Software that makes placemats

Organise events to meet up and drink Port.
Post Reply
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

At the Sandeman vertical on 13 May 2011 two possible improvements were devised.
  1. At a vertical we generally arrange things as we write: left-to-right, and then top-bottom, going oldest to youngest. But for decanting and pre-pouring we want to work in the opposite order, youngest to oldest. So it would help to have a boolean parameter, perhaps called PrePourReverseOrder, which reverses the order of the pre-pour sheets. Default value = true.
  2. JacobH suggested an extra sheet to hold Decanting Notes. The left column would name the wines, much like the left column in the vote-recorder sheet. A one inch column would be headed ‟Times”. The bulk of the space, titled ‟Notes”, could hold the likes of ‟cork protruding 1mm” or ‟light seepage”.
Thoughts?
User avatar
DRT
Fonseca 1966
Posts: 15779
Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Chesterfield, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

I like both suggestions.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

jdaw1 wrote:JacobH suggested an extra sheet to hold Decanting Notes. The left column would name the wines, much like the left column in the vote-recorder sheet. A one inch column would be headed ‟Times”. The bulk of the space, titled ‟Notes”, could hold the likes of ‟cork protruding 1mm” or ‟light seepage”.
Please comment on:
Image
The title has been made grey, and right-aligned, to increase the visual contrast with the vote-recorder sheets. Other than that, it is fairly vanilla.
User avatar
JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3300
Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:
jdaw1 wrote:JacobH suggested an extra sheet to hold Decanting Notes. The left column would name the wines, much like the left column in the vote-recorder sheet. A one inch column would be headed ‟Times”. The bulk of the space, titled ‟Notes”, could hold the likes of ‟cork protruding 1mm” or ‟light seepage”.
Please comment on:
http://www.jdawiseman.com/port/20110519 ... gnotes.png
The title has been made grey, and right-aligned, to increase the visual contrast with the vote-recorder sheets. Other than that, it is fairly vanilla.
Looks good to me! Thanks!
Last edited by JacobH on 17:26 Thu 19 May 2011, edited 1 time in total.
Image
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Consider the draft of the placemats for the matrix tasting, {Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Taylor} × {1963, 1966, 1970, 1977}.

Ports will be labelled α63 β63 γ63 δ63, ε66 ζ66 η66 θ66, ι70 κ70 λ70 μ70, ν77 ξ77 ο77 Ï€77. But at the time of decanting, at which the decanting notes are taken, the wines will be known, not yet blinded, as decanter juggling happens later.

I think that this completely beats my model, and separate decanting-notes pages from separate data will have to be made.
User avatar
JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3300
Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:Consider the draft of placemats for the matrix tasting, {Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Taylor} × {1963, 1966, 1970, 1977}.

Ports will be labelled α63 β63 γ63 δ63, ε66 ζ66 η66 θ66, ι70 κ70 λ70 μ70, ν77 ξ77 ο77 Ï€77. But at the time of decanting, at which the decanting notes are taken, the wines will be known, not yet blinded, as decanter juggling happens later.

I think that this completely beats my model, and separate decanting-notes pages from separate data will have to be made.
For what it’s worth, I note that this isn’t a very common occurrence. I can only think of one previous tasting done like this (the 66v67).

Does PrePourReverseOrder affect the order on Decanting Notes sheet? I think there are arguments that it should.
Image
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Also, at DRT’s request, some defaults have been changed. These generally bring the unaltered default nearer to our standard :tpf: medium-sized tasting at which everybody knows everybody.
  • No decanter labels;
  • No pre-pour sheets;
  • No placename sheets;
  • :tpf: icons appearing by default.
User avatar
DRT
Fonseca 1966
Posts: 15779
Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Chesterfield, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote:Consider the draft of the placemats for the matrix tasting, {Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Taylor} × {1963, 1966, 1970, 1977}.

Ports will be labelled α63 β63 γ63 δ63, ε66 ζ66 η66 θ66, ι70 κ70 λ70 μ70, ν77 ξ77 ο77 Ï€77. But at the time of decanting, at which the decanting notes are taken, the wines will be known, not yet blinded, as decanter juggling happens later.

I think that this completely beats my model, and separate decanting-notes pages from separate data will have to be made.
We will know which wines are in the line-up so you could drive the DecantingNoteSheet from a list of DecantingTitles that default to the values of Titles when absent. For example...

/Titles [
(α63)
(β63)
] def

/DecantingTitles [
(G63)
(T63)
] def

...would put G63 and T63 on the DecantingNoteSheets and the blind names on everything else. The ordering is irrelevant as the Decanting Notes would be matched to the appropriate wine once revealed at the end of the tasting.

The default should be that...

