Hi,
I would like to discuss some extensions that can be made to Scid related
to internet use :
I see three use cases for Scid :
1. correspondence chess;
2. download of game databases;
3. play on internet.
For correspondence chess, there are many chess sites offering this
feature (some for free). I use some of them and they all have an user
interface that is good enough and current played games can be downloaded
in PGN and then of course imported into any chess app. The problem here
is I don't think there is an unique way to access these sites from Scid
(is there an universal protocol like xboard or UCI for engines ?). The
only features I found related to correspondence chess in Scid is the
ability to use a special icon type for a database and an email manager I
never used because I just prefer other ways of playing. So my (personal)
conclusion is : nothing to do here.
Concerning the download of games from internet : there are many, many
sites offering chess PGN files sorted by tournaments, players, openings,
recent events ... Users like to have tools to facilitate downloads but
there already exists a lot for this (like utilities to grab a whole
site, filtering what to download). And there is one thing I feel
dangerous : to depend on a "web service" you don't master. For example
you can set up Scid to automatically download and synchronize files at
http://good.chess.site.com/tournament/latest/updates/index.xml but what
happens if the site's structure or policy is changed ? This would break
things without warning. Of course Scid must have all the tools needed to
import games (import multiple PGN files at once, check for redundancy,
spellings, etc.) but I am reluctant to depend on a feature that can't be
mastered for the next years.
If there is a real need for tools related to chess and internet, that
does not already exist, I think those should be made as independent
applications (maybe released with Scid, but standalone tools).
Play on internet : again this would imply to depend on external,
unmastered services. There are already apps to do that (for example to
play on FICS I know at least two very good ones) and given the number of
internet sites (with no unified protocol to my knowledge), I don't think
this will do any good to Scid to integrate this.
Of course, what I state is related to my own use of Chess and Internet,
so feel free to comment. As usual, if there is enough users pressure, I
will follow the market :-)
One could say that only the best sites should be selected which narrows
the work to be done and limits the maintenance issue, but this choice
depends on people and their nationality (what is a good site for an
Italian is not always considered good for an American). But remember I
am reluctant to make Scid dependent of unmastered services, and if there
is the need, I will certainly choose the way of independent tools.
That's the reason why I bundled Phalanx (with my own modifs), Crafty and
Toga with Scid : that way I am (nearly) sure there is a consistent
package that works and that can't be broken simply because upgrading one
component or because of an external factor.
Pascal Georges
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