BBO Web-Client V33

[uday]

The latest version of the BBO web-client (V33) is now available.

 

Please let us know what you think by posting feedback in this thread.

 

 

Changes:

 

"Help me find a game" has been streamlined and simplified. Note the "Preferences" button for selecting options at the top of the "Play bridge" menu.

 

 

There is a completely new top-level menu item for "Start a table" (and a bunch of new stuff below it).

 

There is a completely new top-level menu item for "List all tournaments"

 

"My BBO" is now a group of top-level menu items

 

Lists of tournaments, tables, clubs, team matches, etc now have a more consistent look and feel:

- Title at the top

- Buttons at the top, if any, are used for manipulating the list that is being displayed (refresh, pending/running/complete, etc.)

- Buttons at the bottom, if any, are not directly related to the list itself (start table, substitutes, etc)

 

 

Several aspects of "hands and results" have changed:

- "Recent tournaments" has been improved. User can now filter list according to type of scoring (and see averages if one of these filters is selected)

- Improved user friendliness of the "hand editor" especially when it comes to adding annotations

- Easier to export hands (via the "Export deal" button at the bottom of any hand that appears through "Hands and results")

 

 

"List all tables", "Team matches" now displays a list of running team matches with a "Create Team Match" button at the bottom of this list

 

"List all tables", "Money Bridge" now displays a list of open tables

 

"Masterpoints and Races" menu has been simplified

 

Improved card animation

 

Some color changes.

 

"About BBO" dialog box with version number now available through the "Help" menu

 

There is now a "Reply" button associated with every item in the user's BBO mailbox

[kfay]

First comment is that when I pull up the 'My Results' or 'Who's Online' tabs while I'm on the home screen, the background doesn't reformat for screen change, instead gets covered up by the tab.

 

Not a big deal though.

[fred]

First comment is that when I pull up the 'My Results' or 'Who's Online' tabs while I'm on the home screen, the background doesn't reformat for screen change, instead gets covered up by the tab.

 

Not a big deal though.

Sorry - I don't know what you mean.

 

Can you send me a screenshot by e-mail (fred@bridgebase.com)?

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[bb79]

Is vugraph archive (under Hands&Results) in progress? All the links say couldn't fin .lin file.

 

Starting a table seems now easier and more intuitive now, thanks.

 

In the hand editor, when creating a new hand, can you allow undo after all cards are dealt (or at the point of choosing dealer). I mean, if you made a small mistake, you have to start from scratch. Also is it possible to edit previously saved hands? It seems no, but if implemented, it would be a great feature.

 

One more feature request, can you put an option to make the player at the bottom to be declarer? That's what I had been accustomed to from windows client.

[fred]

Is vugraph archive (under Hands&Results) in progress? All the links say couldn't fin .lin file.

That was a mistake. It is fixed now. Thanks for letting me know.

 

In the hand editor, when creating a new hand, can you allow undo after all cards are dealt (or at the point of choosing dealer). I mean, if you made a small mistake, you have to start from scratch.

 

Agree there is room for improvement here.

 

Also is it possible to edit previously saved hands? It seems no, but if implemented, it would be a great feature.

 

You can add annotations to any hands you see in "Hands and results". Click "Export deal" below the hand in question and then "Hand editor" on the menu that appears.

 

One more feature request, can you put an option to make the player at the bottom to be declarer? That's what I had been accustomed to from windows client.

 

Not sure about this because we are trying to keep the number of options to a minimum and because I am guessing that few people use this mode.

 

Anyone else out there use "declarer at bottom" in the Windows client?

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[heyrocky]

The improved card animation is a really nice enhancement; I tried a Money Bridge tourney with the Web client, and the play of the hands went much faster than it has done so before.

[keylime]

From a pure performance standpoint, it is noticeably quicker, especially in Safari for Windows.

[Penguin]

Fred,

 

Tonight was my first experience with the latest version. So far, I'm happy with the changes. The location of tabs and buttons seems much more logical; it's a really good sign when a new version you've been using for an hour seems more "right" than an interface you've been using for years. The improved animation is a pleasant surprise. Pat yourselves on the back.

