Do you know what a MFD is?

[snooks]

I'm just curiours, if you see MFD written in YM do you know what I'm talking about?

Obviously I'd prefer it if you vote first before blabbling what it is :0)

 

[VicS]

I'm just curiours, if you see MFD written in YM do you know what I'm talking about?

Obviously I'd prefer it if you vote first before blabbling what it is :0)

I'm not voting but I am sure someone asked on the forums recently........... one of the letters is not what one expects if I am remembering correctly

I'll go check now to see if I'm right or going senile
>
>
>
going senile!

 

[jac]

Isn't it that Furniture place that closed a few years ago?


I can never remember if the D is Display or Device. I think Display but not 100% certain.

I suppose the question is really do you know what a MFD DOES - rather than what it stands for.

 

[Hadenough]

I never know what you are talking about :encouragement:

 

[Hydrozoan]

I'm not voting but I am sure someone asked on the forums recently........... one of the letters is not what one expects if I am remembering correctly

I'll go check now to see if I'm right or going senile
>
>
>
going senile!

Well I must be too, as I thought there was an MF something - some discussion about MFV ensued. But I cannot find it now.

PS But I do believe I know what an MFD is - and have voted, but won't say of course!

 

[TallBuoy]

It's a multifunction device isn't it?

 

[sunquest]

It's a multifunction device isn't it?

That's what we called it in the photocopying industry i.e. One that copies prints and scans.

 

[VicS]

Well I must be too, as I thought there was an MF something - some discussion about MFV ensued. But I cannot find it now.

PS But I do believe I know what an MFD is - and have voted, but won't say of course!

You are remembering the same thing as me.

Perhaps I'm not going senile after all ............ or perrhaps we both are!

 

[Porthandbuoy]

The trouble with any TLA, such as MFD, is it means nothing without context.

 

[Hydrozoan]

You are remembering the same thing as me.

Perhaps I'm not going senile after all ............ or perrhaps we both are!

Speak for yourself - you're thinking of STML I believe.

 

[Uricanejack]

Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport ?

 

[prv]

I know what it means, but I don't like the term

It's funny how essentially the same thing has acquired completely different names in different fields. In a car it's a "satnav", to my dad with his private pilot's hat on it's a "moving map", and on a yacht it's a "plotter". Or, in the manufacturer's instruction book, an "MFD"

Pete

 

[snooks]

This is true, but if I were to write
Forward of the helm there's space for a 8in MFD

Instead of what I currently write which is:
Forward of the helm there's space for a 8in multifunction display

The first, I feel, is open to misinterpretation, the second takes up more space but isn't. I try to make things clear without "dumbing down", but I also don't want my witterings to become full of TLA that 1/3 of people (currently), don't understand :0)

 

[snooks]

I know what it means, but I don't like the term

It's funny how essentially the same thing has acquired completely different names in different fields. In a car it's a "satnav", to my dad with his private pilot's hat on it's a "moving map", and on a yacht it's a "plotter". Or, in the manufacturer's instruction book, an "MFD"

Pete

Ah, but they are far more than chartplotters now and they do have a number of functions, which they display.

I don't like the MFD term either, it's too close to MDF for my liking :0)

 

[Hadenough]

Ah, but they are far more than chartplotters now and they do have a number of functions, which they display.

I don't like the MFD term either, it's too close to MDF for my liking :0)

Precisely.

 

[Hydrozoan]

In (admittedly more formal) writing the rule I was taught was to use any acronym in full at first use with the acronym in brackets, and the acronym alone thereafter. It may seem a bit pedantic at times, but it's a courtesy to readers I think - and as has been said, few if any acronyms are unambiguous.

 

[Kelpie]

Why not just say 'screen'?

 

[DJE]

Major ....... Disaster?

 

[laika]

Ah, but they are far more than chartplotters now and they do have a number of functions, which they display.

Surely they did more than display charts long before the marketing wonks came up with "MFD". When did "MFD" start being pushed by the manufacturers? 4 years ago? "Plotter" seemed to work OK up til then. I'll argue that more people understand "plotter" than "MFD". It's just a word (or an abbreviation for a phrase) so why not use the one more readers understand rather than the one RayMinIco's marketing department likes?

 

[prv]

Ah, but they are far more than chartplotters now and they do have a number of functions, which they display.

Doesn't matter. Making telephone calls is about fourth or fifth on the list of things I do with the miniature computer in my pocket, but we still call it a "phone", not a browser, messager, tweeter, or emailer.

"Forward of the helm there's space for an 8in plotter" works perfectly - the writing flows, everyone will know what you mean, and nobody except the pedants in the manufacturer's technical-writing department ought to object to it.

Pete