Userscripts.org

I hadn't looked at this script for a long time and decided to see how the development is going. Unfortunately, I immediately encountered problems which forced me to immediately uninstall the script:

1) The script is horrendously slow. When it is active, it takes 20-30 seconds to refresh the Overview page. :-(

2) You're still expanding the window in the wrong direction. When I moved and expanded it, most of it expanded upwards and the part which you normally drag-and-drop in order to move the window went above the upper boundary of the browser's window. As a result, now the window of the script is mostly not visible and I can't drag it downwards. I had to uninstall it together with its preferences, in order to reset it.

3) The "Show transit" checkbox doesn't seem to do anything. It sure doesn't show the resources in flight.

4) The window has very poor memory about its previous position. Click on Switch and the window jumps to a new position (that's fine). Click on Switch again, and instead of returning to where it was before, the window is reset to its initial position. (Other reversible actions that cause the window to change position might have a similar effect.)

5) When the window is collapsed to its smallest possible size, it is not wide enough to display the 4 checkboxes at the top in one row and they seem to get overwritten by the "(Update)" text.

6) The window doesn't seem to realize immediately its size. When it is expanded and the page is refreshed, one can see how the window is drawn in collapsed state and then expands from there - instead of immediately being redrawn in expanded state.

Regarding 1), I have installed Firebug which, reportedly, can profile scripts. Now, if I could only figure out how to do that, I would try to figure out where the slowdown occurs. But it does occur, it is unacceptably large and it doesn't occur when your script is disabled.

Regarding 2), it's a simple usability issue. If one and the same point in the window is used to expand and retract it, it is annoying if that point moves away from the mouse when clicked. In your case this point is the upper left corner (the two green arrows) - so the window should expand/contract in such a way that this corner doesn't change position. This way you also ensure that the "resize/move" area of the window doesn't "escape" beyond the boundaries of the screen.

You can contact me at vbontchev@yahoo.com - e-mail, MSN, whatever.

OK, I installed both the latest version of this script and your other one (that shows resources in flight). The two together provide very useful visual information. Unfortunately, they are still horrendously buggy and I'm thinking of removing bother of them. Here are just a few of the problems:

1) If the ticking resource panel is kept closed and is opened only when one wants to see it by clicking on "Res", the slow down is less pronounced - but it still exists. When the page (mostly Overview but happens with the others too) is refreshed, there is something like "hanging" at the end - when most of the information is already displayed, but the browser still says "loading".

2) The error console shows a bizarre error:

Error: Component is not available = NS_ERROR_NOT_AVAILABLE
Source file: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Bontchev/Application%20Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/pzdfn665.default/extensions/%7Be4a8a97b-f2ed-450b-b12d-ee082ba24781%7D/components/greasemonkey.js
Line: 1489

The file referenced above is part of GreaseMonkey; it definitely exists at that location on my computer, but it doesn't have 1489 lines (it has slightly more than 500).

This error disappears only if both your scripts are disabled (this one and the flying resources). If, after that, one enables the flying resources script, the error doesn't re-appear. If one also enables this script, the error doesn't start appearing until the panel with the ticking resources is opened.

3) The name of the Small Cargo (when the fleets are viewed via the F2 option) is always in French. (Although this - and the following ones - is probably a problem of your other script, I'm listing it here is the two scripts work best in concert.) Likewise, some buildings (Lunar Base, Sensor Phalanx) are in English on the Bulgarian server.

4) Although the script is configured not to display buildings that are at level 0 when B2 is clicked, several such buildings are displayed (e.g., Jumpgate, Alliance Depot, etc.).

5) The bottom lines of the tables displayed by B2, D2 and T2 are badly designed. The cell, containing information about how much resources are spent is huddling to the far right, is not wide enough to contain the information and wraps badly. You really should make it span multiple cells.

6) Speaking of wrapping, the "Events" line wraps too and looks awful. It's trivial to add the "nowrap=true" attribute to it. This fixes the problem - but then the red square, which is painted at fixed coordinates, is smack over the text. I couldn't figure out how to fix this one but, basically, you need two "td" elements on this row instead of one. The first (with no wrapping!) should contain the "Events, etc." stuff and the second should contain the red square.

7) The T2 table should really be a T-like one or, if you really want to display on which planet the research has been started, have a T-like one too.

8) A huge number of texts isn't translated. I could sit down and translate them (the English and Bulgarian texts) - if you stop adding new ones. :D

For now, the most imperative issue to fix is the error. I suspect that it is what is causing the slowdown, too.