Screencast: Tick Marks
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Here is a movie that shows how automatic tick marks work and demonstrates the new manual settings available in Bee Docs' Timeline 2.0.9. Enjoy!
Labels: movie, screencast, tick marks, timeline software
T2: Full Screen View
Thursday, October 25, 2007
T2 will allow a full screen view of your timeline in screen optimized mode, bulk edit mode, and print preview mode. This will allow you to give full screen presentations or use the maximum screen area for editing timelines.
Because timeline events are now editing "in place" instead of being edited in a panel, you can also make adjustments to your timelines in full screen view.
By the way, this toolbar icon and all of our custom icons are being designed by Kenichi Yoshida who has been doing great work, don't you think? He has made high resolution versions of all the icons so that T2 will be ready for resolution independence someday in the future.
Labels: feature, full screen, icon, t2, timeline software
T2 Sneak Peeks: Timelines in Seconds
Friday, October 19, 2007
This may be the most dramatic new feature of T2... You will be able to instantly create timelines based on the media and information that you already have stored on your computer!
The following sequence of three screenshots shows charting of recently played iTunes albums.
Labels: import, iTunes, t2, timeline software
T2 Sneak Peaks: Event Rows
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A while back, I posted a tutorial for creating parallel timelines using Bee Docs' Timeline and page layout software. Charting multiple rows of events is a great way to make comparisons. For instance, you could compare one persons recollection to another or you compare the history of painting with architecture.
In T2, multiple event rows will be a built in feature and will be easy to create. For example, I have created a timeline that compares major releases of Windows OS with major releases of Mac OS X:
Labels: parallel timelines, screenshot, t2, timeline software
T2 Sneak Peaks: Background Images
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Another very exciting feature of Bee Docs' Timeline 2.0 will be user settable background images!
Labels: background image, t2, timeline software
T2 Sneak Peaks: Search
Friday, October 12, 2007
Search in T2 was a feature I wanted to get right. It turned out to require a bit more design attention than you might expect. I don't know if you've stopped to think about it before, but search works different ways in different applications.
For example, in iTunes search hides the categories and songs which don't match the criteria, so the list if songs being shown is getting smaller as your search criteria becomes more specific. In a word processor, search does not hide all the non-matching words. Instead, it highlights the found words in context of the document, often sequentially.
When you are looking at a timeline with many events, what do you want to do when you use the search feature? Probably, you want to locate a particular event in order to make a change, or perhaps you are presenting the relationships between certain types of events. For example, take a look at the following timeline based on WWI events as described in Wikipedia:
As I mentioned in a previous post, there are 254 events in this timeline and it spans over 100 pages. Let's say that I wanted to present all of the events related to France. If I search for the word "france", the events which do not match will fade down but will stay in place in order to provide context to the events regarding France:
By contrast, in Bulk Edit mode the search hides all of the events which do not match the search (à la iTunes). This is because the chronological relationships between events are not reflected in this view, so there is no value gained by keeping the events on screen which do not match the search.
Labels: iTunes, search, t2, timeline software
Quicklook in T2
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
As noted in this interesting article from Apple Insider, Apple has continued to evolve the Finder in Leopard. In particular, Quicklook and an improved Spotlight make it much easier to find and browse the files you are looking for. However, in order to take full advantage of these features, the software applications you use must support them.
T2 will offer full support for both Quicklook and Spotlight in Leopard. The screenshot below shows the thumbnail view of two Timeline documents, a text file, and a PDF timeline. The icons for T2 documents are dynamically created to match the color and font scheme of the timeline chart they contain.
If you select a T2 document in Finder and press the space bar, a Quicklook preview instantly pops up like this:
Just a few weeks left until Leopard if Apple keeps to their October shipping date!
Labels: leopard, Quicklook, spotlight, t2, timeline software
T2 Sneak Peeks: Images and Colors
Friday, October 05, 2007
Bee Docs' Timeline has always been first and foremost about communicating history in a beautiful and elegant fashion.
To this end, T2 will introduce event images! To add images to events, you simply drag and drop images from the image panel onto the events in your timeline. The timeline automatically resizes the image and reformats the event layout to fit the image. You can also drag and drop images from other applications.
To create the following timeline, I dragged images of jazz piano players directly from Safari (wikipedia.org) onto the related events.
