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.