Regarding our decision to move the bulk of the settings to the pilot portal, here's some additional context for you:
-------
Q: Why did you make this change?
In the old model, where settings were embedded in in the app, making changes, upgrades, updates, or adding new settings often meant waiting several weeks for the next update cycle to the windows app. This is in direct conflict with our continuous-release goals as a development organization, where we are releasing updates and upgrades multiple times per day. We found it was massively slowing down our ability to innovate, and our ability to rapidly solve problems. We also found we were rejecting new feature ideas because of "UI complexity".
Additionally, designing a simple, understandable UI in the context of a Windows app isn't as simple as it sounds, with very limited real estate and UI elements. We found we were making poor UX choices by "cramming another setting" in there, rather than doing it the right way.
As an example, since day-1, we've always wanted "aircraft profiles", which allow pilots to change their settings based on whatever aircraft they were using. After a lot of UX experimentation, doing this in the context of our WinForms application was basically impossible. Now that we've moved to a web-based settings UI, we were able to deploy this in a few hours.
Another example: since the release of 3.4.x we've added several new settings and features that we would otherwise have simply said, "too hard to do with the current UI." and simply not added the feature.
We're already seeing the benefits, and so are you.
-------
Q: But it's too many clicks to change things now!
It's the same number of clicks. We tested this carefully.
-------
Q: I don't want a browser using my resources.
Our app, MSFS, and most other applications load browsers in the background anyway. Additionally, the resource usage for a browser is mostly memory, something MSFS is typically not constrained by.
-------
Q: I want to be able to change my callsign faster!
The new aircraft profile management system will make it so you can auto-change your callsign based on aircraft ICAO.
Zero clicks now once configured.
-------
Q: I hate change.
We know and understand that change is never fun. Every time Facebook so much as moves a checkbox, the entire internet revolts. We get it. But this is also the way forward for SayIntentions.AI.
-------
Q: There are valid reasons why you shouldn't have done this!
Right now, the only reasonable complaint we've heard about the UI Change is that it's too hard to change your tail number and callsign, for people who regularly change it around when they change aircrafts. The new "aircraft profiles" system should solve this, and make the whole system even smoother than it was before.
Was this article helpful?
That’s Great!
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry! We couldn't be helpful
Thank you for your feedback
Feedback sent
We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article