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This is a long post because 4.8.7 is very different from the BBO you are familiar with. If you don't want to read the whole thing, here is a summary of some of the key features to look out for:
- When you log in to BBO with version 4.8.7, a lot of what you see will look very different from what you are familiar with. You can hold down the Control key on your keyboard and then press the C key to switch between this new-look BBO and the BBO you are familiar with (which we now call "Classic View").
- The lobby looks a lot different in the new BBO
- A list of players can be displayed from almost any place in the new BBO
- There are some useful new options available through Play Bridge!
- The new BBO has a more consistent interface that will hopefully make navigation easier, especially for new members.
- Our server now has some control over how you navigate through BBO. We are still experimenting here and some areas are a little rough around the edges. Expect some changes in the days to come.
- All user options can now be set through a single dialog box with a bunch of tabs that organize the options into logical groups.
- Several new options are available.
- Players can now define themselves as "seeking a game". People who are looking for a player can then ask to be shown a list of all players who are "seeking a game". Hopefully this will make it easier for people to find appropriate tables to play at.
- Don't be shocked if you find some bugs, but if you do please send the details by e-mail to: fred@bridgebase.com
Here is the extended edition:
As you will see if you try it, the latest test version of BBO includes, among other things, the most radical changes to the BBO user interface that we have ever made. Most of this (long) post describes these changes and, in some cases, the rationale behind them.
IMPORTANT: When you first log in to BBO with the new version, what you will see will be completely different from what you have seen in the past (which we will call "Classic View"). The easiest way to switch in and out of Classic View is by holding down the Control button on your keyboard and hitting the C key.
So if you don't like the new BBO or don't feel like trying it, you can go back to what you are familiar with (Classic View) with Control-C.
Hopefully there won't be very many people who fall into this category
Imagine you are a new BBO member logging in for the first time. Much of your screen gets covered by a list of players, but this list means nothing to you. Meanwhile, the thing you probably care about the most, the Play Bridge! button, does not exactly stand out among the many elements that exist in your BBO window.
In the new design, much more of the screen space in the lobby is devoted to function and much less of the space is devoted to the list of players.
However, the user has control over how the screen is divided (click the "Options" button just below the lobby list followed by "Number of columns" in the menu that appears or use shift and the left or right arrow keys to change this). There are various other useful functions available through the "Options" button - give it a try. The previously elusive "Find person..." function is now always available through this menu and its function has been increased. Expect more improvements to this function in the months to come.
This mini-lobby list will follow you around BBO. For example, it will still be on your screen when you are looking at a list of tables. We did this partly because we think it is a useful feature, but also because another frequent complaint from new members is that the various screens on BBO "change too much". The new design is much more consistent from screen to screen.
You can now scroll the lobby list with a traditional Windows scrollbar (instead of the 2 big arrow buttons that you have used in the past).
The basic navigational structure of BBO is now controlled by our server (as opposed to being "hardcoded" into the client program). This is a very powerful thing as it allows us to make improvements in this area without forcing people to download a new version.
It also allows us to emphasize specific aspects of BBO to different classes of BBO members. For example, we can arrange things so that members of the French Bridge Federation (FFB) who log in to BBO see different options from other members - perhaps a button that will take them directly to a private club for FFB members or to a list of upcoming FFB tournaments.
There are several new items on the Play Bridge!
There are now 3 "Main Bridge Clubs". One is intended to be a "relaxed" club - a place for new bridge players, new BBO members who want to learn the software, and anyone else that cares more about anxiety-free bridge than "serious bridge".
The other 2 "Main Bridge Clubs" will be "more serious". The only difference between them is that one is intended for roughly "intermediate/advanced players" and the other is intended for "advanced/expert" players.
Of course we expect there will be plenty of BBO members who will play in a club that is not appropriate for their respective skill levels. However, I think the division of the Main Bridge Club into 3 such clubs will increase the chances that players will be able to find a table they will be happy to play at (as well as making it easier to find such a table).
Please note that we have not finalized the names that will be used for these bridge clubs. It is important to get this right in terms of maximizing the potential benefit of having 3 Main Bridge Clubs.
These 3 Main Bridge Clubs will also be available through the Play Bridge! screen in Classic View.