Images can be resized on a per event basis or in bulk, and your events can also include notes and hyperlinks as well. Notice that two of the events shown in the screenshot contain notes and that each event can link back to the Wikipedia article that describes the event. Like the other screenshots that I am posting, the layout is completely automatic, there was no dragging events around to make them fit.
This is one of the most requested features and I am thrilled to be able to provide the functionality with T2!
Labels: Mac OS X, t2, timeline software
Best Month Ever!
Thursday, February 01, 2007
I'm pleased to announce that January 2007 was our all time best sales month for Bee Docs' Timeline. The record was previously held by our launch month back in March 2005! The number of licenses sold surpassed our launch month by a large margin. I'm not sure why... we didn't launch any new ad campaigns or anything, but the timing is great.
Thanks to everyone who either bought a copy or told someone about Timeline!
In other news, I have been plugging away at the code for T2, the second major version of Bee Docs' Timeline. I had been doing design and prototype work for the last several months of 2006, and on January 1st, I began working on the T2 project itself (this is a "from scratch" rewrite).
There is still much work to be done, but basic event drawing and editing, parallel event rows, collision detection, notes, drag and drop event images, and Timeline 1.0 document support are complete. I should be able to release a beta to existing customers around the time that Apple ships Leopard (T2 will be for Leopard only).
I've also been brainstorming and thinking about what is next after T2. I contacted the lead engineer on the Simile Timeline project who was supportive about having us integrate their AJAX timeline charts into Bee Documents' products, so who knows what the future will bring... Something for web perhaps???
Labels: development, sales, simile, t2, timeline software
T2 Implementation
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Over the past several months, in addition to my design work on T2, I have build many small test applications that implement different aspects of the T2 project. They give me a chance to work out some of the challenges without diving full on into a large code base.
In the past week, I have shifted much more of my attention from design to implementation. Much of that effort has been on small test application, but I have recently started to assemble the various technologies into a "T2" project as well.
Here some of the things I have been working on:
- New Layout Code for Events
- Multiple Row Layout (Parallel Timelines)
- An Inspector similar to Keynotes Inspector for editing visual attributes
- An importer for Timeline 1.0 timelines
- Event drawing and layout
There are at least a few months of work to go before a beta release, but it is fun to finally dive in.
Labels: development, t2, timeline software
Are we there yet?
Monday, December 11, 2006
Here is the latest icon draft with some more details added. We are so close to being final I can almost taste it!
Labels: icon design, t2, timeline software
T2 - Images and Links
Thursday, December 07, 2006
In addition to line wrapping and notes, two Bee Docs' Timeline features that are often requested are the ability to add images to events and ability to link events to a document or URL.
Images
There are a few design challenges related to images. Most importantly, I want to have a visual design that seems obvious and natural. I don't want the images to appear like they have been tacked on as an afterthought.
Another challenge is that as events support more features (titles, dates, images, notes, links), users may choose any combination of these things in the same timeline. I want events that show only an image to look great next to events that use all the features, or next to events that don't have an image.
I have tried a bunch of different design ideas over the past week. I've tried placing the image above, under, and next to the notes, putting the image next to the title, etc... Here is the design I like best so far:
(Like many of the other design ideas I'm showing on this blog, this was mocked up using Apple Keynote which is my rapid prototype tool of choice these days.)
Links
Links are another often requested feature. Lawyers, in particular, have wanted to be able to link events in a timeline to external documents or videos.
One of the design challenges with links is that events are currently selected with a click, and I always get annoyed using software that makes me accidentally click links... Don't you hate it when you enter an e-mail address in Word and then try to edit the address and instead it launches your e-mail client. Arg!
The other challenge is that links are often ugly URLs that I wouldn't want to add clutter and distract from the main point of a timeline chart which is to show the relationships between chronological events.
Here is my favorite solution so far. When an event isn't selected, you don't see anything related to the link. When it is selected, the link (if it exists) shows up as an arrow button. Clicking this arrow would open up the external document or web page.
One thing that I'm thinking would be fun is automatically generating timelines based on news feeds (I'm doing a really rough version of this in my blog header). The article title could be the event title, the first few lines of text could come from the article, as would the image. If you clicked the link it would open the original article in the web browser.
Please let me know whether or not you would use features like these and, if so, what you would use them to present. I also welcome comments or suggestions on the design ideas.
