Score thermometer weirdness
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@anexparrot
I'm not sure there's any compelling reason to assume Lexulous should be infallible in this regard; I think it would be more surprising if it were. In any event it isn't. I've topped the purportedly max score (which you can calculate at least roughly, you know, dividing the displayed word score by the decimal value of the percentage) various times. -
Probably best they didn't rename it 'Score strength' then. 'Approximate score strength' is more like it.
@anexparrot That's quite the difference between scores. Did you hover over the bar to check the actual percentages? I'm guessing they were both 100% anyway due to the max bar.
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@dan
You had it right the first time. Not "Approximate score strength", because (1) sometimes it's precise, (2) it's always sufficiently close, and (3) "Approximate score strength" would be too unwieldy as a tool tip. It doesn't really matter since they're blithely ignoring the suggestion anyway, despite several people favoring "Score strength" and no one defending "Move strength".I'm sure both thermometers were at 100%, both from my own experience and because they look identical.
The odd thing is that it looks like the blue only goes around halfway up.
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@dan
No, it's still score strength. Remember your original argument. -
@roymccoy It should be ideally, but in light of the inconsistency (and lack of clarity from admins), it would just add more confusion. If it's showing 100% for a +79 when there's a +122 available, it's fair to say that 'Score strength' would be misleading. Perhaps the algorithm is smarter than we think and 'Move strength' is actually more appropriate. It might also take into account the strategic value of the move and such.
This link describes more of what I'm talking about:
https://www.scrabulizer.com/static/strategy
Sidenote: I don't use this site to cheat. It's just one of the better analyzer type sites.
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@dan I didn't hover over the bar. This was a live game and I was already taking time with the screenshots.
I think part of the reason I was surprised by the ST's behavior is that it's a fairly simple board-- not many spots to analyze.
It doesn't really matter, but I wonder if the ST's code mainly runs on our browser end or the server side?
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@anexparrot said in Score thermometer weirdness:
I think part of the reason I was surprised by the ST's behavior is that it's a fairly simple board-- not many spots to analyze.
So is a chessboard!
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@anexparrot
Oh, a specific board and not the Lexulous board in general. Okay, I've got that, but it's still kind of the same thing because sometimes there aren't a lot of pieces on a chessboard either... and maybe you can have purely infallible moves then, but it will have taken a lot of good programming to reach that even in these simpler cases, and the Lexulous programmer can't even get the arrow or graph to work properly, or the return key to trigger Define when a word is typed into the Dictionary panel. -
@roymccoy Try playing some real-time games some time... maybe with a short timer! That way you will be less focused on minor aesthetic issues like what color the arrow is, and more focused on the words themselves. (just kidding ... I know each person has his or her own preferences for the type of game they prefer to play.)
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@thatguythere202
The ugliness of the character-set arrow is a separate graphic issue, as is the style of the blank letters and their centering on the letters above and below, which presumably could be easily programmed. But I was speaking here of the arrow's not working, and I think players should continue to remind the administrators of this, as otherwise they're going to continue to have the idea that the current version is acceptable as is when it isn't. Likewise with the graph, which at first glance may look fine but on further experience turns out to be something of a joke, with identical data showing for both players and with information formerly displayed missing. I was talking about function here – you're the one who brought up esthetic issues. -
@roymccoy OK point taken. It was someone else who was complaining about the arrow's color I guess. I have noticed myself that the blanks behave oddly (letter is not centered on the tile after one types it in); but haven't bothered to mention it because I am too busy playing (and usually losing) games. To each his own.
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@thatguythere202 said in Score thermometer weirdness:
It was someone else who was complaining about the arrow's color I guess.
No, that was me.
Just elsewhere. What would of course be nice would be if Lexulous had a programmer who cared about the game in the same way as Peter Lewis cares about Keyboard Maestro on the Mac. Such a person would be here on the forum directly responding to concerns, trying things out, etc. But that doesn't seem to be the way it is. (If I'm wrong, let the programmer speak up now, finally.) My impression is that Lexulous paid a relatively uninterested party to do a post-Flash version, the current version is what they got and they don't want to keep paying him. This is why we get things purportedly being continuously forwarded to the promised attention of the development "team" (?), but almost nothing ever happens despite the existence of obvious shortcomings and possible improvements. The appearance of the arrow may be a minor issue, but to me it displays the frequently lackadaisical approach to the programming of the newer version. The current arrow, again, wasn't designed for the board but was simply yanked out of a standard character set – I don't know exactly which one, but I recognize the arrow. I suppose I can find it easily enough...
[left: current game arrow; right: icon-icons.com]Wouldn't it be possible to use the old arrow, which was bright and attractive?
No response.
I have noticed myself that the blanks behave oddly (letter is not centered on the tile after one types it in); but haven't bothered to mention it because I am too busy playing (and usually losing) games. To each his own.
