Can I Grow GPaL to 800 x 600?

I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to add to GPaL! My question: Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we need on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional resources and increase download and program load times. One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the correct comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus". What a treat! The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look... www.RaceLive.com/GPaL Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! (www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap of the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when GPaL is ready for downloading! Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! Jack Rambo

Seems like a good choice to me. My guess is more people run 800x600 or higher res than at 640x480 or lower. JM

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> I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to > add to GPaL! > My question: > Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's > current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? > Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we need > on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional > resources and increase download and program load times. > One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... > A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! > Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the correct > comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy > connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a > single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus". What > a treat! > The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic > Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of > settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard > sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? > If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look... www.RaceLive.com/GPaL > Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! > (www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey > is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap of > the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice > compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL > drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. > Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when > GPaL is ready for downloading! > Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! > Jack Rambo

800x600 is fine by me -- Ian Parker ICQ 21772592

That's fine Jack I run desktop at 1024x768, GPL offline at the same, and GPL online at 800x600 all the best Tim

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> I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to > add to GPaL! > My question: > Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's > current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? > Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we

need

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> on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional > resources and increase download and program load times. > One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... > A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! > Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the correct > comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy > connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a > single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus".

What

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> a treat! > The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic > Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of > settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard > sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? > If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look... www.RaceLive.com/GPaL > Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! > (www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey > is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap

of > the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice > compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL > drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. > Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when > GPaL is ready for downloading! > Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! > Jack Rambo

600 x 800 is fine. It might also be regarded by many as the de-facto standard for win95/98, and also the internet. Phillip McNelley

Yes Jack, as long as it doesn't delay MY GETTING IT!!! LOL

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>:I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to >:add to GPaL! >: >:My question: >: >:Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's >:current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? >: >:Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we need >:on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional >:resources and increase download and program load times. >: >:One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... >: >:A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! >: >:Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the correct >:comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy >:connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a >:single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus". What >:a treat! >: >:The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic >:Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of >:settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard >:sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? >: >:If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look... www.RaceLive.com/GPaL >: >:Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! >:(www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey >:is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap of >:the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice >:compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL >:drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. >: >:Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when >:GPaL is ready for downloading! >: >:Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! >: >: >:Jack Rambo >: >: >: >:

G. Patricks

Jack, Please do. Jeff

Am I the only one who runs 640X480? I'am visually impaired so 640X480 is a "natural" screen enlarger! Later, John

Jack just a side note. Have you thought of using a tabbed dialog box instead of placing the whole interface in one window. It adds to cleaner interface and help skeep particular functionality in a logical order. Either way I look forward to your release. Thanks, David Radecki

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> I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to > add to GPaL! > My question: > Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's > current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? > Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we

need

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> on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional > resources and increase download and program load times. > One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... > A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! > Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the correct > comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy > connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a > single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus".

What

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> a treat! > The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic > Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of > settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard > sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? > If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look... www.RaceLive.com/GPaL > Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! > (www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey > is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap

of > the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice > compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL > drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. > Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when > GPaL is ready for downloading! > Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! > Jack Rambo

Hey, Dave... Yes, and I in fact mentioned it in my post. The design concept behind GPaL is to have all the frequently adjusted settings, as well as some less accessible INI file settings, all on one fast screen to give us the opportunity to confirm and adjust all appropriate GPL settings quickly and easily...without having to pick through the GPL menus or monkey with INI files. Adding tabs flies in the face of that design concept. But if necessary, it may be something that I'll have to implement...almost certainly as GPaL's feature set grows with subsequent versions. And, of course, neatness, logical layout, usability, they're all design considerations. One solution is to increase the size of the application to 800 x 600, but I feel badly for the small percentage of GPL drivers (2.4% at last count) who run with a 640 x 480 desktop (Note: Windows desktop NOT racing resolution) and would be unable to use the larger GPaL. In it's initial release GPaL will have a non-sizable interface. Other marginal disadvantages that tabs present are increased download and load times. And we're all looking for something that will put us on the track with a minimum of fuss! So I just have to wrestle with the alternatives, weigh everyone's feedback, and do what I think will best serve the largest number of users. We'll see soon enough! Thanks for your feedback, Dave! Jack Rambo www.RaceLive.com/GPaL

