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Last post Author Topic: NoteZilla  (Read 63551 times)

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #25 on: April 10, 2013, 03:52 AM »

@app103

Ok. We have only your request for this option. We will wait for some more demand for this option.

Regards,
Gautam Jain

IainB

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #26 on: April 10, 2013, 07:49 AM »
^^ Ahahaha. Very droll. Apparently unintended humour.
...Ignored/missed the point in 2009, and again in 2013.

@app103: I'm sorry, but you're not that unique. I had exactly the same problem in XP - my auto-hide Task Bar is on the LHS of the screen and about 2½ inches wide. I too lurved that flashing alarm, which was why I didn't use NoteZilla (which, I must say, otherwise seemed to be pretty good). I used Stickes instead - a great piece of software.    :Thmbsup:

Never mind. Hang in there. It's like maturing a good cheese: These things take time.

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #27 on: April 10, 2013, 09:38 AM »
@IainB

Thanks :)

Actually, we may not missed your requests. We have all the requests noted. We have just implemented all the major ones and launched the new version. Once we settle with the launch, we will review all the other requests and keep adding them.

Adding this feature is not a problem. It is a minor change. But by disabling the taskbar flashing button, you might miss the reminder popup window completely. Because Windows XP onwards, another program is not allowed to interrupt the active program. This is the reason the flashing button was added by Microsoft. Do you have any suggestions so that we can disable taskbar flashing button and at the same time not miss the reminder popup window.

Regards,
Gautam Jain

IainB

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #28 on: April 10, 2013, 10:46 AM »
...Do you have any suggestions so that we can disable taskbar flashing button and at the same time not miss the reminder popup window...
-conceptworld (April 10, 2013, 09:38 AM)
No, not really. I am not a prospective or actual user of NoteZilla. As you said to @app103:
...Ok. We have only your request for this option. We will wait for some more demand for this option...
-conceptworld (April 10, 2013, 03:52 AM)
I would suggest you continue to "wait for some more demand for this option". That way, you might never need to fix it or offer that option.

I once went into a cake and biscuit-maker's shop in the UK and asked "Could I buy some gingerbread men biscuits?"
I was told "No. We don't have much call for that sort of thing."
I left the shop without buying anything, utterly confused.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2013, 10:51 AM by IainB »

wraith808

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #29 on: April 10, 2013, 10:53 AM »
It's a matter of what the user base uses.  It sucks to that one user (and they lose the one sale), but the store owner doesn't stock things that don't sell.

IainB

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #30 on: April 10, 2013, 10:59 AM »
^ I think you are missing the point. Never mind.

Curt

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #31 on: April 10, 2013, 12:16 PM »
I too lurved that flashing alarm,
No translation for lurved was found in group All.

Close words: lur, lure, lurk, lurch, lured, lures, lurex, lurgy, lurid, lurks, luring, lurked, lurker, lurched, lurcher
-Golden Dict

?

--------------------------------------

I too was annoyed by the flashing alarm. However, I was annoyed with Microsoft and XP; I don't understand why Conceptworld should be hold responsible. If a feature request was sounding like "please help me to live with XP", and not like "it is your fault that XP is annoying me!", one could maybe hope to win the case...
 :tellme:

app103

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #32 on: April 10, 2013, 01:52 PM »
Well, when given the choice between spending $20 to upgrade Notezilla or $10 to upgrade my old 3M Post-It Digital Notes, if I am going to have to wait till v9 or beyond to get rid of the annoying taskbar button flashing, I'll upgrade 3M and use it only for my notes that have alarms. It doesn't force taskbar button flashing on me and it has a much nicer alarm manager.

Over all, Notezilla is still the better product and I'll be happy to upgrade when the annoyance is fixed. I'd rather not run 3M at all or give them another dime, but necessity rules.  :(


Adding this feature is not a problem. It is a minor change. But by disabling the taskbar flashing button, you might miss the reminder popup window completely. Because Windows XP onwards, another program is not allowed to interrupt the active program. This is the reason the flashing button was added by Microsoft. Do you have any suggestions so that we can disable taskbar flashing button and at the same time not miss the reminder popup window.
-conceptworld (April 10, 2013, 09:38 AM)

I am not saying to take the flashing feature away. I am only asking for an option to disable the flashing. And you don't have to set that as the default. Allow the user to decide how they want it. Those that really want it disabled would be more likely to take the risk that they may miss seeing the popup. Besides, we always have alarm sounds to catch our attention, too.  ;)

But in case you want to know, here is how 3M does it:

They use an animated tray icon (and no annoying taskbar activating balloon notification thingie) instead of an automatic popup window.

