Shared Space 2.0 Release Notes v2.0 release 2 (b3) - 11/03/2004 Welcome to the aftershow party for the biggest release of Shared Space in its five year history! At last the application lives up to its name and allows you to share your information in real-time. But there's plenty more this time around. Shared Space 2.0 now stores it's data in Unicode format - you can now store almost any text anywhere in the application. Add to that new Apple Help based documentation, generous helping of new features and bug fixes, and some major performance improvements. Ben -- Send feedback, feature requests, bug reports, UK TV schedules with programmes people might actually want to watch to ben@shared-space.net -- Key (NEW) - A new feature. (BUG) - A bug fix. (CHG) - Just like Jarvis said: Something changed. (KIS) - A known issue. (CHG) IMPORTANT: The storage format for all objects has changed! Again! Objects created in B2 will be converted to the new format when opened in Beta 3. Once you start beta 3, you will NOT be able to use your storage folder with Beta 2 again, so ensure you make a backup first! (NEW) Shared Spaces - you can now share your spaces and views over the local network or the Internet! For more info, see the Sharing documentation that accompanies the application. (NEW) Unicode support - SS2 now saves data in unicode format! Mix and match characters from latin and non latin character sets! Note: Export templates may need to be updated to work with unicode data. For more information, see the help section on exporting views. (NEW) Timezone support. Creation and modification date/times are now stored and displayed with a GMT offset. When syncing views with a remote server, the GMT offset is as part of modification date comparisions, so you can sync with users in a different timezone. (CHG) Revamped look and feel. Again. Many windows have been redesigned to look nicer and work better. (NEW) Version descriptions - rollover the list of versions in an objects info panel to see partial description, if one was supplied for the corresponding document version. (NEW) Multi-screen support - view windows can now go full screen on external displays. (NEW) Live window resize - resize view windows and various managers and see everything update in realtime. (NEW) Added 'System' to font menus. Selecting this will set the editing font to be the system default. (NEW) Log window: added two new tabs. 'Network' records network errors, Object tree shows objects currently open in memory, and allows you to view their XML source (primarily a debugging tool). (CHG) Speed improvements - reading data from disk is now faster than in b2. This can result in a drastic improvement in the time it takes to open larger views and to start Shared Space 2.0, though milage may vary. (CHG) B3 doesn't suck CPU cycles like there's no tomorrow... (CHG) Object descriptions no longer have a 2000 character limit. I've improved performance in several areas relating to this, but it's inadvisable to have huge descriptions as SS2 performance tends to degrade when dealing with large amounts of text. (CHG) Properties windows have been redone for Panther, and now look much nicer. (CHG) Drawing improvements. Many elements are now anti-aliased, others have been cleaned up slightly. (NEW) View windows now have a collapse button top right. This hides the toolbar at the top, and status bar at the bottom. (NEW) Added fairly self explanatory 'Edit scheme...' contentextual menu item to colour menus. (NEW) Help system now uses Apple Help. This results in a nicer looking help system which is fully searchable, and accessible through Apple Help. The tutorial is no longer tied into interactions in SS2, so you can now go back and forward. Some pages now include images illustrating the text. (NEW) Help: two new sections added - Sharing spaces and views, and Text/HTML export guide (this was formerly in an accompanying readme). (CHG) Context help buttons are now a bit more like the standard apple ones. (BUG) Compositing improvements - editing object descriptions which overlap the overview should no longer cause screen corruption. (BUG) Dragging in the overview no longer results in interactions with objects in the main viewport directly beneath it. So, you don't end up dragging objects under the overview when you click inside. (BUG) Fixed various problems with menus, including menus being active when they aren't relevant, and version switching not working from the menu. (BUG) Fixed a problem where the welcome screen would pop up unexpectedly for no reason. (BUG) Holding or releasing the option key when zooming will now update the cursor correctly. (BUG) Fixed several problems with the handling of styled text. (BUG) Fixed several problems with url links in object descriptions. (BUG) Fixed a lockup which could occur when adding more than one colour to a scheme at once. (NEW) Loads of other bug fixes and changes. (KIS) There are two help menus in this version of Shared Space 2.0. If anyone knows how to get rid of the apple supplied one (on the right) please let me know! (KIS) Welcome screen misbehaves when you re-open it - often unselecting a previously selected view. (KIS) Compositing problems on Mac OS X 10.2 - clicking on object descriptions in the main viewport results in a small border on the left and top of the text area. v2.0 release 2 (b2) - 14/09/2003 (CHG) IMPORTANT: Shared Space 2.0 now defaults to storing files in 'Shared Space 2.0 storage' inside your 'documents' folder (/Users/username/Documents/). If you are upgrading from Beta 1, your old