The AviSys 6 Main Screen

First off, let's get something straight. As you go through these web pages you'll see a whole lot of screen shots with a whole lot of stuff on them. Don't let that confuse you into thinking AviSys is complicated. In fact, AviSys is a snap to use. Yes, AviSys literally ripples with power and functionality, but if you don't want to use all that stuff, don't worry about it. You enter sightings and run reports with just a few straightforward mouse clicks. Fundamentally, AviSys works just like you think it should. And remember our philosophy: "Software is a tool -- it shouldn't be as difficult as your VCR."

Above is the screen that appears when you start AviSys. You simply double-click a bird name to record a sighting.

AviSys is supplied with the latest Clements World taxonomy, the ABA Area North America list, and all US state and Canada province checklists (birds that CAN be seen). An add-on can provide the checklists (birds that CAN be seen) of the 254 nations of the world.

The screen illustrated above has theArizona Checklist invoked, showing only the birds of Arizona. In North America mode, the birds of the ABA North America Checklist would be shown. In World mode, the Clements Birds of the World would be shown. Note that the number of species seen in Arizona is displayed at the bottom. The birds seen in the checklist area (Arizona in this case) are marked '' and those seen anywhere else are marked ' (note the Wood Stork). You can instantly rotate through the three checklist modes by clicking the "Switch" button.

Note that the bird list in AviSys is in "snaking" newspaper column form. This is an AviSys exclusive which maximizes the number of birds you see at a time and significantly improves the "scrollability" and "pageability" of the master list.

The Latin name of the highlighted bird is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the window. By tapping the "L" or F12 key you can instantly switch the display to show all Latin names, with the English name in the status bar. "L" or F12 again returns it to normal. Another AviSys Exclusive!

Let's look at the buttons:

• The "Fix" buttons: Date, Place and Comment. These buttons are used to "fix" those elements of sighting records so they are automatically entered for you. This is how a "Trip" is established in AviSys.

For example, to enter sightings you double-click on a bird, enter the Date in the dialog that's presented, select the Place from the Places Tables that are presented to you, and type a comment and/or Field Note if necessary.

After that sighting is confirmed, you can then "fix" any of those elements by clicking these buttons and you don't have to enter the fixed elements in subsequent sighting entries. Thus, you could just go forward entering sightings by simply clicking on bird names. The fixed buttons light up, so you know which ones are "on." There is even a process to "fix" only part of the comment, including Key Words and Attributes, so it is always repeated, but the comment dialog is presented for additional comments for the current sighting.

You can change the fixed elements at any time, with the option of starting a new "trip" with the change. Another AviSys Exclusive!

• Range: This button displays the complete state and province checklist status, and your state and province sighting status, for the currently highlighted species on the Main Screen. The display is shown in the State Checklist Dialog. Another AviSys Exclusive!
  And with the Nation Checklist Add-On, the Range button will also display all the nations where the highlighted bird can be found. Another AviSys Exclusive!
• Find and Next: These buttons are used to quickly get to species in the Master Checklist. Clicking the Find button (or pressing the . [period] key) takes you to the Find Dialog where you can search for a species with a fragment of the English name or a fragment or combination of fragments of the Latin genus and/or species names.
• Band: By clicking the Band button (or pressing / [slash]) you can enter the standard four letter band code for a North American bird and will be taken directly to that species in the list. For example, entering luwa will take you directly to Lucy's Warbler. (You don't have to learn the codes - they are real easy to figure out in about 20 minutes by learning four easy rules.) Another AviSys Exclusive!
  
  Keyboard Mavens and people who type a lot of field notes: Note how you can use the . [period] , [comma] and / [slash] keys to get to birds instantly and never take your hands off the keyboard. Total, screaming, high speed data entry without touching the mouse if you wish. Another AviSys Exclusive!
  
