by Steve Waite » Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:22 am
User Interface Design
Currently Ideal Flight is being modified for accessibility, specifically screen reader support. There are maps and things in IF which are not suitable for blind users but in general IF is good in other respects. Almost all the information about flights and records in IF are accessible through the Web Browser.
The program is the only 'complete solution' available. That is, it can produce the entire top-down simulator instruction list from the press of one button.
To produce completely logically handled flights, including plans, exports, programmed gps, procedural any-time weather, ATC and AI traffic, running and monitoring the sim, starting right into the cockpit from one button press - Everything.
Ideal Flight uses what is known as a Corridor UI.
We have an 'outside' area with front access. Outside we can make changes that affect the operation of the entire program. This is the Start Page - Indexing and Data Configuration.
We go through to the corridor or Home Page, airport page. Now we are effectively inside we can affect changes to a specific pilot profile.
It's important to realise that not all settings stick to a pilot profile. Some settings stick to the aircraft and some also stick to the overall use for all profiles. There are so many possibilities that a compromise is taken. It can all be changed, so if deemed possibly necessary, changes are considered in the interests of all users.
Only by experienced use will it become apparent exactly what stays where. Usually those settings are logically placed, for example, 'aircraft cruise speed desired' stays with the aircraft, not the pilot profile.
So now we have rooms leading off from the corridor and must return to the corridor to access other rooms. Rooms include selecting an aircraft, viewing records, selecting a profile, and so on.
It might seem slightly tedious not being able to go directly from profile to flight build, without visiting the main home airport page (corridor) first.
We don't get lost, but more importantly the program must look at the entire simulator platform for changes each time we change to the home page. Because we can at any time fiddle with the sim or system, install and make changes and forget that IF is running.
There are some rooms only accessible from primary rooms. When we enter the aircraft selection page, or the flight generator page, we can go on to pages containing the flight parameter list for the aircraft, and another page provides us with the style of flight, the Mission page.
The Flight Generator page also provides access to the Cold and Dark settings. These enable us to impart cold or warm settings throughout the aircraft. Disabling the page with a check box gives us the default warm cockpit.
We can leave the program, close it, from any room, we do not have to return to the corridor or to the starting page.
Although IF is extremely robust it handles every aspect of the simulator and even the operating system. Therefor any problems unfound as yet in a sim or system might come about when we use Ideal Flight the first time.
As a lifetime systems problem solver I've designed Ideal Flight from the ground up, as an engineers tool, it's also a fantastic development tool, especially good for airport and aircraft design.
Ideal Flight backs out of problems found so as to not interfere with the outcome, for problem solving sake. We can find notes in the flight and index logs of IF that help on problem solving systems. Ideal Flight has also been designed with non-interference as a top priority. We will rarely see any affects on the sim through the use of IF. We might see things using IF, as every facet and corner of the simulator is instructed. IF is a good test for any system and I install Ideal flight to test a flight sim system as it makes no changes to the simulator or the system and is completely reliable in that respect.
Internally the program is designed with accessibility in mind. The upgrade to accessibility specifics for screen readers is not too much work. It is mostly an exercise in producing the correct text and help in the right controls in a way that can be understood without sight.
software architect at codelegend.com
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