CanalPlanAC

[Nick A]

35 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Same here, I use canal plan to save me counting locks and miles in my Nicholson guides. I get a rough idea of where to stop each night on a trip and then work from that but use the guide book whilst boating.

 

And that's what the normal route output will give you!   That's why you have the option of only showing some of the places along the way as well.

 

People seem to be getting a bit confused between:

a) the route output produced when you say "calculate route".  This seems to have a bug when printed on some browsers, that I'm confident of having an easy fix for

b) the itinerary

c) the pdf version of the itinerary.

[john6767]

1 hour ago, Captain Pegg said:

The itinerary gives times from point to point, cumulative time by day and overall time of the trip. The normal output doesn’t do that. As others have said it’s for scheduling that CanalPlan is really useful.

 

JP

Are you sure you can’t get what you want from the normal output by changing the options in Display.

 

I was using Chrome, which seemed print the itinary fine, but I guess I am confused that the OP is using such a small window that it displays in mobile mode, from what I observed it only needs to be bigger the 1000 wide to use the normal mode and everything will be expanded fully anyway.

 

[magnetman]

It took me ages to work out why the AC was added at the end of canalplan. 

 

Always found it excellent when planning routes but admit I have not used it for a while. 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by magnetman

[TheBiscuits]

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It took me ages to work out why the AC was added at the end of canalplan. 

 

 

Ssssh!  or maybe, "hssssh"

[magnetman]

A man, a plan, a canal

 

Panama!

[Keeping Up]

13 minutes ago, magnetman said:

A man, a plan, a canal

 

Panama!

How very Palindromic of you

[Captain Pegg]

54 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Are you sure you can’t get what you want from the normal output by changing the options in Display.

 

I was using Chrome, which seemed print the itinary fine, but I guess I am confused that the OP is using such a small window that it displays in mobile mode, from what I observed it only needs to be bigger the 1000 wide to use the normal mode and everything will be expanded fully anyway.

 

It does a basic version of the same but it’s not as clear. The pdf is a more user friendly output. I also store them as electronic documents rather than print.

 

JP

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, Nick A said:

Firstly, I always intended the itinerary to be the equivalent of a traditional canal guide but customised for your specific trip.  For that reason, spot maps and photos are something I like.  I'll think about an option to turn them off, but I think we probably already have too many options for most people to make sense of as it is!   I'm surprised people are so bothered by the size - they aren't big (either physically or electronically).

 

 

I'd second the request to make the pictures optional in the Itinerary*. They may not be big in your terms, but on a reasonable length trip they take a lot of screen space and/or pages, meaning a lot of scrolling on screen, or a lot of wasted paper if printed out.

 

I have tended to save the itinerary to pdf on my phone and to keep this permanently open when boating, so I can easily refer to it to check on progress against the plan, without needing to recalculate the result and not needing a live internet connection. I suspect the new version will be less convenient for that (although I haven't tried it yet).

 

*Edited to add:

And can we have that as an option on the Preferences tab, so that for logged in users it can be saved as the default option.

Edited February 27, 2020 by David Mack

[Rambling Boater]

I've used Canalplan for years and it's been a brilliant tool. However I think this is a classic case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

[ditchcrawler]

45 minutes ago, Rambling Boater said:

I've used Canalplan for years and it's been a brilliant tool. However I think this is a classic case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

They have been fixing it when its not been broke since they first published it, that is how it got to where it is. I go back to when it was first published

[Rambling Boater]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

They have been fixing it when its not been broke since they first published it, that is how it got to where it is. I go back to when it was first published

Seems the way with all software tools. Just compare the 25 year old Win 95 with Win 10. I certainly spent less time trying to work around software issues 25 years ago.

[Detling]

19 hours ago, Nick A said:

 

And that's what the normal route output will give you!   That's why you have the option of only showing some of the places along the way as well.

 

People seem to be getting a bit confused between:

a) the route output produced when you say "calculate route".  This seems to have a bug when printed on some browsers, that I'm confident of having an easy fix for

b) the itinerary

c) the pdf version of the itinerary.

Wow thanks for the resposes. For info I am not using a mobile or tablet but a full PC with a 26 inch screen so no need to compress text etc there is enough space. The bit I have changed red is I think the issue I have come across, It is intermittant but with the window maximised it gets it wrong most of the time, in a normal window just some of the time. On either browser I haven't tried chrome or any microsoft offering. 

 

I see a lot of people use it in a similar fashion to us, as a 'check' sheet for today, so you can see where suitable lunch of coffee/tea spots are, and that the next lock is not just around the corner set to appear just as the kettle boils.

 

Nicholson maps are good but the page edges always seem to be 'where you are' when you feel thirsty. and the next page is a long way because it's on another canal section.

[Nick A]

Right!  That should now be fixed.  I never expected people to be printing that particular page, so when I made it change between small and big screen versions I didn't realise that it would affect printing.   Adding a few @media print statements to the stylesheets was all that was needed, as I expected.

 

I've now made it so that it expands all the sections when printing.  I've also suppressed the menus and banners from the print-out, but added a simple title instead.

