nick wrote:kenjacobs wrote:OK, I've zeroed everything out and reloaded the dives from both computers. All looks good now. A few minor usabillity nits ...
1. Under Computers, MacDive doesn't distinguish between my computer and my wife's. Yes, each dive is properly logged with the diver name, but it would seem that the same computers listed under Gear would appear under Computers. That is, each of our two computers should be listed there, perhaps identified by owner name. It's common for couples to have same-brand gear, and each should be easily separately identified.
These are just quick/default filters. Make your own custom filter: Diver = Wife AND Computer = Cobalt. Or just click on your wifes name under Divers. Sure, it's common for people to use the same gear - but you can filter by your wife. Or you can create your own custom filter that is Wife + Computer, or whatever. The option is there to do what you want. Don't forget - a lot of people with different habits use MacDive, so it can't be everything to everyone. I try and keep that stuff as quick and simple default filters, but you have the option to make more that are as complex as you like. *
Ah, so Computers on the left is like a SmartDiveLog ... maybe it should be listed under that grouping as a pre-defined dive logs, with a distinctive logo. I thought the panel on the left was a list of categories of things to be displayed, but other than the first grouping ("Library"), those are just filters as you say. There really are two types of things on the left: the items in the Library and various Dives which can be viewed via DiveLogs. The functionality makes sense now even if it is not obvious.
2. I couldn't see how to add or delete Divers independently of the dives.
You don't. They don't really exist. You just type name in to the dives. Or you type a name in to the gear item, and this is used as the name of the dives automatically (given a model+serial number match was found, as above). **
Again, it makes sense, but is not obvious. If it were listed as a pre-defined DiveLog, it would be intuitive.
3. Need to add TDI and Nitrox as possible certification types.
You can type in whatever you want, it's not a strict list. They're just useful defaults. ***
Right, figured that out.
4. It's easy enough to use MacDive, but it's quite inconsistent where you find things. For example, the File> menu has New Dive and New Smart Divelog, but not any options for other new items. Seems the File menu should allow you to create new "items" depending on which item type is selected in the Library, including Gear, Certifications and Sites. Likewise, you should be able to select (left click) on any of Countries, Computers, Divers, and Dive Logs and have the File> menu allow you to create or delete items of the corresponding type.
Yeah, that should probably work a little better - let me look in to it.
It should also be possible to right click (command-click) on any of the items in the left side menu and add or delete items of the corresponding type.
Those are dynamically created based on what is in your log. They don't really "exist" as anything, and internally, there isn't any differentiation between the various lists of dives - it's just a filter. Could be a country filter, or a smart divelog. I can improve other ways to add/edit stuff and maybe that will help.
Making it more obvious that the "DiveLogs" are just "filters" and that the various pre-defined "filters" are really "dive logs" would help.
I'd still like to be able to (right) click on the word "DiveLogs" and go straight to the dialog box to add one, as this would be easier/quicker than going to the File>New Smart Divelog menu choice. This would be similar to right clicking on a specific and being given the choice to Edit or Delete it.
There is no keyboard shortcut for New Smart Divelog (Command-D) would work, as there is for New Dive.
The "gear" icon on top of many displays is static (unchanging depending on the display), which is ok, but does not include countries or divers, or any way to delete any of the item types.
It is intended as a place to store commonly used functions. It's not supposed to be the control center of everything. You can press apple+delete to delete items in any list view.
Again you can't edit divers in 2.0.6 as they don't exist.
Not intuitive as it is, since "Divers" are listed like other items in the Library on the left panel. If there was no separate grouping of divers on the left, but the diver-specific filters appeared under the "DiveLogs" section on the left, I would not have been confused. The ability to enter divers as you note below will help. But then, I would hope to be able to Add divers by clicking on the word "Divers" and Edit or Delete a specific diver by (right) clicking on that diver (as we can now with DiveLogs).
5. I didn't find a way to enter "Water Type".
Go to Sites. In thumbnail view, double click on a site. In list view, there's a column.
