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[CLZ News] Happy collecting in 2015!

Dec 31, 2014

CLZ Alwin here, bringing you the last CLZ Newsletter for this year!
2014 has been another great year for Collectorz.com, with the huge success of the Update Plan system for the desktop programs (52k subscribers!), new growth for Connect (7k subscribers) and steadily growing sales on iOS and Android (also because of our new FineDiner app).

Here’s an overview of this month’s updates, plus a preview of what you can expect from us early 2015:

  • Now live for Connect: further improvements to all Add screens.
  • Now live for Windows (and coming up for Mac):
    Better Edit and Manage Pick List screens.

  • Coming up in Q1 2015: CLZ Cloud syncing 2.0.

Further improvements to all Add screens of Connect

In November we launched the 2.0 redesign of Connect. But we didn’t stop there. Since launch, our lead web-developer Robbert has been working full-time to tweak the new user interface and to fix some issues, partly based on your feedback, partly based on our never-ending “ideas list” 🙂

The biggest improvements can be found in the Add screens of all 5 Connect flavors:

  • Search results now have a look that is similar to the Panel view of your collection list (with small cover thumbnails), making the results list more compact and leaving more room for the Preview panel.
  • New Add buttons to the right of each result, making it easier to quickly add multiple items to your collection, from the same results list.
  • For comics: now add multiple issues from the same series using checkboxes.

Better Edit screens and Manage Pick List screens

This month we released several important feature updates for the Windows editions, all focused on the Edit screens and the Manage Pick List screen (previously called “Edit Lists”).
The goal: making all your collection editing work easier and faster.

Edit screens: new person editing grids for Artists, Authors, Cast, Crew, Creators, Characters, etc…

  • New search box for adding person entries. Just type a few letters and a drop down list will instantly show all persons that contain those letters. Select one, then hit enter to Add.
  • Full width person lists showing the person’s First, Last and Sort Names.
  • Directly edit First and Last Names in the list for easy control of your sorting.

Edit screens: layout now fully adapts to the size of your screen

No more useless grey areas on large computer screens!

  • The layouts of all tabs in the Edit screens are now adapting to fit the size of the screen.
  • Edit boxes and drop down list get wider when you make your Edit screen wider.
  • Checkbox list and multi-value grids get higher (and wider) when increasing the size of your Edit screen.

Tools / Manage Pick List: New List Selector panel

  • Tools / Edit Lists is now called Manage Picks Lists.
  • New list selection panel on the left replaces drop down menu.
  • New “Favorites” area for your most commonly used lists.
  • Drag and drop to and from Favorites area to create your own Favorites list.

What about Mac OS X ?!?!?!

Don’t worry, Patrick is currently building all of the above features for Mac OS X too and these will probably be released in one big Cobalt.9 update in January 2015!

Coming up in Q1 2015: CLZ Cloud syncing 2.0

Yes, we’re ready to take on one of the first big challenges of 2015:
taking the CLZ Cloud syncing to the next level.

The benefits of the completely new syncing mechanism:

  • Easier: One Sync button that syncs up and down, depending on the changes you made.
  • Faster: Quickly sync only your added and modified entries.
  • Scalable: Synchronize large databases through the CLZ Cloud without problems.
  • Automatic: optionally sync changes immediately, right after you make them.

This is a big project and so it may take a while before it is launched. Not only because syncing is complex, but also because a new syncing system affects all our products and editions: the CLZ Cloud itself, Connect, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
While we’re working on this, you may see a temporary drop in the frequency of other feature updates. But I can assure you: what’s coming is definitely worth the wait!

Happy 2015!!!

Finally, the entire CLZ team wishes you a Happy New Year, with lots of new additions to your music, movie, book, comic and collections !!!

BTW: keep posting your new goodies in our Collector groups on Facebook. We love seeing the photos of your latest purchases and your shelving solutions! If you’re not a member yet, come join us now:

Talk to you next month!