I'd say that people using small 14" monitors and low end systems are*** around using legacy devices. Look to the future Jack 800x600 is going to be a minimum spec resolution before too long. Mark >Seems like a good choice to me. My guess is more people run 800x600 or higher

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>res than at 640x480 or lower. >JM >> I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want

to

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>> add to GPaL! >> My question: >> Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's >> current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? >> Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we

need

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>> on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional >> resources and increase download and program load times. >> One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... >> A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! >> Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the

correct >> comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy >> connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a >> single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus". What

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>> a treat! >> The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic >> Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of >> settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard >> sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? >> If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look...

www.RaceLive.com/GPaL >> Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! >> (www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey >> is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap of >> the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice >> compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL >> drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. >> Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when >> GPaL is ready for downloading! >> Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! >> Jack Rambo

Hate to totally disagree with you Jack, but using tabbed dialog boxes indeed does exactly what Dave suggested. Nor does it fly in the face of what you are looking at doing, especially considering many of the changes are mirred deep in .ini files that are a pain to edit. You don't need to have everything on the same page (have you seen a piece of software that does this? nope!) and by grouping functions into seperate tabs you get a cleaner interface w/o a lot of clutter. If I want to set or play with the AI, thats what I want to do and not have to look at a bunch of unrelated controls and its not that big of deal to just select the tab that says "AI". Download times are pretty irrelavent unless you are looking at something thats 30 megs. I think people would be more than willing to spend the time to download even 5 megs if it indeed worked and was what they needed/wanted. Increased load times by using the tab control? Nope,s orry I have never seen that happen in any of the professional programs I've worked on...not even in thrown together apps I've spit on with VB5.

Frequently, Chris, I'd agree with you. Tabbed dialog boxes/applications are often used to lend order to a screen and make a novice user comfortable with an interface by not overwhelming him/her with options. The logical segregation makes it easier for the novice. GPaL, on the other hand, is intended for continuous and repeated use by more experienced racers who want to quickly confirm their settings, instantly make whatever changes are necessary, and be on the track racing. My challenge is to offer quick access to a multiplicity of settings without making it overwhelming for the novice user. of software that does Well, sure, at least to the extent that the controls will fit on a single screen. Commercial contact management software is good example. Though I haven't followed the genre for a while, I recall that extremely successful ACT! packed as much as possible onto each of it's screens while some of the less successful alternatives forced the user to jump from tab to tab for the same information. Symantec realized that the regular user wanted as much info available as was reasonable, without the tabbing requirement, and the app's popularity reflected that. Another example that may be somewhat more familiar to the GPL crowd, aside from GPL itself, is the Windows Display Properties dialog box. Haven't you ever found yourself wondering..."Man, I wish I could just get to the settings I want rather than having to jump between all these tabs and dialog boxes!" ? To the novice user, sure, it reduces the intimidation level. But to the experienced user, it just adds to the frustration of it all. If I can reasonably provide the same functionality without the overhead of another control, I'll do it. I'd rather not lose even the most minute percentage of users who think that 1.5 MB of download is OK but 1.8 MB is not worth it, just for example. And though your experience may differ, there's generally always an incremental performance hit with the addition of more controls. And stop spitting on those VB5 apps! :) Thanks for your thoughts! Jack www.RaceLive.com/GPaL

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> I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to > add to GPaL! > My question: > Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's > current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size?