/Titles [
(JDAW)
(DRT)
] def

/DecantingTitles [

] def

Should result in the Titles appearing on the DecantingNoteSheet. This avoids having to enter the same list of names twice.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
User avatar
DRT
Fonseca 1966
Posts: 15779
Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Chesterfield, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

Another suggestion.

When creating placemats one of the things that takes up time (for me) is searching around previous tasting reviews to confirm everyone's initials. It would be helpful to have a list of names and initials in the header that builds up as new members join us so that whoever is creating the placemats can find this data in the code header rather than having to search for it elsewhere. Some cleverness could be applied to the construction of this list to allow relationships between intials, full name and handedness to be used by the code. For example, entering a recognised set of initials such as JDAW at a Title could make the corresponding Circlearray default to "Julian D. A. Wiseman".
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

DRT wrote:/DecantingTitles [ ! ] def
This is an interesting idea.

The functionality is already there, but fiddly to access. Start at the placemats for the Sandeman vertical on 13 May 2011: observe that on page 1, on a glasses sheet, there is the title ‟27”, but that on the tasting-note sheet on page 6 this is ‟1927”.

Observe also within the placematsfor the Fonseca Guimaraens vertical on 04 April 2011 that both OverlapSubtitlesOnTitles and InlineTitles vary.

So already it can be done.

However, I could easily change, within the code for the decanting-notes pages, every reference to Titles to, say, TitlesDecantingNotes, and add in the parameters the obvious default something like /TitlesDecantingNotes Titles def. There would be several such variants of the Titles, and likewise Subtitles and Circlearrays.

This would make much easier such variations. Good idea.

Perhaps others could comment on whether this is worth the possible user confusion.
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

DRT wrote:It would be helpful to have a list of names and initials in the header that builds up as new members join us so that whoever is creating the placemats can find this data in the code header rather than having to search for it elsewhere. Some cleverness could be applied to the construction of this list to allow relationships between intials, full name and handedness to be used by the code. For example, entering a recognised set of initials such as JDAW at a Title could make the corresponding Circlearray default to "Julian D. A. Wiseman".
This tickles me less.
  • Do we really want a mini-database of TPFers in my code?
  • How should the code detect that what has been supplied is the usual abbreviation for Domaine de la Romanée-Turnbull, rather than something else?
  • In the placemats for the g-man welcome on 6 May 2011, some elements of Titles contained the likes of ‟Jeff”, ‟Steph”, ‟Ed”, ‟Alex”, ‟Jacob”, ‟Ray”, ‟Tom”, and ‟Wolfgang”. For a blind tasting, you could do likewise.
User avatar
DRT
Fonseca 1966
Posts: 15779
Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Chesterfield, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote:Good idea.
:D
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
User avatar
DRT
Fonseca 1966
Posts: 15779
Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Chesterfield, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote:This tickles me less.
:(
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

jdaw1 wrote:could easily change, within the code for the decanting-notes pages, every reference to Titles to, say, TitlesDecantingNotes, and add in the parameters the obvious default something like /TitlesDecantingNotes Titles def. There would be several such variants of the Titles, and likewise Subtitles and Circlearrays.
DRT wrote: :D
Having allowed this to breathe, and thought about it some more, I really like it.

Awaiting comment from JacobH before implementing.

If he approves, the new parameters would be:
    • TitlesTastingNotes;
    • TitlesVoteRecorder;
    • TitlesDecantingNotes;
    • SubtitlesTastingNotes;
    • SubtitlesVoteRecorder;
    • SubtitlesDecantingNotes;
    • CirclearraysTastingNotes;
    • CirclearraysVoteRecorder;
    • CirclearraysDecantingNotes.
Proposed defaults:

Code: Select all

/TitlesTastingNotes Titles def
/TitlesVoteRecorder TitlesTastingNotes def
/TitlesDecantingNotes TitlesTastingNotes def
/SubtitlesTastingNotes Subtitles def
/SubtitlesVoteRecorder SubtitlesTastingNotes def
/SubtitlesDecantingNotes SubtitlesTastingNotes def
/CirclearraysTastingNotes Circlearrays def
/CirclearraysVoteRecorder CirclearraysTastingNotes def
/CirclearraysDecantingNotes CirclearraysTastingNotes def
For technical reasons it would be much more work to make this feature work for pre-pour and sticky-labels sheets.
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

JacobH wrote:Does PrePourReverseOrder affect the order on Decanting Notes sheet? I think there are arguments that it should.
Those attending such tastings may well have developed intuition about the typical order of a TN sheet. The DN sheets are sufficiently similar that such a rhyme with TN sheets might work better.