folder will continue to work (as long as you don't delete it with the beta 1 application!). However, it is recommended that you rename it 'Shared Space 2.0 storage' and move it into your documents folder, as this behaviour may change in future. For more assistance, see the upgrade Readme that accompanied this application. (NEW) Multiple-undo! You can undo all common tasks such as moving, resizing etc, as well as text editing. The undo history (the list of undos and redos you have available) is specific to a window, so different views have independent undos. The size of the undo buffer is controlled in the new undo pane in the preferences window. (NEW) HTML/text export. You can now export data from Shared Space 2.0 as HTML and other text-based formats. Information can be on a single page or multiple pages. Where multiple pages are used, links are shown below the content of an element. HTML export uses a templating system, this is described in the export template documentation that accompanies the application. (NEW) Description scrollbars - Notes, links and document instances now have neat little scrollbars next to their descriptions while you're editing them. They work slightly differently to regular scrollbars: the visible portion (white bit) is calculated by how many lines are visible. So if you have text of multiple sizes it'll resize itself according to how many lines are visible. Also, you can scroll beyond the bottom of the text, until the last line is at the top. This allows you to scroll down to free up some space to type. (NEW) Text and picture drag into the main viewport. Drag a picture out of any application and directly into a view, where it will be saved as a new document with accompanying instance. Drag text from any application into a view, and you'll get a new note. It even works with text from within Shared Space 2.0! (NEW) It is now possible to drag images onto the author image to change their picture. (NEW) Find - you can now jump to all matches in the search results by pressing enter, or clicking on the new 'show' button. SS2 will scroll to fit all the matching objects, then they'll all 'ping' at the same time. (NEW) Find - big performance improvements. (BUG) Many changes and fixes to zooming. (CHG) Info boxes for notes, links and document instances are now drawn much quicker, and look a bit nicer. (BUG) Small previews of the author image (eg in welcome screen, author list) now draw correctly when the image size is not 128x128. (BUG) Instance previews show are no longer cropped by a few pixels either side. (NEW) Instance previews now have a minimum size of 64x64. If the image an instance represents is smaller than this, the preview will be scaled up to 64x64, or similar, when preserving aspect ratio. (NEW) It is now possible to drag view exports onto the view list for a space in the welcome window. When you do this, the view will be imported as per the options you select, as with the view import button. (NEW) Rollover a control on an object in the main viewport, and it should highlight to illustrate the fact that it does something. Examples include the info button, resize button, text formatting controls and the note 'drag bar'. (NEW) Added 'Open as new version' button to the prompt window that appears when you open a document. Selecting this will duplicate the version and make it active before opening it. (NEW) Added preference to hide empty objects in searches. (It's on by default) (CHG) 'Duplicate' shifts objects down and to the left slightly, so you can see what's happened. (CHG) 'New instance' changed to 'Duplicate' on document instance context menus, as that's essentially what it does. A duplicate option was also added to the note context menu. (CHG) 'Ping' effect is now different, nice but subtle. (CHG) Various minor changes to XML and HTML parsing and storage. (BUG) Fixed a problem where the background colour of note, link or document instance descriptions being edited would change when you moused over another description. (BUG) Colours are now properly updated in an open view that uses their scheme when they are changed. (BUG) Views no longer revert to the default colour scheme when quitting and re-launching the application. (NEW) Many file dialogs now have more descriptive prompts. (NEW) It is now possible to re-order colours in a scheme by dragging the colours up and down in the colour scheme properties window. (CHG) Preferences window re-organised. Active author has now moved out of this window to the application menu, and there are a few new preferences for you to discover. (CHG) When very light colours or very dark colours are chosen in a colour scheme, they will be darkened/lightened slightly. This fixes a problem with drawing the text editing interface in these cases, and makes it marginally clearer which objects are selected and which aren't. On darker colours, text will be more readable. (CHG) Improved the appearance of the 'created' and 'modified' icons, and fixed a problem where they would draw improperly in some situations. (CHG) Documents added from the view menu are now added in the centre of the main viewport. (BUG) Fixed some problems with multiple selection. (BUG) Fixed a problem where SS2 would not recognise a previously registered serial number when network devices were connected or disconnected. (BUG) A warning is now displayed when you try to open documents marked as missing. This is an improvement from the previous behaviour, which was to crash SS2... (BUG) Fixed miscellaneous problems relating to menus, links, notes and document