Thought I would point my fellow SimHQers to Lobo's Checklist and Quick Reference post on the DCS forums.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=86345

Has everything I was looking for in a checklist and will make a nice addition to paulrkiii's checklists.

Hey Fridge! Glad you are finding it useful. Let me know if you find any errors or items that need correction please and thanks!

Cheers

The concept and content overall is good. I have to say that from a graphical design and organization perspective it needs substantial polish. I think the use of links will be a great help to anyone with an electronic reader device. Instead of going over specific examples I'll give broad suggestions.

1. Thirty-five entries in the table of contents is too many for a single level of organization. Make sub-categories like "Normal procedures" "Weapon procedures" "Tactical preparation" "Airbase operations" "Tactical reference" etc. That should put 5-7 subjects under each heading for a 2-level tree that's much easier to use than a 1-level tree.

2. Use tables, invisible or otherwise, to organize your check list columns with items in the right column right-justified. "Brakes......HOLD" without fixed-width fonts results in a jagged right-hand edge which hurts readability.

3. The "..." symbols are to help you trace from the left to right side while keeping on the same line. It should fulfill this purpose just as well every other line, with more space between each ".", or in other than 100% black.

4. Try to limit your vocabulary pool in the right-hand action column. Should be able to use all capitals for most if not all in this column. Left-hand column looks better "Book Titled" I think. Instead of "set as req'd" use "A/R" and similarly "A/D" for "as desired."

5. Establish a shorthand for HOTAS controls. "China hat forward long" might be better as "CHF" with a line over the top or bold to indicate long press. For short presses, just omit the "long" word/symbol.

There are quite a few niggling or factual errors in the content but making the thing a bit more readable and uncluttered might be a better start.

Thank you Mr. Admin.

Frederf wrote: "The concept and content overall is good. I have to say that from a graphical design and organization perspective it needs substantial polish. I think the use of links will be a great help to anyone with an electronic reader device."

Thanks for all of your comments Frederf. If you saw some of the earlier drafts of this document you would be amazed at how polished this version is! I've almost wore this thing down to the bare metal with all the polishing I've done. Lol.

"1. Thirty-five entries in the table of contents is too many for a single level of organization. Make sub-categories"

Table of contents... Good idea. Will change my index (at the front of the doc!) to a TOC. It will unfortunately have 38 entries. (I added a couple new charts) want to keep it on one page and not make font any smaller for benefit of touch screen usability. Making sub-categories would negatively affect this.

"4. Try to limit your vocabulary pool in the right-hand action column. Should be able to use all capitals for most if not all in this column. Left-hand column looks better "Book Titled" I think. Instead of "set as req'd" use "A/R" and similarly "A/D" for "as desired."

I understand what you are saying about info in the right column, its a bit of a balancing act. How much is enough/too much? What is the experience level of the person using the checklist? How often do they fly? The checklist is designed for a user such as myself who has gone through all the training missions, read most if not all of the manual, but who is not a full time A-10C pilot. I (and I suspect some others) may go weeks without flying the sim so with this in mind some of the items in the right column are not as abbreviated as they could be. I consider it a fair trade-off. Some of the items such as "as req'd" and "as desired" are written as I have been using them in checklists at airline ops for the past 25 years.

"5. Establish a shorthand for HOTAS controls. "China hat forward long" might be better as "CHF" with a line over the top or bold to indicate long press. For short presses, just omit the "long" word/symbol."

Will look at this.

"There are quite a few niggling or factual errors in the content but making the thing a bit more readable and uncluttered might be a better start."

I would be glad to receive any info that would make the doc more accurate as it pertains to the sim.

I appreciate your comments, they are noted and taken into consideration, however due to time and budgetary constraints, the formatting and features of this document are locked up pretty tight now with changes limited to errors, spelling, major bloopers etc.

Cheers!

Lobo

Updated version 8b has been submitted. I've added two new pages. A x-wind chart and a weapons and capability quick ref chart with info specific to the weapons which can be carried on A-10C. This update also includes several corrections and editorial changes. Also added a summary of changes page at the end of the document.

Lobo

Looking forward to reading it! Still unavailable at this time...

The file has been updated and is now available for download. This is update version 8b. I've added two new pages. A x-wind chart and a weapons and capability quick ref chart with info specific to the weapons which can be carried on A-10C. This update also includes several minor corrections and editorial changes. Summary of changes can be found on page 41.

http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/172905/

Looked it over and it's awesome. I can't speak for data accuracy- I'm sure something, in someones opinion will always be wrong but I can see a lot of value here for my purposes! Thank you for your conspicuous efforts on the booklet!

As you like. I find I don't have nearly enough time to get fussy over similar stuff I'd like to do. I'll leave you to it.

Your welcome Eno!

Thanks for making this available. I really like the functionality of the links all through the document, and the one that takes you back to the TOC is pure genius!
Suggestion for improvement:
Could the Mission data card perhaps be made like a form, so tablet users would be able to fill it in right there on the tablet? I don't know how hard that will be to implement though.

Hi Dachs glad you like it.

I'm using good reader on my iPad and on the mission data card I simply zoom in, use good reader and it's drawing/markup tool. With my finger I write all the needed info in the boxes on the data card and then later when finished I just erase all the notes I have made. Have you tried this method? What tablet are you using?

In fact with good reader on the iPad you can make your own notes or markup your electronic PDF file however you want. Highlight underlines, boxes, freehand etc zoom and draw... Works great.

Lobo

Very interesting! I was wondering the same thing.

I'm primarily using Pdf-expert on IPad 1, however I do have Goodreader installed, so I'm sure going to try your method. I just haven't had much luck with the various handwriting app's I've tried so far. Maybe I should go get a stylus?
Anyway, it was just an idea, it's still an outstanding document!

Using good reader I just zoom in, then use the freestyle tool to fill in the necessary info on the mdc or z-diagram chart! Try it it is slick! no stylus needed.

I've got it on my iPhone, works great, glad you're here so I can offer you thanks Lobo, I like the checklist so much it's the only one on my phone.

Hey tomcat. Thanks for the comments! Glad to hear it works on he iPhone too!

Cheers

An error has been noted in rev 8b. Page 13. The following line is incorrect:
Set HUD as SOI.........................China hat up short

This should read:
Set HUD as SOI.........................Coolie hat up short

Please pencil in this change on pg 13 of your checklist. The next amendment will include this correction.

Thanks CubPilot for pointing this out.