Progress Update

This is just a quick update to let everyone know the progress of Aeon Timeline development.

I have just released a beta version of Aeon Timeline 1.1 to participants of our beta testing program (if you wish to join, see here: http://www.scribblecode.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=121)

This new version includes the following major features:

• Additional calendar formats, include floating weeks (Week 1, Week 2), days (Day 1, Day 2), and hour (00:00:15).
• Ability to set timeline precision (eg. Year only, Month and year, etc.)
• Ability to set precision for individual events
• Ability to set an event duration as an alternative to an end date
• Add external links/file references to events (including ability to view them with QuickLook or open in an external editor)
• Ability to display images on the timeline
• Improved exporting
• Added printing functionality
• Many bug fixes and other minor feature improvements

The beta testing process will last until the release is stable, at which point it will be made available as a free update to existing customers.

Now that this release is mostly complete, most of the development focus will shift to creating a Windows version of the application.

Version 1.1: How long is that…?

As I have mentioned briefly, I am currently working on Aeon Timeline version 1.1 for Mac, which will bring Aeon Timeline up to the level I want it to reach before I write a feature-parity version for Windows. Version 1.1 will be out before the end of the year, with a Windows version to hopefully follow some time next year.

Aeon Timeline is intended to aid creativity and data analysis, and to achieve this aim, it is important that users spend their time thinking about their content rather than the application they use to create it. This means Aeon Timeline needs a clean, easy, intuitive user interface.

There are many decisions made in designing a user interface that take a long time to get right, but when done correctly, go completely unnoticed by the end user.

It seems a shame to say it given the amount of time I have spent thinking about the problem I discuss below, but I hope this is destined to become one of those decisions. If the final decision goes unnoticed, it means the interface has done its job and got out of the way. What most users notice are the design decisions that have gone wrong.

Below is a sneak peek of a couple of new features coming to Aeon Timeline version 1.1.

This particular problem is subtle, but also difficult. I don’t yet have a complete answer to the problem, but the shape of one is forming in my mind.

Time will tell if I make the right decision. Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

Follow up to: ‘Why Does Microsoft make it so hard?’

Firstly, I want to thank everybody who responded to my last blog post: From Mac to Windows: Why is Microsoft making it so hard? There is always a risk that any post dealing with a Mac versus Windows topic could descend into a flame war, so I was very appreciative of the intelligent thoughts and suggestions offered by everyone who commented on the blog.

Secondly, I will apologise for taking so long posting this follow up blog post. I have been sitting on this blog post for a couple of months waiting for permission to include a few quotes from Chris Bernard, a Chief Experience Evangelist at Microsoft, but after not hearing back, I have decided to publish the post without them.

In that time, Microsoft has abandoned the Metro name, but I will continue to use it here in lieu of a non-Wordy alternative.

Back in July, I spoke to Chris for an hour about the direction Microsoft is taking. I certainly wasn’t expecting to receive that kind of pro-active response. If we are still talking pros and cons between Apple and Microsoft, it seems unlikely that someone from Apple would have been as supportive in this way (again, I may be just as ignorant of the support channels Apple provides).

As a developer looking to move across to the Windows platform, there are two partially-related decisions I need to make:

1. Which Windows platform should I target, and given the imminent release of Windows 8, should I make a Desktop or a Metro application?
2. Which framework and language should I use to develop that application?

Since numerous people have asked me for a follow up, in this post I will discuss what I have drawn from my conversation with Chris, as well as my own experiences with Windows 8 to answer the first of these questions.

I will cover specific frameworks and technology choices in a separate post.

From Mac to Windows: Why is Microsoft making it so hard for developers?

Now that Aeon Timeline has been shipped off to the Mac AppStore folk for review, I have a bit of dead time while I wait for their approval. Since I say on my website that I am considering a Windows version, and I am now getting several emails a day asking for one, I have spent the evening researching my options.

The results is not pretty: Microsoft has created a mess of half-finished technologies, with no clear path to move forward. If I am wrong in this, I would dearly love for a more experienced Windows developer to come along and point this out.

