Can someone pleeease do something about the form and map editor?

sQcrates · December 2022

This feels like a broken record, and maybe I should just be asking about information to become a feedback partner so I could at least have a reason to demand meticulous attention paid to the nuances of the software, but:

Please, can someone ask someone to ask someone on the development team to USE the software? Particularly the form editor, because if we have to take 7 additional steps to changes the font or font size, someone broke it. There are so many glitches in the HTML form editor that it would make more sense to learn HTML development, write my own code, and then replace the HTML in the HTML forms- which I've done... many times. Maybe it's just every computer I've used SiteLink on (about 8 different devices) and everyone else whips up custom forms like a bowl of Captain Crunch, but maybe the development team could "seem" to care if their software's most effective result is a requirement to learn software development to implement some very basic yet convenient features. If not, that's totally fine- but then just make SiteLink and API or a shell, give us the documentation and example sheets, and let us be responsible if it's terrible. Just a few things the map and form editors do or don't do:

If I change the font, the entire text changes.. and I don't just mean the font. Yes, various fonts have various standard sizes, scales and spacing... and even those aren't consistent, but I mean this "This sample text is about to change fonts." turns into

"This sample text

is about to

change fonts."

... and that's one of the least extreme examples. If you edit text color, size, font, alignment or style, you will unleash the Kraken 9 out of 10 times. In fact, it's so pervasive that not only does it extend labor requirements just to make one form, but the Undo command Control + Z is the most effective tool within that feature... and it's not even a SiteLink feature. If the ability to UNDO the effects of a feature has become more valuable than the feature, someone is taking too many bathroom breaks.

In terms of forms, that's just the tip of the iceberg, and I guarantee that if you allocated payroll towards even just one person to actually, meticulously, relentlessly test every level of your software, you could save SO MUCH MANPOWER between the people replying to all of the forum questions, feature requests, customer service calls, trouble shooting, TeamViewer sessions... I don't want to tell anyone how to do their job, but my point is made when you realize that it takes 12 years to be a doctor, a college degree to be a teacher, specialized training to be a plumber, and practice to be a pilot... but there are zero practical requirements for starting, owning or managing a business.

Onto the map editor. It should be a sign that the software needs work if the initial recommendation is to download a separate engine for a better map experience. I can confirm that time travel is real, 'cause if you need proof- edit the map in SiteLink for 5 minutes not guarantee that you've moved a building or shape and then immediately switch to Photoshop and turn those shapes into a 3D hologram for your site's security camera feed. Your welcome to my files for ideas and integration. I am an amateur developer- which is still saying too much.. but I'm also a user of the software... which is apparently doing too much.

Did you know that while you can select multiple units to move on the map, if you accidentally select a nearby building you didn't intend to move while holding the control button, you have to right-click, cancel the selection and try again? I'm pretty sure the last time a computer needed to do that just to unselect a tool was whenever whoever deleted secret files after JFK's assassination. I'm not "trying" to be rude, aggressive or insult anyone... but hopefully understanding comes from knowing that some of your users feel insulted. I could have zero knowledge about HTML (which I wouldn't if I didn't need to learn it work around some of the software feature), and learn as I go and still put out better if not equally effective features much faster at half of the cost. Please, for the love of all things self storage, prove me wrong.

Also, why should I need to use a short AutoHotKey script just to color code my storage units? Obviously the code isn't "too" complicated if it can be done on a single machine in a handful of lines when using the right libraries (which, another bit- its not even reinventing the wheel.. .most of these are super simple features that not only have been around for a long time- but are free and open-source code... just copy and paste the stuff so I can shut the hell up and the development team can go back to eating chips or playing D&D ((that isn't an insult, though, 'cause I still want to play D&D but I don't have any friends as nerdy as I'm proud to be.. so all the other stuff is a criticism- just don't let the D&D piss anyone off)).. , but it should already be known that, for instance, sites have auctions. Why wouldn't there be a way to indicate on the map that x and y units are at auction just based on their colors? There's a color for scheduled move-out.. which- why? Literally.