[1eyedjack]

Among the three yellow buttons at the top, where we currently have "back", "home", and "log off", I would like to have a fourth option "up", which may act similar to "back" but may not depending on the route that you took to join the table. My reasons are:

 

I log on.

I note that one of my "friends" is online, playing at a table, say in the Acol club.

I right-click on friend to join the table.

I decide that I would like to see who else is playing in that particular public club.

In the Windows version I could just leave the table and all of the remaining tables in that public area would be displayed. The "Up" button in my suggestion would simulate this effect.

 

At present I can get the same result by clicking on "back" and then drilling down through several levels by successive mouse clicks. All I am asking is to take away that drudgery.

 

On a related matter, it may be helpful if the narrative next to the friend's name in the lobby displays the area of the site where he is playing. I realise that this is displayed if you open the player's profile, so this is not a major point for me (and indeed it may be a deliberate policy to reduce clutter on the screen). But the extra "Up" button would not noticeably add to clutter I think. If it does, then I think that "Up" is more useful than "Back" so replacing "Back" with "up" would be preferable for me, if we cannot have both.

[1eyedjack]

I would quite like a navigation option that takes me directly to the club our tourney at which a selected player or friend is located, but at the level above the table itself, ie in the Club lobby our tourney lobby.

 

If my previous suggestion of including an "Up" button is implemented, then this could be achieved in many cases without any extra features, by way of one extra mouse click (which is acceptable), simply by joining the player's table and then clicking "Up".

 

However going via the "up" button would not help where the individual is playing at a table where kibitzers are barred (and may be an undesirable route if permission to kibitz is required).

[helene_t]

Still not able to view "interesting tables".

 

When I select "BBO Now/Interesting tables" I am taken to a window with four links including interesting tables and vugraph. When I click "interesting tables", the window says "loading table list" for a few seconds and then returns to the four options. This has been going on for some months.

 

Using firefox 3.5.7 for Linux.

[fred]

Still not able to view "interesting tables".

 

When I select "BBO Now/Interesting tables" I am taken to a window with four links including interesting tables and vugraph. When I click "interesting tables", the window says "loading table list" for a few seconds and then returns to the four options. This has been going on for some months.

 

Using firefox 3.5.7 for Linux.

That's strange...

 

There is another way you can try to look at this list. Click "Help me find a game" from the home screen followed by "List interesting tables".

 

Does that work for you?

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[helene_t]

No, same thing. It will say "loading table list" for a few secs, then return to the window from where I clicked "list interesting tables".

 

Is there a time-out that expires during the load due to my slow connection?

 

Take me to an interesting table does work, though.

 

Just updated flashplayer to newest version(10 for ubuntu 9.0.4+, I use Ubuntu 9.10.). Didn't help.

[fred]

No, same thing. It will say "loading table list" for a few secs, then return to the window from where I clicked "list interesting tables".

 

Is there a time-out that expires during the load due to my slow connection?

 

Take me to an interesting table does work, though.

 

Just updated flashplayer to newest version(10 for ubuntu 9.0.4+, I use Ubuntu 9.10.). Didn't help.

What user ID are you using when you see this happen?

 

If you have another user ID, can you try with that?

 

How about if you log in anonymously?

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[helene_t]

I tried my normal user ID as well as the old helene_t3 and the newly created helene_t5. Same thing, also when I log in as invisible.

 

Logging in anonymously it works normal, though!

[uday]

Hi H

 

We attempt to personalize the interesting tables list for normal users but not for anon users.

 

A Q for you

 

is your conn to the internet such that multiple web page requests from your PC might appear to originate from multiple IP addresses ?

[helene_t]

I get a new IP address for every sesion but it should be stable within the sesion. Occasionally I get a message "you connection has been reset, please reload the page" suggesting that might IP address could change during a firefox sesion. My impression is that I would lose BBO connection in such a case but it might not always happen. So yes, it is possible that my IP address sometimes changes during the sesion.

 

BTW I use a proxy server so it's possible that BBO cannot see my IP address at all. At the moment my ISP says my adress is 10.32.159.172 but geofspa says BBO reports my address to be 109.80.100.93 so maybe this means that BBO sees the address of the proxy server, not the address of my own computer.

