Scoring problems
It has been passed on to me that there may be club directors/scorers with scoring and other practical IT problems who would like a forum where they can discuss them and get advice. Well, there already is one - here!
There are plenty of knowledgeable people about scoring and IT issues contributing here who would be happy to help, especially if you are using EBUScore and Bridgemates, but probably also if you use other scoring programs.
Comments
Great idea Gordon.
My beef has consistently been that scoring programs aren't user friendly. A customisable (my word) front end system is needed. It should be very easy for any club member to set up the system and send results in.
As a simple idea a club should be able to enter their diary of events for the year, the type of movement for each event and then all that should be necessary to enter is the number of tables in play including any half table number. There will be some other data that could be standardised such as the name of the club and when results should be scrolled onto the screen. At the end of a session a simple interface should enable scores to be adjusted and which, if any, result should not be sent to the EBU. These are just initial ideas. I'm sure these could be enhanced/improved by members.
Best wishes
Alan
The biggest issue at my club is getting the person who set himself up as the Scorebridge 'expert' to share - I think Alan's idea is brilliant, more hands to the pump not fewer !
Alan
Alan
It was not my original intention for it to be a separate group and I'll happily get it changed back if it's a problem. But how did you see it if others will not?
@Alan16248 - not sure what you mean by "it doesn't have the same format" since as far as I can tell it's identical. Do you mean that Gordon's post has a blue 'Announcement' tag? That just means it's sticky to the top, until he decides to demote it.
The discussions page is the default front page and that shows both categories merged together. There's also the categories page which gives you links to the categories separately.
Maybe you have bookmarked just the TD category? If so, you'll want to update your bookmark to point to the front page.
I like that they are separate.
my main point is that everything here goes to one thread.. the announcement
There doesn't seem to be a way to create a new thread
Alan
Alan
I guess my questions to Gordon are "How do we get to know whether my idea would be popular with clubs" and if it is "How do we get the enhancements to be made?"
Just to answer AlanBs query, there's a trade-off on how friendly we can make a scoring program without losing the numerous features required to support the many variations of game. EBUScore is designed to support the many many different types of tournament run by the EBU and certainly at Club Level it could be simplified. In practice, club scorers get used to the program they have always used and grow to like it over time. Many of the older scoring programs were very simple (they ran on DOS and were question/answer format) and making a very simple interface superficially seems advantageous, but it does become limiting after a while and unsuitable for the variations in movement, mising pairs, adjusts etc. I think with very minor training, most club scorers get to know their program and its capability after a short while.
Thanks for your comment JeffreyS. But it's at club level where the problems lie. What happens when the regular scorer is on holiday or the back-up is away at the same time. As far as the EBU is concerned the choice on whether to use a new interface or not could be made at the initial set-up time. I expect all EBU events are run by people really experienced at using the scoring programs. Club events are not always. I've been at clubs where the scoring system has been set up incorrectly and there has been reversion to paper recording and scoring. The current session interface is not user friendly, the eye having to move about the screen to non-obvious places. Yes, people can be trained to use the current system but my point is that it should not be necessary. When we relied on paper the set up and scoring was quite straightforward. It did take quite a lot of effort but was easy to show someone how to do it. Helping to take the fear away from using scoring programs will mean that more people will use them.
Hi Alan,
We have had for some time the idea of creating a simplified version of EBUScore, aimed at clubs with just the bits they are most likely to use. That may well go quite a long way towards what you are looking for. Until then, are you aware that you can copy your chosen movements into a different file and choose an option for the movements list to show only them? That way you will just have one movement available for each number of tables.
Thanks for the comment Gordon. I'll pass that tip onto our technical guru. Alan.
Great idea to have a separate category for scoring but I also didn't notice it until I read Alan16248's post.
Perhaps Gordon should start a thread called "Categories" and explain how they work.
P.S. I meant that the thread would be in EBU TDs because most of the people who have found this forum will have found their way there.