Which BBO client do you use?

[hotShot]

The developers are not fans of chat->lobby so I doubt this will be implemented in the web-client, but it is not unlikely that we will eventually create some kind of semi-automated facility that allows people to issue notifications like "need 3 for team match", for interested parties to subscribe to these notifications, and for the software to take care of getting these people together.

I would imagine that a "Team Match Club" in an analog way to the MBC, would be a better solution.

[Dwingo]

The developers are not fans of chat->lobby so I doubt this will be implemented in the web-client, but it is not unlikely that we will eventually create some kind of semi-automated facility that allows people to issue notifications like "need 3 for team match", for interested parties to subscribe to these notifications, and for the software to take care of getting these people together.

I would imagine that a "Team Match Club" in an analog way to the MBC, would be a better solution.

[quote name=Dwingo' date='While creating Team Matches on web version, Chat to Lobby is sorely missed.

 

I understand the issues for not allowing Chat to Lobby using the Web version. As it currently stands, there are not many players who are clicking on the empty seats if a TM is formed without all 8 members.

 

I would suggest that as soon as a TM is created with atleast 1 seat unfilled, that the system generates an Automated message to Lobby ( this way there is a control on the No. of messages that is sent to Lobby) and people who want to join the TM should be able to right click on the message and join the TM screen with the empty seats shown. This way the empty seats would be filled up pretty soon.

 

If this can be done both for Windows users and Flash users, that would be great.

 

The good thing about this version, the TM starts when 1 table of 4 members is seated. The 2nd table can be formed even as the 1st table is playing. However the 2nd table has to be filled within a specific period of time. I am not sure what that time is. I remember when I was in the 3rd or 4th deal, the Team Match was closed on us as we are not able to get another 4 for the 2nd table.

 

Though I appreciate the progress made on the Team Match front in the web version, there is still scope for improvement. As a TM organiser, I still prefer to use windows version for creating Team Matches. [/quote]

 

The semi automated facility is very good idea, but would prefer that the host retains control of who enters the Team Match, similar to asking for Permission to sit at the table in MBC.

 

It will be a disaster, if implemented in the "Take me quickly to a Team Match" fashion, as is now being done in MBC.

[patroclo]

is it possble to save hand with the web version and use other software to analize?

[zenko]

The developers are not fans of chat->lobby so I doubt this will be implemented in the web-client, but it is not unlikely that we will eventually create some kind of semi-automated facility that allows people to issue notifications like "need 3 for team match", for interested parties to subscribe to these notifications, and for the software to take care of getting these people together.

I would imagine that a "Team Match Club" in an analog way to the MBC, would be a better solution.

[quote name=Dwingo' date='While creating Team Matches on web version, Chat to Lobby is sorely missed.

 

I understand the issues for not allowing Chat to Lobby using the Web version. As it currently stands, there are not many players who are clicking on the empty seats if a TM is formed without all 8 members.

 

I would suggest that as soon as a TM is created with atleast 1 seat unfilled, that the system generates an Automated message to Lobby ( this way there is a control on the No. of messages that is sent to Lobby) and people who want to join the TM should be able to right click on the message and join the TM screen with the empty seats shown. This way the empty seats would be filled up pretty soon.

 

If this can be done both for Windows users and Flash users, that would be great.

 

The good thing about this version, the TM starts when 1 table of 4 members is seated. The 2nd table can be formed even as the 1st table is playing. However the 2nd table has to be filled within a specific period of time. I am not sure what that time is. I remember when I was in the 3rd or 4th deal, the Team Match was closed on us as we are not able to get another 4 for the 2nd table.

 

Though I appreciate the progress made on the Team Match front in the web version, there is still scope for improvement. As a TM organiser, I still prefer to use windows version for creating Team Matches. [/quote]

 

The semi automated facility is very good idea, but would prefer that the host retains control of who enters the Team Match, similar to asking for Permission to sit at the table in MBC.

 

It will be a disaster, if implemented in the "Take me quickly to a Team Match" fashion, as is now being done in MBC.

