things on chess.com that bug the heck out of me...

Chess.com is free and great, but the following things bug the heck out of me:

playing blitz, the 'sand shaker' effect lets you know you are way low on time.  But then it goes away a few moves later, lulling you into thinking you have built up time, and you lose in a winning position!

after beginning a game, the text in the box will 'jump'  'Oh, an important notice, like I committed a foul or the game is about to abort' No-- the server is letting you know 'you just started a game', five moves into the game

there should be a choice to slightly animate moves-- i.e. actually see a move happening-- how many time have you blinked and looked up to realize a move was made, or hear the sound alert, but not know which move your opponent made, and lose on time scanning the board or looking it up on the move list?

there should be a slightly more obvious indication that it is your turn, more than just the time box going to grey or white-- how many times have you looked up to realize your clock has been running the whole time?

time should be indicated by a secondhand or hourglass, that the mind interprets instantly.  'How much time do I have left?  Oh let me read the number and think what fraction of a minute that is, wait, I just lost on time'

people who 'run' after winning.  not everyone feels a rematch obligation, but about 40% or more of chess players do.  there should be a 'best two out of three' challenge option, so people know in advance whether they will get a rematch or not

3/2 is really 3/1 or less with lag.  It should be 3/3.

the automatic annotation of  your game is hard to follow-- especially back to back inaccuracies or blunders.  Not sure how to fix it

adrianpolit wrote:

Chess.com is free and great, but the following things bug the heck out of me:

playing blitz, the 'sand shaker' effect lets you know you are way low on time.  But then it goes away a few moves later, lulling you into thinking you have built up time, and you lose in a winning position!

Hmm, you receive a warning that you are about to lose on time and you quickly forget about it? What time control do you usually play? You should consider playing games with a significant delay, at least 10 seconds for every move.

after beginning a game, the text in the box will 'jump'  'Oh, an important notice, like I committed a foul or the game is about to abort' No-- the server is letting you know 'you just started a game', five moves into the game

 I never noticed that. Are you sure? Maybe you have a slow connection.

there should be a choice to slightly animate moves-- i.e. actually see a move happening-- how many time have you blinked and looked up to realize a move was made, or hear the sound alert, but not know which move your opponent made, and lose on time scanning the board or looking it up on the move list?

 There is an option to highlight the last move. It will help you.

there should be a slightly more obvious indication that it is your turn, more than just the time box going to grey or white-- how many times have you looked up to realize your clock has been running the whole time?

 Almost never. There is a sound played when a move is made. Maybe turn up the volume.

 time should be indicated by a secondhand or hourglass, that the mind interprets instantly.  'How much time do I have left?  Oh let me read the number and think what fraction of a minute that is, wait, I just lost on time'

Digital clocks have been in use for quite a long time. There is no reason to convert seconds into fractions. Again, use of a time control with a delay might help.

people who 'run' after winning.  not everyone feels a rematch obligation, but about 40% or more of chess players do.  there should be a 'best two out of three' challenge option, so people know in advance whether they will get a rematch or not

 A number of people agree with you. I don't think it is a large number. You should make friends with anyone who agrees to such an arrangement.

3/2 is really 3/1 or less with lag.  It should be 3/3.

Given your difficulties reading clocks and telling whose move it is, you really shouldn't be playing 3/2 chess.

the automatic annotation of  your game is hard to follow-- especially back to back inaccuracies or blunders.  Not sure how to fix it

Playing on a larger computer monitor makes it easier to follow.

Chess.com is free and great, but the following things bug the heck out of me:

playing blitz, the 'sand shaker' effect lets you know you are way low on time.  But then it goes away a few moves later, lulling you into thinking you have built up time, and you lose in a winning position!

Hmm, you receive a warning that you are about to lose on time and you quickly forget about it? What time control do you usually play? You should consider playing games with a significant delay, at least 10 seconds for every move.

    Well, my post is actually about how to fix some aspects of quick play, not abandon it.  If there is a time increment, by time can go up and down.  The have a warning that goes off, then disappears, misleads me.  That happens to me a lot.  I would like a way to have yellow and red alerts on the visual periphery that keeps me informed as my time fluctuates.

after beginning a game, the text in the box will 'jump'  'Oh, an important notice, like I committed a foul or the game is about to abort' No-- the server is letting you know 'you just started a game', five moves into the game

 I never noticed that. Are you sure? Maybe you have a slow connection.

    I have a pretty fast connection.  It happens to me quite often.

there should be a choice to slightly animate moves-- i.e. actually see a move happening-- how many time have you blinked and looked up to realize a move was made, or hear the sound alert, but not know which move your opponent made, and lose on time scanning the board or looking it up on the move list?

 There is an option to highlight the last move. It will help you.

     That helps, thanks for the advice

there should be a slightly more obvious indication that it is your turn, more than just the time box going to grey or white-- how many times have you looked up to realize your clock has been running the whole time?

 Almost never. There is a sound played when a move is made. Maybe turn up the volume.

     Maybe I play in a noisy environment, or during a quick series of move, miss which sound was for which move.  I loose track of whose move it is at least once during about 25% of my games

 time should be indicated by a secondhand or hourglass, that the mind interprets instantly.  'How much time do I have left?  Oh let me read the number and think what fraction of a minute that is, wait, I just lost on time'

Digital clocks have been in use for quite a long time. There is no reason to convert seconds into fractions. Again, use of a time control with a delay might help.

      Well, I'm wanting to play fast time control.  Why not use the power of a webpage to improve on the digital time read out?  

people who 'run' after winning.  not everyone feels a rematch obligation, but about 40% or more of chess players do.  there should be a 'best two out of three' challenge option, so people know in advance whether they will get a rematch or not

 A number of people agree with you. I don't think it is a large number. You should make friends with anyone who agrees to such an arrangement.

    I suspect it is a large number, from the number of people who have angry messages about it on their boards.  In face to face club play, it's a pretty strong unwritten rule to not just leave after winning one blitz game.  I want to play with a much larger group than just friends.  So I still think a custom of 'challenge with rematch option' would appeal to a bunch of people.  Also, it would defuse the anger by clarifying what a particular game was or was not with a right of rematch.

3/2 is really 3/1 or less with lag.  It should be 3/3.

Given your difficulties reading clocks and telling whose move it is, you really shouldn't be playing 3/2 chess.

   Everybody to some degree or another has those difficulties when playing speed chess-- the brain is trying to process and track many things at once.  Nothing wrong with me suggesting possible improvements or letting relevant people know possible problems are.  My point is that if 3/2 was chosen to conform to FIDE's use of that for live blitz events, we should consider whether, if there is a second or so of lag, 3/3 might actually be a closer approximation to what in person 3/2 is like.

the automatic annotation of  your game is hard to follow-- especially back to back inaccuracies or blunders.  Not sure how to fix it

Playing on a larger computer monitor makes it easier to follow.