Screenshot - 4_10_2013 , 12_28_10 PM_ver001.png

At the same time, it plays an alarm sound.

If the user does not click the alarm tray icon within a user configurable time (I have it set for 30 mins), it plays the sound again. It keeps repeating this till the user clicks that icon. (so, for me, that would be every 30 mins)

Screenshot - 4_10_2013 , 12_37_46 PM.png

When the user does click the icon, it brings up the alarm manager where they see a list of ALL alarms scheduled, with icons in the left column to mark the alarms that are currently due, which ones are snoozed, etc.

Unlike Notezilla, there is no dismissing of one alarm popup window, only to have another and then another pop up after, if multiple alarms are due at the same time. It's all handled in the same window at the same time.

The alarm manager also shows the entries in the order of when alarms are scheduled to go off, so it is easy to see what and when the next alarm will be. The user can easily click any entry in the list to see the actual note and/or change the scheduling for it. And the user can manually open the alarm manager at any time, from an entry on the program's tray icon menu.

Screenshot - 4_10_2013 , 12_36_23 PM.png

A good alarm manager was a feature I had hoped you'd consider adding for v8 of Notezilla. I am willing to wait for that for that feature in v9, to allow you plenty of time to do it nicely. I am not going to suggest you copy 3M's exactly, because I have the confidence that you'll do yours, even better. :)

I promise, if you take care of the flashing issue in the next version, I will purchase it. Take your time...don't rush with a quick fix on my account. :Thmbsup:

I too was annoyed by the flashing alarm. However, I was annoyed with Microsoft and XP; I don't understand why Conceptworld should be hold responsible. If a feature request was sounding like "please help me to live with XP", and not like "it is your fault that XP is annoying me!", one could maybe hope to win the case...
 :tellme:

But it is his fault and not the fault of Microsoft or XP. He is the one making the FlashWindowEx API call that is overriding my OS defaults. He chose to use that API call. Neither Microsoft nor XP forced him to type that into his IDE. I do not normally use software where the developer acts like he knows what is good for me better than I do and overrides my OS defaults, with no option to disable that kind of behavior. If he gave the option to allow the popup window to behave according to my OS settings, it wouldn't lock the taskbar in its fully extended position like it does.

Microsoft even has a whole section on notification etiquette. This is what they had to say about flashing the taskbar:

Use taskbar button flashing sparingly to demand the user's immediate attention to keep an ongoing task running. It's hard for users to concentrate while a taskbar button is flashing, so assume that they will interrupt what they are doing to make it stop. While flashing a taskbar button is better than stealing input focus, flashing taskbar buttons are still very intrusive. Make sure the interruption is justified, such as to indicate that the user needs to save data before closing a window. Inactive programs should rarely require immediate action. Don't flash the taskbar button if the only thing the user has to do is activate the program, read a message, or see a change in status.

My complaint about the flashing that he added is just a reminder of how right Microsoft is about it being very intrusive.

But I like his software...a lot...which is why I paid for it, use it, have no plans on uninstalling it, and am willing to give him a chance to fix it. But I will not hand him another dime until it's fixed, when I feel like I am being pushed into to paying for an alternative while I am waiting for him to fix it. This is an annoyance that I will not live with for another few years, one way or another, even if it means taking matters into my own hands and using an alternative for just the notes that have alarms. I am sorry, but that's how I feel about it.

rgdot

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #33 on: April 10, 2013, 04:32 PM »
I always thought a better solution would be for the sticky note (containing the reminder/assigned the alarm) itself to pop up. Never used NoteZilla kind of surprised it doesn't have this option (or does it?).

Curt

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #34 on: April 10, 2013, 04:49 PM »
But it is his fault and not the fault of Microsoft or XP. He is the one making the FlashWindowEx API call that is overriding my OS defaults. He chose to use that API call. Neither Microsoft nor XP forced him to type that into his IDE. I do not normally use software where the developer acts like he knows what is good for me better than I do and overrides my OS defaults, with no option to disable that kind of behavior. If he gave the option to allow the popup window to behave according to my OS settings, it wouldn't lock the taskbar in its fully extended position like it does.

-thank you for the explanation, April. Of course I never knew. Sorry I wrote as if I did.
 :-[

wraith808

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #35 on: April 10, 2013, 05:56 PM »
If he gave the option to allow the popup window to behave according to my OS settings, it wouldn't lock the taskbar in its fully extended position like it does.

