Hammock Hang Calculator

[pizza]

Very cool idea. Would be even cooler if it were an official installable app for iPhone's and Droids though.

[Roadrunnr72]

Hey mods, are we looking at another "sticky". hint hint

[TiredFeet]

dejoha - got a chance to talk to TeeDee today and mentioned this app you have devised.

He likes it also, but ......


He has finally gotten over his tendency to over think hanging the hammock, but as long as you want to do this, he has something you might want to consider adding.

First, everybody learns quickly to hang the feet higher than the head. You probably should consider adding a method of accounting for this.

Second, the opposite is true for a Bridge Hammock, i.e., the head is hung higher than the feet.

Then do you enter the difference in height as positive for a gathered end hammock and negative for a Bridge. This could be consider as a bias against Bridge Hammocks and cause some to boycott your calculator If you do the reverse, and enter the difference as negative for gathered end hammock, you could be boycotted by an even larger segment of the community.

Of course, you could devise one calculator for the gathered end hammocks and another for the Bridge Hammocks, but then you are promoting segregation of the hammocks and that is politically incorrect and could lead to even greater problems.

Sigh, we finally decided that you should avoid all of these issues and just leave well enough alone with an excellent app..

[ChrisH]

Can this be stickied please?

[dejoha]

He likes it also, but ......

Excellent brain-hemmoraging ideas there!

My first idea and iteration of the calculator was to represent a very basic, simple calculation for hammock height based on distance between trees -- something to go along with the illustration I did a while back.

Features crept in that complicated things a little (ridgeline length, sit height), and I've had some people comment that my math is stuck at the 4th-grade level. What's nearer the truth is what I said before: I'm no Javascript expert, so translating basic math into functions and code is not my forte, admittedly. Give a guy a break!

Believe me, I've thought of some amazing things that an app could do: drop-down list to select hammock style, brand, and type; adjust for hammock length and width; what about tree diameter and the angle of the ground; add quilts and insulation; suspension type; tarps and bug nets (let's see what a Big Mambajamba looks like, or maybe a MacCat Deluxe!), etc., etc. THEN, spin it in 3D space to see what it might look like and insert a Pony just for show. What if you pitched that tarp just a bit higher or angled one side closer to the hammock. Can you make the Pony do the moon walk?

The ideas go on-and-on and can be very exciting. Hammock virtualization! No need to try it in the field! Just use the visualizer. Turn on rain. Turn on snow. Angle the wind and see what happens with sideways rain. AWESOME!

One of the great advantages and disadvantages of hammocking is that there are so many variables. Some people really, really like that while others prefer a more commercialized, packaged product with everything built in. When it comes to hanging, there are so many ways to hang that adjusting for every nuance is more than the spirit of what I was hoping for.

When you get too specific, you begin to segment and ultimately someone will feel underserved.

I did get some good advice (and actual Javascript code; thanks!) on how to update the calculation to more accurately account for the ridgeline, and I'll likely add that soon, but more and more I want this to be a simple estimating tool to give people an idea that "generally speaking" how high they should attach the suspension based on the distance between the trees.

If people really want to see more developed there are a few options: send me some venture capital or pony up the time to do some volunteer programming.

[dejoha]

Got some great coding help from GrizzlyAdams and I've posted an updated. I am sure there are other Javascript experts out there who can help me improve on the code. Please send me a PM with your ideas and solutions and I'm happy to add or augment the code.

[uneekwahn]

awesome calculator any chance you could put it into a real system of measurement like metres?

cheers,

jason.

[Darto501]

Rats!
I was going to have fun drilling many holes by trial and error in the walls inside our house. Now only 2!

Just kidding. Donation sent...

[dejoha]

awesome calculator any chance you could put it into a real system of measurement like metres?

cheers,

jason.

Thanks Jason! Actually, all the measurements include metric conversion, shown below in parenthesis. Did you mean the data entry? That's a good idea; let me ponder how do best solve that.

Should it be a toggle switch between english/metric?

[dejoha]

Rats!
I was going to have fun drilling many holes by trial and error in the walls inside our house. Now only 2!

Just kidding. Donation sent...

Drill away!

I was thinking about that last night when I tried again (unsuccessfully) to convince my wife to hang a hammock in our bedroom. Thanks for the donation!