Customizing the Navigation data

The app is capable of displaying a great variety of information, and many people will want to customize the displays to enhance the data that is relevant to their style of using the app. Some people just want to record their trip, and see the distance travelled, while others want to know, for example, velocity-made-good as they are navigating towards a mark.

There are data fields on the main screen and on the flip-side screen, and each of these has an independent layout for portrait and landscape display modes. So that is 4 separate screens of information that you can customize. The default layout selects trip-recorder-related data in portrait mode and navigation-related data in landscape mode.

If you want to change any of the data fields, touch-and-hold anywhere on the flip-side screen, and select "Change Data" from the menu. A set of blue menu buttons then appears, one in each "cell" that can contain a display item. Press the blue button to select from any of the 30+ available displays. Select "Blank" to make that cell empty.

You can also make a data field larger, so it spans more than one cell in the horizontal or vertical direction. Press the blue menu button, then press the black default button that names the field already programmed in the cell. Another menu pops up that allows you to make the field wider, narrower, taller or shorter. The item is always controlled by the menu button at it's top left cell. Before increasing the size of an item, its best to make the adjacent cells blank otherwise you will have a mess of overlapping data.

When you have finished customizing the layout, press the "Done" button to make all the menus disappear.

To customize the data on the main screen, overlaid on the map, go to the flip side and press and hold the screen, and select "Change Data" to start customizing, then flip back to the main screen. You will see four menu buttons, one in each cell in the corners of the display, and you can use these to select the data, and change its size, just as before.

When you are happy with your customized layout, I recommend saving it to a file. Press-and-hold the flip side, then select Save Layout. If you make a mistake and want to go back to the default, select Restore Default Layout, or you can load one of your saved layouts. You could set up one layout optimized for hiking, and another set up for sailing, or whatever. In the Save Layout dialog, there is a button to email the layout as an attachment, so you can send it over to your buddy's iPhone. You can also manipulate these files (which have the *.dvtf extension) using itunes file sharing.

Next: Locking the Screen