XYplorer Beta Club

Unfortunately I don't have the answers, but at least (I think!) I can see the problem.

As far as I see it, I don't see what is wrong with have a $30 product and AT THE VERY LEAST, charging $10/year for upgrades.

For any loyal fan who has given you great ideas and support throughout the year, why not publicly waive their upgrade fee?

Instead of a version number, follow the example of the Anti-Virus companies:
XYplorer 2007.
Release it at the beginning of the year, and for that year, customers get bug fixes, NO NEW FEATURES.

Have XYPlorer 2008 in private beta test for your loyal fans until the last few months of 2007, and then release it for public beta before the end of the year before you do a final release.

Maybe all my ideas are dumb, I don't care.

I just want to see XYplorer live as long as possible, and see appropriate credit given where it is due.


Peace.

axfleming wrote:Take a break on adding new features and spend a month or so just researching options on how best to promote XYplorer to a wider audience!

Damn, that was my idea as well! That makes it 2 of us. According to the 2-fools rule I have to do it, now!

Additionally I will work a bit on the looks. The configuration dialog needs a better organization bad. Also I recently learned how to draw XP/Vista-style column headers... etc.... stuff like this works for or against an app unconsciously, I think.

Recently I experience an irrational liking of the Firefox tab headers... wow, those are the best tab headers I've ever seen. I probably cannot resist but create new tab headers for XY...

admin wrote:Additionally I will work a bit on the looks. The configuration dialog needs a better organization bad.

Recently I experience an irrational liking of the Firefox tab headers... wow, those are the best tab headers I've ever seen. I probably cannot resist but create new tab headers for XY...

A revised config dialog has been on your roadmap for a while, right? Having it be the other style (whatever it's called!) where it's more of a vertical flyout was the plan, as I recall...

And how exactly are FF tab headers better? I use FF only on occasion to verify how things work there, and don't see anything that different about them...ok, so they have rounded left tops, and shadow on right edge, maybe?

j_c_hallgren wrote:

admin wrote:Additionally I will work a bit on the looks. The configuration dialog needs a better organization bad.

Recently I experience an irrational liking of the Firefox tab headers... wow, those are the best tab headers I've ever seen. I probably cannot resist but create new tab headers for XY...

A revised config dialog has been on your roadmap for a while, right? Having it be the other style (whatever it's called!) where it's more of a vertical flyout was the plan, as I recall...

The plan
- instead of tabs a vertical list with icons+captions
- more sections
- more on-the-spot information

j_c_hallgren wrote:And how exactly are FF tab headers better? I use FF only on occasion to verify how things work there, and don't see anything that different about them...ok, so they have rounded left tops, and shadow on right edge, maybe?

Well, they look better. Yes, I'm probably infected by the Vista-Virus, because before I never gave much for 3D-lights and shadows. Whatever, it's an aesthetic decision -- hard to justify...

jacky wrote:- If you intend to change the price of Lifetime license, I'd say you might even emphasize more on the low price of the lifetime license, make it a "special deal" or "limited time offer" thing, to urge people to take the deal now...

Done. I will turn it into a spanky (tnx, Luke!) graphics after if I got some positive feedback to the sentence I used. English okay?

* LIMITED TIME OFFER! The XYplorer Lifetime License at merely € 22.50/US$ 29.50 is a limited special offer that will expire on September 30, 2007! Hurry up to get your Lifetime License now!

Limited LIFETIME offer?

This may be of some use to you for mailing newsletters:
http://pommo.org/

Also, the time cut-off - wouldn't it make sense to make a big deal of this with advertising/promotion before hand? It's all very well having this offer, but if no one hears about it...

Also, regarding licensing - for the non-lifetime one, how about they just get 12 months of updates (everything, including new features blah blah blah) for the current $30? That would be relatively easy to code in I would imagine and it's a pretty standard way to do things, so no one would have to worry about wrapping their head around things. Also, this way, you only have to keep 6.10, 6.20, 6.30 etc for download. If people want to get the betas, they can do that on a daily basis.

I really dislike the idea of paying for features, and I would think it would make life pretty complicated with coding bug fixes and features separately - or something...

lukescammell wrote:Limited LIFETIME offer?

Yes, I'm aware of it... give me a better way to say it.

lukescammell wrote:Also, the time cut-off - wouldn't it make sense to make a big deal of this with advertising/promotion before hand? It's all very well having this offer, but if no one hears about it...

Sorry, which offer now? " time cut-off " ??

Admin: Yes, I'm aware of it... give me a better way to say it.

XYplorer is CHANGING! It will continue to get better with every new version.

