dean,

if you want this, let me know and I'll take the assignment.

Sure thing, Kevin.  I'd like it to be a display mode, but not one that you can cycle through by default, as 
it would be rather confusing for most users.
 How about add an additional player setting for debugging that adds that mode to the list...

I'd just highlight that the convenience would mostly be in *not* having to run
to the server and enable some sort of debugging mode.  Ideally you should be
able to display it with only the remote.  I had thought that using the 'Playing
Display Mode' cycle was the best.  Perhaps if you showed the buffer fullness
starting from the right (ie. fill right to left as opposed to progress which
would be left to right) and instead of a time, display the word "BUFF" on the
right of the bar it would eliminate the confusion.

you would only have to 'run to the server' once.  The setting can add the buffer
fullness to the list, but not by default.  As a general rule, things that are
not of use to the broader 'general user' is not enabled by default.  You would
still have remote access from then on.

> you would only have to 'run to the server' once.
> The setting can add the buffer fullness to the list,

I think I misunderstood the last message from Dean to
mean just a debug setting like now but on a per player
basis.  What you describe is exactly what I expected:
Check something once and then "Progress Bar" appears as
a choice under "Playing display mode" for each player.
Actually if this is the case It would probably be even
easier for impelemtation and use if it was a global
server setting; however per player is fine too.

> but not by default.  As a general rule, things that are
> not of use to the broader 'general user' is not enabled
> by default.

I agree.

> You would still have remote access from then on.

Great!  Just what I was looking for.  As for what is
displayed I think that having 'Buff' on the right where
the time would normally be would be nice no matter which
way the buffer bar fills.

cool :)
here is the plan.  each player has a setting to show buffer fullness.  This will
add a displaymode #6 which will show buffer fullness.  By default, only the
standard modes 0-5 will exist.  

as an alternative, I could add mode 6 and 7, which would be dupes of 4 and 5 but
showing buffer with elapsed or remaining time. 

if just adding mode 6, I'd personally tend towards displaying just the bar or
the fullness in % along with the bar, rather than 'BUFF'.  plenty of time to
decide.  

> here is the plan.  each player has a setting to show
> buffer fullness.  This will add a displaymode #6 which
> will show buffer fullness.  By default, only the standard
> modes 0-5 will exist.  

This would be my first choice.  I would tend to think adding
more permuatations with elapsed time is pointless since with
this feature the user can just cycle to a display with that
if they need to.

> I'd personally tend towards displaying just the bar or the
> fullness in % along with the bar, rather than 'BUFF'.

I think the latter, % fullness to the right (with a % sign), is
a great idea.  More useful than 'BUFF' and just as good for
keeping the displayed info unambigous.  This resoning is why
I would suggest not having an untagged bar except for elapsed
time.  Once you have that more than one like that it becomes
confusing deciphering what you are looking at at a glance.

committed to cvs 07/06/04

There are 536 bugs in the database with targets of '---' that were fixed prior to new year 2006.  I am setting them to targets of 6.2.1 to keep them from showing up in my queries.

Routine bug db maintenance; removing old versions which cause confusion.  I apologize for the inconvenience.