Designing a GUI is a balancing act: icons require fewer clicks than menus, but too many icons can make the UI too complex. This means there’s always the possibility that something you want has been omitted from the GUI. What’s more, there are often things that are better accomplished outside the GUI. Scripts are the ideal solution: see this article to learn what – and this one for how – you can best use scripting with Tecplot.

Hermite’s disquiet is now history, as described, for instance, here and here. But difficulty with enforcing or maintaining continuity dogs the world of CAD even today: this primer on surface continuity is well worth the read. These issues are relevant to analysts too: watch this space for the announcement of the release of Pointwise Version 18.5 with a feature that addresses just this!

“Visual” representations are probably OK in a WYSIWYG world where the critical verb is “see”. For better or for worse, though, polygonal representations are hard to wish away even in the world of design where fits require better accuracy than can be “seen”. This article provides a few tips on how to deal with the problems they pose – and take advantage of the benefits.