How can you even start a team match in web version? Under Play or Watch tab I have only Start a table option, not start a match, is it hidden somewhere else?

[zenko]

The developers are not fans of chat->lobby so I doubt this will be implemented in the web-client, but it is not unlikely that we will eventually create some kind of semi-automated facility that allows people to issue notifications like "need 3 for team match", for interested parties to subscribe to these notifications, and for the software to take care of getting these people together.

I would imagine that a "Team Match Club" in an analog way to the MBC, would be a better solution.

Thank you very much for clarification. I will try that new feature for sure, will this semi-automatic team match matching have the same "I have a partner" option which now exist in "help me find a game" tab? Also, playing with your regular partner against a random hook-up pair is often like shooting fish in a barrel, so I much prefer playing team matches open only for pairs to sign up, will be there a way to screen for those?

[fred]

Thank you very much for clarification. I will try that new feature for sure, will this semi-automatic team match matching have the same "I have a partner" option which now exist in "help me find a game" tab? Also, playing with your regular partner against a random hook-up pair is often like shooting fish in a barrel, so I much prefer playing team matches open only for pairs to sign up, will be there a way to screen for those?

Click "List all tables", then "Team matches", and then click the "Create team match" button (near the bottom).

 

You don't have to worry about unwanted randoms getting into the team matches you create. When a player clicks on an empty seat in your team match, you will receive a permission request that includes the user's profile. You can say "yes" or "no" as you see fit.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[inquiry]

is it possble to save hand with the web version and use other software to analize?

The hands are automatically saved for everyone on the BBO servers. The hands stay available there for variable amounts of time, but there seems to always be a minimum of 1 month, and often many months.

 

You can go to the myhand site and save each hand individually if you like (or pick the ones you want to save).. the website is

 

http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/index.php

 

Or you can use a great little free tool provided by a commercial website. The website is www.bridgecaotain.com. If you want, you can download their free double dummy solver from one of their download pages (short cut to it is...

 

http://www.bridgecaptain.com/downloadDD.html ).

 

This program has an option to grab hands directly from the bridgebase online myhands server, and put them all in a single file. The options are

1) enter a player name (in this case yours if grabbing your hands)

2) Enter time frame to grab hands from (options are last 24 hours, last 7 days, this month, and last month).

 

It will grab all the hands stored in myhands and put them in a single file. It does this very quickly.

 

A side benefit, is it calculates makable contracts, par contracts, and allows you to choose teh "double dummy" card for most tricks at anytime during the play of the hand. For a little freebie, this is an amazing little program, and it calculates the makable contracts very quickly.

[mgoetze]

Oh, BTW, I no longer have Flash Player installed on any of my computers, since there is no current official version (i.e. without major security holes) available for 64-bit Linux and I don't consider Flash important enough to bother fiddling with the 32-bit plugin wrapper.

 

I just tried to load the latest flash client with Gnash 0.8.7 on Iceweasel 3.5.11 (Gnash is an open-source reimplementation of Flash, and Iceweasel is a rebranded Firefox). It works well enough to show an advertisement, but not anything else. Since I don't come to BBO mainly to look at ads, I'm definitely sticking to the Windows version for now. B)

[paulg]

is it possble to save hand with the web version and use other software to analize?

The hands are automatically saved for everyone on the BBO servers. The hands stay available there for variable amounts of time, but there seems to always be a minimum of 1 month, and often many months.

 

You can go to the myhand site and save each hand individually if you like (or pick the ones you want to save).. the website is

 

http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/index.php

 

Or you can use a great little free tool provided by a commercial website. The website is www.bridgecaotain.com. If you want, you can download their free double dummy solver from one of their download pages (short cut to it is...

 

http://www.bridgecaptain.com/downloadDD.html ).

 

This program has an option to grab hands directly from the bridgebase online myhands server, and put them all in a single file. The options are

1) enter a player name (in this case yours if grabbing your hands)

2) Enter time frame to grab hands from (options are last 24 hours, last 7 days, this month, and last month).

 

It will grab all the hands stored in myhands and put them in a single file. It does this very quickly.

