Web version update

Official Announcements
#1

Hi all,

There have been a couple of posts and support requests regarding sharing timelines online, so I wanted to post an update here.

We’re still working towards a beta of an online, collaborative version of Aeon Timeline. Previous ETAs underestimated the work required to achieve an acceptable, shareable web version of version 3. We sent out a survey a while back, which has helped us understand the customizability and capabilities needed to make it truly useful for most customers.

Based on everyone’s feedback, we’ve realized that the changes needed go far beyond putting a basic read-only version of the app online. Controls around sharing the right views and the right data will be hugely important.

So, here’s what we’re focusing on right now:

Many of the insights from the feedback are being developed as features to benefit both desktop customers and future online customers. There’s a lot of crossover between what’s needed for the online version and other requested features. We’ve chosen to implement these changes in the desktop app first so that existing desktop customers benefit sooner.

Regarding the version 2 HTML web export, this isn’t planned to be added to version 3. Given the size of the current app compared to version 2, and our team size, it isn’t feasible for us to create and maintain a full HTML export of the app alongside an online version. However, we’re looking into other ways to make it easier to work with timelines within existing workflows, including other export formats that have been requested.

The next two releases (excluding minor releases for bug fixes) are in the works, although certain features are still in flux depending on time constraints. I’ll be posting an update to beta testers soon so there are no surprises, and likewise here once there’s been reasonable testing.

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Web Export
Export to web gone?
Custom Colors
#2

Regarding the version 2 HTML web export, this isn’t planned to be added to version 3 […] However, we’re looking into other ways to make it easier to work with timelines within existing workflows, including other export formats that have been requested.

Will you be testing those new export formats on LARGE timelines? Say, ones spanning centuries, containing over 1000 individual events, some of which span minutes (yes, minutes) and others decades, all convolved with many dozens of locations, characters, and cross-cutting categories? I do appreciate the update (thank you!) but I’m still wary. This doesn’t (yet) allay my concern that Aeon Timeline might no longer be a practical tool for sharing substantial research projects.

#3

Perhaps the best way of testing whether complex and extensive timelines, such as yours, work with the coming updates is to become a beta tester. If you aren’t already one, that is. It may also give you an idea of whether what is planned fits in with your workflow or not.

#4

Hi @Rebecca,

Thanks for the update. It’s always good to hear news about what is under development and which platforms are due to get updates. Although I understand why you are keeping exactly which features are being developed at this time under wraps.

It is unlikely that I will be a user of the online/ web version as I have no need to share any of my timelines. However, I was pleased to read that you are integrating a lot of the development work into the desktop app and releasing a desktop beta first. As otherwise, users like me would have had a long wait for any new features to be released.

All the best and eagerly awaiting further news about a future beta.

Andrew

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#5

Why beta test something we as paying customers have not asked for?
It is not what we need, nor what we want.

#6

That’s a very good suggestion! Thank you. I’d be willing to do it, depending on the specifics. If it risked losing my ability to run AT2 (and the precious web exports), I couldn’t do it.

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#7

I understand that you would not want to interfere with your current workflows by taking part in the beta testing. Hopefully someone from the dev team and/ or support can clarify the specifics.

#8

I, too, would love to be a beta tester. However, I understand that it could disrupt the data in my current project. Unless there is a way I could put it on another machine (my laptop, in this case) and thereby keep it isolated from my live project, I don’t see how I could volunteer to be a beta tester.

#9

I’ve been a beta tester and using the beta of Aeon for a few years now and it has never disrupted my data. I know it’s just a personal anecdote and it may happen to anyone, but so far I’ve found the beta versions very stable.

I also save my files in Dropbox, so if anything were to be messed up, I can just load a previous copy from Version History and get it all back to rights.

#10

I do back up my data obsessively, so I’m not worried about that. My larger concern is whether or not the beta testing procedure would interfere with my AT2 installation.

#11

There is a knowledge base article that deals with this very topic. It covers upgrading version 2 files to version 3 files and how the upgrade process does not overwrite existing version 2 files, making them available to still use with AT version 2:

[Upgrading Version 2 files - Aeon Timeline 3 Knowledge Base]

That article suggests there shouldn’t be a problem. However, I can’t answer your specific question re whether beta testing may affect your version 2 installation. That, undoubtedly, needs answering by support.

@jess @matt @rebecca, could you provide guidance re this issue? Understandably, users don’t want to jeopardise their current workflows by undertaking beta testing. Whether they are version 2 or existing version 3 installations/ files.

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#12

The version 3 beta does not affect the installation of version 2, you are able to install and use these concurrently.

The only issue is that files worked on in version 3 cannot be opened in version 2.

Andrew is correct in that when you open a version 2 file in version 3 it does not overwrite the existing version 2 file (instead it saves a copy with a new file extension). However this means any work done on this file in version 3 cannot be opened in version 2. You can only open the original version 2 file.

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#13

Thanks for clarifying @jess.

#14

@Rebecca, thank you for the update. I have submitted my request to join the beta testing program.

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#15

As Aeon evolves, I desperately hope I can always run a local app with local data. I do not have permission from my employer to share company data with third parties, including cloud storage providers. I imagine lawyers would (or should) have reluctance to put case material out where third parties potentially have visibility.

I like to think I use Aeon for writing fiction. Honestly, the greatest power I’ve gotten from it is tracking correspondence.

My most recent discovery - a real forehead-slapper - is that Mind map entries automatically appear in the timeline if the item type is configured to appear in timeline view and assuming dates were entered.

Before, I would laboriously enter a letter/email/phone call as an event in timeline mode, set its relationship to other things, then right click it and use the Add to mindmap option.

How silly of me. All that can be done in half the effort by entering the item in Mindmap view and I have immediate control of where the new node appears.

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#16

Time flies really fast, but as always… future plans for Aeon Timeline are shady.

Give us a roadmap, already!

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#17

Thank you! I can’t wait to have a web interactive version.