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A few months ago, after much soul-searching and discussion, I concluded that creating a TapCIS-like kludge for dev.avsig.com would not be useful.
Turns out: I was wrong.
I said I wouldn't create one.
Turns out: I lied.
I said creating it would be a waste of time.
Turns out: My job and I left each other a couple of months ago, and I've time to waste.
I re-evaluated the problem as I learned to use AVSIG-III, and came to realize some things. TapCIS was created to address the problem that back in 1981, data rates were slow and connect time was expensive.
The situation now is completely different. Data rates are fast and connect time is cheap. The problem now is -- and I realize that not everybody agrees with me -- that the interface sucks. The Web for a discussion group is like trying to use a cell phone as a phone -- they look pretty, but they don't do their job very well.
The result: I created something that does what I want, which is to be able to quickly glance at new messages using one keystroke per message. Not fifteen clicks, but one keystroke. It can do other things, and if asked nicely I'll add other stuff, or I'll think about it, but right now that's what it does.
So, for those Windows users who miss being able to quickly review messages on the board that have been posted since the last time you reviewed new messages, I invite you to go to http://www.dubner.com/tapsig. From there you'll be able to download the tapsig.zip file. Put the four files into a folder somewhere, create a shortcut to tapsig.exe, and have at it.
There is no feature for composing messages offline. That capability is utterly unnecessary for anybody living in the 21st Century. If you are still forced to use dial-up, you have my sympathy, but that's all you have. But the program does let you jump instantly from the local reader to the internet forum, and you can post from there.
This program is completely innocuous. It keeps everything in that one folder; delete that folder and it's gone. No registry cruft. It maintains its own cookies, so the interaction between TapSIG and whatever browser you're currently using to get at dev.avsig.com should be minimal.
It maintains a local copy of the forum text on your machine. I haven't yet built in a feature for aging. It's not urgent. Right now the entire forum occupies about 2.8 megabytes. By the end of the year, the storage for the whole forum will be about what you need for three medium-sized jpeg images.
Have fun. If you use it, let me know. Let me know what you think.
Turns out: I was wrong.
I said I wouldn't create one.
Turns out: I lied.
I said creating it would be a waste of time.
Turns out: My job and I left each other a couple of months ago, and I've time to waste.
I re-evaluated the problem as I learned to use AVSIG-III, and came to realize some things. TapCIS was created to address the problem that back in 1981, data rates were slow and connect time was expensive.
The situation now is completely different. Data rates are fast and connect time is cheap. The problem now is -- and I realize that not everybody agrees with me -- that the interface sucks. The Web for a discussion group is like trying to use a cell phone as a phone -- they look pretty, but they don't do their job very well.
The result: I created something that does what I want, which is to be able to quickly glance at new messages using one keystroke per message. Not fifteen clicks, but one keystroke. It can do other things, and if asked nicely I'll add other stuff, or I'll think about it, but right now that's what it does.
So, for those Windows users who miss being able to quickly review messages on the board that have been posted since the last time you reviewed new messages, I invite you to go to http://www.dubner.com/tapsig. From there you'll be able to download the tapsig.zip file. Put the four files into a folder somewhere, create a shortcut to tapsig.exe, and have at it.
There is no feature for composing messages offline. That capability is utterly unnecessary for anybody living in the 21st Century. If you are still forced to use dial-up, you have my sympathy, but that's all you have. But the program does let you jump instantly from the local reader to the internet forum, and you can post from there.
This program is completely innocuous. It keeps everything in that one folder; delete that folder and it's gone. No registry cruft. It maintains its own cookies, so the interaction between TapSIG and whatever browser you're currently using to get at dev.avsig.com should be minimal.
It maintains a local copy of the forum text on your machine. I haven't yet built in a feature for aging. It's not urgent. Right now the entire forum occupies about 2.8 megabytes. By the end of the year, the storage for the whole forum will be about what you need for three medium-sized jpeg images.
Have fun. If you use it, let me know. Let me know what you think.
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