Not obvious! It should probably also be enterable on the "General" tab when editing a dive itself, along with other site-specific info.
6. Command N or File>New Dive didn't seem to do anything. At least that's what it seems if you are currently seeing a subset of all dives (or have it sorted so that the new dives don't appear on the currently displayed list). Command-N should pop up a dialog box to enter the details for a dive, not simply add the dive to the list, then having to select it, right click, hit Edit, and then enter the details.
It used to pop up a dialog box. That's horrendous and not good for multiple entry. If you add a new dive, it appears at the bottom of the table - scroll down. You can add a few, then bulk edit them (for example bulk adding a diver or site or gear or.. whatever).
It's partly a matter of personal preference, I guess. But generally I'd try to make sure that invoking a command ALWAYS does something that is visible. In this case, perhaps you could automatically scroll down to the newly added entry.
It is certainly possible to have Command-N create a pop-up that works for multiple entry. The dialog box could have a button for "Done" and another for "Add another dive" (plus "Cancel").
The old way of editing one at a time with a dialog was terrible and I nixed it. This way is smoother, though probably a little obscure. Then, adding manual dives is really not MacDive's strong point..
Not sure I'd agree, but that's personal preference. Eliminating obscurity is always good, so automatically scrolling to the new dive would help a lot.
7. It would be nice to be able to reorganize the order in which columns display left to right.
They appear in the order you drag and drop them to. The default order is just the order I defined them internally, but it's irrelevant - drag the columns to whatever order you prefer, and their order will be remembered.
Doh! I should have tried that! I see you also have the conventional up/down arrow to indicate sorting order. Nice.
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8. I was unable to completely remove a rating. I inadvertently hit a cell under rating, and now it is rated as a one-star dive, when I'd rather not have any rating at all. Next time, when I'm downloading dives daily, I'll rate dives at the end of each day, but now it's too late and I don't remember!
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Command + Z is undo, or click and drag to the left until the rating disappears. Same as any other Mac application (it's a standard control).
Hmmm, I never saw that sort of functionality before. Does Command-Z undo only the most recent action, or go back through history. Either approach is conventional.
Another idea would be if you click the left-most star, it undoes it. Is is how Lightroom works, even on Mac, for example. Obvious user interface.
9. For some reason some fields are left-justified and some are right justified. (Duration is left, max and avg depth is right, for example). Doesn't seem to be a reason why. Makes it a little harder to read the list of dives.
Because I didn't notice.
Now you know!
10. Many columns in the display begin with the word "Dive" ("Master", "Operator", "Type", "Number"). When narrowing a column's width to fit more on the display, we see the word "Dive", but not the other word. Maybe allow users to change the names of the columns?
Allowing people to change the name of columns would be a nightmare. I can look at making them more consistent though - you have a good point, it's probably not necessary in some places. Some of those are common terms though (dive master). Number is a little confusing given there needs to be a differentiation between repetitive dive number and overall dive number, etc.
Yeah, I agree it's not easy to come up with a perfect scheme. I suppose you could have column headings use two lines (though this may not be a standard Mac control/convention). Perhaps you could choose names like these: DMaster, DOperator, DType, Dive#, RDive#?
11. Under "Computer" in the dive list, instead of listing the manufacturer and the brand of the computer, it would be nice to have a shorter name. This could take use of a (not yet existing) "Description" field in the "Gear" entry for a computer (or other types of gear).
Why? You can disable the column if you don't want it, or you can change the value of the field. This is not linked to the piece of gear in any way - it's partly a hangover from MacDive 1, and partly just a convenience. Feel free to make it your own description, and the gear itself will remain correct.
Why? Because it's long, and shortening it doesn't differentiate one from another if they are the same brand for example (or two different computers of the same exact model). It was not obvious to me that this was not linked to the piece of gear. If it WERE linked to the gear (and perhaps if not), it would still be nice to be able to enter something like "Margo's Cobalt" under the gear description, and then have that be the (default) value for that column. As it is now, the column isn't very useful to me, so I will hide it.