An annoyance under the best conditions.  With *your* task bar?  
* wraith808 shudders

app103

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #36 on: April 10, 2013, 06:55 PM »
An annoyance under the best conditions.  With *your* task bar? 
* wraith808 shudders



rjbull

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #37 on: April 14, 2013, 04:13 PM »
>> My version of this is to have a particular sticky note pop
>> up on ALL pages of a given site, not just a specific one.
You could do this even with Notezilla 7 using wildcards inside titles. When sticking note to a particular window you are shown  the 'Stick To Window' dialog with list of open windows. You can just double click on any window title and edit it like *eBay*. So the note will appear on all pages of eBay website.
-conceptworld (April 08, 2013, 12:30 AM)
Ah...  I missed the possibility to edit.  Thanks for pointing that out.

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #38 on: April 15, 2013, 01:04 AM »

@app103

Thanks a lot for the details.

But it is his fault and not the fault of Microsoft or XP. He is the one making the FlashWindowEx API call that is overriding my OS defaults.

Sorry, I didn't know there was a way to override the defaults. Please do explain how to overrid the defaults so that we can follow the standards. This is better than providing an app specific option. Please do email directly to support [at] conceptworld [dot] com, so that we don't fill this thread with conversations not beneficial to others.

@rgdot

I always thought a better solution would be for the sticky note (containing the reminder/assigned the alarm) itself to pop up. Never used NoteZilla kind of surprised it doesn't have this option (or does it?).

Yes, in the new version Notezilla popups up the sticky note. But Windows does not allow other programs to interrupt. So, we flash the taskbar button.

Thanks everyone :)

Regards,
Gautam Jain


J-Mac

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #39 on: April 20, 2013, 10:43 PM »


But it is his fault and not the fault of Microsoft or XP. He is the one making the FlashWindowEx API call that is overriding my OS defaults.

Sorry, I didn't know there was a way to override the defaults. Please do explain how to overrid the defaults so that we can follow the standards. This is better than providing an app specific option. Please do email directly to support [at] conceptworld [dot] com, so that we don't fill this thread with conversations not beneficial to others.

Regards,
Gautam Jain

-conceptworld (April 15, 2013, 01:04 AM)

Gautam,

Perhaps I misunderstand, but I don’t believe that April is asking you to override a default. She is saying that your FlashWindowEx API call is already overriding the OS default by causing the taskbar to lock open. She wants you to stop overriding the default!

Jim

J-Mac

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #40 on: April 20, 2013, 10:47 PM »
BTW, I will be sticking with Notezilla 7, mainly because you have taken away my ability to send notes over my network. Now you want me to use a paid subscription service just to be able to send a note to a computer in my own home network.

That'll never happen here!

Jim

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #41 on: April 21, 2013, 06:22 AM »

She is saying that your FlashWindowEx API call is already overriding the OS default by causing the taskbar to lock open. She wants you to stop overriding the default!

@J-Mac

Yes. I think you are right Jim.

because you have taken away my ability to send notes over my network. Now you want me to use a paid subscription service just to be able to send a note to a computer in my own home network.

Well, the subscription comes with lot of other things. If it is your own computer, you don't have to send sticky notes back and forth. Subscription comes with syncing of sticky notes between your computers so that you have the same copy of sticky notes everywhere. Plus, when you have the subscription, you create/access sticky notes from any smart-phone such as iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android etc.

In order to take several bigger steps in future, we have had to take couple of steps backwards. If you look at the whole picture, you will learn several benefits of the new model.

Subscription is free for the first year. So one has nothing to lose. It is win-win.

Regards,
Gautam Jain








J-Mac

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #42 on: April 21, 2013, 09:22 AM »

because you have taken away my ability to send notes over my network. Now you want me to use a paid subscription service just to be able to send a note to a computer in my own home network.

Well, the subscription comes with lot of other things. If it is your own computer, you don't have to send sticky notes back and forth. Subscription comes with syncing of sticky notes between your computers so that you have the same copy of sticky notes everywhere. Plus, when you have the subscription, you create/access sticky notes from any smart-phone such as iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android etc.
-conceptworld (April 21, 2013, 06:22 AM)

I am certain that will be a welcome addition for some users; doesn’t do anything for me though.

In order to take several bigger steps in future, we have had to take couple of steps backwards. If you look at the whole picture, you will learn several benefits of the new model.

But I don’t have to do so right now, correct? I can keep running NZ7?

Subscription is free for the first year. So one has nothing to lose. It is win-win.

And the subscription cost thereafter?

Doggone... I lost Piky Suite when you decided to kill that off a year or so ago, and RecentX just became stale - I don’t think there has been an update of much significance for a few years now. Just making it work in OS and browser updates. RecentX had become a bit of a CPU hog when indexing so I had to abandon that. After Notezilla 7 becomes extinct I will not be using any of your programs.   :(

Thank you.

Jim

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #43 on: April 22, 2013, 06:38 AM »

And the subscription cost thereafter?
You can get the details from here.

