What's new in CLZ Books?
We have changed our company name!
We were previously called “Collectorz.com”, but as everyone called us “CLZ”, we figured, let’s go with the flow and officially rename the company to just “CLZ”!
But that’s not all. This week also brings:
- a new company logo and styling
- a completely new website at clz.com (previously www.collectorz.com)
- new names for our web-based software, previously called Connect, now simply CLZ Comics Web, CLZ Movies Web, CLZ Games Web, etc…
- new app icons for all CLZ apps!
A nice update for CLZ Books again, in which we did improvements to several areas of the app.
- Re-design of the Sort Order screen
- New Date and Month folder options for all date fields
- Statistics: new look for Most Recent lists
Fixed:
- Edit screen: After cropping a cover, the app would sometimes still show the non-cropped version in the edit screen
New:
- Better indication and handling of “subscription expired” status
New:
- Better indication and handling of “subscription expired” status
Fixed:
- For items with very big images, the Edit screen could crash
The app now has a “free 7-day trial” again.
No more 100 item “free mode” or “free trial”. We did our best to make it work, but it just didn’t. So we’re back to the old tried and tested “7-day trial” system 🙂
(Don’t worry, if you already started your free mode, it will keep working.)
Updated:
- Add Books by Author and Title: after adding a book, the cursor will be put back in the search box straight away so you can immediately start your next search
Fixed for iOS:
- Statistics: In some cases the order under “most recent” could be wrong
Updated:
- Free Mode is now called Free Trial (still works the same way)
Fixed:
- Fixed some problems related to updating/remembering the app’s subscription status
New:
- Now supports “Sign up with Google” for new users
- Some more tweaks for new users to help them get started
New:
- Now supports “Sign up with Apple” for new users
New:
- Now supports “Sign up with Google” for new users
Fixed:
- “Don’t show again” checkbox didn’t save if the box was just “dismissed”
Fixed:
- Some back buttons (and swiping to go back) would stop working after adding from Core
- Incorrect error message would appear after adding manually
New:
Further guidance and popups to help new users get started adding their collection to the app.
Don’t worry, all popups can be dismissed with “don’t show again” 🙂
Fixed for iOS
- In some cases the “Add to Collection” button wouldn’t work
New:
- We changed the “buy now” text link into a big blue button so it’s more clear!
Fixed:
- In some cases logging in to an existing account after starting Free Mode would cause problems with adding.
CLZ Books is now free to use up to 100 books, for as long as you like.
This “Free Mode” includes access to all functionality, including CLZ Cloud syncing (for online backups and transferring data between devices).
Got more than 100 books? Then subscribe (US $15 per year) and add as many books as you need. Of course, feel free to try the app with 100 books first!
In today’s update, we improved the behaviour after searching using the search box top right.
Previously, when you selected a book from the “suggestions dropdown”, the software would take you to a separate full screen page showing the details of that book. This behaviour was a bit annoying as it would take you away from the main screen and you needed to click “Back” on the top left to get back to it. Also, the main screen would then show you the full collection again and would be scrolled back at the top again. Meh..
Read more
This is the 3rd and last “CLZ Books 9 Feature Hilite”, all about dealing with ISBNs that are not found in CLZ Core.
But first, if you missed an earlier feature hilite, you can still read them on our CLZ Blog here:
- Hilite #1: The new collections tab-bar
- Hilite #2: Add Books screen improvements
Here’s my second “v9 feature hilite” email, about another area of improvement in last week’s CLZ Books v9 release.
(tip: if you missed yesterday’s feature hilite #1 about the collection tab-bar, you can read it here).
Today, we are going to discuss the improvements we did to the Add Books screen:
Last week’s CLZ Books 9.0 update was big one, with 3 areas of improvement. To make sure you did not miss any of the new stuff, I am going to do three “v9 feature hilite” emails this week, each one highlighting one of the big improvements.
Today’s “v9 feature hilite” is about all the new collections tab-bar.
A big update v9.0 update for your CLZ Books app today, with many new features and improvements!
Here’s the full list of What’s New:
- New collections tab-bar: easily switch between collections using tabs at the bottom
- Adding Books: quick “Confirm” pop-ups, instead of full screen Preview pages
- Add by ISBN: Better screens for dealing with “ISBN not found” situations
- Add by ISBN: Faster camera barcode scanner for scanning ISBN barcodes
- New setting “Show Read-It” for showing/hiding Read-It eye icons from list and details
A big update for your Book Connect web-based software today, which is all about pick list fields.
Pick list fields (and the pick lists behind them) are an important part of your book database. These are the fields in the Edit screen that let you pick from a list of possible values, with that list being fully configurable by you the user.
Examples of pick list fields are Location, Owner, Format, Genres and Subjects (both multi value pick list fields), but also Author, Publisher and Series.
Now, a lot of the questions we usually get about Book Connect are related to pick list fields and can usually be answered with:
“Just use the Manage Pick Lists screen”
Renaming Locations, Merging duplicate Authors, fixing author sort problems, fixing typos in author names, etc… it is all done in the Manage Pick Lists (MPL) screen. An important and powerful screen, but… not so easy to find if you don’t know where to look or don’t even know what to look for.
With today’s Connect update, we are making this a lot easier: We have improved the Manage Pick Lists screen itself AND made it more accessible / discoverable:
In short:
- Improved Manage Pick Lists (MPL) screen
- Easy access to the MPL screen right from the folder panel
- Refreshed Edit Comic screen, with better pick list fields and direct MPL access
Thanks to our translator Peter Stickler, the Connect web-based software is now available in Swedish!
If you are interested in translating Connect to your language, let us know!
The main translations we are looking for at the moment are:
- Norwegian
- Italian
Thanks to our translator Frank Silas Kesia Jensen, the Connect web-based software is now available in Danish!
If you are interested in translating Connect to your language, let us know!
The main translations we are looking for at the moment are:
- Norwegian
- Swedish
- Italian
Thanks to our translators Fernando Carvalho, Milan Sobat and Brano Mazari, the Connect web-based software is now available in 3 extra languages: Portuguese, Serbian and Slovak!
Thanks guys!
If you are interested in translating Connect to your language, let us know!
The main translations we are looking for at the moment are:
- Danish
- Norwegian
- Swedish
- Italian