[hallway]

It's the old story - the more you have the more you want!

I would be interested in feedback from members (all 480 of you  ;D) on whether or not you would USE (i.e. read, take on board and apply  )  the information posted to such a Forum if John T was to set it up .  

If the answer is a resounding "yes please" we would then have to do some arm twisting to find a/some knowledgable person/s to volunteer to post info to the forum at regular (weekly ?) intervals.

And, ofcourse, all members could post any interesting hint they have found out for themselves -  share and share alike.

I know we should all read and refer back to John G's great new help file (Couldn't help but notice only 34 of 481 members have read my post entitled New Help File   :'( )    

There are a myriad of little helpful 'tricks', shortcuts etc.  that one may have read about but tend to forget.

e.g. a frustrated user recently pleaded 'how do I get rid of all these chat bubbles ?"  " Just press Esc", I replied  -  "Oh, TY, TY  " , was the grateful response.

e.g. how many use the Chat Room (via Training Rooms button) to discuss any fascinating aspects of hands they have just played ?  to discuss their bidding strategies before setting up a table to play ? etc.   OR  

do most people assume that because it is in the Training Room section it is for the use of Teacher/Pupil  ? ,  that one needs to be an Expert to use it ?

There must be HEAPS of interesting things about BBO that  we (members) just don't take advantage of.

If this topic was confined to it's own Forum it would serve as a useful reference for all newcomers and make it easy to look up (for those of us (aged voids) with short term memories  : )

Well   -    should we ask ? :-/ :-/

[the hog]

Sounds good to me.

[Laird]

Yes Maureen.... but it needs a viable champion to keep it functioning...I would nominate you  

john

[hallway]

LOL  Laird     I'm the one who needs taking by the hand and being shown the way  -  for goodness sake I don't even know whether I'm N, S, E or W   :-[

At a normal table, yes, I pretty much know that if I sit in the North seat and stay put my partner & I will be N/S - but you see it gets a bit tricky for 'aged voids' at a Teaching Table -  kibbing/playing/kibbing , partners chopping and changing - I lose my way  :'(  and nowhere on the screen does one get a hint.

I was puzzled - no one else gets lost at the table - obviously they all know something I don't  

Thank goodness for John G's Help File - even so it has taken a bit of research -
C : Compass   ........no help there
D : Direction    ........no
E : East           ........no
L : Lost           ........no, I'm still up the garden path  :'(
N : North         ........no
S : South        Eureka  ;D   I was getting worried - only had W left on the list of possibles !  
I have the seat set for Declarer at the bottom of the screen.  But that will now change .....

[glow=red,2,300]YOU WON'T GET LOST AT A TEACHING TABLE IF YOU SET SOUTH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN [/glow]    8)   :
  ............ now is east to the right or the left  

[JRG]

Several things:

I didn't know about the use of <Esc>. Does it force chat to use a chat pane, or does it just clear all the chat bubbles that are being displayed? I'll add this to the Help once I know (I haven't used chat bubbles since... damn, so long ago I can't remember!). Actually, don't bother answering, I'll just try it out and find out.

I'll add an index entry for "Direction".

Any constructive criticisms of the Help, including suggestions for enhancements, would be appreciated.

One suggestion forwarded to me by the Support group is to add a Glossary of Bridge and Chat terms. I'm playing with it, but am not sure whether it is the right thing for the Help system. Plus, I don't like the idea of duplicating material readily available elsewhere - I am bouncing the idea off Fred & company, of a link to an existing web site that has definitions of bridge terms and then only including things like "kibitz" and chat acronyms.

Feedback on the above would be appreciated (include glossary, don't bother, etc.).

Oh, and for those that are curious, you can check out the Help and learn all about Tournaments. I uploaded the Help for the new release last Sunday/Monday. You can get a preview (head start?) on Tournament support.

[JRG]

Oh, I forgot. I guess Maureen spilled the beans on who did the Help. I'd appreciate keeping that information to this forum.

I did it, and am supporting it, purely as my way of paying Fred and BBO for the wonderful facility they have provided. I think they deserve all the credit and I don't want to lessen that in any way.

I use BBO mainly for Vugraph and to keep in contact with my bridge partner and friend of over 20 years. I moved to Costa Rica in September last year and he was left behind in Toronto, Canada.

[JRG]

A little mnemonic for you.

If you are sitting south (or outdoors, looking north), then the correct orientation of the left and right directions spells the English pronoun, "We".
So, West is to the left and East is to the right.

[JRG]

To chat (bring up a chat dialog, set appropriately)
<Ctrl>+R chat to the last person who sent you a private chat ("Reply")
<Ctrl>+L chat to the Lobby, and
<Ctrl>+K chat to the Kibitzers (spectators)
==========================
Assuming you are playing:
<Ctrl>+C brings up the Claim dialog
<Ctrl>+U requests an Undo
==========================
<Ctrl>+T brings up the table options
<Ctrl>+B is the same as the Back button

[mishovnbg]

CTRL+C for "Claim" must be changed because is one of hot keys used for Clipboard ("Copy").
Misho

[JRG]

I don't believe BBO supports the clipboard. There is no copy, cut, or paste (I've tried it in the past).

You are probably right that <Ctrl>+C should be changed (for consistency with other applications); but there's no "must be", unless the BBO client is changed to support the clipboard.