HP-41 Online Quick Reference Guides

[Jurgen Keller]

If you own a few HP-41 modules or even a 41CL it can be a challenge to remember all the functions. HP provided those nice quick reference guides as a memory aid. Either you always take them with you (if you have them all), or you have them as PDFs on your computer, or ... you compile them into a web page.

Personally, I'd prefer the latter option because most often, my computer is around when I use my calculators. So I just gave it a try and compiled the Time Module QREF into a web page. That's more or less a random choice, however, that QREF looked easy enough for a proof of concept. You can see the result here. It's still a draft (e.g., only tested on Safari browser) but already looks good enough to showcase the idea.

Of course you can imagine other approaches, for example, using a database where you can search for modules, functions, key words, etc. Maybe that would be overkill.

Do you like the idea and think it's useful?
Do you have other ideas how to present such quick reference information?

[Garth Wilson]

Very nice page! More tools are are always welcome, as long as they're clear and helpful. I keep my QRGs in the 41's and 71's cases; but I don't have QRGs for the newer exciting modules like 41z and WarpCore, so I have to get my big printed loose-leaf manual out or pull up the large .pdf on the PC.

[rprosperi]

(12-03-2019 09:21 PM)Jurgen Keller Wrote:  Do you like the idea and think it's useful?
Do you have other ideas how to present such quick reference information?

Nice idea Jurgen, these will be handy. Even though accessing full manuals from a website is the same effort/complexity as QRG web pages, these are by their nature concise, quick and easy to use and clear, without having to wade through hundreds of pages, use a TOC or Index, etc. Often, one knows the command to use, but must simply look up the arguments, needed registers, data formats, or even just how to spell it, etc.

I'd suggest to format them such that they are only 1 printed page high, so that they can serve dual duty as web pages, but also are easily printed (or saved as PDF) to let the user create a local copy for offline use.

[cdmackay]

nice indeed, thanks!

[mfleming]

(12-03-2019 10:53 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  I'd suggest to format them such that they are only 1 printed page high, so that they can serve dual duty as web pages, but also are easily printed (or saved as PDF) to let the user create a local copy for offline use.

+1 to that suggestion, particularly as a local copy. This renders quite well on an HD tablet screen in landscape mode but is a bit crowded on a phone in portrait mode (Chrome browser in both cases). Easily corrected by rotating the phone to landscape. Perhaps a toggle between full page and single column presentation? Don't know about others, but I'm most likely to use my cellphone as a QRG carrier!

BTW, most jealous of your formatting skills

[rprosperi]

(12-04-2019 01:59 AM)mfleming Wrote:  BTW, most jealous of your formatting skills

+1, maybe +2!

[STOX]

+3 actually

[HP-Collection]

Good idea Jürgen, even I prefer my mobile for the QRGs. The screen has arround the same format as the QRGs and my computer is not all the time aside.
Why not make good quality scans of each page (for the time module 6 pages). PDF docs would be nice as they do not need special software...

[Jurgen Keller]

Thank you much for your helpful and encouraging input. What I already had in mind (but what is not implemented yet in this draft page) is responsive design. I guess you already know, anyway, responsive design refers to the idea that your website should display equally well in everything from widescreen monitors to mobile phones.

I'm not a CSS export but I will do some experiments in this direction. I guess that should also help in creating PDFs out of the qref web pages. On mobile phones, for example, it possibly makes sense to display a single column only. I will also do some cross-browser tests to see how similar the page gets rendered with different software.

Hopefully I will find some time over the x-mas day so that a first version using responsive design will be available end of this year. If it works out well and I decide to continue this project, it would also be interesting for me which (HP-41) quick reference guides your are interested in. As time is a limited resource I estimate that I can complete one or two qref's per month. Therefore, having a priority list would be convenient for all of us.

[Jurgen Keller]

A first move into responsive design: on mobile phones it should now only display 1 column in portrait and two columns in landscape mode. Maybe you have to clear the cache.

[Monte Dalrymple]

Really nice looking. Do you plan to do any for the CL? I am happy to help with that if you are.

[Jurgen Keller]

(12-05-2019 05:09 AM)Monte Dalrymple Wrote:  Really nice looking. Do you plan to do any for the CL? I am happy to help with that if you are.

I have no concrete plans yet so I'm open to suggestions. I thought I'll start with existing QREF guides of some HP modules and convert them to a web page. I don't intend to write QREF guides on my own due to time constraints. So if you can provide the text I can offer to bring it online.

[Diego Diaz]

Hi Juergen, all,

It looks perfect (Chrome) for me; clear, neat and searchable.

Nice job!

Cheers.

Diego.

[KF6GPE]

Fantastic work. Looks very professional. No issues with Microsoft Edge, either.

[hpcalcuser83]

Really nice. I checked it out on my MacBook and my iPhone and it looks great on each. Looking forward to additional guides. Thanks.

[Jurgen Keller]

Unfortunately, there was not much time left over the christmas days for further work on the quick reference guides. Anyway, recently I did more CSS fiddling and I finally published a first version here: https://qrg41.fjk.ch/. Only two QRGs right now, but as the foundation is set, I'm confident to add more over the next months.

[Bill Duncan]

Bookmarked! Very nice! Thank you!

[Jurgen Keller]

(01-13-2020 12:15 AM)Bill Duncan Wrote:  Bookmarked! Very nice! Thank you!

Glad to hear you like it. I'm working on the next QRG ... many left :-)

[Diego Diaz]

+1.

:-)

Thanks Jurgen!

[Jurgen Keller]

There is a bit of progress, spare time is rare. Currently, I'm transforming the HEPAX QRG. As I don't have a HEPAX module (anybody sells one?) I'd like to ask if anybody can provide a picture of it, in a similar fashion as this one: