features for recording kids otb games
Posted: 03 Dec 2014, 10:43my wishes for winboard, in order of priority. please tell me how realistic they are to implement or maybe point me to another software if you feel winboard is not meant for this.
1. illegal moves: i dont want to disable testing for illegality, since this is nice and helpful. i'd like a popup windows for an illegal move that asks confirmation like "do you really want to enter this move", and if i click yes, i'd like the move-arrow and the move in the notation window to be red or in any other way different from the normal ones. so when viewing the game later, we see immediately what's going on and can discuss about it.
when loading a file, the window could read "this file contains 2 illegal moves, do you want to truncate or load anyway?" and if loaded anyway, the bad moves in the notation window should be red, and also the arrows when that move is displayed on the board.
2. saving games: make it possible to edit a game, like correct a typo in a comment, and then save it as the same game, overwriting the previous one. as it is now, it always adds a new edited game to my pgn file and i have to manually open the file in a text editor and delete and move the games around. tedious and error prone.
also it's very counter intuitive to add stuff to a selected file on save. what it does now should be called "append game to file", what i want would be "replace game in file".
3. window size and positioning: it would be really nice if winboard could remember how i configured the windows the last time i used them. also comment and properties window should stick to the board like game list and move notation window do. right now it always shows a huge game list which covers the comments and properties windows, also the move notation window is at the bottom by defaults and prevents the board from being at max size. i have to move them around every time a start the program.
4. language support: allow to specify display names for pieces (not for the pgn files obviously) like in penguin. i.e. have an edit box with the string KQRBNP, so i can replace it with the german KDTLSB (games here are actually noted with these letters, and especially for children it's hard to have two systems in their head).
5. notation window: please add 2 options: 1. formatted/unformatted view (like a table with | nr | white | black | columns, 2. long/short notation (like Qd1-h5 vs Qh5).
1. illegal moves: i dont want to disable testing for illegality, since this is nice and helpful. i'd like a popup windows for an illegal move that asks confirmation like "do you really want to enter this move", and if i click yes, i'd like the move-arrow and the move in the notation window to be red or in any other way different from the normal ones. so when viewing the game later, we see immediately what's going on and can discuss about it.
when loading a file, the window could read "this file contains 2 illegal moves, do you want to truncate or load anyway?" and if loaded anyway, the bad moves in the notation window should be red, and also the arrows when that move is displayed on the board.
2. saving games: make it possible to edit a game, like correct a typo in a comment, and then save it as the same game, overwriting the previous one. as it is now, it always adds a new edited game to my pgn file and i have to manually open the file in a text editor and delete and move the games around. tedious and error prone.
also it's very counter intuitive to add stuff to a selected file on save. what it does now should be called "append game to file", what i want would be "replace game in file".
3. window size and positioning: it would be really nice if winboard could remember how i configured the windows the last time i used them. also comment and properties window should stick to the board like game list and move notation window do. right now it always shows a huge game list which covers the comments and properties windows, also the move notation window is at the bottom by defaults and prevents the board from being at max size. i have to move them around every time a start the program.
4. language support: allow to specify display names for pieces (not for the pgn files obviously) like in penguin. i.e. have an edit box with the string KQRBNP, so i can replace it with the german KDTLSB (games here are actually noted with these letters, and especially for children it's hard to have two systems in their head).
5. notation window: please add 2 options: 1. formatted/unformatted view (like a table with | nr | white | black | columns, 2. long/short notation (like Qd1-h5 vs Qh5).