[bookcourier] Re: Transfer Tool Complaints
- From: Chris G <chrisg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bookcourier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:41:26 -0500
Hi I would agree.
I have both a bookport and a bookcourier. Having said that, I really
like the user interface of the bookcourier, but really like the
bookport's transfer tool.
Too bad I couldn't interchange the two.
Chris
On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 08:24:12 -0000
"Steve Nutt" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
SN> Hi Debee,
SN>
SN> I agree with most of your complaints, but I don't have sluggishness on my
SN> system with JAWS or Window-Eyes. I suspect your PC itself has something to
SN> do with this.
SN>
SN> But to add to your gripes, if you are transferring multiple folders, forget
SN> it, you can't. The tool is not capable of creating folders when
SN> transferring.
SN>
SN> A much better idea regarding the transfer tool in my view, would have been
SN> to completely integrate it into Windows Explorer, so that you could paste
SN> directly to the BC, and the auxilliary files it needs would be automatically
SN> created. That way, you would have hardly any of these problems.
SN>
SN> This is kind of how Anapod Explorer works for Ipods, it integrates itself
SN> into Windows Explorer, and you just use Windows Explorer itself to make the
SN> transfers, provided your Ipod is connected. I personally think that
SN> currently, the transfer tool is the weakest part of the Book Courier,
SN> because of the time it takes, as you say below, to transfer multiple files
SN> in any way.
SN>
SN> All the best
SN> --
SN> Computer Room Services: the long cane for blind computer users.
SN> Telephone Voice: +44(0)1438 742286, Fax/BBS: +44(0)1438 759589
SN> mobile: +44(0)7956 334938,
SN> Email: Steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SN> Web site: http://www.comproom.co.uk
SN>
SN> -----Original Message-----
SN> From: bookcourier-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
SN> [mailto:bookcourier-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Debee Norling
SN> Sent: 11 March 2006 02:01
SN> To: bookcourier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
SN> Subject: [bookcourier] Transfer Tool Complaints
SN>
SN> I've had my BC for over two years and love it.
SN>
SN> But I'm getting so tired of the clunkiness of the transfer tool.
SN>
SN> I thought if I could list my issues here, the Springer folks might read it
SN> and eventually improve it.
SN>
SN> My first frustration is with the inability to move files. So often I put
SN> something in my fiction folder that turns out to be nonfiction. Or, one of
SN> my folders gets too big and I'd really like to split it up. At least before
SN> you could use Windows Explorer to move stuff around, provided you were
SN> careful to get all three files with the same base name. Now that files are
SN> named things like bc00039, you can't figure out what they are without the
SN> transfer tool. Therefore the transfer tool really now needs a "move to
SN> folder" function.
SN>
SN> My second issue is the molasses problem. Some here have said it is a JAWS
SN> problem, and perhaps so, but with older transfer tool versions and the
SN> current version of JAWS, nothing is sluggish. With the current tool version,
SN> When I arrow through the transfer tool tree view, it pauses for at least
SN> thirty seconds and all keystrokes are ignored. I've tried various versions
SN> of JAWS, and that makes no difference, but using older versions of the
SN> transfer tool this problem never happens. So maybe the developers can try
SN> the new tool and the old tool with the JAWS demo.
SN>
SN> My third problem is with it wiping out the clipboard. Normally, you can open
SN> two windows in explorer and cut and paste or copy and paste between them.
SN> You can open third and fourth and even more windows doing the same thing.
SN> And Windows explorer doesn't care that you have several other copy
SN> operations in progress. But with the transfer tool, when it finishes the
SN> transfer it clears the clipboard. Anything else you were doing in any other
SN> window that used the clipboard is lost. Often while I transfer one batch of
SN> files, I am trying to select a second batch. If I am careless and press
SN> CTRL-C for copy in Explorer, before the transfer tool is finished, the
SN> clipboard contents are lost. This is so frustrating. Just leave the
SN> clipboard alone, and read from it only.
SN>
SN> My fourth gripe is with these clueless error messages. "The bookshare file
SN> you are trying to transfer is not in the Daisy format." "This message can
SN> appear even when a file is indeed Daisy, when I have unpacked it and read it
SN> as daisy. It seems kind of random, not specifically happening on a file,
SN> unless of course that file really does happen to not be daisy.