Labels: image, links, photos, t2, timeline software
Icon Details
Kenichi and I have been trading e-mails back and forth about the last icon draft. I asked him what he thought and he said that he would like the pencil to be more original.
I spent a little time digging around Flickr for pictures of colored pencils. I found this one that I like:
Notice that pencils are sometimes stamped with foil lettering and that the tips are rarely perfect once they have been used. Maybe adding some more fine detail like this will bring the icon to life.
I also wanted to play around with the arrows on the timeline and see if we can get them to look more like a sketch without loosing the clarity at smaller sizes. I took the last design and ran some Photoshop effects on the arrows (noise, motion blur, smudge tool, and color adjustments), to get a quick idea of how more sketchy arrows might look. I like it and think it helps separate the pencil and the chart.
I sent this back to Kenichi, so we'll see what he can do with these ideas. And thanks to all those who have provided feedback via the comments or e-mail! A big reason why I am blogging all this stuff is to harvest the wisdom and ideas of the community.
Labels: colored pencil, icon design, t2, timeline software
Other Timeline Software
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Just for the heck of it, I thought I'd provide links to some of my timeline competition. After searching Google for a while, these are the ones I found:
- TimeLiner 5.0 (Mac / PC)
- LivingTime (Mac)
- Azlance Timeline 2.0 (Mac)
- FTLCtimelines (Mac)
- SmartDraw (PC)
- Timeline Maker Basic (PC)
- Matchware OpenMind 2 (PC)
- Simile (Web)
I haven't actually tried any of these (trying to leapfrog the competition by thinking fresh), but I want to understand the general lay of the land. If I've missed any timeline software that you know of, put a link in the comments.
Labels: livingtime, simile, smartdraw, timeline maker, timeline software, timeliner
Line Wrapping in a Timeline
The current version of Bee Docs' Timeline displays events like this:
The event label gets one line and the date gets one line. This design is very simple and elegant. If the event only has one date like the one show here does, then the label and the date are next to each other. If there is a date range, then a horizontal line representing the length of the event goes between the label and date (more spacing is added to accommodate the line).
The automatic layout feature of Bee Docs' Timeline only needs to know the length and height of the total event to avoid collisions.
The single line approach works very well for many people but it isn't flexible for handling very long event names. Really long event names are hard to read on a single line and can cause collisions that the auto-layout system isn't able to handle.
So, the next version of Timeline (T2) will handle line wrapping for events. It might look something like this:
It seems like a simple thing, but it will actually be quite complex to make the auto-layout choose good widths for events in addition to finding the best height to avoid collisions. I could let users choose event widths, but the whole point of Bee Docs' Timeline is that users only need to worry about entering data and the software will do a good job of drawing the timeline.
Another popular feature request is the addition of a notes field. An event with a label and notes (both line wrapping) may look something like this:
Notes add another layer of complexity to the layout because they could be of any length (an extreme example would be an entire book). The software is going to have to make good decisions about line wrap, width, vertical placement, and the length of the notes to show when all the events are being placed on the page.
If I do my job well enough, users won't have to think of any of this, it will just happen "magically" and people's timelines will look like a million bucks with minimal effort on their part.
DISCLAIMER: These are early designs, drawn using Apple's Keynote software. The end product might be very different, but they give you an idea of my thoughts toward T2 so far.
Labels: events, layout, line wrapping, t2, timeline software
Final Icon?
Monday, December 04, 2006
This may be the final draft of the T2 icon...
What do you think?
Labels: icon design, t2, timeline software
More Icon Details
Friday, December 01, 2006
Here is the latest icon draft from Kenichi. This one has the timeline added to the sketch pad. I've asked him to tweak the coloring a bit and Kenichi is working on refining a few details, but I think we are almost there.
Labels: icon design, t2, timeline software
Icon - New Layout and Eraser
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Here is a new draft of the application icon that I received from Kenichi today. Note that he has shifted the orientation so that the binding is at the top and used one pencil instead of the box in order to make the icon more visible at small sizes. The clock face represents a clock sitting on the page.
Instead of the clock, I asked Kenichi to try adding an eraser to the design. I've always like the soft erasers that come in a cardboard sleave like the one shown below. He brought up a good question about whether erasers work with colored pencils. I believe the soft kind do, but I'm not sure...
If you have experience with colored pencils and various types of erasers please share in the comments!
