Author: John Merlino
Date: 12:04:06 02/15/01
Go up one level in this thread
On February 15, 2001 at 14:37:07, Elizabeth Schwartz wrote: >I'm a chess beginner and one of the reasons I bought Chessmaster 8000 was to >use the tutorials. However, I am finding the interface hard to deal with. >A few hopefully simple improvements would make a HUGE difference in useability: > >1) The tutorials are unuseable without sound. There is not enough time to both >read the text and study the board!!! There should be a way to step through each >page of text. This would also be helpful with the sound *on* - there should be a >way to pause any screen before continuing. Some of us need more thinking time >than others! > >(I am running Windows NT on a Compaq Armada - I finally did find a better sound >driver on the chipset makers board - before that the sound was unusable in this >game. Compaq was no help) > >2) No way to bookmark tutorials. I have been told that the program is supposed >to remember my place, but it is not. I have to start at the beginning each time, >very painful when a tutorial has more than a few dozen sections! > >3) Very confusing chessboard selection. I have not yet found a way to select >a chessboard and pieces that are both the right size and easy to see. There >ought to be a "master" window that allows all the chess boards and pieces to >be selected from at once, at least as an expert option. > >4) On Windows NT, I still have no simple or thematic sounds. I have checked the >control panel settings and upgraded my sound card drivers and have no other >sound issues at this time. > > >I really hope it is possible to improve the navigation on the tutorials. There >is a *tremendous* wealth of material there, and it should be fully accessible! > >thanks Betsy To answer your questions: 1) As far as I know, each tutorial is broken up into pages, and the tutorial will not proceed to the next page until you press the "Next" button. But, yes, the tutorials are intended to be used with sound, as the visual cues (moving pieces, drawing arrows, etc.) match up to certain points in the text and would be useless if they were not timed to the audio. 2) Almost all of the tutorials have "Chapters", which are subsets of each tutorial. In the Curriculum tree, anything that is indented is a chapter of its "parent" tutorial. This allows you to jump into the middle of some of the longer tutorials. But, no, there is no way to actually bookmark a particular page. 3) The chessboard selection in the Classroom should be nearly identical to the selection in the Game Room. Obviously, some piece sets were not intended to be used with some boards (a 2D set on a 3D board, for example). Which board and set combination would you like to use that the program will not allow? 4) This is a new one on me. Nobody else reported problems with sound on NT. What is your sound card? jm
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.