BBO Web-client Thread 8

[fred]

not to harp on this issue

but both Fred and Uday have mentioned that the firewall issue will be fixed "soon" (specific time frames such as "next week" were given)

 

i would really like to know when the fix is really coming

 

i mean, it's ok if you say it's going to take a month, but then please do deliver it in a month!

Sorry, but this has turned out to be more complicated (and to take longer obviously) than we had expected. We have not forgot about this, but I don't think it is a good idea for me to make any more predictions as to when you might see a solution. Uday may be in a better position to do that - if he knows something I don't then I am sure he will make a post to this thread.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[fred]

Playing card update:

 

After trying to use the web-client all the time, I am getting used to the playing cards and the windows client is the one starting to look a little old. So I think it is largely a case of familiarity and not design.

 

My remaining concerns (fwiw) are:

• 
   
   
   
   
  
• When BBO is very busy, I normally find that I cannot connect with the web-client. This may be a feature of my wireless home network, but I do not have the same problem with the windows client.
   
   
   
   
  
• When BBO is busy, chat and play slows down considerably. This may be a symptom of the same connection problem.
   
   
   
   
  
• Uploading prepared hands for teaching and team matches. The new dealer functionality is excellent, but there is no way to replay matches from old vugraph records. I understand how the lack of functionality in flash prevents this currently but it would be nice to have one day.
   
   
   
   
  

Paul

Hi Paul,

 

I am glad you have become used to the playing cards in the web-client. Probably we will find a way to address the teaching table issue you mention before too long.

 

If anyone else out there has noticed similar performance problems with the web-client, I would appreciate hearing from you!

 

I doubt your home network is to blame for the slowness you are experiencing (if it was then the Windows client would probably be much slower). Actually one of the big advantages of the web-client is that, unlike the Windows client, its performance should not degrade as BBO becomes busy.

 

Uday has been investigating to see if the problem might be on our end, but it appears that our servers that control connections to web-clients are performing very well regardless of how many people are online.

 

It is possible that you have just been the unlucky victim of some transient problem somewhere on the Internet and that the slowness will go away soon. It is also possible that there is something about your computer that is causing this problem. If you haven't done so recently, I suggest you restart your computer, clear your browser's cache, and make sure you have the latest version of Flashplayer installed before trying again.

 

If the slowness continues, please let me know. In that case it would also be helpful for me to know:

 

1) The type of operating system and browser you use

2) The day and time in which you experienced slowness

 

Thanks,

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[DJNeill]

Hi,

I use the latest BBO web client (with tabs on right side) and my partner uses the latest Windows program version of BBO. If I use the function "I have a partner - Take me to a table", shortly after I see him show up at the table assigned to us by the program, his program crashes with a windows error. But then he logs in, I invite him again, and this time it doesn't crash. It has happened both times now like that.

 

Thanks,

Dan

[dicklont]

When I logon BBO does not tell me how many BB$ are on my account.

It would be nice when it appears on my profile instead.

[barmar]

When I logon BBO does not tell me how many BB$ are on my account.

That's strange, it does for me. It displays for a few seconds after logging in.

 

If you want to see your balance later, click on "My BB$ Account" then "Account Activity".

[dicklont]

When I logon BBO does not tell me how many BB$ are on my account.

That's strange, it does for me. It displays for a few seconds after logging in.

O yes, i've seen it now.

I guess it´s my habit of clicking elsewhere or getting something to drink after I start BBO.

[fred]

Hi,

I use the latest BBO web client (with tabs on right side) and my partner uses the latest Windows program version of BBO.  If I use the function "I have a partner - Take me to a table",  shortly after I see him show up at the table assigned to us by the program, his program crashes with a windows error.  But then he logs in, I invite him again, and this time it doesn't crash.  It has happened both times now like that.

 

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan,

 

Are you suggesting that this never happened when you used older versions of the web-client?

 

I think the specific version of the web-client that does the inviting is most unlikely to be causing this problem. If it started happening only recently it is probably the result of something being messed up on your friend's PC (restarting it is worth a try), where exactly your friend is in BBO when you issue the invitation, or a recent server change.

 

So far I have been unable to replicate this problem and, to the best of my knowledge, nobody else has reported it yet.

 

If you are in a position to provide some more information, I would appreciate it. I understand that your friend might not be feeling inclined to try this again.

 

One thing I am especially interested in is if this always happens. If it doesn't always happen, it would be particularly useful for me to know if your friend is aware of any pattern as to where he is or what he is doing when it does happen.

 

Thanks,

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[sceptic]

Hi Fred,

 

I am using the beta version and I have come across something I find unsettling, I am playing in Calabres tourney today (at the moment actually) anbd at the 3rd hand in two rounds, claims have been made and accepted, BUT, the cards remain showing and you cannot (well I can't seem to work out how) clear them from the table, also it does not show that the claim has been accepted.

 

I just find this a little odd, I am sure I can get used to it, but, I would prefer the cards clear when claim has been ac cepted or at least I am told it has been accepted

[barmar]

Is there still a beta version? The beta that was announced last month was made the production version a week or two ago. I don't think there was an announcement here, but the BBO News that pops up during sign-in mentioned the layout changes.

 

After the last board in the round, the cards don't clear until the next round starts. The way that you can tell that the board is finished is that it says "Round N Completed" in the box at the bottom left of the table. I think it should also have displayed "Claim accepted", but that disappears after a couple of seconds.

[fred]

Is there still a beta version? The beta that was announced last month was made the production version a week or two ago. I don't think there was an announcement here, but the BBO News that pops up during sign-in mentioned the layout changes.