instances. (NEW) Author manager now allows you to change the active author, using the arrow on the left hand side of the list. (BUG) Cosmetic fixes to document, author and colour scheme manager (CHG) View export files now have a nice new icon (you may need to logout and login to see it). (NEW) Slightly expanded help, made minor changes to the tutorial. (BUG) Corrected some spelling errors in the tutorial and help. (BUG) Object modification dates are now updated in realtime, rather than when you quit the application, as was the previous (stupid) behaviour. (CHG) Added prompts to various places which would interrupt the tutorial, so that you don't lose your place. (BUG) Document selection can now be toggled on or off when you hold down the shift key, as was (and is) the case with notes. (BUG) Fixed a crash when views were very large or objects very widely spaced. (BUG) Fixed numerous help window bugs, and at least one help related crash. -- v2.0 release 2 (b1) - 29/07/2003 (NEW) Largely re-written - I've laid waste to the waste! Vast tracts of SS2 code litter the cutting room floor, some bits bad, some bits just plain ugly. The result is a leaner, meaner application that likes to work hard and play harder etc etc. A good deal of stuff has been rewritten, but if you don't find it in release 2, it's probably because I didn't think it was worth re-writing. Anyhow, so much has changed, I'll only cover some of the main features here, and you can find out the rest for yourself. (NEW) Redesigned interface - Shared Space 2.0 is much nicer to look at and easier to use than ever before. The layout of most windows has been cleaned up, and the display of objects in views is much improved. The toolbar is now integrated with the view window, and the hierarchical view and find panel are gone - these have been replaced with a new find facility. Try it and see! (NEW) Golden delicious - At the time of writing, this release is Mac OS X only! Things around the world of SS2 look and behave in a much more Mac-like fashion. (NEW) Rethought object structure - Shared Space 2.0 now stores slightly different information about its objects. Things are now a bit more logical and also a bit simpler. One side effect of this is that spaces created with previous versions of SS2 are not compatible with this version. For details on what's changed, see notes below. (NEW) Notes - Notes can now contain a much greater variety of styles than previously, as they use system editfields. It is possible to have a mix of bold, italic, different typestyles and different sizes in notes. URLs of the form 'protocol://address' now automatically become hyperlinks, as do email addresses. Finally, text pasted from other applications will use style information if available, so text pasted from MS Word will probably retain at least some formatting. (NEW) Links - Links no longer have a title and description - the description has become the title. Like notes, link text can contain a mix of different styles and can also be resized. If a link has no description, the label won't appear. Link directions are now drawn all the way up the link, to make the nature of relationships clearer. (NEW) Document instances - Along with some behind the scenes restructuring of how document information is stored, document instances now appear more similar to notes, and take on much of the functionality described above. Previews can be resized by dragging the bottom right corner. When not viewing the preview, the active document version's icon is displayed at a size of between 64*64 and 128*128. Quicktime movie previews now appear like a storyboard of the whole film, a patchwork of frames from all over the movie. (NEW) Object info - Click on the [i] icon on the top right of an object, and you'll see a small pane appear on it's right hand side. This pane replaces the 'info windows' used in previous versions of shared space, and should be fairly self explanatory. (NEW) View picture export - Views can now be exported as JPEG or PICT files, and can optionally show the background image and / or grid. (NEW) Search - 'Find in view' is now faster and neater than before. Apple-F takes the user to the search view, from which they can see all matching results as they type. Double clicking on an object will close the search results and jump to that object. By turning on 'auto-scroll', apple-F and a few keystrokes will automatically jump to objects once they are the only matches. (NEW) Help system - Tutorial has been fully revised to take account of new features, and expanded to cover some things in more detail. Contextual help window has been replaced with the standard OS X tool tips. Reference section of help covers the SS2 interface in it's entirety. (NEW) Grid snap - now works with realtime feedback. Snapping now also works for resizing. (CHG) It is no longer possible to have two separate windows of the same view. (NEW) XML parser - XML parser replaced (again), slightly slower than the previous model but better at dealing with international (currently only MacRoman) text. Future versions will support unicode throughout. (NEW) Preferences and options - many options have been removed because they don't make sense anymore (eg: toggle sidebar), others because I wanted to simplify things and didn't think they were that useful (eg: link width, link outline). Some things, for example 'document previews' have been implemented in different ways. There's really too many changes to list here, but it's all pretty straightforward, so I'll leave you to figure it out. -- Alpha 8 - 03/06/2002 (NEW) All new XML parser. Offers increased speed, and more reliable checking. Expect more validation improvements soon. (NEW) Directional links. Links can now imply a one directional relationship. In the link properties window, chose 'unidirectional' to show arrows on the link pointing from the linked-from object to the linked-to object. By default, links will be created in a bi-directional form, implying a two way relationship, and so will not show these arrows. To swap the direction of a link, click on the swap direction icon in the link window. 