[WriteLog] Writelog is terrific

[Dick Green]

No, you're right Al. The opposite arrow does return to the entry window, but
it's more complicated in practice.

Hitting the opposite arrow does get me back to the entry window, but it's
the one I just left. Since the goal was to get to the other entry window,
the opposite arrow key has to be hit twice. But after I hit it the first
time, and see that I'm not where I want to be, sometimes I hit the other
arrow key and wind up back in the log! Other times, my instinctive reaction
is to hit the same key again -- and sometimes again and again. That's
because for years the arrow keys rotated between the windows, so hitting the
same key repeatedly always got you where you wanted to go -- and that habit
is ingrained in me. This illustrates why it's so dangerous to make changes
to existing user interfaces. Anyway, the more you hit that same arrow key,
the more keystrokes it takes in the opposite direction to get where you want
to go. Meanwhile, action is taking place at 140+ QSOs per hour, and delays
cost precious time or loss of the run frequency.

There's more. In SO2R mode, it's not just a simple matter of keeping the
up-arrow and down-arrow straight. You also need to remember directions for
shift-up/down and ctrl-up/down, which move the transmit and keyboard focus
independently. That's a lot to keep track of in the heat of battle ("let's
see, the transmit focus is on the run radio and the keyboard focus is on the
S&P radio -- should I unite the focus with shift-up, shift-down, ctrl-up or
ctrl-down, or should I use one of the arrow keys?") After years of using WL
the old way, my fingers inevitably go to the arrow keys. You have to realize
that the reason I end up editing the log is because I have guessed wrong and
hit the wrong arrow key! That's proof enough that I'm unlikely to figure out
which key to use to correct the problem. Again, it used to be that hitting
either arrow key just once got you to the opposite window and that was easy
to remember. To expect the user to sort out the correct direction, in the
heat of rapid-fire QSOs, is just not realistic. Believe me, it's very
confusing after 2,000 QSOs and no sleep for 24 hours!

For that reason, I use a keyboard macro program to map three keys to do the
following with a single keystroke: "[" is mapped to SHIFT-UP (move keyboard
focus), "]" is mapped to CTRL-UP (move transmit focus), and "\" is mapped to
SHIFT-UP plus CTRL-UP (swap radios.) If I can remember to use only these
keys, I don't end up editing the log. But to show you how powerful the
instinct is from previous WL versions and the inherent meaning of the arrow
keys (which I use hundreds of times a day, every day), I still reach over
and hit those darned arrow keys!

I think you have to try high-rate SO2R with the auto-restart feature before
you will see what I mean. Believe me, if it wasn't a problem I wouldn't be
complaining about it. I figure an ini parameter is a benign way to satisfy
the SO2R ops and former CT users.

73, Dick WC1M

-----Original Message-----
From: AD6E@aol.com [mailto:AD6E@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 2:20 PM
To: dick.green@valley.net; w5xd@alum.mit.edu; k5dj@writelog.com;
Writelog@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Writelog is terrific


Dick,

Something appears to be broken in your program. What version are you
running?
 With 10.26B I have no problem using the arrow key to jump into the log and
then jump right back to the entry window with the opposite arrow key. This
is
true for both up arrow (which goes to edit the most recent call) and down
arrow (which goes to edit QSO #1).

73, Al  AD6E



In a message dated 7/17/2001 10:53:42 Pacific Daylight Time,
dick.green@valley.net writes:

>
>  Actually, you can't use the opposite arrow key to get back to the entry
>  window. That just moves the edit highlight up or down on the log. In
fact,
>  that's why I find it so frustrating -- the natural reaction is to hit the
>  opposite arrow key to get out of edit mode, but it doesn't work! At that
>  point my instinct is to grab the mouse, although if I had enough presence
of
>  mind I would hit Enter to return to the Entry window. If there were an
ini
>  option to suppress the edit feature, no time would be lost. Of course,
the
>  default should be to have the arrow go into edit mode because that's what
CT
>  does and many ops expect Writelog to do it too (and the majority don't
use
>  SO2R.)
>
>  I absolutely agree that the problem stems from using the arrow keys for
two
>  purposes, which is why I've asked for an ini parameter to restrict arrows
to
>  switching entry windows.
>
>  73, Dick WC1M
>


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