 

I'll think about making the mini photos and maps optional in various places - I'm viewing that more as a feature request, while I viewed the inability to print as a bug that needed fixing.

 

As a note for you all for the future: I don't visit here regularly.  A kind user messaged me about it so I nipped in to follow the thread.  Generally you're more likely to get action if you put something in one of CanalPlan's forums, or on the bug tracker for definite problems or requests for new features.

[Bewildered]

As the owner of a 70ft boat I think a useful feature would be a section where you input your crafts dimensions so that route plans can be taylored to your boat. Some of them northern canals have daft little short fat locks, it's almost as though you northerners don't want us southerners to visit.

perhaps even a warning could pop up on routes your boat will fit length and breadth but is a bit iffy on air draft due to low bridges deigned to keep out the riffraff.

this feature may already exist and I haven't found it, but if it doesn't does anyone agree it would be useful?

[TheBiscuits]

5 minutes ago, Bewildered said:

As the owner of a 70ft boat I think a useful feature would be a section where you input your crafts dimensions so that route plans can be taylored to your boat. Some of them northern canals have daft little short fat locks, it's almost as though you northerners don't want us southerners to visit.

perhaps even a warning could pop up on routes your boat will fit length and breadth but is a bit iffy on air draft due to low bridges deigned to keep out the riffraff.

this feature may already exist and I haven't found it, but if it doesn't does anyone agree it would be useful?

Some people find it so useful that they log in and set their boat sizes/dimensions ...

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

5 minutes ago, Bewildered said:

As the owner of a 70ft boat I think a useful feature would be a section where you input your crafts dimensions so that route plans can be taylored to your boat. Some of them northern canals have daft little short fat locks, it's almost as though you northerners don't want us southerners to visit.

perhaps even a warning could pop up on routes your boat will fit length and breadth but is a bit iffy on air draft due to low bridges deigned to keep out the riffraff.

this feature may already exist and I haven't found it, but if it doesn't does anyone agree it would be useful?

Go into Plan a journey and then Preferences followed by planning

 

 

[Bewildered]

This is why I should use a computer instead of my iPad, theses things would stand out more

[Alan de Enfield]

 

20 minutes ago, Bewildered said:

As the owner of a 70ft boat I think a useful feature would be a section where you input your crafts dimensions so that route plans can be taylored to your boat. Some of them northern canals have daft little short fat locks, it's almost as though you northerners don't want us southerners to visit.

perhaps even a warning could pop up on routes your boat will fit length and breadth but is a bit iffy on air draft due to low bridges deigned to keep out the riffraff.

this feature may already exist and I haven't found it, but if it doesn't does anyone agree it would be useful?

If you put a route in and it will not 'work' with your dimensions you get a message (to the effect of)

 

"You cannot do this trip because of your dimensions, you will not be able to get past XYZ"

 

Which gives you the chance to re-do / re-plan the route by going around 'xyz'

 

You can also define what type of waterway you do NOT want to use (Rivers , Tidal Rivers, coastal)

[john6767]

2 hours ago, Bewildered said:

As the owner of a 70ft boat I think a useful feature would be a section where you input your crafts dimensions so that route plans can be taylored to your boat. Some of them northern canals have daft little short fat locks, it's almost as though you northerners don't want us southerners to visit.

perhaps even a warning could pop up on routes your boat will fit length and breadth but is a bit iffy on air draft due to low bridges deigned to keep out the riffraff.

this feature may already exist and I haven't found it, but if it doesn't does anyone agree it would be useful?

That already exists has done for many years.  Look under your Preferences/Planning.

[StephenA]

On 03/03/2020 at 11:56, Bewildered said:

As the owner of a 70ft boat I think a useful feature would be a section where you input your crafts dimensions so that route plans can be taylored to your boat. Some of them northern canals have daft little short fat locks, it's almost as though you northerners don't want us southerners to visit.

perhaps even a warning could pop up on routes your boat will fit length and breadth but is a bit iffy on air draft due to low bridges deigned to keep out the riffraff.

this feature may already exist and I haven't found it, but if it doesn't does anyone agree it would be useful?

Some of the max dimensions (usually air draft and draft) are a bit hit and miss.

 

However we do allow people to update this information where it's missing and there is even a special area on the site where you can find out what sort of information is missing (and hopefully add it)

 

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/showstuff.cgi?mode=helpus

[David Mack]

19 hours ago, StephenA said:

 

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/showstuff.cgi?mode=helpus

"Forbidden: You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/showstuff.cgi on this server"

(On my phone - haven't tried the laptop)

[ditchcrawler]

9 minutes ago, David Mack said:

"Forbidden: You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/showstuff.cgi on this server"

(On my phone - haven't tried the laptop)

Just worked for me on a laptop

[WotEver]

27 minutes ago, David Mack said:

"Forbidden: You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/showstuff.cgi on this server"

(On my phone - haven't tried the laptop)

Works on my iPhone using Safari.  Maybe a temporary glitch?

[StephenA]

5 hours ago, David Mack said:

"Forbidden: You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/showstuff.cgi on this server"

(On my phone - haven't tried the laptop)

You need to be logged in to access the page.