'Swap direction' and 'uni/bidirectional' can also be set from the link contextual menu. (NEW) View export / import. Save a view with all the objects it depends on in one neat file, great for emailing spaces to others. Export view saves colour schemes, authors, documents, links, notes, document instances and view information in one file. To export a view, open it and choose 'export view...' from the file menu. To import a view, click on the import view icon under the view list of a selected space in the choose space window. You will then be prompted if you want to import the view into that space. Select yes and the view will be created in your storage folder, along with any dependant objects. (NEW) Auto versioning - Make document instances auto-versioning and a new version of the document the instance refers to will be created every time you open the instance from within Shared Space 2.0. For example, every time you double click an instance of a Word document, a new copy of that document is made and then opened in Word. The original version, without any changes you may make in Word, is saved and can be accessed from the version control window. (NEW) Warning on opening a document - Every time you open a document instance, this optional feature (on by default, turn it off in the preferences window) warns you that you are about to open the document in another application. You can also change the auto-versioning status of the instance from this window. (NEW) Choose replacement - allows you to specify a different document for this instance to refer to. To use it, select a document instance, and choose this option from the edit menu or contextual menu. You can select a document already existing withing SS2, or import a new one. (NEW) Snap to grid - when enabled, the top left of document instances and notes will be aligned with the lines on the grid. (NEW) Note and link colours are reflected in the icons that appear in the hierarchical viewport, and in note property windows. (NEW) Typing into notes is faster. (NEW) Delete (as opposed to backspace) now works in notes, link labels and document labels. I never implemented this before because I never use 'delete' owing to my powerbook's feature starved keyboard. I've just found out you can press fn+backspace to get delete.:) (NEW) Contextual menus for links, notes and document instances are now functional in the hierarchical viewport. In Windows, you will need to press ctrl and left click on the item to get the contextual menu. (NEW) Win32 menus now have accelerator keys. (NEW) Small interface changes to choose space window. (NEW) Objects now keep track of things they depend on, such as authors or documents, in the case of document instances. When an object needs another object that is missing, it will continue to save a reference to it, but will display the default object within the Shared Space application. Should that object become available again, it's relationship with the first object will be restored. (NEW) It is now possible to drag an file onto the author image in the author window. If the file is in a picture format that Shared Space 2.0 understands, this will be selected the new author picture. (NEW) Added tools menu and moved various managers to it. (NEW) Confirmation and alert windows now resize themselves according to how much text is contained within. This means no more huge boxes with one line of text, and no more alert messages being cut off at the bottom of the window. (NEW) New drawing model should result in CPU usage reduced when application is inactive, and better drawing performance. (NEW) Writing to the log is faster. (NEW) When closing a view with command-w, the view to be closed has its title highlighted, and the view name appears in the alert box. (NEW) Added numbers to view window titles if more than one copy of the same view is open. (NEW) Author, document and colour scheme managers now display a message while reading in information. Previously if you had 300 documents, it could take a while to read them all in, but the application had no visible cue that anything was happening. (NEW) Duplicating document dialog from the document manager now has readable button captions, and allows cancelling the duplication. (NEW) More contextual help added to windows and buttons. There's still a fair bit more to add, but it's a fairly dull task, so I tend to keep adding a small amount of help each release.. ;) (NEW) Added new 'group width' preference, prefs window layout is now a bit better. (NEW) Added link colour popup menu to link properties window. (BUG) Controls in the find / filter pane should no longer misbehave when the view window containing them is resized in Win32. (BUG) Various tweaks to windows and dialogs to make things look nicer in Mac OS X. (BUG) Various fixes to property fields that contain urls for performance and reliability. (BUG) Various fixes to property windows. (BUG) Position indicator above main viewport no longer flickers. (BUG) Colour previews in the