Beta Release 0.2.3 (Recommended Update) February 3, 2009
Posted by aeontimeline in bug fix, development, releases.Tags: beta, Mac OS X Software, timeline, writing, writing software
add a comment
Aeon Timeline version 0.2.3 has just been released for both Leopard and Tiger users. Version 0.2.3 is a minor release following on from the previous major release. This is a recommended upgrade for all users.
Changes for this release include:
- New Flexible Time Zone Calculations – the flexible time zone calculations have been overhauled. The selected zoom levels for particular sections should now appear more logical and consistent.
- Fixed potential crash caused by creates note in the Add Event Sheet.
- Fixed problem with tags and hot tags not updating correctly
- Fixed problem with the title in the inspector reverting to the previous value
- Fixed problem with the title field in the inspector not scrolling to show the full text
- Fixed problem where the overview bar did not display the blue position bar until the user scrolled
- Fixed layout issues with the Header Bar on small screens
- Fixed problem where clicking in the ‘participation space’ would not affect the Inspector selection
- Adjusted the minimum window height to 500 pixels (was 700)
- Made text sit above participation circles if they overlap due to small gap
- Fixed potential problem for documents updated from 0.1 where the event title could be changed
- Added check mark next to current participation in right-click popup menu
Aeon Timeline now supports automatic downloads, so Version 0.2 users can check for updates and download the new version from within Aeon Timeline. Alternatively, the latest version can be downloaded by clicking on the Latest Version link at the top of the blog page.
The next major release will feature Story Arc View, as per the previous blog post and forum discussion. As this is a major development, this new release will not be available for some time.
Aeon Timeline: Displaying Story-Arcs January 11, 2009
Posted by aeontimeline in design, development, discussion, new feature, usability.Tags: design, gannt charts, Mac OS X Software, timeline, usability, user interface, writing, writing software
7 comments
[Don't forget, a new version of Aeon Timeline has just been released. See the post below, and get it from the Latest Version page].
This is a rather long post (there are some pictures, at least). I say this as a warning for people who just want to check out the application, and the general direction it is taking. If you fit this category, the bullet points below list what we are trying to achieve. You probably want to read no further.
Goals of the Story-Arc View
- Create a view that does not have the Entity lines – this allows a lot more space and freedom.
- Events will be displayed at their exact location on the timeline, rather than pushed around to create sufficient space between each event. Combined with filtering by Entity, this will make it much easier to check that someone isn’t in two places at once, for instance.
- Divide events into separate story-arcs/timelines that split and merge throughout the timeline as groups of people are separated and reunited.
- Express the temporal and causal links between events.
- Provide an intuitive and interactive means to manipulate the additional information made available by this new view.
In the remainder of this post, I discuss the difficult task of displaying this additional information. Continue reading (click on the more link), if you want to see my current thoughts and sketches, and provide feedback and further ideas/suggestions. Feedback at this design stage is crucial, as it will become increasingly difficult to make large changes as we move towards implementation.