I would definetly prefer 800 x 600! While I agree that the tunneling dialog box is bad UI design, having too much info on one screen can also be a headache. I think that tabbed pages, grouping similar areas of functionality, is the way to go. I would think that the extra load time is pretty minimal. But heck, considering all the cool stuff you're doing, who cares? That's great, Jack! Thank YOU, Jack. Dave Ewing

Logical segregration makes it easier for ANYONE. repeated use by more Its not that difficult, or that timeconsuming to check the application if you are using something similiar to tabs. An experienced user knows, because of the logical segregation, knows where all the settings are and can easily go there. He doesn't really have to hunt through commands that aren't really applicable to what he's looking for. Thats one piece of software...of which I'm not all that impressed with. Probably because I helped write a system that replaced a couple thousand user install base of ACT!. :? Not really no. I know exactly where everything is. Sometimes I wish I could restructure it differently, but nonetheless there is a fine balance between presenting too much information that doesn't all belong together and causing problems because you buried the information too deeply. On one hand you don't mind losing a few users because of your switch to 800x600, but now you are concerned with losing a few because its .3megs larger download? What about annoying the novices that can't handle all the information in the 800x600? I'm pretty sure that most of the experienced users, the ones you seem to want to target and which also decreases your user base, won't mind the difference of .3 meg download; especially if the tool is usable and well designed. Its the novices, the ones that may be frightened off by all the settings on one page, that would be more inclined to avoid a download because of .3 meg difference. Nothing wrong with VB5...it has its place and time like all languages. :)

Chris... I am so sorry! You're absolutely right. How could I have been so stupid? You're ideas are perfectly crystallized and I hereby acknowledge their superiority. And I promise I'll never ever again offend you by trying to give you something for free. Further, I should apologize for my lame jokes which are apparently so obscure as to be unrecognizable. You're the man. Feel better? Jack Rambo www.RaceLive.com/GPaL

>> snip snip snip Chris With the greatest of respect, and with no intention to deliberately offend, why don't you either shut up or put up...!! When Jack has released his single page GPaL masterpiece, maybe you could use some of you self proclaimed design and coding skills to adapt the original. Or of course, if you think you can do better, myself, Jack, and several hundred other r.a.s readers would love to see it. Until then "give it a rest" Respectfully SteveG

NO! lol.... just kidding -- Tim "Calm Down" Wheatley ________________________________________________ Tim Wheatley "Yellow menacing helmet in the mirror" http://start.at/igps_stats IGPS - Ferrari Challenge - UKGPL - Summer Cup Driver http://drive.to/grandprixlegends http://website.lineone.net/~nascar ________________________________________________ > I'm running out of screen real estate and still have *MORE* that I want to > add to GPaL! > My question: > Does anybody have a problem with/thoughts on my growing GPaL from it's > current 640 x 480 to 800 x 600 screen size? > Doing so will allow me to maintain the design concept of "everything we need > on one screen" and avoid the use of tab controls which consume additional > resources and increase download and program load times. > One *exciting* thing that I'm adding... > A simple dropdown for "Communication Settings"! > Yippee! No more online races tainted by drivers who don't have the correct > comm settings! You know...the guys with the great pings but lousy > connections that ruin it for the rest of us! Now they'll be able to make a > single simple selection from GPaL and "Bingo! Good-bye hopping Lotus". What > a treat! > The Communications Settings dropdown will work the same way the Graphic > Settings dropdown works. You'll be able to define your own collection of > settings and select any one at any time from the dropdown. A few standard > sets will be included, including the accepted 84/3 core settings. Neat? > If you haven't seen the Sneak Preview take a look... www.RaceLive.com/GPaL > Thanks to all those who have completed the GPL driver survey! > (www.RaceLive.com/GPaL/survey001.htm) The data really helps and the survey > is quick and easy (so far, the average GPLer takes 2:03 to complete a lap of > the survey...but that includes the time you took to add all those nice > compliments and suggestions. :)) The survey indicates that only 2.4% of GPL > drivers have 640 x 480 desktops, by the way. > Take the survey and get on the mailing list for instant notification of when > GPaL is ready for downloading! > Thanks for you enthusiasm and help! > Jack Rambo