Dear Simon,
I would be in favour of keeping the icon.
The SW might be reliable, but I could have forgotten to tick the box to enable
the logger (or accidentally unticked).
Seeing it blinking there, gives me confidence.
I then also know that the logger has not stopped.
The small icon is not really taking up much "real estate" on the screen, so I
think the downside of having it is negligible.
On another related matter (I raised this before, but can't get into TRAC, so
not formally reported):
My log stops in flight once in a while.
Happened again last week with v6.1 (on WM 6.1, using the X-scale XCSOAR version)
It is usually fairly soon after take off.
I suspect it is to do with (but not 100% certain) my PDA switching off /
locking after a maximum of 15' (corporate policy/rule on my PDA, can not undo
it).
Work around so far has been to remember clicking on the screen every couple of
minutes, but when you get busy, this is not always practical.
Regards,
Andre
________________________________
From: Simon Taylor [mailto:simon.taylor...@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 7:57 PM
To: xcsoar user
Subject: [Xcsoar-user] Logger icon
In current versions of XCSoar, a very small icon of a red circle shows in the
lower-right of the mapwindow to indicate that logging is active. It alternates
between red and dark red to show the speed of logging.
For 6.2 we're trying to implement some recommended user interface guidelines
(for more detail, see that section in
http://max.kellermann.name/download/xcsoar/releases/6.1.1/XCSoar-developer-manual.pdf
). Implementing these has led to a discussion taking roughly this path:
Problem: Red is a colour reserved for danger.
Solution: Change the red circle to another colour.
V
Problem: Unlike a red circle, a circle of any other colour is not a
recognisable symbol for 'recording'.
Solution: Change the icon to another recognisable symbol (cassette, floppy
disk, graph, ... ).
V
Problem: It is difficult to create a recognisable symbol in a tiny icon.
Solution: Enlarge the icon.
V
Problem: The icon is not important enough to justify a larger icon.
Solution: Do we need the icon at all?
The arguments in favour of the icon:
- If the log is important to the user (primary / secondary logger), is
reassuring to know that XCSoar is logging.
- If landing detection code is imperfect, it could potentially turn off the
logger in some circumstances.
- If using manual logging mode, the icon is a constant visual indicator that
logging is active.
Arguments against the icon:
- If the landing / takeoff detection code is reliable, it can be assumed that
the logger is recording. It is not helpful to display the icon.
- If landing detection code has failed, the logger has already been stopped and
the IGC file will be incomplete. The icon is not helpful because the event has
already occurred; no action by the user is necessary because logging will
resume when the takeoff detection code activates.
- Not useful enough for most users to justify an icon.
- Removing it reduces screen clutter.
It would be helpful to know if anyone finds the logging icon useful, and why?
If because of some issue with the takeoff and landing detection code, has the
problem been reported on trac? http://www.xcsoar.org/trac/newticket
(For that matter, please report any issues on trac as soon as you notice them.
We now support a large number of very different devices and there's a good
chance that the problem you see won't be fixed unless you report it. It's much
easier to identify and fix problems soon after they are introduced.)
Cheers,
Simon
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