  
• Jump: Clicking the right mouse button, or clicking the Jump button, takes you to the Jump Tables where you can click a family name to go directly to a group of birds. This is the most frequently used tool to get to birds. It's Another AviSys Exclusive! (You can also get to families by using the Hot Keys. For example, Ctrl-D takes you to the Ducks. Another AviSys Exclusive!)
• Switch: This button instantly switches you between World Mode, displaying approximately 9,900 birds, ABA North America Mode, displaying approximately 934 birds, and Checklist Mode, which displays only the birds in any invoked checklist. In Checklist Mode, with a state checklist invoked, you typically deal with less than half the North America checklist, and with a nation checklist invoked (via the Shawneen Finnegan Nation Checklist Add-On) you typically deal with fewer than 10% of the world's birds. This ability to rotate through three modes, and instantly reduce and expand the working list of the birds you will be dealing with, is a tremendous time saver and it's another AviSys Exclusive! With an Options setting, you can have AviSys start up in either World or N.A. mode, or in Checklist mode with the checklist of your choice (your state?) invoked. Another AviSys Exclusive!
• List: instantly lists all your sighting records for the highlighted species. Another AviSys Exclusive!
• Paging and Scrolling Arrows: These buttons, as well as the scroll bar, allow you to rapidly scroll and page through the Master Checklist.
• "A" lets you rotate through four fonst selections for the main species list to choose the one you like the best.
• "Double-Arrow" toggles an enlarged scaling of the window if you need the extra size.

The Main Menu items at the top of the window:

• File: With this menu, you select (or add) new data sets. In AviSys, you can have up to 16 different sets of data, for different users, multiple projects, or for critters like butterflies and dragonflies.
  This menu also gives you access to Record Streaming (where you can pass groups of records to other data sets or other copies of AviSys. Another AviSys Exclusive!);
  . . . also to Initializing (a special high speed way to enter initial state, nation, and continent lists. Another AviSys Exclusive!); and to some of the special tables for maintenance.
• Edit: This menu is used to add, edit and delete species and family names from the Master Checklist, and to perform splits and lumps. For more information on taxonomy changes, see Automatic Updates and Renumbering. For information on the AviSys facilities for major taxonomy changes and possible long term public support of the AviSys taxonomy, click AviSys Facilities for Major Taxonomy Updates. No other listing software can match the long-term safety and stability of AviSys when it comes to accommodating major taxonomy changes in the future -- with, or without, the involvement of the AviSys publisher. Another AviSys Exclusive!
• List Records: This opens the Record Listing Criteria dialog, in preparation to perform a Sighting Record Listing.
• Reports: This opens the Report Type Selection menu in preparation to run a wide variety of reports. Typically, this is followed by the Report Criteria Dialog so you can customize the report with location, date range, attributes, and other criteria.
• Journal: This immediately opens a Sighting Record Listing of the records you have entered in the current AviSys session. This is how you review your work, make corrections, and print the listing, if you like, to document the sighting entries you made. Another AviSys Exclusive!
• Places: This takes you to the Places Tables, your personal structured geography scheme.
• Checklists: This is where you invoke, add, or update Checklists (birds that can be seen in a geographic area.), including the built-in offical Tony White state and province checklists. Another AviSys Exclusive! With the Official Shawneen Finnegan World-Wide Nation Checklist Add-On, built-in checklists of the 254 nations of the world are included.
• Options: This allows you to choose from many options affecting how AviSys is displayed and how various parts of AviSys run. For example, this is where you can ask AviSys to always start in North America mode.
• Utilities: This lets you perform various maintenance operations. This is also where you can quickly perform a PKZip-compatible compressed backup of your data to hard drive, diskette, Compact Flash (CF), SD, ZIP drive, CD or DVD. Another AviSys Exclusive!
• Help: AviSys has a very complete, fully illustrated Windows Help facility. Context sensitive help is also available from virtually all windows and dialogs by pressing F1.

You surely noticed, above, all the different ways to get to a bird or bird family. This is probably the most important single feature in birding software, and AviSys has an unequalled variety of easy ways to get to birds. Our Jump Tables, Band Codes, and Hot Keys are AviSys Exclusives and, for ease and flexibility, our Find/Next operation is unmatched.

Another thing to notice here: this window, and the others you will see at this site, demonstrate the AviSys design philosophy.
The windows are clean and uncluttered; all buttons are large (easy to hit); buttons always have their purpose plainly stated, even if they also have a helpful graphic; we don't use cryptic tool bars; we provide multiple methods of paging and scrolling; the "Quit/Cancel" button is always clearly marked with a big red X (the main screen doesn't need one); the cursor is always pre-positioned where you will most likely need it next.

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