You are correct.

 

Best to use the yellow link on our home page (www.bridgebase.com) now. Sorry I did not think to mention that in this thread (or to get rid of the beta site completely).

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[georgeac]

Is it possible to add the "follow person during tournament feature" into the web client? Also, the smiley faces dont show up. I miss them.

[babalu1997]

in the windows version at club play, the result for the last hand played is displayed in brackets, next to the cumulative results, can we have that in the new version please.

 

i also like it that the chat remembers the last object of chatter, and now the opportunity to pin the profile-- i had not noticed that before.

 

thanks

[babalu1997]

Ah, there is another feature from the windows client i am missing, and i ma not sure if it is available

 

it is the feature to choose your own sub when partner is knocked out.

 

it would be even nicer if the player could, in addition to perusing the list of subs, actually issue an invitation to an idle friend in the lobby.

[DJNeill]

Hi all,

In the partnership bidding, it's handy to have switcheroo available. Currently it is not available in the web client.

 

Thanks,

Dan

[eleanorsf]

Hello,

 

In addition to adding the Tournament Chat button to the TPT Club (previously requested) please add the Club chat button too. I'm finding people use these two buttons interchangably. Thanks.

[suokko]

It would be nice feature if there was some small button next to chat messanges in bbo that would show automatic translation of message. I think it could be done by opening google translation service. I'm sometimes doing this manually but it is quite a lot work. I have even talked french using the translation service.

 

Another nice feature would be having list of players from my own country. In windows version I do use this listing to search for players that I know but are not in my friend list.

 

There is some slow UI elements in flash version because of high latency in Internet connection. It would be nice if client could cache the data and only check for updates for commonly accessed items like user profiles, hand records and tournament list. These items are quite rarely changing and it is not bad if old data is shown for short moment before updated info is downloaded. (It would also reduce bandwidth usage if only delta was transfered instead of full data)

 

Related problem also seems to be that when ever flash version tries to download something it is done in busy loop which causes some UI slow down. It might help if flash supports threads or asynchronous I/O. (I'm using linux version of flash so it might be flash bug too like the special utf-8 characters not handled correctly.)

[paulg]

I cannot add a second director when creating a team match. It is useful to have a second director (in case the first has a problem) and often just polite in a more formal match.

[suokko]

I noticed a bug where soon to start tournament is delayed (like many TDs do to get more players) flash version doesn't list the tournament. I did checked the running tournaments list if it was incorrectly moved there but no.

[csdenmark]

I logged into the web-version first time. Might be why it looked unfamiliar.

 

I wonder why 1/3 of my screen is used for something which have no interest of when playing bridge. I think of ordinary browser heading with several toolbars. If you have problems to find room for features I wonder why there are no button to switch into full-screen-mode as used for videos.

[barmar]

You can drag the dividing lines between the sections to give more space to the features you care about.

[csdenmark]

You can drag the dividing lines between the sections to give more space to the features you care about.

Maybe so. I can start it in an alternative browser ripped for all the ordinary stuff. And I can hide my taskbar. All rather complicated but can be managed with some trial and error.

 

Then what is the flash version in browser window about?

 

It is a mistake if it is as have have read long ago, to please computer analphabets who are unable to make downloads. The flash version is a future conscept aimed to replace the bridge we today play in local clubs and in tournaments, F2F-bridge.

 

If BBO can only work on 1/2 of my screen I intend never to use it. I use 1/2 of my computer screen for navigation and control. It must work this way as you can see on this brand new web-site from Danmarks Radio:

 

http://www.dr.dk/tv/live#/DR%20Update

It is based on Adobe Player.

 

An alternative might be something like CCTV:

 

http://zhibo.cctv.com/live_h/index.shtml

[fred]

When you are at a table, the default configuration is for everything on the right-side of your screen to disappear. The table surface will take up the entire horizontal aspect of your browser window.

 

When at a table, you can toggle between this configuration and the one in which the right-side of the screen is showing by clicking the "Results" button at the far right of the row of buttons below the table surface.

 

As barmar mentioned, the sliders to the right of the table surface and below the table surface offer you additional flexibility to fine tune the screen layout.

 

The web-client will use whatever space you give it (by resizing your browser window). If you want the web-client to fill up your entire screen, press F11. I am not sure if this trick will work with all browsers.

 

Overall the web-client offers the user much greater control over screen layout than the Windows client does. This is especially useful for those who have their monitors set to a high screen resolution.

 

Really it is not that difficult. If you still can't figure it out from the above, I suggest you send an e-mail to support@bridgebase.com.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[csdenmark]

Fred I tried again - it is of course filling my browser window. But that window has no option to be more than half of screen. I have other things to do on this computer than playing bridge. Therefore I use half of the screen for navigation and control.

 

I wonder what the idea is. I doubt it will work on tablet PCs, mobile phones etc. The problem with broad screen for TV 16:9 has neither been addressed.

 

Fred from your comments a few days ago about FDcc I think we will not agree on the matter. We dont need to - it is your business and not mine. I only responded to this thread because you asked for a feedback about space problems. I think they will be unable to handle your way. I use the windows version so I am not affected.

[fred]

Claus,

 

I have no idea what you are talking about, but if you want to send a screenshot of what you are seeing to fred@bridgebase.com, it might help.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[csdenmark]

Here a screenshot. I have also mailed it for you. Normally I have an extra toolbar for translations occupying 2 lines more. Until machine translation will be better into danish I translate to english so that toolbar is not here.

 

http://www.bridgefiles.net/cs5.ht1.jpg