What I was talking about was centering the blank letters vertically, which I'm sure would be easy for a programmer as all you'd have to do would be insert a blank spaceholder, either a space or a dummy transparent digit.
But we've gotten off-topic, sorry. Bringing it back to score thermometer weirdness, I'm looking at another game-starting rack here, ACDEINRT. If I try CRETIN, I get 20/.16 = 125, which isn't far from the 128 I can actually get scoring a triple bingo with these letters. But I tried two other words with the same rack previously and they both gave me 158, which is impossible. So the score thermometer can indeed be weird sometimes.
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@roymccoy I'd never heard of Keyboard Maestro so I looked it up. Amazing! You can automate computer functions using macros?? (a bit of sarcasm there ... I remember DOS and the format wars...
)
[EDIT: I mean the OS wars, of course. Around the same time as the VHS-Beta Format War!]
In any case, I do have complaints--well, one complaint--about the functioning of the arrow. The types of game that you and I play are so different as to be almost beyond comparing, but here's my complaint: When you click on a square to place the arrow so that you can rapidly type your word, the arrow is sometimes pointing to the right and sometimes down. It used to be (in the old version) that you could count on Right for the first click, and Down after clicking a second time. This is still how it behaves in the new game ... but not all the time. If you are at the very end of a game of seconds, it is possible to lose when your clock runs out while you are placing your last word, because you clicked once and the arrow is pointing down instead of right (yes, it happens. Twice yesterday).
I will try to remember to post something about this in the Features Complaints section or whatever it's called. Although I think have done so in the past! -
@thatguythere202 said in Score thermometer weirdness:
I'd never heard of Keyboard Maestro so I looked it up. Amazing! You can automate computer functions using macros?? (a bit of sarcasm there ...
Anyone with a Mac should be aware of Keyboard Maestro, as nothing else even remotely approaches it in the macro department. Actually it was difficult to automate procedures with macros when Apple came out with OS X and for a number of years afterwards, when QuicKeys and the other old macro accessories didn't work anymore and there weren't any good new ones to replace them. Thank God for Peter Lewis, the KM developer, who miraculously out-QuicKeysed QuicKeys.
Here's a cute little maneuver, set to be triggered by opt-ctrl-t:
Type the A Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
Type the B Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
Type the C Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
[...]
Type the Z Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
Play Sound "Basso"
Type the ⌘A KeystrokeSee what that does? I'm glad you made this comment, as I now realize I don't need the returns anymore with the new game version. I don't know if I'll bother modifying the macro, though, since the returns don't seem to do any harm. [...] Ha! I would have to take them out if Lexulous did as I have several times suggested and made the return key trigger Define when a word is entered in the Dictionary field. I'd be very happy to remove the returns then, of course.
I do have complaints--well, one complaint--about the functioning of the arrow. The types of game that you and I play are so different as to be almost beyond comparing, but here's my complaint: When you click on a square to place the arrow so that you can rapidly type your word, the arrow is sometimes pointing to the right and sometimes down. It used to be (in the old version) that you could count on Right for the first click, and Down after clicking a second time. This is still how it behaves in the new game ... but not all the time. If you are at the very end of a game of seconds, it is possible to lose when your clock runs out while you are placing your last word, because you clicked once and the arrow is pointing down instead of right (yes, it happens. Twice yesterday).
Thank you for sharing this. We will pass your suggestion to the development team for consideration.
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@roymccoy said in Score thermometer weirdness:
Here's a cute little maneuver, set to be triggered by opt-ctrl-t:
Type the A Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
Type the B Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
Type the C Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
[...]
Type the Z Keystroke
Type the Return Keystroke
Pause for 1 Second
Type the Delete Keystroke
Play Sound "Basso"
Type the ⌘A KeystrokeNope sorry, I don't see what that does since I am not a Mac person. I used to use quite a few macros back in MS-DOS days; these days I simply use keyboard shortcuts whenever I need to save time (and when I know what the shortcuts are). My favorite program back in the day was Nota Bene, the word-processing program for scholars, which was/is very macro heavy.
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@thatguythere202 said in Score thermometer weirdness:
Nope sorry, I don't see what that does since I am not a Mac person. I used to use quite a few macros back in MS-DOS days; these days I simply use keyboard shortcuts whenever I need to save time (and when I know what the shortcuts are). My favorite program back in the day was Nota Bene, the word-processing program for scholars, which was/is very macro heavy.
I'll let somebody else be the genius and figure it out, then. It's not complicated. The ellipsis represents the same sequence with D-Y, the return (again) being superfluous in the new version. Hint: The last four or five steps at the end are unnecessary for the function of the macro.
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@thatguythere202 AutoHotkey for windows is pretty good.
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@anexparrot am confused where does it say best?
