Confusing categorisation of data and layers
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I have been a user of windy for 2 years and absolutely love it, the amount of data, features, and overall design is fantastic - and the UI is great too, for the most part.
The one thing that has always confused me however is the UI design for actually viewing the data...it isn't clunky, its just difficult to work out where some of the items are and the categorisation of some items makes no sense.
Firstly, the favourites bar in the bottom - it doesn't really make much sense to me, the fact it's called favourites implies they are layers or data sets which you have chosen for quick access via this bar, however in reality it seems to be a mixture of current reported data sources which are not available through the other layers section above. Furthermore, the default toggle of favourites with the heart also seems to do nothing (perhaps replace this with the empty map option?) one solution in my opinion would be to re-name this section to "live data reporting/sources map overlay" or something along those lines, do away with the hidden menu and toggles for that section, and then have them all in a box so that you can easily view webcams, reported temps, wind, TAF's and METAR's etc on the map over the top of any selected layers such as satellite view. The options for paragliding spots and empty map don't seem to fit in here either...
The isolines option should also be conjoined so there isn't a separate tiny toggle, then a box hidden away at the bottom of the more layers screen, and this should be displayed separately in a similar style to the forecasting models box, perhaps above.
Finally, the categorisation of the actual layers could do with improvement...perhaps into something along the lines of Air/Sea/Land/Satellite and then have subcategories from there...it doesn't make much sense to me why "sea temperature" is under a subcategory called waves...or why ozone layer thickness is under an air quality tab, or why "new snow" is under a tab for rain and thunder...
I appreciate not everyone may agree with me, but it would be interesting to have a discussion about this as I am sure there are some aspects people feel need improving.
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@dave_wanderer For layers, you can use the " expert mode " if you don't want them to be subcategory to other layers.
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@ahmed-a-as Thank you, this is true and I did try it...but then everything is even more tricky to find...Is it possible to write a plugin that could change the categoris?
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Here are my comments
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First, why on earth do you call this bar at bottom right corner, the «favourite bar »? This bar is NOT called favourite. That’s YOU who call it so.
In Windy, Favorites are locations that users want to save because they like an easy access to weather data for these places, reason why they are symbolised by a small heart. If you have not saved any favorites, of course when you click this heart on this bar, nothing happens.
This bar is a quick menu which allows to display targeted points on the map (locations chosen by the user, values reported from weather stations, airports, outdoor sports spots, webcams, ….) in additions to the layers. -
Concerning isolines, YES, they are really buried and need many clicks to get them. I’d like to have them more accessible specially for Geopotential heights. I had made a proposal for including Isolines in the main list of layers
https://community.windy.com/topic/10464/improve-the-isolines-accessibility?_=1611579480015 -
Your proposal of 4 categories is not worth for me. As example where do you classify Radar? In Satellite category? That’s wrong.
Rain, thunder should be called Precipitations, but not sure everyone understand it.
Sea temperature is in Waves category same as Currents. You propose to call it Sea. And so to get Waves it will need an extra click. Same for Temperature, Wind, ….
At the end if it ends up with more clicks to navigate through categories, sub categories… I am sure people will hate to multiply the number of clicks.
I would prefer to have a real ‘saved to the cloud’ customized list of items in this layer menu.
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Thank you for your comments, firstly I called it the favourites bar as when you open the "more layers tab" and try to add more than 6, it comes up with a warning saying "a maximum of 6 favourite layers can be added", so I just assumed this was somehow a favourites bar of some sorts. I wasn't aware that the favourites toggle allowed you to view your favourited weather stations, that makes sense and is a useful feature I'll use from now on, so thanks for letting me know!
Agree with you on this, I've given your post a like. Personally I think it should be separate to the layers menu however, as the items in the layers menu can only be viewed one at a time, whereas the items in the "favourites bar" as I called it, can be displayed over the top of sea states, or whatever else you pick from the normal layers menu.
Personally I wouldn't mind the submenus, it would add extra clicks, yes, but personally I'd prefer that - however, as you say, a cloud based customized list saved to the cloud where you can name or make your own categories would be the ultimate solution for those who'd prefer not to have submenus.
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@dave_wanderer said in Confusing categorisation of data and layers:
allowed you to view your favourited weather stations
Not only Favorite weather stations but more generally any Favorite locations... where you live, where you like to go, where your friends live...
Adding the isolines such as Geopot.height to this quick menu bar would be a good idea.