RFC: Print templates for 4 dives per page and 6 dives per

Hartley Horwitz hhrwtz at gmail.com
Mon Nov 27 16:27:33 PST 2017


>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Willem Ferguson <willemferguson at zoology.up.ac.za>
> To: Subsurface Mailing List <subsurface at subsurface-divelog.org>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2017 15:10:12 +0200
> Subject: RFC: Print templates for 4 dives per page and 6 dives per page
>
> I attach two images for some print templates that I have been working
> with. I would appreciate comments from any members of this list, but
> especially from anyone who prints dives to paper.
>

HH - I'm a recreational diver and I 'used to' print out my logs.  When I
moved to using Subsurface I wanted to get many diver/page to save paper and
in that case I didn't care about the profile.  I did care about the notes.
The thinking is that a dive operator doesn't care how long you spent at 30m
or 40m, just that you did.  Or they don't care what your profile looked
like, just that you did a night dive or something like that.

Don't get me wrong. One of the key reasons I use Subsurface is the
visualization of the dive, but I think only me and my dive partner care
about that and in that case I use my laptop or handheld to view the
profile.

> My point of departure with this work is to accommodate divers why
> frequently print dives. Three points: 1) The biggest limitation is that all
> dive details (i.e. those shown on the Notes, Equipment and Information tabs
> in Subsurface) cannot be fitted onto a single sheet of paper. Therefore I
> assume that those who print dives are more likely to be those who dive in a
> recreational environment and configuration. Such divers have fewer demands
> from a printout, compared to technical/sidemount/rebreather divers.
>
[HH] agree

> These print layouts are therefore geared towards recreational divers. 2) I
> used "conventional" recreational dive log sheets available on the Internet
> to determine what information is more likely to be relevant to a
> recreational diver. 3) Though I have not been totally consistent, I assumed
> that the information showed in the multiple-dives-per-page layouts should
> not show information different from the one-dive-per-page layout. If space
> is limiting, a subset of information on the one-page layout should be shown
> on the layouts with less page space for each dive. Any comments on these
> points of departure?
>
> *6 dives:* On the left is the current default layout. Biggest issue is
> that the notes are mostly not shown or severely truncated. It is futile to
> include the Notes in the 6-dive layout. A lot of information is shown here,
> which are not shown in the one-page print layout (e.g. SAC rate, rating,
> tags). In putting together a 6-dive layout, I decided to split the
> templates into two: 1) a template that does not show the notes; 2) a
> template that does not show the dive profile. This gives a diver a choice
> to print whatever is more important for her/him. In these two derived
> templates, I re-arranged the layout compared to the current template.
>
 [HH] given my comments above, it isn't surprising I prefer the 2nd layout
for the 6-dive - the one with more space for notes and no profile.

> Note that in all 6-dive layouts, the depth and time labels on the dive
> profile are for all practical purposes illegible, and I suspect this is a
> problem that is not easily solved. Note:
>
> 1) The gas information on my two templates are truncated if more than one
> cylinder is used on a dive. The gas information in my templates are rather
> cryptic, giving cylinder type, gas type and begin/end cylinder pressure. In
> the existing 6-dive layout (leftmost in image) there is more information
> given for gas, but this comes with a penalty in other aspects of the page
> layout.
>
> 2) In the proposed 6-dive layout with dive notes (i.e. without dive
> profile), the dive notes are truncated if there are too many notes. I often
> write fairly lengthy dive notes, so in the multiple-diives-per-page
> printouts, my notes are commonly truncated.
>

[HH] the space you've allocated for notes seems sufficient for my purposes.


> *4 dives: *We currently do not have a 4-dive template. My rationale was
> that if someone wanted a several dives per page and also both the dive
> profile and the dive notes,  a 4-dive layout is the more viable than the
> 6-dive layout.  Here also, if the dive notes are long, they are truncated.
> This layout is a compromise to show more or less all the information
> originally intended with the 6-dive layout.
>

[HH]  I no longer print out, but would use the 6-dive, no profile template.
I just asked my wife and she likes the 4-dive template!  It just shows you
that it is hard to have a 1 size fits all solution.

> Any comments are highly appreciated. If these layout are perceived as
> useful, I will circulate the templates so that you can test them on your
> own dive log. After that we can decide in which way they will be added to
> the current set of templates.
>
>
>
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