Melchior FRANZ wrote:
> * Stuart Buchanan -- Thursday 22 November 2007:
> > The patches below binds a keyboard handler to the "-" key,
>
> > [...] there is at least some logic to it: I'm planning a
> > menu-system for the chat allowing people to compose canned
> > messages [...] for which I'm hoping to use the 1-9 keys.
>
> I doubt that 1-9 will be canned chat messages. Only a fraction
> of fgfs users uses MP, and of these only a fraction uses chat.
> So using these easily accessible keys for that is probably a
> waste. And other than the proximity to the number keys, there's
> no relation of a "minus" to sending messages. I'd rather use
> the double quote key, which is also still unused.
Taking both patches together, I disagree quite strongly.
Firstly, I expect MP chat to become much more popular as it becomes
easier to use. Last night I noticed a significant increase in chat messages,
possibly just based on my first patch. I think having effective comms
is quite important for MP, and my patches increase the usability
significantly.
Previously, creating a new message, say "KSFO traffic, G-MWLX is
downwind to land, Runway 28L", was a pain - one had to:
1) open a dialog box
2) change the focus to the text box
3) type the message
4) press send.
It takes about 20 seconds, and is not really realistic while trying to hand-fly!
The first patch changes this to
1) Press "-"
2) type message
3) press return.
This is a bit better, but still quite hard while flying a Pitts.
The second patch changes most of these messages to simply:
1) Press "-"
2) Press a small series of numerals (e.g. 1, 3, 2, 4).
I find this very easy and much, much faster - down to around 4 seconds -
and easily possible with one hand while flying.
In fact, I noticed a significant increase in chat messages last night
on the basis of the first patch.
Secondly, the numeric keys are not permanently assigned to the chat.
They are only active during the dialog, which as I mentioned above is not
for a very significant amount of time. I expect that the ongoing discussion
on keyboard assignment will re-assign the keys to something else as
well. Someone suggested using them for aircraft switched, which I think
is quite a nice idea, and something that could easily be done in parallel.
Thirdly, I think I may not have made my description of the second patch
clear enough. The chat menu is really a phrase tree, which the user
navigates from the root to a leaf, appending additional phrases as they
traverse. At any given node, there will be a number of options. Given that
the tree is completely configurable, the only sensible way for the user to
navigate it is by number.
Given this, I think the - key is a sensible choice for the phrase tree, and _
a good choice for free-form chat. On my UK keyboard they are the same
key.
Best Regards,
-Stuart
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