Survex - interface expectations

[Graham Mullan]

What is becoming increasingly clear to me in this debate is that there are
two programs here, not one, and they should be approached very differently.

"Survex" is a batch processing program which can work on a suitable text
file which can be written on any suitable text editor.

This is very different to:

"Aven" which is a display program which has been written specifically to
enable users to view one of the types of output file generated by "Survex"
(and also, now, similar output files generated by "Compass").

This split approach means several things:

1    The powerful and flexible Survex need not be constrained by a specific
interface in the way that other programs are, thus retaining the flexibility
which is one of its great strengths.

2    It must be acknowledged, therefore, that non-geeks will have to undergo
a much tougher learning process to get to grips with Survex. This is where a
new beginners guide comes in.

3     There can be little or no interactive feedback between Survex and
Aven. For example it will never (on this approach) be able to highlight a
series of legs on an Aven display and apply a Survex flag to them (which
would have been a quite nifty little idea :-) ).

4    As Aven is by definition a graphical display program it could be
developed along lines which are more familiar to users of other programs. In
particular the interactivity between screen display and print output could
be much improved (print preview, for example).

Graham
--
graham.mullan@breathemail.net

Tel 0117 9502556 or 07887 637064

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