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Windows client retirement feedback thread


cuckoo5

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Just pay attention :)

Seriously, there is a demand, judging by its repeated request, for more customisable sound settings, such as to switch off the swish of the cards but retain the reminder that it is your turn to do something. Doesn't bother me particularly, but I see it requested often enough.

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I guarantee that no matter how many pixels you have, vertical space is at a premium. I have a 1400x900 screen on my laptop, but it's still an 11-inch diagonal computer, so the vertical space is about 9 inches. With the window title, then the browser menu bar, then the tab bar, then the status line on the bottom, probably takes one of those inches; and you need to display a table and a chat box, cards, board, bidding, and text all visible and readable to my ageing eyes. (Oh, and my eyes are still a lot better than most ageing eyes).

 

 

well, no, I don't, because I use linux and i3, but I don't expect the "ageing eyes BBO population" to follow me down the esoterica of display management.

 

 

Sure, if you have the 28" widescreen monitor, and you're going fullscreen on it (or the 60" TV that we watch vugraph on), there's a bit more display space.

 

One thing I'd love to have (besides the option to have no-sound, all-sound, and all-sounds-but-card-swish), is the ability for the "table" to fit the space it is given, rather than being fixed to its aspect ratio. Especially on a widescreen monitor, even with the scorecard on the right, I get the choice between 4 lines of chat and a bunch of wasted space behind E-W scrunching up the table display.

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I guarantee that no matter how many pixels you have, vertical space is at a premium. I have a 1400x900 screen on my laptop, but it's still an 11-inch diagonal computer, so the vertical space is about 9 inches. With the window title, then the browser menu bar, then the tab bar, then the status line on the bottom, probably takes one of those inches; and you need to display a table and a chat box, cards, board, bidding, and text all visible and readable to my ageing eyes. (Oh, and my eyes are still a lot better than most ageing eyes).

 

One option would be to have a full screen option where only the BBO window shows on the screen. The obvious problem is that you have to escape out of full screen mode to do other Windows things. Another option is eye surgery :P I see better now than I did as as a kid.

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heh. Did you notice my spoiler? As I said, I'm commenting on what BBO needs to deal with for most of its audience, not the ones who have been building their computers from the pieces up since 1990...

I would like to up vote this comment about 500 times!!!

 

One of the main talking points to get people to come to BBO in the first place for friends reluctant to venture into online bridge was I promised them it was simple and easy to get where you wanted to go, and do what you wanted to do, whatever and wherever that was on BBO. I have never felt I could say that about the web version because it's just not true, it is not easy. Today I had two different people tell me they didn't know how to get to the club, between all the choices they were forced to make they just gave up and logged out to go do something else. Usually it's just faster to have the table host invite them or I tell them to click on my name and join me but that doesn't solve the problem for the future. ( Both of those excellent and useful options, tho)

 

I don't think its that hard tbh but it's definitely more complicated, or at least it FEELs much more complicated. It's like trying to get past an automated telephone system to a person. Some get stymied by the very first choice they have to make, they don't know exactly what they want to do, it depends on who else is online and what's going on.

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We try very hard to make the best decisions we can, but of course you can't make all of the people happy all of the time and of course sometimes we simply make mistakes that are a lot easier to see in retrospect.

And are BBO certain that forcing everyone into way of playing which they apparently don't like isn't a mistake?

 

In many ways BBO has been exceedingly importaint for me for many years and I am eternally grateful for your the job you have done to keep it going, but as many others here have commented, I have tried the webversion and it can never, in any way, replace the traditional way of playing. Maybe it's possible to replicate this in the future but for now it seems like an enormouse mistake to do this.

 

I have no believe that my opinions count for much when a company has apparently already decided what product they want their customers to use, but I can only hope my own wish and the wishes of all the others who feel the same count for something.

 

Thanks.

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One option would be to have a full screen option where only the BBO window shows on the screen. The obvious problem is that you have to escape out of full screen mode to do other Windows things.

 

Most browsers have this option. Looks like on firefox you have to switch to it in another tab (F11) and then CTRL+TAB to the BBO tab to get it to work there. You can switch to non-browser windows tasks with ALT+TAB (usually) and other browser tabs with CTRL+TAB.

 

Probably something similar on a mac, but am too lazy to check.

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IAC stuff is trying to “clean-up” the club, as over years, it kept growing, having now over 3000 members - unfortunately most of them are no longer active, probably many even not members of BBO anymore. We tried retrieve list of members that our admin nickname (bbo_iac) has on BBO and weren't able, but Barmar was so kind to get that list for us, and as he suggested we should ask for a new feature in future BBO.

.

It would be very useful if Club Managers were able to download the members list, and if possible, upload a new list replacing existing one.

Thanks : )

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Given how widescreen (read: short and wide) monitors have become the standard, I don't understand why the task bad and the apple dock default to being at the bottom of the screen, rather than a side...

I've always changed the preferences on my Mac to move the Dock to the side and also auto-hide it.

 

I suspect it defaults to the bottom because the wide screen allows room for more items in the task bar.

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I wondered if you could offer the windows version with an annual fee? Wouldn't this be the same as allowing the ACBL premium users to continue its use?

 

And, I know you suggested this was minor, but I personally do not like the graphics on the web client. If they were the same, I think you would get a more positive response to convert.

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@barmar

 

Im a bit confused.

What happens with the users (like me) who have bought Bridge Master and other stuff on the windows bbo edition.

Will you compensate and send the CDs to us - now that we can't play and read the thing we paid for?

 

Thomas

 

You're the third person to ask this in this thread (including me). No response so far...

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Re the people who purchased old client software:

 

Currently we are leaning towards leaving people enabled for software alone in the old client. In the future (and I don't mean Feb 2017, but after that), old client may eventually not serve any more games, but software access could be left.

 

I don't know for sure, and I think even Uday or Fred don't know for sure because our only concrete plan right now is to move a batch of BBOers over in Feb 2017. It may be that we'll port the games to web client for access, the same way we ported Bridge Master, and if this was the eventual decision we'll make sure we take care of everyone who purchased the online type software from us. (Btw anyone who had bought Bridge Master via old client and has now switched to new client just has to ask and we'll add BB$ for use in the new rental system. We've been doing this since 2013 when BM was ported over.) I don't think sending a CD is as likely.

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