[uday]

That might be what's happening.

 

When connecting to bbo, we make a non-proxy (direct) connection to one machine. Later, for things like interesting tables, we make a standalone web query ( which authenticates you by checking IP addresses ).

 

I guess we can't rely on that. I'm guessing you use one IP address for the direct connection and another (the proxy) for the standalone queries.

 

I'll see if we can get this fixed in the next version one way or another.

[helene_t]

Wouldn't it be better to identify sessions on user ID rather than IP address?

[1eyedjack]

The maximum number of characters permitted for the description of a table is less in the case of the web client than in the case of the windows client. So, if someone using the windows client sets a table and gives it a description that makes full use of the available space provided in the windows client, then someone who logs on via the web client and views the table description only gets to see a truncated description. Those operating under the windows version (and setting the table description) may be unaware of that effect.

 

It is not normally an issue: for most purposes the amount of space provided in the web version is more than adequate. But it may not be when players are using a table as an area as a meeting place for setting up a tourney or event.

[xraycb]

There seems to be something broken with the web client. I keep finding that opponents using it play very slowly because they don't always see that it is their turn to play. The ruder players will demand that I play faster, when in fact I am waiting for them.

 

This doesn't always happen, and sometimes if the player disconnects and reconnects then the problem is resolved, but it can take forever to persuade a non-technical user that they need to do this.

[ahollan1]

Just used web version for first time as player [vs kibitzer]

 

Noticing differences between web & windows versions suggests the need for a matrix that shows intent of functionality differences between windows & web to determine whether behavior is: intended [don't bother posting observation], a glitch [requires writeup], pending port [no need to writeup], forgot to port [requires writeup], etc. This presentation would not need to show new functionality that adds to what windows version offers.

 

Examples where i see loss of functionality

1) configuration of sounds strictly binary in web version whereas win allows tailoring of scenarios to mix sound on/off

 

2) session .lin file is not saved to disk with web version

My BBO => Hands and Results => Recent Hands => Export Deal

only seems to allow

 

a) save of 1 hand at a time

B) save as URL or entry in BBO database -- still no local copy

 

3) other entries have touched on differences with CC/FD handling

 

4) Win version allows mouse over running score to bring up Imp Table but this functionality not seen in web version

 

 

To avoid redundancy in reporting/responding it would help if BBO had a pinned presentation that described whether an observation is:

 

As designed - no change will be made

Error - fix being worked

Error - fix in to-do list

Oversight - port being worked

Oversight - port in to-do list

 

etc

 

 

Thanks

 

Al

[ahollan1]

Glitch with viewing Hands and Results

 

Recent Hands lists the 11 boards just completed, but then behavior is bizarre

 

a) Double-click on board #2 displays board #10

scoresheet is wrong, displayed hands are correct

 

b) << expect to show previous [lower] board but shows next board [increment by 1]

 

c) >> expect to show next [higher] board but shows previous board [decrement by 1]

 

Al

[barmar]

I also noticed a glitch in Hands and Results last night. After playing in the 8pm and 10pm ACBL IMP Speedballs, I viewed Recent Tournaments. The net IMPs is correct in the tournament listing and Results pages, but when I click on My Hands, the IMP totals at the bottom bear no resemblance to anything at all, as far as I can tell. E.g. in tournament #1425, we had 19.91 IMPs, but in My Hands says We 1.66, They -1.66.

 

Oh, I just figured it out. It's showing the average IMPs per board: 19.91/12 = 1.66. I guess it just needs a proper label.

[pdmunro]

I was kibitzing a table using the Flash client. The host (S) dealt. Bidding went P - P - P (Undo request by N). E said he had no bidding box. His comment was not understood by the other players. Eventually someone (W or N?) rejected the undo. E said he now had a bidding box and made a bid.

 

The host (S) booted his opps (EW). I guess he misunderstood the situation and thought EW should have allowed his partner's undo request.

 

A fellow kibitzer joined the table (permission required) as E. About a minute later, I noticed his name was still listed as a kibitzer even though he was now siting and playing at the table.

 

I left the table shortly after. There were about 8000 on BBO at the time.