Home training - small preview screen

[paulstokes]

One of the few features of OpenSong that I would value on Zionworx is the ability to work on a single screen for training purposes by having a small window that emulates the projector. This would allow operators to learn the features at home rather than having to use the real system.

I would envisage something along these lines:-

A menu option allows the operator to select "Preview" mode. This then generates a floating window, perhaps 1/5 the size of the screen, which displays exactly what would be displayed on the projector. Obviously it would need always to be on top, and would therefore obscure some of the control panel, but being moveable should make this a minor inconvenience.

NB - The existing operator panel in the lower centre of the screen actually shows the screen as it would appear if Background and Words are both selected, but it does not reflect the use of F10, F11 or F12, which is a trick the operator needs to be aware of in order to avoid panic in the service! Hence one use of having a floating Preview window.

[chris_h62]

I think this is a great idea Paul, because not only does it serve the purpose of training, it also gived the operator an exact view of what's displaying on the projector. I can imagine this would be particularly helpful for churches where it is difficult to position the operator in direct sight of the projector screens!

Chris

[brainier]

It would be nice if the preview screen was an actual preview though. As said above, 'cause it does not take into account the actual display status it is confusing for some of the operators in our church (who have been trained!)

[paulstokes]

Chris,

If the operator would find this kind of feature useful 'live', then another approach would be to have additional features overlayed on the operator's panel. For instance, as well as the Display Status boxes labelled "Background" and "Text", ZW could also have a visual 'difference'.

For blank background - a black diagonal cross over all the operator panel
For background only - a diagonal stripe with "Background" written on it
For Background & Words - the current normal display


Or, another alternative approach would be to change the Display Status boxes. The mere change of colour is a bit cryptic and not intuitive. So hows about....

Three (or four if PPT enabled) thumbnail images. They don't need to be the actual thumbnails of the screen, justa small symbolic approach. They would have two settings :-
(1) a greyed-out appearance when this feature is not active
(2) a coloured representation of the screen when it is active
Hence:-

Blank (a simple black rectangle)
Background (a rectangle with a picture)
Words (a rectangle with a few lines (='text', but obviously too small to read))
PPT (a rectangle with 'PPT' and text on it)

I think this would be more effective than current words thing... espcially if only one of them was active at a time (rather than, for instance, both Background and Words being highlighted). I also think this approach could be a workable alternative to the one I initally suggested.

[EDIT] ...these four images could also function in the same way as the tiny menu buttons for F10, F11, F12, but being bigger it would be easier to see quite what effect they were about to have. And then a label alongside them could state (depending on which had been clicked):
Blank
Background only
Background and Words
PowerPoint

[chris_h62]

Yeah, I do like those ideas Paul as they would crtainly make it alot easier for the operatir to tell exactly what's going on with the projector and be more intuitive than the current text based "Display Status" system.

Chris

[Christian]

Yeah - some good ideas here

I especially think the floating 'training mode' window would be a simple and valuable addition, when running on a single monitor system.

Also, the ideas about changing current display status to something less cryptic as you suggest would be an improvement.

Cheers,
Christian.