I recently discovered that TUSA had released a new program to replace its aged PCLogBook software. I'm currently using an IQ-700 loaned to me long-term by my instructor but I've found that the PCLogBook software is clunky and frustrating to use, with a clumsy UI badly translated into broken English.
Among the things I find very annoying is the fact that the PCLogBook software's Comments section for dives is limited to about 500 characters. No way to enter anything but the briefest information about a dive. If you're like me and like to write pretty long, detailed accounts of your dives to enter into your log, then this is flatly impossible.
So when I'd heard about DiveLogBook, I thought I'd download it and give it a try. At first glance, it looks a little prettier, with a better icon and background graphic and better-looking toolbar graphics. But that's not what I really care about for log book software.
What I want is something that lets me easily download my dives from my dive computer and enter (lots of) additional information, then lets me print the result out in a clean, professional-looking manner for clipping into a logbook.
DiveLogBook may be prettied up a little, but it's actually a step backward from PCLogBook.
DiveLogBook takes the broken English a step further, with all text in the program run together without space characters. Many of the menu options are oddly-named, with "Recycle" used in place of "Delete" and the term "Registration" used to refer to the area of the program where you go to add new choices to drop-down menus.
Where PCLogBook could print an attractive, readable log page, DiveLogBook prints a cramped two-inch by four-inch image with some dive information superimposed on it. Nothing I could do would stretch the result to fill a printed page.
Where PCLogBook would allow the user to export downloaded data to CSV format for importing into Excel or into some other program, DiveLogBook has no such functionality. It saves each dive into its own XML file. It may be possible to write something that reads from this XML format, but it would have been nice to retain the excel export functionality.
Where PClogbook opens to a large list of dives, and clicking on a dive opens a screen with detailed information, DiveLogBook tries to cram all this data into a single screen. Only 5 dives are visible at once, and scrolling through them takes time because it tries to re-render the graphical dive profile each time you select a new dive.
While I'm excited that there appears to still be someone at TUSA who knows how to write software for their computers, it's disappointing to see this new program support fewer features than the previous one. Hopefully TUSA will start trying to compete with other manufacturers and continue to refine their logbook software over time, adding back in the missing functionality and improving the existing functionality so as to attain some level of user friendliness.
Rather than look to their own PCLogBook program for inspiration, TUSA should look at features and functionality offered by companies such as Suunto with their Dive Manager software which receives numerous updates over time. I know I will.
Among the things I find very annoying is the fact that the PCLogBook software's Comments section for dives is limited to about 500 characters. No way to enter anything but the briefest information about a dive. If you're like me and like to write pretty long, detailed accounts of your dives to enter into your log, then this is flatly impossible.
So when I'd heard about DiveLogBook, I thought I'd download it and give it a try. At first glance, it looks a little prettier, with a better icon and background graphic and better-looking toolbar graphics. But that's not what I really care about for log book software.
What I want is something that lets me easily download my dives from my dive computer and enter (lots of) additional information, then lets me print the result out in a clean, professional-looking manner for clipping into a logbook.
DiveLogBook may be prettied up a little, but it's actually a step backward from PCLogBook.
DiveLogBook takes the broken English a step further, with all text in the program run together without space characters. Many of the menu options are oddly-named, with "Recycle" used in place of "Delete" and the term "Registration" used to refer to the area of the program where you go to add new choices to drop-down menus.
Where PCLogBook could print an attractive, readable log page, DiveLogBook prints a cramped two-inch by four-inch image with some dive information superimposed on it. Nothing I could do would stretch the result to fill a printed page.
Where PCLogBook would allow the user to export downloaded data to CSV format for importing into Excel or into some other program, DiveLogBook has no such functionality. It saves each dive into its own XML file. It may be possible to write something that reads from this XML format, but it would have been nice to retain the excel export functionality.
Where PClogbook opens to a large list of dives, and clicking on a dive opens a screen with detailed information, DiveLogBook tries to cram all this data into a single screen. Only 5 dives are visible at once, and scrolling through them takes time because it tries to re-render the graphical dive profile each time you select a new dive.
While I'm excited that there appears to still be someone at TUSA who knows how to write software for their computers, it's disappointing to see this new program support fewer features than the previous one. Hopefully TUSA will start trying to compete with other manufacturers and continue to refine their logbook software over time, adding back in the missing functionality and improving the existing functionality so as to attain some level of user friendliness.
Rather than look to their own PCLogBook program for inspiration, TUSA should look at features and functionality offered by companies such as Suunto with their Dive Manager software which receives numerous updates over time. I know I will.
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