Adding a new Smart Divelog

[kenjacobs]

Three small things ...

Please make it possible to enter the dive log name when I am defining a smart log. As it is now, I have to wait until I complete the log, then click on the name in the left panel, then click several times to highlight only the first word (leaving the word divelog), then type the new name. You can save me a lot of clicks!

The names of the criteria you can use in the smart dive log are not in alphabetical order.

Air-related (and possibly other?) columns are missing from these criteria. It would be nice to see all the dives where I came up with less than 200 pounds, for example!

Thanks

[nick]

Three small things ...

Please make it possible to enter the dive log name when I am defining a smart log. As it is now, I have to wait until I complete the log, then click on the name in the left panel, then click several times to highlight only the first word (leaving the word divelog), then type the new name. You can save me a lot of clicks!

When you add a smart divelog, it adds to the list and is in text edit mode by default. Just type the name and hit enter. Maybe you're clicking somewhere else after you click "Done".

The names of the criteria you can use in the smart dive log are not in alphabetical order.

They are in the next patch. I spent a significant amount of time rewriting the panel so that now they are in alphabetical order and also certain fields will provide you a unit of measurement (eg Average Depth will provide a label saying Metres/Feet).

Air-related (and possibly other?) columns are missing from these criteria. It would be nice to see all the dives where I came up with less than 200 pounds, for example!

I'll take a look at adding those.

[kenjacobs]

Three small things ...
Please make it possible to enter the dive log name when I am defining a smart log. As it is now, I have to wait until I complete the log, then click on the name in the left panel, then click several times to highlight only the first word (leaving the word divelog), then type the new name. You can save me a lot of clicks!

When you add a smart divelog, it adds to the list and is in text edit mode by default. Just type the name and hit enter. Maybe you're clicking somewhere else after you click "Done".

True, but even with the name in text edit mode, I need to either start typing the entire name, or click several times to get the first word (""untitled') to be highlighted. I like to keep the word "divelog", as in "Margo's divelog", so I normally would want to replace "untitled" with something descriptive. It would certainly be easier, more convenient, more obvious, more conventional, and more consistent with other apps if the user could specify the name of the new divelog when specifying its definition.

The names of the criteria you can use in the smart dive log are not in alphabetical order.

They are in the next patch. I spent a significant amount of time rewriting the panel so that now they are in alphabetical order and also certain fields will provide you a unit of measurement (eg Average Depth will provide a label saying Metres/Feet).

Nice.

Air-related (and possibly other?) columns are missing from these criteria. It would be nice to see all the dives where I came up with less than 200 pounds, for example!

I'll take a look at adding those.

[nick]

It would certainly be easier, more convenient, more obvious, more conventional, and more consistent with other apps if the user could specify the name of the new divelog when specifying its definition.

Open iTunes.
Select New Smart Playlist.
Note the panel has no place to enter a name.
Click Done/Save.
Note that the new playlist appears and the text is selected, ready for you to edit.
Make your changes and hit enter.

MacDive is modeled after this, and works exactly the same way.

[kenjacobs]

Well, but yeahbut ...

iTunes hasn't won any awards for being the best user interface. And although it's true that adding a divelog in MacDive works the same way as adding a playlist in iTunes, that doesn't make it intuitive or convenient (or consistent with the appropriate Mac convention).

In fact, the iTunes interface works the way it does because there are no parameters to enter (other than the name) when creating a new playlist. Thus, because divelogs do have parameters to define them, the analogy really doesn't work. A closer analogy would be in iPhoto, where File>New>Smart Album ... (note the ellipsis "...") takes you to a dialog box where there are parameters to enter, much like a divelog, in fact. And this dialog box offers the opportunity to enter a name for the new album.

Clearly, Apple's convention is that if the new object has parameters (other than the name), the menu choice should have a "..." after the name of the object type in the menu, and a place to enter the name for the new object in the resulting dialog box. Thus, the suggestion that MacDive allow the user to enter then name (and have a "..." in the menu) would be consistent with the way iPhoto works.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, so I hope you'll agree that allowing the user to enter the name in the dialog box would be a little nicer.

[ubervizion]

Hey all - lurker here - i have to weigh in and say that consistency is king - if you create a different process, luddites like me have to re-learn which.. you know.. sucks

[hellsbells]

The names of the criteria you can use in the smart dive log are not in alphabetical order.

They are in the next patch. I spent a significant amount of time rewriting the panel so that now they are in alphabetical order and also certain fields will provide you a unit of measurement (eg Average Depth will provide a label saying Metres/Feet).

What if I don't want them in alphabetical order...? At the minute I have a smart dive log for each dive holiday, so I'd rather they were in date order, or at least in an order I can specify, which at the minute I can just by dragging them around....

Plus, to add to the other discussion, I don't mind entering the name of the smart log after I've created it a la iTunes. Agree it should be consistent.

[nick]

What if I don't want them in alphabetical order...? At the minute I have a smart dive log for each dive holiday, so I'd rather they were in date order, or at least in an order I can specify, which at the minute I can just by dragging them around....

I don't mean the list of dive logs on the side bar, I mean the options for fields that you have in the drop down when you're creating one - *that* is now in alphabetical order, as it should be. Your logs will remain in the order you drag them to.

[hellsbells]

What if I don't want them in alphabetical order...? At the minute I have a smart dive log for each dive holiday, so I'd rather they were in date order, or at least in an order I can specify, which at the minute I can just by dragging them around....

I don't mean the list of dive logs on the side bar, I mean the options for fields that you have in the drop down when you're creating one - *that* is now in alphabetical order, as it should be. Your logs will remain in the order you drag them to.

Aaaah. I see. That makes sense!