colour scheme window are refreshed when a new colour is chosen. (BUG) Document manager should be working again (broken in A7) (BUG) Notes should update properly again (broken in A7) (BUG) Hierarchical viewport should no longer select multiple items when a single item is double clicked. To enable this fix, I have disable multiple selection in the hierarchical viewport. This fix should also result in better overall application performance. (BUG) Fixed a problem where resizing notes would cause some note contents to disappear. (BUG) Various fixes to the tutorial window, including layout problems, functionality and tweaks to make the tutorial itself more functional. (BUG) Fixed a problem where different instance of the same document version would not update when one was changed. (BUG) Fixed a small problem with preview sizes in contextual menus. (BUG) Fixed some problems with items in a view window becoming too small when the side panel is hidden. (BUG) Fixed some small problems with the view properties window not drawing properly. (BUG) Document instances should now save their preview settings. (BUG) Fixed some problems with the text cursor when editing notes. (BUG) Mouse cursor should more accurately reflect the tool currently in use. (BUG) The green linking line should no longer draw in the wrong place for an instant on creating links. (BUG) Colourscheme drop downs are now updated in the view properties window when schemes are added /deleted / edited. (KIS) Win32 - dialogs sometimes disappear behind other windows. (KIS) Shared Space 2.0 doesn't work very well with trackpads configured for mouse clicks. Eg: a powerbook with use trackpad for clicking and dragging selected. Alpha 7 - 06/04/2002 (NEW) Choose Space Window - A completely redesigned window is faster in operation than previously, and displays more information about spaces and views, including view previews. Views can be duplicated by dragging the view over the new view icon. Views and spaces can be deleted by dragging the view over the wastebasket icon. (NEW) Grid - added a grid that sits over the main viewport. This can help with laying out your objects in an orderly fashion. Expect snap to grid in the next release. (NEW) Multiple View Windows - It is now possible to open the same view in several windows, with each view showing a different part of the space. (NEW) Error handling - some missing objects (colour schemes, authors, documents) now revert to the default objects when they are missing or broken. (NEW) Export view to picture - save out an image of a view for use in other applications. (NEW) Documents, authors, colourschemes can now be deleted from their respective manager windows. (NEW) Added 'Hide Side Panel' menu item, does exactly what it says on the tin. (NEW) Moved some preferences into the view -> options menu for easier accessibility. (NEW) CTRL dragging - This view option (off by default) requires the user to hold down the CTRL key while dragging to scroll the viewport. This option may be helpful if you find it irritating that the main viewport jumps around when you click on objects at the edge of the visible area. (NEW) Notes - improved performance for notes with a lot of text. (NEW) Overview - visible area rectangle now easier to see against coloured backdrops. (NEW) Tutorial - tutorial window repositions itself when required, in order that it does not force other windows off the screen. (NEW) Notes - New notes now take on the size of the last note, assuming it wasn't huge. (NEW) Help - Added Frequently Asked Questions (NEW) Tutorial - added emphasis to text describing actions that must be completed before the user can proceed. (NEW) Added tooltips / balloon help for some items. Tooltips are functional in Windows 95/98 and Mac OS X. Balloon Help is functional in Mac OS 8.6 and above. (NEW) Added info and scroll to buttons for documents and notes mentioned in the link info window. (NEW) Zoom in / zoom out added to contextual menu. (NEW) Set as home - select this option form the context menu for a view backdrop to set that point as home for this view. To return to home at any point, click the home button in the top left corner of a space. (NEW) Tutorial - various interface improvements, and a few new pages. (NEW) The log and contextual help windows now have a proper close button. (NEW) Shared Space 2.0 now prompts you on launch if you are running at a screen resolution less that 1024*768. (NEW) Added reminder of how to get back to non-full screen mode in Mac OS. (BUG) Some properties (such as link titles) were not properly encoded as xml, and could cause problems. This is now fixed. (BUG) Space properties are now written when the space property window is closed. (BUG) All colour schemes should now show up in the view properties list, whether the colour scheme manager has been opened or not. (BUG) All authors should now show up in the default author drop down in the preferences window, whether the author manager has been opened or not. (BUG) It is no longer possible to edit the default (missing) colour scheme. (BUG) Miscelaneous fixes and improvements to help window. (BUG) Quicktime checking fixes specifically relating to Windows version. (BUG) Double clicking a document should now open it again. (BUG) Opening documents more reliable in Mac OS. (BUG) Document previews should now appear straight after the document is imported. (BUG) It is now possible to re-open a view after closing it. (BUG) The view window now has a sensible minumum width and height. Resizing a view window to be very small could result in the