Get your Lifetime licensed version now at this incredibly low price whilst offering incredibly good value. This offer is shortly to end, so don't delay!

j_c_hallgren wrote:My point was that, if we're, let's say, at maybe 6.70 or above but within the 6.x, any feature that would get a "+++" in log could possibly wait until 7.0, and maybe if there were at least two of these, that would give some more specific and definite value to the new branch...

Yeah, but I don't agree with this actually. Since the license wouldn't be for 7.00 but 7.xx, the whole branch. New features are added within 6.xx, and when fully done & tested XY goes 7.00

Everything added on 6.xx branch is new for the 7.00 version, and while people with a 6.xx license might not really see much new at the start, a 7.xx license is good for a full run of new features.
I like the way it's done now, and I think it's the best way to go for XY...

admin wrote:I agree. By any chance: can you give me a hint how a newsletter service is set up? I could research it myself, but maybe you (or anybody here!) know already.

hmm.. nope, sorry, no experience there.

admin wrote:The plan
- instead of tabs a vertical list with icons+captions
- more sections
- more on-the-spot information

This all seems quite good. I think the best thing to try to achieve, although it is obviously not that easy to do, would be to provide an easy way for someone to find the option he's looking for, while has no clue of what it is called. Ideally, some kind of "search option feature" would be great, but likely hard to come up with & implement.
Of course, a good sectioning would help as well (no offense of course, but the current General vs Advanced aren't that obvious as what can be found under there)

admin wrote:Well, they look better. Yes, I'm probably infected by the Vista-Virus, because before I never gave much for 3D-lights and shadows. Whatever, it's an aesthetic decision -- hard to justify...

Anything you want, as long it you keep one thing the same : pixel use. If they don't require more pixels, in any way (not getting larger, or require more space to show the same amount of data), then I don't care

admin wrote:[ English okay?

* LIMITED TIME OFFER! The XYplorer Lifetime License at merely € 22.50/US$ 29.50 is a limited special offer that will expire on September 30, 2007! Hurry up to get your Lifetime License now!

Might I suggest:

LIMITED TIME OFFER! The one and only XYplorer Lifetime License for just € 22.50/US$ 29.50. Get yours now before it's too late - this one-time offer expires on September 30, 2007.


PS I'm kinda partial to FF tabs myself. Looks ain't everything, but they count, too

lukescammell wrote:Also, regarding licensing - for the non-lifetime one, how about they just get 12 months of updates (everything, including new features blah blah blah) for the current $30?
I really dislike the idea of paying for features, and I would think it would make life pretty complicated with coding bug fixes and features separately - or something...

I'm not sure if this particular variant scheme was previously discussed, but I see it as having potential...

panorama wrote:LIMITED TIME OFFER! The one and only XYplorer Lifetime License for just € 22.50/US$ 29.50. Get yours now before it's too late - this one-time offer expires on September 30, 2007.

That's much better, but I'd suggest also:
LIMITED TIME OFFER! Beat the price increase! The unique XYplorer Lifetime License is still only € 22.50/US$ 29.50. Get yours now before it's too late! This one-time offer expires on September 30, 2007.

j_c_hallgren wrote: And how exactly are FF tab headers better? I use FF only on occasion to verify how things work there, and don't see anything that different about them...ok, so they have rounded left tops, and shadow on right edge, maybe?

Sorry for drifting this thread a bit more... there are 2 things that I see in FF tabs that would be a nice addition to XY:

1) the current tab has a lighter background so it's very easy to spot
2) the 'X' to close the tab

Also, don't sell the rounded corners short - they add definition to the separation between tabs which I believe makes it much easier to visually identify the different tabs. It's subtle, but makes for a big improvement in usability.

mwb1100 wrote: 1) the current tab has a lighter background so it's very easy to spot
2) the 'X' to close the tab

Also, don't sell the rounded corners short - they add definition to the separation between tabs which I believe makes it much easier to visually identify the different tabs. It's subtle, but makes for a big improvement in usability.

1 You can color your XY tabs (open and others) any color you want TOOLS > CONFIG > COLORS
2 Double-clicking the tab to close is as easy as hitting an X, innit? and that saves space for path and maybe one day "clickable breadcrumbs"

but you're absolutely right about the rounded corners. I've always thought that XY tabs looked a bit "clunky" because they're so square

mwb1100 wrote:1) the current tab has a lighter background so it's very easy to spot
2) the 'X' to close the tab

1) So the dark background on current tab isn't enough? And what about the gold stripe? That's just fine with me!
2) I know we've talked about the X close before here...the problem is the amount of space it takes...
Update: See this thread!
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1694