 

A side benefit, is it calculates makable contracts, par contracts, and allows you to choose teh "double dummy" card for most tricks at anytime during the play of the hand. For a little freebie, this is an amazing little program, and it calculates the makable contracts very quickly.

I blogged about some of the new features in this free program recently.

[1eyedjack]

For me the benefits to the web-based interface are, in no particular priority:

Web1) The hand constraints that you can impose in the Partnership Bidding area are much better

Web2) I can play at lunchtime on my office computer, where installation of non-work-related software is banned

Web3) The chat manager

Web4) The opportunity to set up a teams game table before having all 8 players to assign (I only learned about this feature when reading this thread, and it has been a major bugbear of mine for years)

 

For me the benefits of the windows-based interface are, in no particular priority:

Win1) Instantaneous refresh without prompting

Win2) Easier (albeit still more longwinded than necessary) navigation to the point in the site immediately above the table of a named friend (ie to the club or tourney in which he is playing)

Win3) Use of GIB double-dummy analyser in real time when kibbitzing a hand

Win4) Hand logging and chat logging direct to my local PC

 

I have no doubt that there are a lot more advantages to one interface over the other than that which I have listed here, but I simply list those which seem to impinge on me personally in my browsing and playing habits.

 

Thus, applying this to my habitual activity,

Web1 is relevant if I am interested in Partnership Bidding, but is otherwise irrelevant.

Web2 trumps all other issues when I am at work. When I am not at work Web2 is utterly irrelevant.

Web3 is always relevant but low priority in comparison with other issues (and to some extent duplicates other third-party solutions)

Web4 has some legs to it, but is of no relevance if for that session I have no intention of setting up a team game

 

Win1 is generally relevant throughout, and a high priority

Win2 is generally relevant when kibbitzing or at any time when I am unsure precisely what I want to do at the site

Win3 is only relevant when kibbitzing but a high priority on that event.

Win4 is generally relevant throughout, and a high priority. I have to say that I was unaware of the third party utilities publicised in this thread for data-mining MyHands, and this reduces somewhat the priority of the issue. However changing the facility within the Web interface from "impossible" to "possible but still a lot more cumbersome than the Windows interface" does not entirely eliminate the Windows interface advantage.

 

In conclusion, which interface I will use at a given instant does depend a bit on the activity which I intend to perform when I am logged on, but for the most part, unless there is a specific activity better suited to the web based interface I will generally use Windows. I should add that "look and feel" plays absolutely no part in my decision. (Relevant) functionality is all.

[1eyedjack]

<snip>

 

Or you can use a great little free tool provided by a commercial website. The website is www.bridgecaotain.com. If you want, you can download their free double dummy solver from one of their download pages (short cut to it is...

 

http://www.bridgecaptain.com/downloadDD.html  ).

 

<snip>

 

I blogged about some of the new features in this free program recently.

Can you clarify the "free" comment?

 

http://www.bridgecaptain.com/order.html

 

(I have no objection to paying for software, although my personal opinion is that this price is a bit steep.)

[1eyedjack]

<snip>

 

Or you can use a great little free tool provided by a commercial website. The website is www.bridgecaotain.com. If you want, you can download their free double dummy solver from one of their download pages (short cut to it is...

 

http://www.bridgecaptain.com/downloadDD.html  ).

 

<snip>

 

I blogged about some of the new features in this free program recently.

Can you clarify the "free" comment?

 

http://www.bridgecaptain.com/order.html

 

(I have no objection to paying for software, although my personal opinion is that this price is a bit steep.)

Belay that. The order form is for Bridge Captain - a different product from the same supplier. The web site is confusing. Nothing on the DDDownload page suggests that it is free, and there is a link to "order" which takes you to Bridge Captain order page. Gives the impression that you have to pay for the DD solver.

[1eyedjack]

That double dummy solver looks interesting having tried it out. Shame that it does not adopt the GIB convention of telling you the DD result that would arise on each of the possible choices of the next card to be played. Sure you can go through each legit card and play it and then check what the DD result is, then undo that card and try the next etc etc, but clearly not as useful in that regard.