application getting confused and thinking it was running out of memory. (BUG) Note contents now appear properly in the hierarchical view when they begin with line breaks. (BUG) Text documents should display previews properly when dealing with non macintosh line breaks. (BUG) Many fixes to the handling of image IO in Windows version. (BUG) Numerous tutorial fixes. (KIS) Some bugs remain in text fields that have URL links inside. (KIS) File dialogs have a tendency to disappear behind floating palettes in Windows version. (KIS) Win 32 version eats processor cyles like there's no tomorrow. This makes using other applications at the same time a bit painful. I'll attempt to improve this situation soon. -- Alpha 6 - 27/01/2002 (NEW) - New feature (BUG) - Bug Fix (KIS) - Known Issue (NEW) Help System - The beginnings of a complete help system. Currently only a short tutorial is implemented, although this should be enough to get new users up and running. More detailed contextual help is on it's way. (NEW) Anonymous / Default Author - This read-only author can be used to author objects anonymously, and is used when information on the author for a selected object cannot be found. (Note - since ID numbers for objects are derived from your computers hardware IP (MAC address), no objects can be created _truly_ anonymously. This feature will become more useful when Shared Space 2.0 becomes networked.) (NEW) Default Colour Scheme - works in a similar fashion to the default author described above. (NEW) Author Pictures - Author Information can now include a 64x64 image of the author. (NEW) Document Manager - This window allows you to open, delete or duplicate every document you have imported into the shared space application. It shows not only documents used in open views, but every document you ever used in a view. It's helpful for cleaning out documents that you don't use anymore. If you choose to duplicate a document, you can opt to make it a new document entirely, or simply another version of the same document. Documents in this view are grouped with versions of the same document connected with lines down the left hand side of the list. (NEW) Author Manager / Colour Scheme Manager - duplicate is now implemented, along with interface changes to both these windows. (NEW) Document Previews - Document previews can now be of different sizes, from 32x32 to 512x512. New preferences set the default preview size for new objects, and allow you to set whether previews are displayed for new objects. (NEW) Text previews - Text previews are now easier to read and more functional. (NEW) Storage Folder Preference - It is now possible to store your spaces somewhere other than the Shared Space application folder. By default the storage folder inside the application folder will be used, but this can be changed in the preferences window. (NEW) Text Fields - Text fields in property windows now implement some standard behaviours, like cut, copy, paste and select all. (NEW) Overview window - box showing visible area now changes colour to remain visible against different coloured backdrops. (doesn't currently work for picture backdrops) (NEW) Colour schemes and authors are now parsed only when needed, resulting in faster startup. (NEW) Release notes - now appear in the help menu. (BUG) Various fixes to choose space window. (BUG) Various corrections to Mac OS X interface. (BUG) Mac OS X icon now appears properly at smaller sizes. (BUG) Fixed a problem with scrolling to elements, where scrolling would occasionally scroll out of bounds. (BUG) Fixes to the overview pane and preview boxes in the view properties to ensure they update when the background of a view is changed. (BUG) Overview - All items should now appear within the overview. Previously, some items would drop off the edge of the overview display, this was especially noticeable with spaces that contained only a few objects. Updates to the overview window should also be more reliable. (BUG) Clickable URLs now implemented on all appropriate fields. Fields that use them are now much faster and more reliable. (BUG) Fixed problems with notes causing errors when the user was editing them and clicked outside their boundary. (BUG) Fixed problem with notes, links and document names where the text cursor would occasionally appear one character to the left of where it was supposed to be. (BUG) Note, link and document names know work in a more predictable fashion. (BUG) Fixed problems with the choose space window when opened from 'Open Space' or from the 'views' button in the space properties window. (KIS) Windows version improving, but still exhibits odd behaviour. I think some of this is down to RealBasic, my development environment. -- Alpha 5 - 20/10/2001 (NEW) Shared Space 2.0 alpha 5 carbonised for OS X!Be sure to download the correct version, if you don't want the application to run in Classic mode. (NEW) View Window - now has revamped layout, and incorporates the overview window, along with two new viewports (see below) (NEW) Hierarchical Viewport - Each view can now be shown as a list of documents, notes and links. Clicking on an item in the list will scroll the view to show it, double clicking will open its info window. (NEW) Find / Filter - Acts both as a tool to find documents, notes and links, and as a filtering system. Items matching the search are shown in the hierarchical viewport. If 'filter main view' is turned on, items in the main viewport are filtered, so only those objects that match the search are shown. (NEW) Notes - Notes can now include carriage