The Play Bridge! list now contains several items (instead of 1) for listing tournaments. For example, there are seperate entries for "Show free tournaments" and "Show ACBL tournaments". The tourney lists are much more usable as a result. This functionality is not available in Classic View.
Whenever you are in the new BBO there are 2 big buttons "Home" and "Back" that are useful for navigational purposes.
The way that BBO allows the user to select options and edit his profile has been completely redone. In the old BBO, some options were selected by editing your profile, some by clicking on the Options button on the toolbar. Some options were buried deeply in 2nd level dialog boxes that could only be accessed via the Profile or Options dialog boxes.
Furthermore, there was not much rhyme or reason to where particular options were set (sorry!).
In the new BBO there is a single dialog box that can be used for both editing your profile and for setting (almost) every option in the program. This dialog box contains tabs at the top that organize these options into categories. Clicking the Options button on the toolbar will invoke this dialog box with an appropriate tab selected based on where you are at the time.
Several new options now exist:
- You now have the ability to stop chat bubbles from ever appearing. BBO only displays these bubbles when a chat message arrives and there is no space on the screen for a chat area. But many people find these bubbles annoying. There are now options for "Display private chat using bubbles if necessary" (default=yes) and "Display public chat using bubbles if necessary" (default=no). These options can be found under the Chat tab of the new Options dialog box.
- Also on the Chat tab is a new option that blocks chat from any kibitzer to all kibitzers (default=No) and an option for "Notify me through chat when a vugraph match starts" (default=Yes). The latter option is the first part of our goal of creating a fully automated Roland Wald
- Players can define themselves as "Seeking a game" through the Profile tab of the new Options dialog (or by right-clicking their own name). Players registered as such appear in a different color (default=green). The Lobby tab of the new Options dialog contains an option for "Show only members who are seeking a game". If you right click on a member who is "Seeking a game", there will be an option on the menu that appears that will automatically invite that person to play with you. We hope this "seeking a game" thing will make it easier for people to form tables they will be happy with. All of the "seeking a game" functionality is available in Classic View as well.
- On the Tables tab of the new Options dialog there are options for "Hide tables if permission required to play" (default=No), "Hide tables if permission required to kibitz" (default=No), and "Hide tables if kibitzing disallowed" (default=No).
- On the Voice tab you can now have BBO notify you using speech when a friend logs in.
If you are in Classic View, you will not be able to display the new Options dialog - you will have to use the Profile and old Options dialog as before.
BBO now contains the ability to display web-based advertising almost regardless of where the user is on our site. We realize that this is a sensitive area and we have tried hard to make sure that the space that is used for ads does not put these ads "in your face" or seriously compromise usability. Furthermore, we plan to be tasteful with the ads that are presented on our site.
This is not exactly an apology, because there is a lot of money in this for BBO. Since much of this money will go back into improving our software and service, we hope that our members will accet this inconvenience. We will do whatever we can to try to make this inconvenience a minor one.
It is probably obvious that version 4.8.7 is a lot more ambitious than most of our new versions. As such, it is not unreasonable to expect to see more bugs than usual and for the new BBO to require a lot of testing before we are willing to inflict it on our general membership as an automatic download.
Of course we did plenty of our own testing before we were willing to inflict the new BBO on our faithful forums readers. But we are only a few people who don't get much chance to test in "real life" conditions. Now we need your help in order get the new BBO to be solid enough to release to the world.
Feedback on the interface changes would be welcome, but you should know in advance that even good ideas might be ignored for a while. A huge amount of time and effort have already gone into this and, while we don't think it is perfect or anything, we think it is a big improvement over what we had before. At some point it is necessary to stop making improvements and to start focusing on a release. After the release we can start making improvments again.
Bug reports are important. Please report these to me, preferrably by e-mailing fred@bridgebase.com. If the program crashes, please send me a screenshot of the crash details that Windows displays if you know how to do that. If you don't know how to do that and if you have time, please write down the details and send them to me by e-mail.
We are very excited about the new BBO - we hope you are too!
Instructions for upgrading to version 4.8.7 follow.
You can upgrade to 4.8.7 at:
Click here to update!
or download everything at:
Click here for everything!
I suggest you use the first method, but however you do this, please make sure you exit the BBO program COMPLETELY before you start the download process.
Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com