Materials List Revisited

[gteacher]

To get the material list to work well requires a good knowledge of how to manipulate the program itself.
...... the material list has the potential of being a really great tool, if you can get through the complexity.

I was going to stay out of this thread and perhaps some would like me too, BUT, I couldn't disagree more.

Chief's material list is NOT complex, it has a lot of pieces parts but is easily understood. The primary problem is that it is illogical and misapplied in several areas. In other areas, it is so badly limited as to be unworkable. Other functions are spread among several different methods, each of which are limited in different ways, making none practical. Chief needs to abandon the Hodge Podge approach.

Comments, as I am aware, have been flowing into Chief since this feature was introduced with little or no feedback from Chief. With such minimal acceptance and use of a major design aid, Chief should ask itself if it just missed the boat.

I frankly don't believe that radical changes are needed, just some "common sense" reorganization and consolidation to make this workable. But without some guidance from Chief on where they want to go on this and how much effort, I think another thousand different suggested directions would be futile.

We are back to the chicken/egg stuff. I suggest a on line dialog on a new specification for a reorganized material list -- probably to be developed and programed over several years. Chief's competition can do it, so its just a matter of will. The first step needs to be taken by Chief. This is a major black eye for Chief. (IMHO)