Remember, my comments are those of a new user, who sees the user interface with fresh eyes.
12. The window where you see the summary of a dive or all dives is generally ok, but seems more like a "Preferences" window than an "Edit" window. Instead of the (usually unknown) dive site/location/country, the window title should be more specifically tied to a single dive when editing a single dive (or, as now, say "multiple items selected" ... or better, "multiple dives selected").
It says multiple if there are multiple items selected with different values. If the value is the same, it shows you. This is like iTunes when editing multiple files. It's designed to allow you to recognise which values are the same or which differ etc
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Nothing wrong in principle, but I'm saying that a window title using the specific dive DIVE (e.g., date/time or globally unique dive number) rather than a dive SITE (which generally applies to multiple dives) would be more appropriate. When updating a single dive, you're really not changing the dive SITE as implied by the window title.
And when there are multiple "items" selected, those are actually multiple DIVES, not "items" of other types.
The buttons on the bottom of the window should say "Next Dive" and "Previous Dive". There should be a "Done" button, instead of relying on the red "close window" button. It would be nice if, someday, the changes were buffered and not applied until the user pressed "Done". A "Cancel" button would close the window without making any changes.
Um, sure.
Changes can be undo with Command + Z. Clicking "done" is clunky.
"Done" is not clunky, and appears on multiple other Mac windows. In most windows where you are changing something you see "Ok" and "Cancel" or sometimes "Apply" (with or without "Cancel") In fact, it seems to me that it's mostly Preferences-type panels that use only the close button. Other places more often use more explicit buttons. You could of course continue to allow people to press the red close button, even if a "Done" button existed. In some/many apps, closing the window after entering changes will ask for confirmation ("Keep changes?") before closing the window.
It just seems to me MacDive's UI is in a few places a little different from most standard Mac conventions.
When multiple dives are selected for editing, the date/time should display as "multiple values" just like other values in the "General" panel.
I'll check, I thought it did (or at least some generic thing).
Nope.
13. I see now where you can enter Notes (when editing a dive), but it should be easier to display the notes directly from the listing of dives. Perhaps you could display a Notes column, with an indicator for each dive as to whether or not notes are present. Clicking on that indicator would pop-up a window with the content of the associated note.
Enable the notes column. Pretty sure I added one.
Nope, not there. And it probably wouldn't be great to have column containing the note itself, since it is typically much longer than you'd want in a column of a list. An indicator that you could click on to pop up the note would work well, I think.
Also, by the way, the column "Air Type" is not in alphabetical order in the list of columns I can choose to add. And, being really nit-picky, neither are "Air End", "Buddies", or "Diver".
I hope this feedback is useful. I look forward to seeing MacDive improve over time, and would be thrilled if some of these comments lead to new features in the user interface.
Yeah, cheers. Maybe next time split it up so it's not one massive post. Some of the stuff is also already there - maybe just not obvious. Also, this would be better under Requests, not tacked on to a random other thread. No big deal, just keeps things tidy.
Sorry, next time I'll add the stuff in a separate note under Requests.
The spirit of these comments is not to complain, only to provide another perspective, especially where I can point out things as a new user that are not obvious (to me). For you, everything in the user interface is familiar since you designed it. Usability is greatly enhanced when things are consistent and obvious and convenient.
* I can probably look at modifying the default Computers listings to differentiate between multiple computers if they exist - can you send me your MacDive.sqlite file, so I have your data to work with/test?
Will send separately.
** - this is addressed in the next patch. There are full "Divers" now with personal information. You can add or delete them there.
Cool! I'm not sure if having integration with the Contacts list as present is useful or not. I have thousands of contacts and only dive with very few of them.
*** - I have added some more in the next patch, but you only have to edit them once huh? Easy enough to type something in..
Nice, thanks.
Phew.
Indeed!
