EddyHaskel

Thanks!!1 That's exactly the link I was hoping to find! Cheers!

BBO recently (through Sept 15 2013) ran a very informal poll via the "BBO News" pages which asked people to nominate other users for the title of the "Friendliest Person on BBO." I was away for the weekend and apparently I missed the results of that poll. Not a big deal, but I would like to retrieve that posting if possible. This reminds me that on occasion I've missed other BBO News posts which had expired and were removed from the daily headlines. Are old BBO News items stored somewhere and, if so, is there a link to find them? Many thanks! Eddy/Dave

Stefan, Many thanks! Now I need someone to translate it from German to English... hah! This is a great start but we still need people to mentor BIL members who want to learn to play using the Forum-D methods. If you know of anyone, please have them contact the BIL at admin@bilbridge.com. Thanks again! Dave/Eddy

The Beginner Intermediate Lounge (BIL) has requests for mentors who know the Forum D bidding system. Any help you can offer is much appreciated. Please contact admin@bilbridge.com or mentorassist@bilbridge.com. Thanks!

Whistful Thinking

1. reisig 2. walddk 3. Inquiry 4. ritong 5. Gerben42 Sounds like fun! Have a blast, everyone.

Cardsharp, I've had similar experiences. I think the web client "Find Member" function finds invisible users. The Windows client did not report invisible users. I kind of like it (like being able to see The Invisible Man). :)

The Windows client offers limited support for the "Minibridge" program (a simplified interface in which there is no bidding, per-se; instead the players count up their HCP and the highest HCP holder names the contract). By limited support I mean, there is no automated way to play with fewer than four actual humans; i.e., no "miniGiBs." I have been trying to attract a number of people to try out BBO and learn the game of Bridge. But they are intimidated mainly by our mysterious bidding processes. Minibridge was invented to introduce new people (mainly youngsters) to our game and has enjoyed great success in the Real World. So two of my wishes in this regard for BBO are: 1) Minibridge support in the web client software, and 2) A way for a single person (or two or three people) to play minibridge with one or more bots. Another oft-overlooked resource available via the Windows client is what I call the "back room" of BBO. Under "Other Bridge Activities" the Windows client user can find a whole plethora of excellent Bridge training materials, challenging hands to try, double dummy puzzles, and both free and for purchase Bridgemaster 2000 hands. This is not to mention Fred's own excellent two volume treatise for Bridge for Beginners -which, if I might be so bold, many self described advanced players could benefit from reading, as well! It would be way cool if these resources were linked in the Web Client version, also.

Hi Fred, Many thanks for your fast reply! I don't really understand this because the default card layout for the web-client is very similar to that of the Windows client. There are some obscure options related to card layout in the web-client - perhaps you have activated one of these. If you want to e-mail a screenshot to fred@bridgebase.com that illustrates the point you are trying to make, it would be helpful. I think for some reason i did not see the default view when I first loaded the new web client (after dutifully first flushing the browser cache). I found the right click menus and set everything to horizontal and now all is copacetic. Aha, more right clicks! Thanks! I also found how to jump between viewing just one hand and viewing all four hands... that little gem is hidden in the south only right click context menu. Speaking of kibitzing.. is there a way to "follow" a particular player through a whole tourney? IF there is, I missed that somehow. re: users/chat color... I figured out what seemed so disconcerting... there is no change when a user you were chatting with or watching logs off! With the Windows client when someone logs off the color of all their previous chat changes color instantly. Last issue for me, I think: No matter where I sit (or if kibitzing, no matter which seat I choose to view) I always end up as player/deal at the bottom of the table. I can get used to that if I have to, but wasn't there a way to choose to leave one's seat directionally oriented as opposed to always feeling like you're sitting south? Maybe I changed it at one time or another, but now I'll be danged if I can find that menu option again. I know many users who will be relieved to learn you have no plans to yank the Windows client -- at least until it just stops working on its own when the user base gets too large.