I suspect that it is marginal either way, permitting the triumph of laziness.
User avatar
JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3300
Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

This all makes sense to me. Is there a big need to have a TitlesVoteRecorder, since in most blind tastings half the people vote with the anonymous initials and the other half with the actual name of the Port?

What this has made me wonder about is whether there should be a feature to add the text ‟Revealed to be:” to the tasting note sheets and the placemats when blind tasting? This is to remind people to take a note of what they are actually tasting since there have been a few tastings where I have written the revealed name on the placemat but not on my tasting note sheet and therefore wondered which is which when I come to write them up.
Image
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

JacobH wrote:This all makes sense to me. Is there a big need to have a TitlesVoteRecorder, since in most blind tastings half the people vote with the anonymous initials and the other half with the actual name of the Port?
No, but it makes more sense to an attentive user to do the whole set.
JacobH wrote:What this has made me wonder about is whether there should be a feature to add the text ‟Revealed to be:” to the tasting note sheets and the placemats when blind tasting?
This is in two halves.
  • It is awkward to write on the glasses sheets. Especially if they are A3 holding ≥12 glasses, but even with smaller sheets it takes a narrow steady hand to do that.
  • As for the TN sheets, that is a good idea, needing no extra code. TastingNotesColumnHeadings defaults to [ (Times) (Eye) (Nose) (Mouth) (Score) ], but could specify an extra column. For these purposes it would presumably at the end = far-right, headed ‟Unblinded”, ‟Unveil”, ‟St John the Divine”, or, given our usual identification powers, ‟Apocalypse of the Ego”.
User avatar
JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3300
Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:As for the TN sheets, that is a good idea, needing no extra code. TastingNotesColumnHeadings defaults to [ (Times) (Eye) (Nose) (Mouth) (Score) ], but could specify an extra column. For these purposes it would presumably at the end = far-right, headed ‟Unblinded”, ‟Unveil”, ‟St John the Divine”, or, given our usual identification powers, ‟Apocalypse of the Ego”.[/list]
That makes sense. Is there any easy way of adding the text to the voting sheets?
Image
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

JacobH wrote:Is there any easy way of adding the text to the voting sheets?
Not at the moment. Would it be sufficient to add an extra parameter like VoteRecorderFirstColMinWidth?
User avatar
JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3300
Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:
JacobH wrote:Is there any easy way of adding the text to the voting sheets?
Not at the moment. Would it be sufficient to add an extra parameter like VoteRecorderFirstColMinWidth?
Perhaps, or would that be more hassle then it’s worth, since most Ports can be abbreviated to <5 letters?
Image
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Code updated to include:
    • TitlesTastingNotes;
    • TitlesVoteRecorder;
    • TitlesDecantingNotes;
    • SubtitlesTastingNotes;
    • SubtitlesVoteRecorder;
    • SubtitlesDecantingNotes;
    • CirclearraysTastingNotes;
    • CirclearraysVoteRecorder;
    • CirclearraysDecantingNotes.
An example of use can be found on page 113 of the current draft of the placemats for the matrix tasting, {Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Taylor} × {1963, 1966, 1970, 1977}.

Changes to manual implemented about 20:55 GMT.

With regard to the issue of ports with two names (one blinded, one unveiled), a small change has been made. In vote-recorder sheets the names of the ports have been moved from the middle of the row (see, for example, the 16th May Crusting Pipe voting sheet) to the top of the row (see page 10 of the example placemats). That creates a better space in which to write an unveiled name, without further crowding the voting area.

(The next post will be on a new page, so quote that to which you are replying.)
User avatar
JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
Posts: 3300
Joined: 16:37 Sat 03 May 2008
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:With regard to the issue of ports with two names (one blinded, one unveiled), a small change has been made. In vote-recorder sheets the names of the ports have been moved from the middle of the row (see, for example, the 16th May Crusting Pipe voting sheet) to the top of the row (see page 10 of the example placemats). That creates a better space in which to write an unveiled name, without further crowding the voting area.
Ah, that’s quite a nice, simple solution to the problem!
Image
User avatar
jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23568
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Food Menus and the Placemat Software

I’m trying to reduce the bloat of the code, the parameters, and of the manual. With that in mind, I observe that we never use the food-menu feature.

Do any readers object to it being deleted?

To be actioned on or soon after Sat 28 May 2011, failing cogent objection being received by then.

Edit: this feature adds about 410 lines of code and parameters, ≈ 4.3% of the total.
Glenn E.
Graham’s 1977
Posts: 4163
Joined: 22:27 Wed 09 Jul 2008
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Glenn E. »

I have no objection to deleting this feature.
Glenn Elliott
User avatar
DRT
Fonseca 1966
Posts: 15779
Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Chesterfield, UK
Contact:

Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by DRT »

Nor do I.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Post Reply