[Aberlour10]

I use exclusively the WIN version with the same "entry screen" as 8 years ago (traditionalist!),

No doubt, the web client has a lot of advantages, but the WIN has all the functions that I need and use, so I stay with it as long as it will be possible.

[mgiurgeu]

I have quickly glanced through this thread and was very sad to see Fred's posting where he confirms that there will be no significant developments to the Windows client. I think that is very unfortunate. I am using it exclusively mostly because I consider it superior in functionality but also because I don't like web based programs in general.

 

One feature (or lack thereof) that drives me crazy with the Flash client is that you cannot have South at the bottom during the play. When you go to review the board you just played you have look at the rotated diagram. It's so awkward!!!

 

Anyway, I still hold a glimmer of hope that Fred will have a change of heart and not abandon the Windows client.

 

Mircea

[1eyedjack]

@mgiurgeu

This is not news but has been announced by Fred many months ago.

 

Anyway, there are no immediate plans to "abandon" the Windows client - simply no plans to improve on it. So if it does OK for you as it stands, you have no need to worry.

 

I suspect that if and when the Windows client ceases to function, by then the browser version will have improved to such an extent that the differences in functionality would make you want to change at that point anyway.

[Siegmund]

I suspect that if and when the Windows client ceases to function, by then the browser version will have improved to such an extent that the differences in functionality would make you want to change at that point anyway.

 

Having to download a client before every time I want to play will never be an acceptable substitute for downloading it once and being able to launch it instantly in the future. Never. There may come a time when we have to do it, if there are no competing sites to move to, but we won't be happy about it.

 

I don't much care whether it's a standalone program or a plugin or a Firefox extension (though esthetically I prefer a standalone program - that way you know that third-party upgrades to the browser or the flash engine or whatever won't break it)... but having a way to make it live on my machine is very important to me.

 

Now, that's sort of the opposite of what web-based clients do - they emphasize being able to play from any computer, if you're patient enough - but I think there are a LOT more people who play consistently from the same few computers than who need to be able to log on from anywhere. The web client is a nice extra offering (it helps the people who e.g. cant install software on their work computers) but in my universe it would have remained the secondary product forever.

[cherdanno]

I suspect that if and when the Windows client ceases to function, by then the browser version will have improved to such an extent that the differences in functionality would make you want to change at that point anyway.

 

Having to download a client before every time I want to play will never be an acceptable substitute for downloading it once and being able to launch it instantly in the future. Never. There may come a time when we have to do it, if there are no competing sites to move to, but we won't be happy about it.

You do know that there is such a thing as browser cache?

In practice, my browser only downloads the flash client whenever there is a new version.

[onoway]

The last time I went to the web client it seemed a little less cluttered and thus slightly easier to get to where I wanted to go. However, I still prefer the Win version..I don't see any improvement in the Flash chat area which to me is still highly unsatisfactory. The idea of having two chat windows (both of them miniscule) adds to clutter and doesn't make it easier to keep chat going where it is meant to go; the other day I was constantly getting messages clearly not meant for me from someone with whom I had exchanged greetings earlier.

 

The flash version tends to make me dizzy..I'm not sure why, but playing on it I feel disoriented. I only lasted 4 hands the other day before I had to log off the webversion and back in on the download version with a sigh of relief. I understand that it's possible to change the cards but that's a pain to try to figure out what/how to do, esp if it isn't clear if that would help. So much easier to retreat to the version which already works.

 

I don't like not knowing who else is kibbing at the table with me. I don't like not being able to just GO to a club without being challenged as to what I want to do there, so simply waiting in the club for a teaching session to start for example appears to be impossible. I don't see the point of having yellows when they don't SHOW as yellows on your friend's list. Other things have already been mentioned.

 

The web client is definitely getting much better and does have some features which are enticing, but although I will try it from time to time from curiosity I still can't see ever leaving my beloved downloaded version.

[1eyedjack]

I suspect that if and when the Windows client ceases to function, by then the browser version will have improved to such an extent that the differences in functionality would make you want to change at that point anyway.