I lost Piky Suite when you decided to kill that off a year or so ago

PikySuite was re-launched as Copywhiz. We did not kill it. We discontinued some minor features that came with Windows Vista/7/8 as part of Windows Explorer itself.

RecentX just became stale - I don’t think there has been an update of much significance for a few years now. Just making it work in OS and browser updates. RecentX had become a bit of a CPU hog when indexing so I had to abandon that.


We are working on the CPU usage thing. Thanks for your feedback.

After Notezilla 7 becomes extinct I will not be using any of your programs.


 :huh:


Dormouse

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #44 on: July 07, 2013, 11:06 AM »
I haven't upgraded Notezilla because I have no interest in an online subscription.
I understand vendors being attracted to the idea because it gives them an extra income stream, but the other side of that coin is that users have an extra cost.

I much prefer any cloud synchronization to be done through cloud storage (Dropbox, Box etc) - or Google Calendar for reminders, etc. The only exception I make is Evernote, which has a different function and which has a free account so you never have to pay. Android/iOS apps would be good if they optionally synchronised with an online database (though I have found that the Android stickies I use all use handwriting, which I have found more convenient).

Agree completely with app103's recommendations for improvements to the reminders feature.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 06:01 AM by Dormouse »

J-Mac

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #45 on: July 07, 2013, 11:34 AM »
Dormouse,

Just a couple weeks ago I posted something in a thread about Stickies by Tom Revell and mentioned why I won't upgrade Notezilla. Conceptworld posted back that they will shortly be releasing an update that will eliminate use of the cloud and re-allow using your network for sending notes to others. Don’t know how serious they are but here's a link to their post:

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=35092.msg329555#msg329555

Jim

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #46 on: July 08, 2013, 12:58 AM »

Thanks Jim & Dormouse,

Yes, we will be adding the local network feature. When we commit it in public, we surely add it. Just that it sometimes get delayed.

Dormouse, weeks after we announced Notezilla 8, we made the cloud subscription free for 1 whole year. So when you upgrade to the new version, for 1-year you can sync sticky notes with the cloud & access them from phone without paying anything.

You may want to again review the new features added in the Notezilla 8 - http://www.conceptwo...m/Notezilla/WhatsNew

Regards,
Gautam Jain

Dormouse

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #47 on: July 08, 2013, 05:48 AM »
Thanks to both of you.

In practice, the network feature reinstatement does not affect me as I have never used it. I'm quite happy using Dropbox or a network drive for that, and I assume that would still work in v8.

And I do have a strong preference for using that system for any synchronising with Android or iOS devices. Partly because it costs me nothing extra, and partly because it is under my control. Anything done through a Conceptworld server depends on Conceptworld continuing to keep it up, and while it might be free in the 1st year, the costs thereafter are substantial. I would probably pay for an Android app that synchronised with Dropbox, but I'm not sure how much use I would actually make of it in practice; I'm reasonably happy with what I have there already.

I have had a look at the new features (and the removed old features) in v8, and I don't think that any of them affect me much. The big new feature was the web sync, which I won't use which is why it is not worth my while upgrading.

conceptworld

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #48 on: August 30, 2013, 11:16 AM »

Here it is! We just released a new build of Notezilla 8 that will let you send sticky notes instantly to another computer across local network (LAN). This feature does not depend on the Notezilla.Net cloud service.

You can download latest Notezilla 8 from here: http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla
Short video tutorial about how it works is here: http://youtu.be/pFYVUVqJUT8

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

Regards,
Gautam Jain

Dormouse

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Re: NoteZilla
« Reply #49 on: September 21, 2013, 06:31 AM »
I've been having a look at the new features. In theory, a program that can be used on all devices is what I want - but the features here just don't meet my needs.

I would want to see:-

Local storage and use rather than having to rely on an internet connection (synchronising when possible);
Strong security and privacy measures;
An option to make notes local rather than having everything on the net;
The ability to use the notes as sticky notes on phones/tablets (as Android/iOS apps already do);
A much lower annual subscription.

I can see that this may not be financially viable given the likely market - but the competition is either much cheaper or offers many more non-sticky note functions.

When I started thinking more about cross-platform apps I found that Evernote had a sticky note feature that I'd not come across previously. Sticky notes on desktop (much simpler and without the multiple memoboards that I really like, but still, - and I can operate a slightly clunkier system moving notes to and from other noteboards to achieve a similar effect if I want), automatically synchronising with phones/tablets and all free. And I already use Evernote, and it does a lot of other things. Certainly not as good as a sticky note app, but is better as a web app and looks good enough for the sticky notes. So that is what I will be using from hereon.