BBOTV - feedback

[cherdano]

When you crash, do you see some output that might or might not be trying to explain what/where the crash occurred ? Or does your browser just blink out ?

The browser window just becomes copletely gray. The KDE crash handler gives a backtrace, will PM you.

[1eyedjack]

Sorry for being really stupid, but I cannot see any "FIND" button.

Also, I cannot see a way to view partner's profile. I joined by saying that I wanted to play, then tried to left click on partner's name, nothing happened. Tried double click on partner's name, nothing happened. Tried right-click on partner's name and a menu popped up. The only option that appeared remotely relevant was "Settings", but if I select that it just configures my Flash settings - nothing to do with partner at all.

 

Then, when I am dummy, I cannot see an option to kibbitz declarer. Doubtless that will come with time.

[fred]

Sorry for being really stupid, but I cannot see any "FIND" button.

Also, I cannot see a way to view partner's profile. I joined by saying that I wanted to play, then tried to left click on partner's name, nothing happened. Tried double click on partner's name, nothing happened. Tried right-click on partner's name and a menu popped up. The only option that appeared remotely relevant was "Settings", but if I select that it just configures my Flash settings - nothing to do with partner at all.

 

Then, when I am dummy, I cannot see an option to kibbitz declarer. Doubtless that will come with time.

There is a control near the middle of the rightmost edge of the browser window that contains BBOTV. You can click and drag on this control to increase the size of the panel that contains the find button (among other things). The current size of this panel is zero which is why you can't see it.

 

After finding a setting you like, if you logoff the program will remember this setting (it currently does not remember most settings if you close the browser window before logging off).

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[mike777]

:) ok all this stuff lost me. I sign on anon. and can kibitz one or two tables that the ocmputer takes me too. That is it...I see no control thing or how to play or see profiles or anything else.

[geller]

I could login by name OK on the new version. One comment: the message "South claims one trick" or whatever appears But there's no message giving the fnal result (3C+4, NS +130, or whatever). The latter is what we really want to know. if we've been closely following the play from the beginning, we can figure it out, but if we tuned in in the middle of a deal or weren't following the deal carefully (maybe watching TV too) it can be a problem.

 

-Bob

[geller]

oops. I clicked on "enlarge" (on the right edge) to see what happens. It enlarged to the point where I could only see 1 1/2 hands but I couldn't figure out how to get back to the normal screen size.

 

-Bob

[fred]

There is a new version available now in which I think I have improved the size of the elements in the people-browser.

 

There is definitely still room for improvement, but I am probably going to leave this more or less alone for now. At some point soon an artist/designer type will be helping improve things like colors, fonts, and sizes of elements so there is not much point in my spending a lot of time on this stuff now.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[jmc]

WOW! I love the new ability to make this full size on my monitor. It is soo crisp. It even looks good at the best resolution on my flat panel tv. There are a few elements that do not scale well.

 

The stars next to player names are very fuzzy when enlarged, as are the numbers representing BBO points. I'm sure this is because they are pictures instead of scalable graphics.

 

This is a great usability change overall.

 

I really miss the lack of sounds though. I assume they are not implemented yet or can i just not find 'em?

 

Jmc

[keylime]

Possible bug: Watching a team game, when chatting to a friend, the dialog box instead refers to the South player on the screen unless you hover the mouse directly over their handle.

[fred]

WOW! I love the new ability to make this full size on my monitor. It is soo crisp. It even looks good at the best resolution on my flat panel tv. There are a few elements that do not scale well.

 

The stars next to player names are very fuzzy when enlarged, as are the numbers representing BBO points. I'm sure this is because they are pictures instead of scalable graphics.

 

This is a great usability change overall.

 

I really miss the lack of sounds though. I assume they are not implemented yet or can i just not find 'em?

 

Jmc

No sounds yet.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[Free]

Dunno if this is always the case, but I discovered a possible bug. It's not really a bug in BBOTV I think, just dunno if you know this...

