format, so it could be something like 1280 x 800 or 1280 x 900. I've got a fix for vertical resizing for all these different heights, but it's a whole particular chunk of work to address all the sizing related issues. I will address them all for Version 1.0, but us testers will see the good the bad and the ugly of it at various points along the way.

Ted

[RichieP]

Originally Posted by Ted Craven

The data is currently displayed in Arial 9 point font. A 20% magnification gives you about 11 points. Below is a screenshot with the upper Original display and bottom Analysis display at 20% magnification.

All comments welcomed!

Ted

Morning Ted
This 20% makes a HUGE difference when looking at it with my eyes man.
Richie

[socantra]

Originally Posted by RichieP

Morning Ted
This 20% makes a HUGE difference when looking at it with my eyes man.
Richie

Me too, but strangely enough, I've generally found the screen shots here on the board to be more readable than the program itself.

Dick