Q1, 2017 Project

Next project: Book club reading system.  Not fully defined yet, but a client requires a database to keep track of what books have been read by whom.  The information can be used to get a reader's perspective of any book.  It will record the reader's comments and like/dislikes. It will record a reader's summary of the book - quite interesting to see that different readers have different viewpoints and have a whole new idea of what the book was really about!  Amazing stuff and the database is an interesting read on its own, without any book reading.  Will this database be made public?  It is not their intention.  A great solution for Book Readers Clubs

August 2016

Proposed ongoing development of MicroShop alnong with other smaller projects and bug-fixing on all current products.

July 2016

MicroShop is going through an upgrade (version 6.0) and each aspect is under the microscope. New layouts for all pages, additional areas to input additional information on all entities (Clients, Items, JobCards, Invoices, Suppliers, Purchase Orders and much more). The layout is undergoing the revamp to accomodate the HD screen format, which changes both the amount of information available on a single page and its location. HD monitors are essentially, wider, but not as high, meaning careful management of where boxes are placed, so as not to detract from the User Experience. Since the very core of the code is being re-written, this is an ongoing process and is planned to be released in final beta by Q4, 2016. If you are interested in testing the pre-releases in your own environment, we are more than happy to install, support and maintain with priority fixes, as well as welcome you aboard our Client base. Use our Contact Form to apply.

June 2016

So, what are we doing this month? Well, we have some exciting new designs for the menuing structure and will be made available to all subscription-based users or new users from Q3, 2016 onwards.  A sneak-peak is available upon request.  We've extended the Main Menuing System to incorporate 14 additional items on the menu which can be tailored to suit any user.  Since these menu items are configurable per menu, as you drill down in the main menu to sub-menus, the additional buttons can be used as shortcuts to anywhere on the database.  Not so exciting, until you realise that navigating back up the menu system to then drill down to another area can be tedious, at least.  And as we are all about saving time, this should be an added bonus to be able to quickly get to a screen whilst not losing the place you were at, running up and down menus!  These are aligned down the right hand side of the main menu and can always be at hand. 

Menu colours are something many ask about, but trying to find the right combination for all users is all but impossible, so these are now configurable too.  You can select the button colour for each button on each menu!  It may look gaudy, if you are not careful, but it assists those that are colour-blind, have contrast issues, have colour intolerance or those that just wish to have a different 'skin' on the menu.  Along with the buttons themselves, the button borders are resizable in order to assist in defining the button itself.  Great news for the speedy mouse mover!  If you are a fan of Italics, then again the typeface of the buttons can incorporate italic fonts, where available, not globally, rather, each individual button.  How great is that?  Ok, so we've made some significant changes here so all can be happy, but to add to that, we've also taken the button visuals to another level.  As with many products now, when you move your mouse cursor over the button, things change so you can identify where the mouse cursor is and you can ensure you have positively selected the correct button.  When pressed, the button also can be configured to make a colour change so you are sure you have pressed the mouse button sufficiently.  All this assists in feedback to the user as confirmation of something happening.  We all hate it when you press a button and nothing happens, there is no indication of whether the keystroke or mouse click was accepted and therefore you continue to press it until you are satisfied that something is going on - how many times have you pressed the print button on a form, only to find out that all the clicks are recorded and you have six printed documents!!  There are so many ways to improve and as time progresses, we have new tools at our finger-tips that we can take advantage of and use to save our precious time and therefore, be more productive.  This menu will be available to all our products in due course.  As will all aspects of our systems, turning on or off of these features is a breeze.

There are more features under development on the menu, which will be released as and when they are implemented.

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