returns, and individual notes can use different fonts and text sizes. (NEW) Zooming Elements - Added an option to show documents, notes and link labels at full size when they are rolled over while zoomed out of a view. This option is accessible from the preferences window. (NEW) Pinging Elements - Added an option to highlight the element the user has just scrolled to. Takes the form of an easily visible visual 'ping'. (NEW) Property Field URL Links - Some property text fields can now understand web URLs and email addresses. If you type something that looks like a URL in one of these fields, it will be underlined and drawn in blue. Clicking one of these links will open your web-browser / email program. (NEW) Choose Space Window - Now includes the facility to go back if you decide you want a different space. (NEW) Progress - progress bars are now shown in the window they are relevant to, rather than in a generic 'busy' popup. (NEW) Multiple Selections - Use the shift key to drag multiple selection rectangles. (NEW) Speed Improvements - Display should be a lot faster, even on slower computers. Selection of multiple items is now much faster and smoother. (NEW) Text and Quicktime Previews - Quicktime is now used to display thumbnails for text files and quicktime movies. 'Show Preview' is now used in place of 'Show Image' to reflect this. (NEW) Notes from Text Files - It is now possible to add notes by dragging or importing text files into a view. When the Shared space applications detects that the file to be imported is a text file, a dialog gives users the option to import the text into a new note instead. (NEW) Menus - Various tweaks and shortcuts added. (NEW) Tool Shortcuts - Use the 'm', 'z' and 'h' keys respectively to switch to the arrow, zoom and move tools. (NEW) Contextual Help - Contextual help is now provided for more interface elements. (BUG) Property windows now appear with the correct background colour in windows. (BUG) Windows version now more stable, although some way to go yet... (BUG) Issues with contextual menus and document icons appearing incorrectly should now be fixed. (Blue contextual menus for documents was most frequently occurring example of this.) (BUG) Overview window is now drawn when the view window is not being interacted with. Overview drawing is also faster in this release. (BUG) Removed contextual menu font size preference - this didn't work in windows and didn't add much to user experience anyway. (BUG) Contextual help window only appears when it is supposed to. (BUG) Many many many smaller bug fixes. (KIS) Dragging out of the Shared Space application has been disabled, as it was buggy and could make it hard to interact with objects in the view window. (KIS) Icons sometimes have white pixels around their edges, and 32-bit are no longer anti-aliased in Mac OS. (KIS) Notes, link and document labels sometimes behave erratically. (KIS) URL link functionality within property windows incomplete. (KIS) Overview doesn't correctly display the whole view. This is especially noticeable with views that only have one or two objects. (KIS) In windows, contextual menus only appear if you move the mouse after right clicking. -- Alpha 4 - 19/06/2001 (NEW) Dragging - Basic drag and drop between views has been implemented for document instances. (More advanced drag and drop,including notes and links, will follow in a later release.) (NEW) Dragging to Desktop - Documents can now be moved out of the space back to the Finder/Windows explorer. Documents that are dragged out will lose any properties they had in the space, and will be named according the their original filename. (NEW) Move Tool - An extra tool on the tool palette that facilitates faster navigation of views. By choosing the Move Tool (or holding down the space bar on one of the other tools), users can drag the visible area in the view windows. As they move the mouse, the current visible area of the space changes. (NEW) Overview Window - A thumbnail version of a view, the overview scales to reflect every element in a view. A rectangle shows the visible area reflected in the view window, dragging this will cause the view to move. (NEW) Windows Menu - View windows and property windows are now listed in the windows menu, categorised by their type under sub-menus. Choosing one of these from the menu will bring it to the front. (NEW) Welcome Dialog - Now sports a cleaner interface. Extra information is visible about each space or view in an information pane on the right side of the window. This includes author,description and creation/modification dates. (NEW) Welcome Dialog - Now displays '{OPEN}' next to views that are already open (and thus cannot be opened again) (NEW) Direction Indicator Arrows - helps to show the direction users are scrolling in. (NEW) Error Log - Window now resizable for easy reading. (NEW) Progress Bars - File operations now use progress bars again,as in Alpha 1. (NEW) Info Windows - now float above view windows again, as in alpha1. (NEW) Colour Depth - Application now offers increased performance at non-32-bit colour depths, and a warning for users running in 8-bit colour. (NEW) Contextual Help Window - Looks nicer. (NEW) Mailing List Prompt - Lets users subscribe to the mailing list. (BUG) Document info windows running in Win32 should no-longer flash when activated. (BUG) Fixed problem in Win32 version where background images did not scale correctly. (BUG) Progress box now disappears when a new view is created. (BUG) Corrected a problem with setting view background images, where the new