 

(I know it's a bit confusing, but count the e's :) )

 

- Yesterday I logged in with 2 accounts at once (Free and Freee). Free was on the normal client, while Freee was on BBOTV.

- Then I checked if I could login with 1 nick in both applications. I logged in with Free on BBOTV, and the client nicely disconnected.

- I logged in as Freee in the client without any problems (and while I was at it, I updated my profile).

- Now I logged out of the client.

- I logged in as Free in the client, and the BBOTV application nicely disconnected.

 

Here comes the bug: my settings of "use felt" for Free were gone. Normally I have this turned on, and after these steps it was turned off all of a sudden.

[bradd]

Using Firefox 2.0.0.6, no problems with the update and no need to flush the cache.

 

I'm curious to know whether, if you log out (as opposed to closing the browser window), any changes you make to BBOTV are automatically absorbed when you log in again, or whether you have to close the browser window and reload to get those changes.

 

I tend to keep several (Firefox) tabs open permanently (except when I have to reboot for some reason) and find that logging in is very quick, but if I have to reload, it takes quite a while.

[cherdano]

I am the only one always getting a strange claim message? It always reads s.th. like "jlall: I claim -3 more tricks, 2 total tricks for declarer". (Even jlall wouldn't claim a negative number of tricks I don't think.)

 

Still excited about the scalable graphics :)

Arend

[fred]

I am the only one always getting a strange claim message? It always reads s.th. like "jlall: I claim -3 more tricks, 2 total tricks for declarer". (Even jlall wouldn't claim a negative number of tricks I don't think.)

 

Still excited about the scalable graphics B)

Arend

It is not only you. There is definitely a bug.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[fred]

Using Firefox 2.0.0.6, no problems with the update and no need to flush the cache.

 

I'm curious to know whether, if you log out (as opposed to closing the browser window), any changes you make to BBOTV are automatically absorbed when you log in again, or whether you have to close the browser window and reload to get those changes.

 

I tend to keep several (Firefox) tabs open permanently (except when I have to reboot for some reason) and find that logging in is very quick, but if I have to reload, it takes quite a while.

Settings for things like whether you use pictures of cards or hand diagrams are saved as soon as you set them.

 

Settings for things like size and position of components are saved when you log out.

 

When you subsequently log in with the same ID, regardless of whether or not you closed the original browser window, you should get the same settings.

 

If you use more than 1 user ID on the same PC then each user ID will have its own settings saved separately.

 

The most recent login, regardless of whether named or anonymous, will control the settings for the next anonymous login.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[helene_t]

Donno if this has already been mentioned, but I've had some problems with the destination of my chat. Once I wanted to say "glp" to the table but it went to a star player I had watched just before. Donno why his name came up in my destination field, maybe I clicked him some time ago to see his profile.

 

Also when I moused over a message that I received from Rona, the tooltip text said "click to send private chat to gwnn". And indeed, when I clicked that message, gwnn came up in my destination field. I had some chat with gwnn but that was many chat messages ago at that time.

[cherdano]

Myhands->My table is empty when watching a team match.

[awm]

Claim message bug seems to work something like this:

 

Say declarer has taken six tricks, and is about to claim four more tricks for a total of ten. Somewhere in the code this is called a "claim four."

 

Basically, if declarer claims four more tricks, it is described by BBOTV as instead a claim of four tricks total. So someplace it's recorded as "claim four" and BBOTV takes this as claiming four total when it should be four more. The other number is figured out by arithmetic operations, so the computation is:

 

Correct: Declarer is claiming four more tricks (claim four). He has six tricks. So I should say "Declarer claims four more tricks, for ten tricks total."

 

BBOTV: Declarer is claiming four tricks total (misread of claim four). He has six tricks. So BBOTV says "Declarer claims -2 more tricks, for four tricks total."

 

Anyways this should be easy to fix if it can be isolated.

[A2003]

Display deals using hand diagram:

Red color and black color for suit symbols are very good .

 

Right click, then select,

Display using picture of cards:

Red color and black color for suit symbols are Not very good.

Red colors are blended. Hard to distinguish between ♦ and ♥.