Labels: colored pencil, eraser, icon design, timeline software
Icon - New Draft
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Here is the latest T2 icon draft from Kenichi. It is a more detailed version of the last version. At my request, Kenichi is going to try a horizontal page layout and more similarly colored pencils in the next iteration.
Labels: 3d, icon design, t2, timeline software
Icon - 3D Rendering
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Here is the first 3D mockup of the T2 icon. Kenichi created with it with Cinema 4D.
I'm happy with how the icon is coming together but I asked Kenichi to concider a few changes... I asked to have the notebook rotated into a landscape position as this is the most common orientation for timeline charts. Also, I asked that the colored pencils be more similar in color (all cool colors or all warm colors).
Of course, Kenichi will also need to add a timeline chart to the sketch pad.
He is now working on a final design and I can't wait to see it! I'll be sure to share it here as soon as it is ready.
Labels: 3d, icon design, t2, timeline software
Icon - More Sketches
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Here are the second round of sketches provided by Kenichi in response to my feedback on the first round of designs.
Kenichi describes them as:
- Sketch pad with a wooden pencil box
- Sketch pad with a feather pen
- Chalk board with chalk
I like the colored pencil metaphor the best (#1) as it is the most representational of how a timeline chart would be created without software. I asked Kenichi to continue his design process based on this concept.
In the next entry, I'll show the first 3D rendering of this icon design.
We're still very much in the design process, so please feel free to use the commenting feature to let us know what you think!
Labels: colored pencil, icon design, sketch, timeline software
Icon Design - First Concept
Monday, November 13, 2006
Here is the first concept drawing that Kenichi Yoshida provided for the T2 application icon:
The design is a timeline chart with a presentation controller.
I told Kenichi that I liked the way he rendered the timeline. The thick bars represent a timeline well, and should be visible at small icon sizes.
The presentation controller, however is not a metaphor that I am comfortable with for Timeline. The software is strongly focused on creating charts for printing (reports, books, trail exhibits, wall charts, etc...), and not on powerpoint style presentation. Also, there aren't live presentation controls built into T2, so I thought this design concept may be misleading to new customers.
I asked Kenichi to try some concepts focussed around none-digital charting methods. For example, a chalkboard, easel, notebook, taped wall chart, pointing stick. In the next post, I'll show you what he came up with.
Labels: drawing, icon design, presentation, timeline software
T2 Icon Design - Keywords
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Kenichi Yoshida, who is doing the application icon design work for T2, starts his design process by asking for keywords which describe the purpose and utility of the application.
This was a good exercise for me. I am used to describing Bee Docs' Timeline with many words ("Timeline makes it easy and quick to create beautiful timeline charts worthy of..."). However, using single words was a challenge. I think the ones I ended up with get to the heart and soul of the application:
- Visualization
- Presentation
- Charting
- Understanding
- Communication
I'm glad I have begun to pursue the icon design early in the development process. As an icon is a symbol that quickly conveys the utility of an application, I can use this design process as an opportunity to think through all the issues that will guide the design of the application itself.
Labels: icon design, t2, timeline software
Icon Design
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
As many of you know, I've begun work on the next major release of Bee Docs' Timeline. I call it "T2". It is still several months away from beta, so patience will be required if you are waiting for it, but I'm ready to start blogging about it.
This time around, I have a little more money to spend on the project, and a lot less time. This means that instead of doing everything myself like I did for the first version, I can bring on some collaborators to help out with certain aspects.
One aspect that I think can be improved from the original version is the icon design. I designed the "watch" icon that is currently the application icon. I think it looks pretty good, but it doesn't accurately represent the use of the software, and it doesn't stand out at smaller sizes.
I've been hunting for a world class Mac OS X icon designer for several months. I wanted someone who specialized in Mac icons as Mac icons tend to have a specific look and feel. I also wanted someone who understands the value of simplicity, but who also has a strong eye for detail.
I recently came across Kenichi Yoshida, a young icon designer from Japan, who has some beautiful examples of his work on his website. I'm excited that Kenichi has agreed to design the application icon for T2 and we have already sent a flurry of e-mails back and forth brainstorming and refining the design.
I'm also excited that Kenichi has given me permission to blog the work in progress. So in the next few blog entries, I'll discuss the design process and show you some of the sketches and drafts as the work comes together. Stay tuned!
