Release 1.1.1: search diagrams and bug fixes
Sorry I’m not pushing updates as often as I’d like to, but I’ve actually spent quite some time last week away from coding, to think a bit about where I’d like to take Lovely Charts and most importantly, how to get there (read “search for money or not?” ;)).
I will try to publish a little note soon with some more details on my current thinking on this, but meanwhile, since I’ve finally found some time this week to work on a couple of things, it’s my pleasure to announce today the immediate availability of release 1.1.1, bringing you the following improvements:
- New feature: progressive search. This is obviously only relevant to premium users, who sometimes create and maintain quite a lot of diagrams. A “progressive” search field now exists below the diagrams list, which you can use to filter down the diagrams list to only show the diagrams you want to see.
Simply start typing some letters contained in the name of the diagram(s) you are looking for, and watch the results in real-time as you type. It’s only a first step towards a much better, powerful diagram management interface, but it’s already quite a big improvement imho
- Fixed a couple of bugs related to selection not properly updating properties controls (such as strokes color, style or width), making it sometimes a bit tedious to apply settings repeatedly to different symbols.
- I also think (hope^^) I finally fixed a pretty serious (even if it only happened given a very specific scenario) bug that caused some diagrams to overwrite each other when working on multiple tabs. Crossing fingers here, but I really think this shouldn’t happen anymore !
26 March 2010 |
Hi!
The blog has gone extremely quiet and the version 2 release forecast for March has passed without comment. Is Lovely Charts still being actively developed? I was considering getting my staff to use this at work as I’m in favour of a cloud approach where feasible but only when it is clear there is ongoing and continuous improvement / communications.
This is a great tool but no communications on the blog for five months makes me think this product is no longer in development. Please let me know your roadmap and do something to restore confidence in the product and I will reconsider. There needs to be a step change if I (and I’m sure others) am to reconsider investing in this tool from a business perspective.
Best Regards
Simon
5 April 2010 |
Hi Simon,
first of all, thanks a lot (sincerely) for this honest comment!
To be honest, I’ve been kind of anxiously expecting a comment like yours for a couple of weeks now, in a kind of ostrich attitude, knowing it was coming but somehow naively hoping no-one would notice the terrible lack of updates… And there you come, thanks for kicking my butt
First of all, the V2 release is indeed late. Not by much (yet), but late still, sorry about that.
If I were to look for an excuse for this, I’d probably use my first daughter’s birth in January… This wasn’t really unexpected, I knew it’d change my life, but I honestly hadn’t imagined to what extent
Lovely Charts V2 Desktop Edition is well underway, and should be released very soon (I’m thinking weeks, but I’d like to avoid overpromising/underdelivering once again, so please take this with caution)
To give you a bit of background: I did something with V2 I know many consider as “the biggest mistake a developer can do”: rewrite the software from scratch.
The V2 is a MAJOR update, with tons of new features, but above all a completely new architecture that will A. accomodate the different editions, B. make future development a LOT easier, and C. offer a lot more flexibility an extensibility.
Obviously, the biggest drawback of this approach, as you’ve witnessed it, is that at some point in the process, my attention has been completely driven away from the online app, and accompanying support/communication material (this blog amongst other things).
That being said, if I sometimes regret taking this route as it drove me away from the current online app, and made me lost on opportunities to fully exploit the potential of V1, I must also say I’m currently very happy with what’s slowly coming out of it: V2 truly is a robust, mature and very cool diagramming solution (have you seen this last video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7NtYkT8wiE ? ^^).
What I intend to do over the next couple of weeks is A. bring the finishing touches to V2 Desktop Edition, and B.re-invigorate this blog a bit, by publishing regular (2/weeks) posts on the V2 design process.
Here’s a high level roadmap, as I see it now:
April 2010: V2 Desktop Edition release
June/July 2010: V2 Online Edition release + surprise edition^^
Hoping this answers your concerns a bit, let me know if you’d like to take a sneak peek at V2, I’d gladly send it over
Best,
Jerome.