The web client is getting better all the time but still does not feel as teacher/student friendly as the windows client for use at teaching tables. In my (very informal, unscientific, completely subjective) queries of BIL and IAC teachers so far, 90% of them seem to prefer the Windows client even with its infamous teaching table "undo" glitches. More on that later.. My comments on v.29 beta: Preface: I am one of those 1024 x 768 Luddites with an old 15" VDT monitor. I know, I know... even my wife is starting to make fun of me about that... but still, there are lots of us out here. - I very much like the new Hand Results viewing options (where it can disappear and reappear with one button). It would be even better if there were a way for the web client to differentiate between the Hand Results and "Who's Online" viewing panels and remember their respective view size settings. That is, I like the Hand Results ("movies") to be big and use about half the screen. Conversely, I would prefer that the "Who's Online" friends and kibitzers lists use only one or two columns at the far right hand side of the screen but those settings are determined by the Hand Results size and vice-versa so whichever you choose for one of them you get for both of them so switching back and forth requires resizing the window/panel each time. - 1b) In fact, for viewing who is kibbing at a table, the old Windows client mouseover-the-vulnerability-wheel method is even better, imho. - Still no way to see "Partnership Bidding Area" as a separate "room." I understand that setting up a new table does not require a "room," but with the web client there is no way I have found to browse all of the users who are currently using partnership bidding tables. - From the room overview you can view full tables or you can view open tables, but not both at the same time. Why not "both?" - Card views are bigger and better than previous web client versions, but the sideways views that kibitzers see of east and west hands drive me bats so I use non-card view, which is not as elegant as the pictures of cards. Here the Windows client is preferable. - I wish there were a way for "one button" kibitzing choice... i.e., choosing which hand to kibitz. It is great that we can choose now, but to do it one has to plod through several menu levels. One button kibbing is particularly useful for use teaching tables. Admittedly it is the same amount of hassle with the standard Windows client, but that is solved for those us using Rogerpf's excellent little "Chat Assistant" windows client add-on utility for BBO. - In the chat panel, chat from members of one's friends list does not seem to look that different compared to chat from other users. In the windows client they are totally different colors and that is helpful (especially with sound turned off). - I cannot find a way to save chat text to a local file (other than cutting and pasting to an editor). This is an important function of the windows client for those of us who like to record lesson chat -- very handy if you can't sit there the whole time as you can hit "BRB," record the chat and read it later from the chat.txt file and/or also later send it to other users who may have missed a particular session). - I miss the wealth of "Other Bridge Options" available in the Windows Client. Okay, I only used chatrooms once or twice for the Marty Bergen/Hondo lessons, but the other stuff was really important, too: Bridgemaster 2000 freebies, DoubleDummy deals, and especially, your treatises on How To Play Bridge. These may seem like "old hat" to seasoned BBO veterans, but they are godsends to new bridge players and new online bridge users. Some easy link to this area from the Web Client would be great. Touchy-feely asides (continued from top): when I first discovered BBO a couple years ago, I used the web client. At first I didn't even know there was a separate Windows client. Later, when my brother first showed me the Windows client I thought, "How quaint and old fashioned it looks -- almost like the original Gamezone interface before Microsoft bought the IGZ and made it web client based." (I go back awhile, LOL). But then I joined the BIL and later the IAC and the standalone Windows version became my client of choice because it handled the teaching table functions so much better. In my view, even with all the improvements to the web client, the old windows version still does a better job for teaching table stuff. Now, I understand that it must be a pain in the butt to maintain the two totally separate systems and it is clear that almost all R&D and future improvements are going into the web client (which makes sense from the broader user base p.o.v.). But you also must know there is a fair amount of anxiety in the teaching/learning community that the Windows client will disappear eventually. I surely appreciate your continued support of the older system, but I figure that can't go on forever. I wonder if there is some way those of us with a foot in both systems can better assist with the inevitable transition? Sorry this got so long and involved.