Labels: icon design, Kenichi Yoshida, Mac OS X, timeline software
One Year of Timelines!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
This week marks the one year anniversary of Bee Docs' Timeline v1. The project has been a great success so far and I am greatful for everyone who has supported the project by purchasing a license or providing feedback.
The celebrate, we are offering a 25% discount through the month of May. To receive your discount, use the code ANNIVERSARY at checkout.
Labels: anniversary, coupon code, timeline software
Universal Binary of Bee Docs' Timeline
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
We just released Bee Docs' Timeline 1.5 with Universal Binary support for both Intel and PowerPC Macs. The new version also expands the page spanning limit from 10 to 20 pages!
Labels: page spanning, timeline software, universal binary
Record month for timelines
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Timeline software sales have been hot for us this month. March was the best selling month for Bee Docs' Timeline since it's 1.0 launch last May!
What's up? I'm not sure what the spike in sales is all about but I appreciate your support and am glad that so many people are finding Timeline useful.
Speaking of Timeline, we are currently testing a Universal Binary version that should be ready for release in the next week or two. Stay tuned!
Labels: sales, timeline software, universal binary
Timeline Software Update
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
I have just posted an updated version of Bee Docs' Timeline (v1.3). This version fixes a rare but pesky bug that causes the foundation date labels to disappear during certain date ranges.
You can download the new version from the Bee Docs' Timeline web page
Labels: bugs, timeline software, update
Exbiblio
Friday, August 19, 2005
We were recently approached by the folks at Exbiblio. I am going to help them build software to demonstrate their futuristic document technologies.
I can't say much more about it now (top-secret, y'know). However, I think it will be great a great partnership as both Bee Documents and Exbiblio are focussed on making documents more useful and more powerful but we are coming at it from different angles. I look forward to showing all of you what we are working on someday soon. It is pretty exciting technology.
And fear not, we will also continue to release and update our own software products such as Bee Docs' Timeline and Bee Docs' Call Out. There should be new releases for both of those products by the end of the year.
Labels: callout, exbiblio, timeline software
Parallel Timeline
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Parallel timelines are a powerful tool for comparing historical events in different categories (for example, art and literature). They can also be used to compare witness testimonies in the courtroom.
This week, I posted a Parallel Timeline Tutorial on the Bee Documents web site. Download Bee Docs Timeline if you haven't yet, and give it a spin on the tutorial.
Labels: parallel timelines, timeline software, tutorial
Timeline Update (Windows Version)
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I’ve been working on the Windows version of Bee Docs Timeline this week. Here is the current screenshot. Click it for a full size version:
First, I created a custom timeline control that handles a background color, adjustable foundation, and draws a text string. Then, I hooked up the toolbar buttons so that the font, font color, background color, foundation shading, and foundation height can all be adjusted. I also hooked up the zoom buttons so that the timeline can be zoomed. I also wrote some code that finds a nice starting location for the options window when it is opened.
Then, I went down the File menu and added functionality to each item. The software can now perform: New File, Open, Save, Save As, Print, Print Preview, Export Timeline (as PNG or TIFF graphic), Exit. I also added functionality for displaying the document name in the title bar and tracking whether or not a document is “dirty” so that I can display appropriate warnings when the application is exited.
Next, I am going to work on undo / redo functionality and add the ability to set the timeline size based on the print setup options.
Labels: screenshot, timeline software, windows
Timeline Software for Windows - Progress Report
Friday, July 01, 2005
This week, I have been working on a Windows version of Bee Docs Timeline. Today I laid out most of the user interface elements and created toolbar icons that are appropriate for Windows. This is the instant gratification part of programming as you can get something that looks like a fairly complete program with a day or two of work. Here is a screenshot of the user interface so far:
For the sake of comparison, here is the Mac version. They are pretty similar except for the toolbar icons and option drawer. You can click on either screenshot for a larger version. By the way, the toolbar icons for the Mac version of Bee Docs’ Timeline are courtesy of Seattle’s Mac hero, Mike Matas.
I’m predicting that most of my code for drawing the timelines will be fairly easy to port to Windows. After all drawing a line from point A to point B is a pretty similar operation on any platform. Therefor, I am going to save that part to the end. Next, I am going to work on printing, page size control, saving and loading data, etc… After all that is working, I will write the code to actually draw the timelines.
Labels: timeline software, windows