TOPIC: New "Insert List" features

Great idea Cameron, I'll have to look at expanding the possibilities of the "list" feature.
Yes, the redundancy issue is a big problem.  Using lists really reduces or eliminates it.

I'm modifying a template from another inspector. No need to reinvent the wheel and start from scratch is the concept.
My biggest gripe is the comments in a damage panel that don't belong in that panel and have nothing to do with it.
I think the copy and paste can create unintentional problems if used indiscriminately.

I find way too many very specific to one inspection comments buried in there. "The lower floor bathroom window on the left side of the green hallway near the foyer has a crack". ROFLMAO  I think the reason for that is that the main comment gets edited on the left panel before clicking it over to the right side.  It should be clicked over as a black or red comment THEN edited.

I find way too many very specific to one inspection comments buried in there. "The lower floor bathroom window on the left side of the green hallway near the foyer has a crack". ROFLMAO  I think the reason for that is that the main comment gets edited on the left panel before clicking it over to the right side.  It should be clicked over as a black or red comment THEN edited.

I need to find a better way to get that across as I see the same thing. The new version of HIP has a startup news page with recent message board posts, upcoming events AND HIP TIP's. I'll definitely make sure to post this one there!

On most of the templates I have worked on or opened to look at, I see the same thing. The damage panels are chock-full of comments, about half of which don't even relate to this section at all. The first time I saw that was on the default SFR template that's provided with HIP to start out with. it looked like someone had just gone through every template they could get their hands on and grabbed every comment that even remotely related to the area.  On a closer look, way too many of them are not related, don't apply or are non sequitur.  You really need to dig down deep in every template you're going to use to make sure there's not a lot of garbage comments in there that you don't need.

while working on my current "new SFR template" I found myself eliminating or significantly rewriting about 70 to 80% of the comments. This is when I had the bright idea to start making more use of the "list" feature. Doing so significantly reduced the amount of real estate the comments took up on the screen. 

It makes a lot more sense to use "The window in the <<list>> bathroom could not be opened", than to list each and every possibility as an individual comment. This was a style I was working with on some of the templates I was looking at and since every comment started out with the same few words in the sentence and on my small screen the balance of the comment was cut off, I had to pause and hover over each one or actually open it to see which one applied to what I was doing.
That process significantly slows down the inspection. Now, with a new technique I can fly right along, noting the defects as I see them without having to stop and figure out which comment I need to use. (While wading through a crap load that didn't even apply!)

Think a very good discussion thread, even made "sticky", would be one about how to actually use the program efficiently and how to alter/customize templates properly. I understand that there is a huge variance in the style (and writing ability) that everyone uses. That's one of the benefits of using HIP, you can totally personalize your report due to its flexibility. The downside, like any very flexible program, is that one has to figure out how to use the tools available by actually using the tools!

LOL- Sorry about being so long-winded, I'm sort of in my "writing mode" this morning and Dragon Naturally Speaking makes it all too easy to get wordy.

Since we are on the subject of template design, I have another question. As I work on various templates and layouts, I noticed a consistent fault. Many times a long comment is truncated or cut off at about 1/3 to 1/2 the screen width of that particular panel, even if it's a full width "Selection" panel. It will have the first five or six words of the comment and then stop, leaving half the available space empty and me with a big question about what that comment actually says and is it appropriate. It almost looks like the program is defaulting to the lowest common denominator of being used on an 8 inch screen and does not take into account the actual size of the display it is being used on. I'm not sure if it's even possible but making it auto scale to the side of the display is being used on would be nice. I know it can be done on web pages but then those are usually HTML not Java.

If you flip to another tab and then come back does it resize to the correct width?

Don't know, I'll try that later and let you know.