Is the OGS Clock Suitable for Real-Time Games?

[Charlie]

I do not think that the OGS Clock, pictured below, is suitable for real-time games - particularly those with tense time constraints.

OGS Clock.jpg (32.57 KiB) Viewed 12490 times

I find the chaotically concatenated string of characters to be too small, low-contrast, inconsistent and difficult to read.

The clock is a fundamental part of a Go-playing U.I. - second only to the board and stones.

I started a thread on the official OGS forums - albeit a bit sarcastically (OGS: please accept my apology.) - and, despite the fact that the thread has been 'liked' twice - the moderators stated, categorically, that I am the only user who holds these opinions and locked the thread. I consider OGS to be hope for online Go and cannot simply abandon it due to this experience but I also cannot tolerate the clock in its current form and do not believe that this opinion is unique.

Here, on the impartial L19, we can discus it.

[Uberdude]

I have only played one real-time game on OGS a while ago, which I lost on time . I do recall thinking the clock was a bit cluttered.

By the way, for Canadian byo yomi I still can't believe no one has implemented a clock like this below (or similar) as it seems such an intuitive and useful way to do Canadian. It means I have 7 stones of 20 remaining and 3:20 of 5 minutes remaining. The two coloured bars count down in proportion to the stones/time remaining so if the stones one is longer than the time one you know you are getting behind the average move speed needed (so the bar could change orange and then red to indicate how short you are). The IGS android app does change the time colour when your time gets low given your stones remaining but no bars (fair enough on a small screen).

canadian_clock.png (2.91 KiB) Viewed 12467 times

[Hushfield]

Those moving bars are a really nice idea. I would love that style on all servers.

[paK0]

So far i haven't had any problems with how the clock looks, more with the fact that its buggy

But yes, it could probably be better.

Uberdude's idea is pretty fantastic, not just for canadian, but for normal byo yomi as well

[skydyr]

I started a thread on the official OGS forums - albeit a bit sarcastically (OGS: please accept my apology.) - and, despite the fact that the thread has been 'liked' twice - the moderators stated, categorically, that I am the only user who holds these opinions and locked the thread. I consider OGS to be hope for online Go and cannot simply abandon it due to this experience but I also cannot tolerate the clock in its current form and do not believe that this opinion is unique.

I haven't been terribly impressed with the developers responses either, particularly since the recent changes, and since I only use it for correspondence games, am in the process of moving more of my activity to DGS, which also has a decent android app and doesn't suck memory like a vacuum in my browser.

[ez4u]

No server/client in the last 15 years has equaled (much less improved on) WINIGC's "big clocks" option. There are still a few apps that can make me wax nostalgic for the 90's state of the art...

[oren]

No server/client in the last 15 years has equaled (much less improved on) WINIGC's "big clocks" option. There are still a few apps that can make me wax nostalgic for the 90's state of the art...

I really like wbaduk/tygem's countdown voice clock. Especially on the tablet where I don't want a lot of space for clocks, it's useful. I mostly use the Japanese wbaduk app for playing there.

[ez4u]

No server/client in the last 15 years has equaled (much less improved on) WINIGC's "big clocks" option. There are still a few apps that can make me wax nostalgic for the 90's state of the art...

I really like wbaduk/tygem's countdown voice clock. Especially on the tablet where I don't want a lot of space for clocks, it's useful. I mostly use the Japanese wbaduk app for playing there.

I stand corrected! I also like the voice countdown on Tygem. The visual clock (iOS client) is tiny though.

[lemmata]

I find the chaotically concatenated string of characters to be too small, low-contrast, inconsistent and difficult to read.

I actually have no problem with it. As you say, it could be better, but you can also get used to it.

I do agree that it could actually be much better. That said, you shouldn't be surprised that the thread was locked. You asked for tech support on finding the clock and you revealed that you knew where the clock was. The tech support issue has been resolved so the thread no longer serves any tech support goal. If you want them to change this, then you should consider posting in the OGS development category.

[Charlie]

... That said, you shouldn't be surprised that the thread was locked. You asked for tech support on finding the clock and you revealed that you knew where the clock was. The tech support issue has been resolved so the thread no longer serves any tech support goal. If you want them to change this, then you should consider posting in the OGS development category.

Fair point.

I did use the 'support' tag and did ask a question and that question was answered. I was at fault.
I thought I was posting on a forum, not a bug tracker or Q&A site.