2020-08-16, 09:13 PM
What I meant was, I do have a physical screen but not directly connected to the Pi. I use an Apple iPad with a waterproof casing, OpenCPN doesn't work on that so I have to use VNC. My experience with touch screens and VNC isn't that good on water (small mouse pointer, can barely see it, and when having to activate a route, I need to do some very precise pointing). These are very difficult things to do while sailing. My experience with browser applications is that when not using mouse pointers, the user interface would have bigger buttons, responsive layouts and an overall "smoother" user experience with quicker and easier access to features. Using OpenCPN with a mouse is sometimes just too precise when sailing in certain conditions.
So, in the effort of thinking of an easier quicker solution, I thought maybe integrate some functionalities of OpenCPN into a webapp like Freeboard does.
In Freeboard you navigate through the menu, click routes, click activate. In OpenCPN you need to place your mouse directly over the route, right click (two finger tips) move through the menu and press activate. The process of activating a route is very easy here.
Ofcourse, when drawing a route, one might need to take more time and prepare these things when you have time inside the boat, or at home. But, things like activating a route, or even the function "navigate to here" and then being able to activate the autopilot easily would be a very nice feature to have I think.
So, in the effort of thinking of an easier quicker solution, I thought maybe integrate some functionalities of OpenCPN into a webapp like Freeboard does.
In Freeboard you navigate through the menu, click routes, click activate. In OpenCPN you need to place your mouse directly over the route, right click (two finger tips) move through the menu and press activate. The process of activating a route is very easy here.
Ofcourse, when drawing a route, one might need to take more time and prepare these things when you have time inside the boat, or at home. But, things like activating a route, or even the function "navigate to here" and then being able to activate the autopilot easily would be a very nice feature to have I think.