Lines between the cards are thin and thick between the cards.

[DenisO]

I've only used BBOTV in Kibbitz mode so far. Nice sharp picture fills my 19 inch screen.

However no information on kibbitzer numbers/names and no player profiles available.

 

I've used IE 6 and Firefox 1.5.0.6 (very outdated I know but I rarely use Firefox)

 

Denis

[bradd]

Settings for things like whether you use pictures of cards or hand diagrams are saved as soon as you set them.

 

Settings for things like size and position of components are saved when you log out.

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain this properly. B)

 

What I meant was, if BBOTV has changes made by you to its functionality, does the user need to reload the program afresh, or will those changes take effect automatically as soon as he logs in (assuming he does not close the browser window or tab meanwhile)?

[Finch]

I used the newer version on the same pc as the previous one without having to clear the cache. I have only kibbitzed.

 

Three comments:

i) When it uses pictures of cards, I can see what happened on any previous trick by clicking on the face down card at the bottom right of the table. But in hand diagram mode I only seem to be able to see the most recent trick. Is this true, or do I not understand the functionality?

 

ii) It would nice if the player names in the list could be resized; the font size is very big compared to everything else on the screen.

 

iii) In one case I was idly browsing profiles, and someone had a fairly long name (it was two people, of the form 'Timothy and Samantha Smithson"). Only the first 15 or so characters of the name was showing in the profile box, and I couldn't see a scroll bar or similar; I assume I'd need to resize the whole RHS of the screen to be able to see the full name. A bit of text wrapping would solve that.

[fred]

Thanks for clarifying.

 

If you log off and log in again without closing the browser window, you will NOT automatically pick up anything new that I uploaded during your original session.

 

If you close the browser window or click its Refresh button, you *should* then automatically get the latest (though it is not entirely clear this process always works - on some machines it could be necessary to clear your browser's cache).

 

I suspect Uday and I will eventually figure out a way to make sure the browser's cache cannot interfere with the distribution of new versions.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[fred]

I used the newer version on the same pc as the previous one without having to clear the cache. I have only kibbitzed.

 

Three comments:

i) When it uses pictures of cards, I can see what happened on any previous trick by clicking on the face down card at the bottom right of the table. But in hand diagram mode I only seem to be able to see the most recent trick. Is this true, or do I not understand the functionality?

 

ii) It would nice if the player names in the list could be resized; the font size is very big compared to everything else on the screen.

 

iii) In one case I was idly browsing profiles, and someone had a fairly long name (it was two people, of the form 'Timothy and Samantha Smithson"). Only the first 15 or so characters of the name was showing in the profile box, and I couldn't see a scroll bar or similar; I assume I'd need to resize the whole RHS of the screen to be able to see the full name. A bit of text wrapping would solve that.

Answers:

 

i) True. It is the same with the existing Windows client. I am not sure if I am going to do anything or not about improving this in the Flash client.

 

ii) I already made them about 40% smaller than they were before (maybe you have not seen the most recent version?), but I will consider either making smaller again or giving the user control over the size.

 

iii) Not clear text-wrapping is a good solution here because the user's skill level would then be obscured. The whole profile thing still needs some cleaning up.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[kgr]

Didn't read all feedback here, so possibly this was already reported:

- Can connect with Netscape, but not with MS internet explorer v7 (tried to delete all history bu still it hangs on http://www.bbotv.com/v2/client/embed_kiosk.html , could be a setting in MS explorer).

- When kibitzing and EW is displayed vertically then their names are not shown.

- why http://www.bbotv.com/v2/ and not http://www.bbotv.com/ (http://www.bbotv.com gives and empty web site)

- My hands window can not be minimized. (would be better to display it in a new pop-up window?).

 

The biggest advantage will probably be that it is easier to change something to the software as you don't have to take into account compatibility with different client versions.

 

... a lot of positive feedback here in the forums, don't be surprised if the BBO members that don't use the forums will be less enthousiastic to change. I think it will be best to wait for all current functionality to announce this new version