[Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

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[Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:56 am

Hi all,

I'm sorry for a long silence - had quite a few things to sort out lately.

I have both good and not so good news for you.
The not-so-good news is that version 2.9 with the long-awaited file
attachments feature is delayed again, and is now targeted for the beginning of March.
The good news is that we'll try to combine it with database encryption to release two
great new features in one fell swoop!

The development is very active, we just want to make sure that everything is implemented
properly.

Now please welcome beta version of a minor update, version 2.8.5:

Feb 6, 2015 - Version 2.8.5 Beta1

In this version:

Enhancements:
  • Editor: replaced "Tags", "Link" and "Remarks" labels with icons
  • Editor: made Ctrl+Del delete note confirmation optional
  • Simplenote sync: if synchronization was activated, start syncing immediately after closing the Synchronization dialog
  • Internal code improvements

Fixes:
  • Simplenote sync: fixed moving remote notes to recycle bin bug
  • Simplenote sync: don't request tag index twice
  • Wrong backup path used when CintaNotes is in Program Files subfolder

Download:
Installable: CintaNotes_2_8_5_Beta1_Setup.exe
Portable: CintaNotes_2_8_5_Beta1.zip

Huge thanks in advance to all brave of heart who'd take this beta on a test drive! ;)

WARNING! BETA SOFTWARE! USE AT OWN RISK AND ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!
Alex
Thomas Lohrum
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby Thomas Lohrum » Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:01 pm

Hi Alex,

thanks for the latest improvements. I did not have much time for testing. These are just my first impressions.

  • Word wrap is off, thus there's always a horizontal scrollbar visible

I need to get used to the new editor icons. At first sight i am missing the labels. I think my suggestion to introduce in-place labels is more suited for the UI. Nevertheless i noticed two issues:

  • there should be hints on the edit fields themselves, not only on the icons
  • a hint is missing on the icon for the "Link" field

As for the Simplenote changes i need more time to run my tests.

Thomas
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby gunars » Fri Feb 06, 2015 6:31 pm

Hi Alex,

The new icons are ok, although I think I slightly prefer the old text version. That may just be because it's a change from what I'm used to.

When the note comes up, the icon for Link is greyed out if the field is empty. I would suggest always having it not greyed out for several reasons:

* consistency with the Tags and Remarks icons which are always full color whether they have content or not
* greyed-out implies the control is not available, but it is
* the greyed out icon is hard to see with the Blue color theme I'm using

Thanks for the update!

Gunars
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby Thomas Lohrum » Mon Feb 09, 2015 10:16 am

Update on the new editor icons:

  • the space gain is little compared to the loss of clarity
  • newbies might have problems understanding the meaning of the fields
  • i am aware that the icons match to the list of search options
  • the screenshots in the help file get out-dated

Thomas
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby Thomas Lohrum » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:29 pm

The layout of the dialogs "Search" and "Search & Replace" is broken. Together with the word-wrap issue i begin to dislike the latest beta release.
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby Thomas Lohrum » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:31 pm

Hi Alex,

can you please describe in more detail what exactly is meant here:

CintaNotes Developer wrote:Simplenote sync: fixed moving remote notes to recycle bin bug



Thanks Thomas
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Tue Feb 10, 2015 7:58 am

Hi Thomas,
Thanks for checking out the beta!

Thomas Lohrum wrote:Word wrap is off, thus there's always a horizontal scrollbar visible

What do you mean "word wrap is off"? I don't remember CN having a setting for word wrap - it is always on IIRC.
Or did I introduce word wrap setting?

I need to get used to the new editor icons. At first sight i am missing the labels. I think my suggestion to introduce in-place labels is more suited for the UI.

Under in-place labels do you mean "greyed out" text that dissappears when you focus the edit control?

there should be hints on the edit fields themselves, not only on the icons

I guess if we introduce the in-place labels, the hints won't be necessary?

a hint is missing on the icon for the "Link" field

Agreed, will fix that.
Alex
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:02 am

Hi Gunars,
Thanks for taking a look!

The new icons are ok, although I think I slightly prefer the old text version. That may just be because it's a change from what I'm used to.

Well I guess with the inline labels that Thomas suggests we can have the best from both worlds ;)

When the note comes up, the icon for Link is greyed out if the field is empty. I would suggest always having it not greyed out for several reasons:

Yes that's a bug. Will fix it, thanks
Alex
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:04 am

the space gain is little compared to the loss of clarity
newbies might have problems understanding the meaning of the fields

This change was induced to make place for the attachments. If we leave the labels,
the UI will get too busy.

Will try to implement the in-place labels like you suggested to compensate the clarity loss.

[*]i am aware that the icons match to the list of search options

Is that bad?

[*]the screenshots in the help file get out-dated

Yes, we'll have to update the screenshots.
Alex
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:06 am

The layout of the dialogs "Search" and "Search & Replace" is broken. Together with the word-wrap issue i begin to dislike the latest beta release.

Oh yep, that the major blunder! Thanks for finding it. Will be fixed of course!
Alex
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:23 am

Thomas Lohrum wrote:can you please describe in more detail what exactly is meant here:
CintaNotes Developer wrote:Simplenote sync: fixed moving remote notes to recycle bin bug

Thanks Thomas


IIRC there was a bug that if CN wanted to move to SN's Trash notes which for some reason already were in SN's Trash, the sync failed.
Alex
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby Thomas Lohrum » Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:18 am

Hi Alex,

CintaNotes Developer wrote:
Thomas Lohrum wrote:Word wrap is off, thus there's always a horizontal scrollbar visible
What do you mean "word wrap is off"? I don't remember CN having a setting for word wrap - it is always on IIRC. Or did I introduce word wrap setting?

I switched back to 2.8.4 because of that bug. Sorry i can not easily provide a screenshot. The bug is rather easy to reproduce though. Each paragraph which should be word-wrapped at the right edge of the editor will now consist of one single line only. That line can become very long, such that you are not able to read the text anymore. A horizontal scrollbar gets visible. It's a mess, making the editor unusable to me.

CintaNotes Developer wrote:
Thomas Lohrum wrote:I need to get used to the new editor icons. At first sight i am missing the labels. I think my suggestion to introduce in-place labels is more suited for the UI.
Under in-place labels do you mean "greyed out" text that dissappears when you focus the edit control?

Yes.

CintaNotes Developer wrote:
Thomas Lohrum wrote:there should be hints on the edit fields themselves, not only on the icons
I guess if we introduce the in-place labels, the hints won't be necessary?

Yes.


Thomas
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Re: [Ann] CintaNotes 2.8.5 Beta 1

Postby CintaNotes Developer » Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:25 am

Thomas Lohrum wrote:Each paragraph which should be word-wrapped at the right edge of the editor will now consist of one single line only. That line can become very long, such that you are not able to read the text anymore. A horizontal scrollbar gets visible. It's a mess, making the editor unusable to me.

Ok now I get it. This was an experiment which I carried out when someone asked if it was possible to turn off word wrap. Somehow this code made it to the beta. I'll get it fixed, no worries.
Thanks
Alex

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