05-16-2007

Springnote Release Notes - May 16, 2007 - Introducing Alpha Features

Hello, this is the Springnote team.

It's already May. It's been about two months since the release of the alpha version of Springnote. This week will continue the pattern of releasing release notes every two weeks.

On the evening of May 4, our Springnote team met with Springnote users to listen to their opinions. Through this event, we were able to listen in to many questions and ideas on Springnote.

We've also decided to add new features discussed during this event. Since we've added many features in this release, we'll introduce and describe each one of them introducing here.

First, let look at some topics and issues of the past two weeks.

Hot Issues

• As said in our introduction, on May 4th we had a meeting with Springnote users. We thank everyone who took time out and came to this meeting and gave their opinions and thoughts.  
  

  • Lets look at what happened during our meeting....
    
     
    [Click here to see more pictures]
  • ellif also created a page on the events happening during the meeting =)

• We've heard a lot of cries from high school students and college students. It's almost the time of year to submit reports. The number of report pages in Springnote has also rapidly increased... (coincidence?). Let's take a look at a few.
  

  • [Search results of keyword 'Homework' in Springnote pages]
  • So what are the advantages of Springnote's sharing feature in enabling students to share group reports with others?
    Please look at the How to share pages manual
• A feature to automatically input your nickname has been added. By typing '@sign' and then by pushing Ctrl+Space, a link will be created under your nickname. When leaving messages on other people's pages you can leave your nickname and link to your Springnote notebook easily with this feature.
• We have now started working on reforming our design based on the usability test that was held last month. For users to be able to use Springnote more conveniently, we are currently thinking about what approach to take in our design and features to provide more convenience to users. If you have any ideas, opinions, and/or comments please feel free to add them in our user community board. Thanks!

What's changed in the past two weeks (May 16, 2007)

Alpha features currently being tested

• Alpha features? 
  

  • ' Alpha features' are new features or functions that are currently being tested. Being an 'alpha feature' means that the feature/function is not complete and users can contribute by giving their ideas on 'alpha features' for us to better develop these features. We hope that many of you contribute by giving your thoughts and opinions to new and upcoming 'alpha features'.

•  Table editing function

  • Thanks to Digilog for this suggestion. [Original page]
  • A idea to add table editing features in Springnote. This is a feature that many users have wanted... so we've finally added this feature.
    This is a light and basic table editing feature and we will be gradually adding additional features.
  • For more detailed information : http://helpcenter.springnote.com/pages/499547

•  Export Springnote pages to blogs 
  

  • Thanks to freesoul for the suggestion =) [Original Page]
  • After you have worked on rough drafts and when you are finalizing your writing you can now have it directly posted to your blog. External blogs that support Open API can be added in the 'Settings' menu so that you can export Springnote pages to your blog. You can constantly export pages to your blog from a single page or select several pages to see other Springnote pages from those blogs. =)
  • For more detailed information : http://helpcenter.springnote.com/pages/1184180

•  Internal page linking
  

  • Thanks to barrios for the suggestion =) [Original Page]
  • This is a feature that suggests Springnote-internal page linking through a feature.
  • For more detailed information : http://help.springnote.com/pages/235529

•  Create a slide presentation
  

  • By taking advantage of book marklets we are able to make a slide presentation feature through Springnote.
  • "Springnote is making a slideshow presentatin feature?" There are a lot of people that are actually surprised we're making a feature like this. To make a simply, quick presentation, use our 'Slideshow' template and follow the structure in the examples given. After you have finished editing the content, open the XHTML and push the book marklet button to complete the slide.
  • Try creating your own slideshow presentation!
  • For more detailed information : http://helpcenter.springnote.com/pages/522380

New features

• Added multiple ID support

  • We've had a lot of requests on supporting multiple OpenIDs... so we've decided to support multiple IDs.

  • For example, if my Springnote address is help.springnote.com,
    and if I have the following OpenIDs: summer.myid.net, summer.myopenid.com, summerblog.net,
    I can log into help.springnote.com with any of those OpenIDs .

  • For more detailed information : http: //help.springnote.com/pages/218989

Preview for our next release

The following are the features that have been selected by users during the end of May. =)

• First Place Improvement on auto-date ( Suggested by : hey, 38 votes )
  We have made autocompletion features for inserting today's date. By typing '@' or '@today'  and then pressing Ctrl-Space, it will automatically show today's date along with the current time. This suggestion was made by hey.
• Seventh Place Displaying storage capacity ( Suggested by :  highfree, 23 votes )
  This was a suggestion to show some type of indicator on the amount of storage space that is used and how much is left. Thanks to highfree for this suggestion.=)

For more information on features that will be added at the end of May, please refer to : http://www.springnote.com/post/2526

We are currently working on...

• Writing on Springnote through SMS

  • This is a feature that many are waiting for. With this feature, users can write things onto their Springnote pages anytime, anywhere.
  • Although we have finished development, we are currently in the process of discussing legal matters along with legal contracts on this feature. Once this has been completed and processed, we will release this feature.

Along with this, setting the results of last month's usability test as a basis, we are working on a redesign of the UI. The Springnote team is hard at work in trying to make all features more accesssible, easy to use, and convenient for users to utilize by analyzing each and every part of Springnote. Many users have been suggesting the addition of templates, so we are currently considering the addition of templates. We hope that everyone is looking forward for a new and improved Springnote.

We thank you all for your support and we will continue to work hard to create a better Springnote for everyone! =)

- Springnote team -