image wouldn't show up until the view was next opened. (BUG) Miscellaneous XML error handling fixes. (KIS) Icons for documents sometimes display incorrectly. (KIS) Contextual menus occasionally appear dark blue. -- Alpha 3 - 06/06/2001 (NEW) Zooming - Zooming in and out now resizes all elements, meaning the visual structure of a view will be maintained at every zoom level. An indicator explaining your current zoom level is also included. (NEW) Grouping - Documents and note can now be 'grouped'. Groups are coloured boxes drawn around elements, allowing users to pick out similar elements easily. Groups are defined using colour schemes, as with link and note colours. (NEW) Delete - Allows users to delete notes, links and documents. If multiple documents and/or notes are selected, all of these are deleted. Any links referring to these elements are also deleted. A confirm box allows the user to cancel. Available from contextual menu for notes, links and documents. (NEW) New Instance - Allows users to duplicate an instance of that document version. This allows users to view two copies of the same version in the same view. Available from the contextual menu for documents. (NEW) Note and Link Info - 'Info' has been added to the contextual menus for both notes and links. Choosing this brings up an info window, similar to that of Authors or Spaces. (NEW) Logging - Logs errors to a file on disk, rather than crashing the application. Logged errors are visible within Shared Space 2.0in the log window. (NEW) Scroll To - Buttons on Link, Note and Document Info windows allow users to scroll directly to that element. (NEW) Multiple Selections - Colouring, Grouping, Version Control and info can all be obtained for multiple documents in one go by selecting the documents and using the menus or contextual menus. (NEW) Search Field - Improved auto complete facility, added text explaining matches and partial matches (NEW) Menus - All functionality included in contextual menus is now also available from the main menus. Elements must be selected before these are available. (NEW) Various UI improvements (NEW) Speed improvements in XML encoding, drawing (BUG) Changing Document Names - If the name of a document version is changed, all other references to it are now changed too, without the need to reload the view. (BUG) Release Notes / Site - Made some corrections and layout changes in release notes. Subscribing to the mailing list is now possible... (BUG) Windows version should be better at drawing images, including the background image. -- Alpha 2 - 07/05/2001 (NEW) New XML File Structure - Full description coming soon... (NEW) Improved XML Parser - The XML parser can now partially check for 'well-formedness'. (NEW) Views - Each space can now have multiple views. Views allow the user to structure the same information in lots of different ways, while retaining structures developed previously. Views can share some, all or none of the content from other views in a space.The advent of views means that spaces are now simply an abstract container for views, as all the information relating to the structure of a space as it appears to the user is contained in a view. (NEW) Authors - Every object in the space now has an author.Information like email addresses and ICQ numbers can be stored fora author, and is accessible by clicking on the author's name whereat appears. (NEW) Colour Schemes - Link and Note colours are now defined in colour schemes. These can be shared between spaces, allowing for faster generation of content structured in a similar way. Notes and links in the same view can share a colour scheme, or have separate colour schemes. (NEW) Multiple Views - Open at Once Users can now open multiple views from multiple spaces at once. Movement of objects between views coming soon. (NEW) Links to Notes - It is now possible to create links to and from links as well as documents. (NEW) Dragging of Multiple Elements - A selection box is provided tallow users to select and drag multiple elements around the space,similar to that found in the Mac OS finder or Windows Explorer. (NEW) Contextual Help - Basic contextual help is now provided for some elements. (NEW) Demonstration Space - A demonstration space and view is provided, giving a basic explanation of some features of the space. (NEW) Restructured Preferences - As many of the features previously included in preferences can now be set individually for views, the preferences dialog and storage has been restructured. (NEW) Link Width - Users can now specify a width for links. This maybe done on a per-link basis in the future, but this is currently a global preference. (NEW) MDI - The Windows version of Shared Space 2.0 now uses the multiple Document Interface for a more familiar Windows experience. (NEW) Full Screen View - The Macintosh version can display views full screen. Toggle this on and off with Command-F (Apple-F).Windows version can display full screen using the maximise button on a view window. (NEW) Language Usage - As part of the restructuring of Shared Space 2.0, it was necessary to make some changes to the language previously used to describe objects, most importantly, 'Files' are now 'Documents'. Files were also previously referred to as 'entities' in some places, these should also read documents now. (NEW) Flashy Mac OS X Selection Box - Mac OS only (BUG) Filtering Text Box - Problem with Filtering text box always having the focus in Windows now fixed. (KIS) Display in Windows - Windows version displays some graphics(eg links to authors) improperly