Contest: Tell us your true story of innovation
Thursday, December 13, 2012
For many, December is a season of storytelling and inspiration. Along with our partners at the Out of School podcast, we want to join in the excitement. Plus, we have gifts!
Now through December 27, we want to hear your true story of innovation, telling how timelines were used in a classroom to engage students. Your story can involve timelines created with a BEEDOCS product, another product, or even paper and pen!
Email your story to us at story@beedocs.com for a chance to win a prize package including:
A $25 App Store Gift Card
Timeline 3D for Mac ($65 value)
Timeline 3D for iOS ($15 value)
Educators, students, and others with stories of student engagement to share are encouraged to send them to us before midnight PST on December 27. The winning story will be read on the Out of School podcast and posted on the BEEDOCS blog.
The reviews are in!
Monday, December 03, 2012
I spent about 2 years of full-time development work bringing Timeline 3D for iOS. As a developer, it is so exciting and nerve-wracking to arrive at the point that I can share the app with customers and wait for the first reviews to roll in.
Well, the first reviews are in and they have been very enthusiastic. If you haven’t yet purchased Timeline 3D for iOS, I hope that you will do so and will consider leaving your own review on the App Store.
Thanks everyone!
5 / 5 stars – Average App Store Rating
“It is like magic and makes me look brilliant” – David Sparks, MacSparky
“I was able to assemble a timeline for a colleague in a matter of minutes which put his professionally-produced timeline to shame.” – USA App Store Review
“This app has helped me clarify and communicate crucial evidence. It’s a God send for me.” – USA App Store Review
“A must have for trainers, teachers, speakers and lectures” – USA App Store Review
« C’est très propre, esthétique et élégant » – France App Store Review
“The iOS version takes the process of creating and presenting timelines to a new level” – UK App Store Review
„Das ist ja eine klasse Umsetzung.” – Germany App Store Review
“Timeline 3D on iOS that makes it even easier to create and present timelines” – UK App Store Review
“The time taken to bring this app to users is in evidence here; the ‘polish’ and precision show.” – USA App Store Review
“Today’s Best Apps” selection – AppAdvice
Introducing Timeline 3D for iOS
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
I am very pleased to announce Timeline 3D for iOS!
We put together a short video to show you what it looks like.
Available for purchase on the App Store.
For more information on the differences between the iOS version and the Mac version, please see our feature comparison table.
Enjoy!
Labels: announcement, iOS, iPad, iPhone, movie, timeline 3D
Timeline for iPad - Beta Announcement
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
As you probably know, we've been working hard to make Timeline 3D for iPad a reality. We plan to launch by the end of the year, but we'd like to give a few lucky customers an early preview of Timeline 3D for iPad.
Like its predecessors, Timeline 3D for iPad will be the most simple way to create beautiful multimedia timelines, and getting feedback from our customers’ hands-on experience is vital to helping us develop the best possible product. If you'd like to apply to be part of our beta, please email lee@beedocs.com with the following information:
- In what part of the world do you live?
- How do you use Timeline 3D or Easy Timeline?
- How would you envision using an iPad version of Timeline 3D?
Please note: Timeline 3D is built with Apple's latest technologies and requires iOS 6 or above.
A Close Look at Timeline Pixels
Thursday, July 12, 2012
I just published a free update to Timeline 3D (v3.6) and a free update to Easy Timeline (v1.4) is on it’s way through the App Store approval process as well. These new updates improve on the sharpness and clarity of your timelines and I wanted to show it off a bit.
Looking at the new retina displays on the iPhone, iPad, and new MacBook has made it easier for me to see pixels on non-retina devices. This has brought to my attention things in my current products that can be improved.
Take a look at this close up image from the most recent version of Timeline 3D.
Do you see how the four descender lines have different shades and different widths? This is because they didn’t line up in space exactly at pixel boundaries. Take a careful look at the pixel wide transition at the edge of the photo as well.
This image is at 400% scale from a non-retina display so in normal use these flaws are much less noticeable. However, they have the subtle effect of making the timeline look fuzzy.
Here is a screenshot from the new version that I shipped today:
Compared to the image above, the lines and image borders are much more consistent and crisp because I've improved the pixel alignment of the graphic elements.
I hope that you enjoy this update and that your timelines look better than ever before!
Labels: graphics, pixels, screenshot, update
Customizing iBook Author Widget
Friday, May 18, 2012
This morning, a customer sent me an e-mail with a good question. So I thought that I would post the response here for anyone else who is interested. The question was about whether or not it is possible to customize the look of the iBooks Author Widgets that Easy Timeline and Timeline 3D can export.
The answer is that yes, it is possible if have done a little web programming and can understand how to modify a CSS file.
The "wdgt" file that our software creates is actually a folder containing a website. It is a "file wrapper" so Mac OS X presents it to you as a single file even though it is really a folder.
To view the contents of the folder, right-click or control-click it and choose "Show Package Contents" from the contextual menu. In the package, you will be able to find a folder called "style" which contains a file called style.css. This CSS file controls all the formatting for the timeline widget.
The safest way to modify this file is to add your changes to the end of the CSS file. It a parameter (such as a color) is set at the end of the file, it will override the setting earlier in the file. I prefer this method rather than changing the setting in place as it makes it easier to revert the change if it didn't work out.
In fact, this is exactly what I did for the red and green looks. If you export a red ("Ruby") or green ("Emerald") timeline widget and examine the CSS file, you will see that I added about 7 lines to the end of the file to make these Looks different from the blue one, which is the default. If you change these lines (or add more) then you will also be able to change the color.
The colors in these last few lines should be safe to modify as long as you know the proper formatting of a CSS file. The positioning information in the rest of the file is complex and interdependent, so modify it at your own risk. As with any custom coding you do, please test to make sure it works as you intended.