 

Having to download a client before every time I want to play will never be an acceptable substitute for downloading it once and being able to launch it instantly in the future.

I prefer the Windows client for reasons already stated, but this certainly was not one of them.

 

I am no techie but I can tell from personal experience that the speed of getting a session going in Windows, especially when there are 10K plus users online, is slower than in Flash, possibly as it seems to me that it downloads each logged-on user's profile at the outset.

 

Speed of initialisng the program sounds to me like a pretty trivial objection anyway, but I guess each to his own.

[spwdo]

several of my partners play flash. they have problems seeing loaded cc`s or dont see em at all.

 

When chatting i find myself sending mess. to the wrong ppl a lot in flash, the last person you send something too stays as next receiver while in windows version you send to the table you`re playing at. that makes more sense to me as your table is your main chat, when someone logs in you say hi and that's it. more chat needed i use control+r. Yes, its what im use too but i like it and do not find this minor chance a good one.

 

Loading profiles in flash, arggggg :( slow, before i read /see it the player i try to look at has a new partner already. having to click it away=bad change imo. Hover over a name-profile show, move mouse=profile gone, now thats perfect for us lazy folks.

 

i can live with partners using flash, altho not seeing same cc is regrettable . But if ever we only have flash as option to play i wont be a happy camper and might not log in anymore.

 

i tried flash numerous times , just for the mere fact that Staff advocates the flash version very strong. Days in a row but its not for me, sorry. i wish i was on the flash side just for the fact i understand that staff wont be doing anything on the windows version just to push ppl towards the new thing. Maybe in time when enuuf of the points i and others mentioned are addressed i just might but they will have to be changed while the windows version stays active .

 

I see that many ppl use windows version(pole) but i wonder why thew correct answer isnt there" i only use windows period" instead of mainly

[1eyedjack]

When chatting i find myself sending mess. to the wrong ppl a lot in flash, the last person you send something too stays as next receiver while in windows version you send to the table you`re playing at. that makes more sense to me as your table is your main chat, when someone logs in you say hi and that's it. more chat needed i use control+r. Yes, its what im use too but i like it and do not find this minor chance a good one.

I should have added this to one of my hates of Flash, so doing it now. So, ditto.

 

Loading profiles in flash, arggggg :( slow, before i read /see it the player i try to look at has a new partner already. having to click it away=bad change imo. Hover over a name-profile show, move mouse=profile gone, now thats perfect for us lazy folks.

Try clicking on Options/More Options/Advanced Options/Show Profile upon Mouseover.

 

It is not my preference, but it may be yours

 

I suppose that you have to choose between loading all profiles at logon (Windows) contrasted with at access of profile (Flash), but I am only guessing there.

[Jangvik]

I voted for the windows version. This is based on that it is the only way i can use BBO during work. I cannot log in using the flash version, always get the error connection lost. Probably due to restrictions in my company firewall. Taking about 2 minutes to log in into the windows version as well. :(

[rramjet]

i like the web version however since upgrading to opensuse 11.3 i can't maintain the programme as i keep getting a serious wine error and the programme shuts down

so looks like i will be forced back to the web version

i started with the web version but once i found the windows version worked with wine i liked it better

the reason is i play mostly in the relaxed club with pick up partners and the web version allows you to see the profile of your prospective partner as your cursor hovers over the name

i can't do this in the web version having to click on the name then refresh for the next one

much easier to find a partner using the web version

anyway that's my 2 bob's worth

keep up the good work it is a great site

[rramjet]

i like the web version however since upgrading to opensuse 11.3 i can't maintain the programme as i keep getting a serious wine error and the programme shuts down

so looks like i will be forced back to the web version

i started with the web version but once i found the windows version worked with wine i liked it better

the reason is i play mostly in the relaxed club with pick up partners and the web version allows you to see the profile of your prospective partner as your cursor hovers over the name

i can't do this in the web version having to click on the name then refresh for the next one

much easier to find a partner using the web version

anyway that's my 2 bob's worth

keep up the good work it is a great site

forget all that i just read all the posts and now have the mouse over so no reason not to like the web version

happy days