Any why isn't there a better printing format for the map? I just want the whole map, in whatever configuration... To FIT ON THE PAGE... but I have to zoom in just the right amount just so the printer will mimic my exact mistakes. I could literally write 6 more pages of bugs within your system, but I'm being paid for it... I'm paying for it.. but SiteLink is paying for it, too.. in wasted resources that are easily fixable. Hell, at this point you even ask AI to write a better code... in fact, I'm about to take 4 minutes to ask AI to write the following that will be pasted in exactly 4 minutes:

Query: "Use Python to add a feature to a software's mapping engine that could change the colors of its shapes and buildings according to which property has been applied to the object."

Answer:
Here is some example code that demonstrates how you might implement a feature in a software's mapping engine that allows you to change the colors of shapes and buildings according to a property applied to the object:

Copy code

# Define a dictionary that maps properties to colors
color_map = {
"residential": "yellow",
"commercial": "blue",
"industrial": "green",
"other": "gray"
}

# Define a function that takes an object and a property as input, and returns
# the corresponding color from the color map
def get_color(<span>obj, property</span>):
if property in color_map:
return color_map[property]
else:
return "black"

# Example usage of the get_color function
building = {"property": "commercial"}
color = get_color(building, building["property"])
print(color) # prints "blue"

In this example, the color_map dictionary maps different properties (e.g. "residential", "commercial") to colors (e.g. "yellow", "blue"). The get_color function takes an object and a property as input, and returns the corresponding color from the color_map dictionary. If the property is not found in the color_map, the function returns "black" as a default color.

You can then use the get_color function to retrieve the appropriate color for a given object and property. For example, in the code above, the building object has a property of "commercial", so the get_color function returns "blue".

Start there... that's half the work- yours done.

Next issue. Why do I have to add the three digit code on the back of a tenant's card after they've swiped the card in a reader that is designed to do that exact thing for me? It isn't the reader that just "doesn't read"... but for some reason, every time I ask the tenant to swipe their card, I have to follow up with - don't put it away yet. There's a whole other step. What's the code on the back?

It makes me look a right knob, and even more so if I needed to say "bear with me while I enter every digit manually into our computer so the process stays consistent".

Either hire me to rip the software apart for the sole purpose of IMPROVING features that are already "supposed" to work, get your entire development team prescribed to adderall, get your entire development team OFF of adderall, or find someone who gives a **** about being an inconvenience to the customers that will eventually need to find other providers for software that hasn't existed since there was more than one Drive-In movie theater.

Please. If there's anything I can do to feel like this is heard, taken seriously, or placed anywhere other than the "not $" bin, I will do it. MAke TUIDF rthsoftewaareeee btreerrr. Please. I will literally believe in any god or gods from any culture just so I can pray or make sacrifices to for something meaningful to happen. Apple does this thing where every new model is the same as the old model, but every few years it's like whoa.... game changer. The iPad to the iPhone? Game changer. iPhone 3 to the iPhone 4? Game changer.

Make a SiteLink game changer, or play a different game (like an actual video games, because there is an entire workforce dedicated to testing the engines and programming involved in video games--- that's why their awesome and growing and rich... they literally have their own sporting leagues.... simulate that enthusiasm for the love of anything at all. Think of the children)

Seriously.

Please.

I love you.

Unless you don't fix everything.

At which point, I love you... but also hate you enough to not even tell you I love you. I just look at you like "How dare you".

Also, thank you for inspiring me to learn code.. All those bugs and I would've never thought to learn why this is so hard.

Which it kind of is... but it gets way easier when you learn how valuable showing and sharing your work is in the development community.. so pat yourself on the shoulders for that... then get to work or there'll be no break room gossip for 6 weeks!!!!

themage · December 2022

We generally end up using RTF forms. The built in editor seems to be slightly less problematic for RTF.

In either case (RTF or HTML), we usually end up doing most of the work in Word and them importing it, tweaking it in Sitelink's editor and living with the results.

It really is one of Sitelink's biggest weaknesses, but I don't think it is a high priority for them right now.

FSS · December 2022

This. All of this. Thank you.

djose · May 2023

Spot on. Thank you for communicating all of these challenges so well. It's madness. (For what it's worth, I'm trying to learn SQL to make Sitelink reports more useful.)

Can someone pleeease do something about the form and map editor?

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