SN> Also it would be helpful if the message stated which file, with the filename
SN> and book title I was trying to transfer. If I copy twenty files to the
SN> clipboard and my transfer is aborted with this silly error, I have two
SN> problems: first I don't get my other files transferred, and second, I don't
SN> know which file caused the error. How about creating an error log, rather
SN> than interrupting the whole transfer with an error the user can't do much
SN> about?
SN>
SN> My fifth complaint is with transferring Braille volumes. The new tool will
SN> complain that a file is already on the device when I try to transfer a file
SN> with the identical description. But my only choices are to overwrite or not;
SN> no choice exists to simply rename the file title. A Braille book with
SN> multiple volumes has the same title unless I manually put in each volume
SN> number. That's tedious and I have to tab to the input filename box to find
SN> each file's name to figure out what volume it is. Of course the input file
SN> name box isn't conveniently in tab order next to the description box. I
SN> always transfer with copy and paste in Windows explorer because the Browse
SN> method is even clumsier for moving batches of files to the device. If you
SN> are sighted, try using those common file dialogs with the keyboard only and
SN> transfer thirty Braille volumes that way. It's excruciatingly tedious.
SN>
SN> My sixth frustration is with the slightly more convenient "use one folder
SN> for all transfers" check box. That's truly time-saving, but if I check it I
SN> am also unable to supply unique titles. Instead, have two check boxes, that
SN> one, plus a box for "transfer all selected files without further prompting".
SN> Also while we're at it, why should the user need to type in the folder name
SN> anyway? There's too much chance for error. Instead, have a combo box, so
SN> they can simply arrow to the appropriate folder name.
SN>
SN> My seventh problem is with its generally unforgiving nature. If I have
SN> twenty files to transfer and I mis-type my bookshare password, it tells me
SN> the password is invalid and aborts the whole attempt. It seems like a simple
SN> "repeat until password is correct" loop could easily improve the user
SN> experience.
SN>
SN> My eighth and last trouble is with this error message which shows up mostly
SN> in some Oreilly books on Bookshare:
SN>
SN> Send Error Parse Error at line XXX, Not well-formed (invalid token)
SN>
SN> I click OK, and anything else in my transfer queue is gone, plus I don't
SN> know what file gave me this stupid error. Can't it just stop parsing that
SN> line and skip to the next one and continue? I don't care if I miss out on a
SN> few ill-formed lines or tokens or whatever they are, but it is really
SN> annoying to loose my entire transfer.
SN>
SN> I probably use the transfer tool a little differently than originally
SN> imagined, so let me give you what the object-oriented folks call a "use
SN> case". It is 4:45 and I'm at work, where I've been doing things for my boss.
SN> A two-hour commute looms ahead of me and my bus will appear at 5 PM sharp.
SN> I have a pile of bookshare books on my computer that I want to peruse while
SN> on the bus, but I don't have a leisurely afternoon to transfer them all. I
SN> pull up the directory of books, press CTRL-A to select them all, press
SN> ctrl-C to copy, connect the BC, and press CTRL-V to paste.
SN>
SN> Then I have to fill in file titles and folders, or accept the defaults, but
SN> either way, some goofy error is bound to abort the whole process half-way
SN> through.
SN>
SN> I really want the tool to just do its transfer all nice and automatic, so
SN> I won't miss my bus, and keep its grumping about mal-formed tokens to
SN> itself.
SN>
SN> --Debee
SN>
SN> P.S. programming is time-consuming, and programmers must be compensated for
SN> their time. I'd be happy to pay $100 for a good solid transfer tool update
SN> that improved the user experience. If enough of us were willing to pay this,
SN> could we make it happen?
SN>
SN> Also, if this program, along with many others I could name were open-source,
SN> other people like me would just get in there and fix it. When a device has
SN> to be purchased anyway, vendors wouldn't loose any money releasing device
SN> support software as open-source.
SN>
SN>
SN>
SN>
SN>
SN>
--
Chris G <chrisg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I've got to sit down and work out where I stand.
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