With the release of Tank4.0 we wanted to address a couple of those small things that have been bugging us for ages. One of these aspects was the way one added things to a site.
New feature: zip-file uploads
We’ll be talking about a couple of new features next: some of them overdue in terms of what you need, and some overdue in terms of where we see the app go. First up: zip-file uploads.
New feature: public and private sites
The recent introduction of the activity tagcloud led to an unforeseen eventuality: any site you create and work on will automatically be linked from our site whether that was your intention or not.
Introducing activity sparklines and tagclouds
Whoa. We used both ‘sparkline’ and ‘tagcloud’ in the same sentence. Not bad going so early in the day.
New functionality: the colour picker
We’re putting the final touches on a new feature: the much-requested colour picker. Soon enough you will be able to specify and build up your own colour palette and customise your skin further.
New functionality: improved commenting
If you’ve been following the development of the app you’d know we like re-using certain aspects throughout the app. The bog-standard comment functionality is used not just in a post section to enable comments on your journal, but we re-use it as a quick and dirty contact form. We’ve noticed our users want to take this further and we’ve made changes to accommodate them.
New feature: template sites
No-one said building a website is easy. Even if a site is simple and straightforward, there are still many variables and factors to take into consideration. Until now, we’ve enabled our users to build their sites ‘from scratch’. While this methodology has worked, it still involves a certain level of hand-holding, and it also allows for users to get it wrong. In short, it clashed with our ‘it just works’ ethos.
Markdown: the simplified version
Let’s face it, the internet consists primarily of text. The site you build with us will invariably consist mostly of text. As we spend so much time entering and editing text - which in turn translates to content for your site - we wanted to make sure we made that experience as natural as possible.
New feature: the photo section
tank was originally envisaged as an easy interaction between pages, posts, photos, profiles and products. We’ve just finished the 3rd aspect: photos. Although you can easily attach any file (including image files) to a page or post, there was still something missing: a quick and easy way to create a collection of photo albums. We went back to the drawing board, stripped out all unnecessary and time-consuming aspects of album creation, and the end-result is almost one of the best features of tank: the photo section.
About skin settings
We’ve been a bit quiet lately, but we have been pretty busy. After demoing the app last week I realized that skins should be a little more flexible. Often people only need minor modifications to a skin - like their own header image, or overriding a couple of colors - so I’m working on more skin setting types.
The easiest and quickest ‘contact form’ in town
A couple of features are quite loosely attached to our framework, in particular files and comments: these data-types can be attached to both posts and pages. Confusing? Not really: any regular blog consists of posts anyway, and your readers attach comments to those posts. We’ve done the same for pages.
Time to eat one’s own dog food
Yesterday I decided that it is time to call a feature freeze. This might sound off-centre in context of so-called ‘rapid development’ and ‘organic growth’, but the thing is - the more things you add the more things break. The longer you put off polishing screens and ironing out bugs, the bigger the chance that you’ll never get to addressing those very issues. We have more ideas than we will ever get to implement. Usability, stability and that “wow” factor is as important.
Say something already
We’ve just (ok a little while ago) enabled comments on the blog. When I say enabled I mean built the functionality from scratch. While I’m not the most appropriate person to get into that aspect (there are more qualified people around, huh Le Roux?), the point is that now more things are in place. Our blog is suddenly a blog. At last, we can start punting this site around and hopefully get some feedback.