What follows will be somewhat more technical and developer-oriented than my usual blog posts. I have tried to keep it simple, but apologies if I lose any non-developers along the way. The implications, in turns of support for different operating systems, may still be relevant to you.

Aeon Timeline 1.0.5 has just been released

Aeon Timeline 1.0.5 has just been released and is available for download here:

http://release.scribblecode.com/AeonTimeline.dmg

To avoid the link constantly changing, I have dropped the version number naming convention from the dmg file.

Version 1.0.5 fixes the following bugs in 1.0.4:

• A crash that occurred when removing an existing link in Scrivener Synchronize.
• A bug that prevented the time component of end dates from the Add Event window from updating correctly.
• Tags set in Add Entity window are now correctly added to the Start Event.
• Fixed bug in Export that didn’t show new events without restarting the application.
• Fixed tab order in Add Event window to allow tabbing into every field.

Apologies for the stream of updates, but I am releasing new versions in quick succession so that we can achieve a bug-free, stable version of the application as quickly as possible to give everyone the best possible experience with the application.

I feel this approach is better than leaving people using software with known bugs, just to release the bug fixes as a unit.

Hopefully, the number of reported bugs will start to dip after this release. The number of crash reports I have seen in the last few days is reducing, and are almost all related to the crashes that I have fixed in this release.

Regards,
Matt

Official Release: Aeon Timeline 1.0

Hi All,
The official commercial release of Aeon Timeline has just been uploaded, and you can now purchase the commercial version of Aeon Timeline via our website: http://www.scribblecode.com

Aeon Timeline has been priced at $US40, but a 20% discount is available until June 30 via the Scrivener forum (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum).

The application can be downloaded as a trial version, which allows for 20 days of actual use before requiring you to purchase the application.

If you haven’t looked at Aeon Timeline previously, or have not kept up to date with the more recent betas, now might be a good time to take another look.

I would like to thank everyone who took part with our beta testing, and also Keith from Literature and Latte, makers of Scrivener, for allowing our presence to remain on this forum for so long. The coupon code is our way of saying thank you for the support.

As soon as the dust settles on this first release, I will begin working on version 1.1 to implement some of the good suggested features that have been put on hold while I worked towards a stable commercial product.

So please, keep making feature suggestions and providing feedback and bug reports. I will be working hard to open up appropriate support channels etc. over the coming weekend.

Regards,
Matt

Aeon Timeline 0.9.7 (Extended Expiry), New Website, Approximate Release Date

New Release

Aeon Timeline version 0.9.7 is now available for download (http://www.scribblecode.com). Version 0.9.7 fixes a couple of minor bugs, and extends the expiry date to the end of May.

Barring any significant bugs, this will be the final beta release before the official commercial release of the product.

There are a number of very good suggestions that have been pushed to the post-1.0 list, and I intend to implement many of them after the commercial release, but after more than three years of work, I need to draw the beta period to a close and actually get some return on all of the time  I have invested.

Aeon Timeline supports automatic updates, which means you will be notified whenever an update is available, and able to download it directly within the program. If the program does not alert you automatically, you can choose ‘Check for Updates…’ from the Aeon Timeline menu.

Alternatively, you can download the latest version of the application by clicking on the Download link at the top of our new website (link below).

New Website

I have just uploaded the new Scribble Code website, which you can view at http://www.scribblecode.com

Aside from finally having a website that properly describes Aeon Timeline, and may entice a few more downloads with some videos, feature lists and screenshots, this site will now be the place where download links and purchase information will be available.

My thanks to Mark Russell for helping to put the website together. He has a link at the bottom of that site if you wish to click through to see his other work.

Release Date

Everything is in line for the official release now. I have done the licensing code, I have the website setup, etc. However, I am going on a short holiday later in the month, during which time I will have limited access to the internet.

I didn’t want this time to correspond with the first few weeks after I have released the application, as I anticipate a reasonably large number of technical support requests in the first few weeks after launch.

For that reason, I am delaying the release until after my holiday has finished.

This means that the official release will take place in the second half of May or early June. I will post further information here once a release date has been confirmed.

Thanks very much to everyone for their support so far. I am looking forward to finally releasing this software!