What's new in CLZ Comics? (page 7)

Yes, it is finally happening! After being a daily feature request for many years, our comic database tools are finally going to deliver comic values, thanks to our new collaboration with the popular GoCollect.com comic book price guide.
And the cloud-based Comic Connect software is the first to get this cool new feature!

New in today’s Comic Connect update:

Get comic values from Core, powered by GoCollect.com
Find out which are the most valuable comics in your collection. Just set a Grade for your comics, then Update Values from GoCollect based on that grade.
Finally, view Value Stats in the updated Statistics screens.
Lots of new editable fields:
Many new value related fields are now available. Grade, Slabbed vs Raw, Grading Company, Grader Notes, Signed By, Is Key Comic (yes/no) and Key Reason.
Other new fields: Back Cover, Plot, Nr of Pages, Genres, Country and Language.

Based on user feedback we found out users were looking for and expecting a tool to find duplicate entries in their collection. Some way to find out if you’ve accidentally added multiple versions of the same comic, but perhaps with a different extension.

After quite a few requests and discussions with users about this, to find out how they got duplicates and what they would expect from such a Duplicate Finder tool, it’s here today: Find Duplicate entries in your collection!

New: Find Duplicate Comics

Open the menu top left and select Find Duplicates to begin.

Then select which field to find duplicates on. You can find duplicates based on:

Series & Issue
Series, Issue & Extension
UPC (Barcode)
Index

Click “Find Duplicates” and see what it comes up with. Use the blue “Keep” button to keep a group of duplicates, or use the red “Remove” button to remove a duplicate!

If you click “Remove all duplicates automatically”, it will remove all duplicate entries and will only keep 1 single entry (the oldest one) in your collection.

Tip: use the columns button, top right, to set up the columns you’d like to see!

duplicates key

Another big step forward for our cloud-based Connect software, making it even more customizable:

The columns in List View are now resizable. That is, you can now change the width of the columns by simply dragging the dividers between the column headers. Hover your mouse over the divider and it will turn blue, then drag it make the column wider or narrower.

TIP: double click the divider to make the column auto-size to its’ current content!

See it in action:

Do you prefer the automatic column widths, the way it was before? No problem, just go to the Settings screen and enable the “Size columns automatically” settings.

columns key list view resize

You can now manage multiple sub-collections within one account. The collections will appear as little tabs at the bottom (e.g. like in Excel), so that you can easily switch between them.

Create and manage collections

Open the menu top left and click “Manage Collections” to:

Create new collections
Rename existing collections
Remove collections
Change their order (drag and drop)

Note: the CLZ mobile app currently does not support multiple collections yet (coming soon!). For now, you CAN sync multiple collections to the mobile app, but they will appear mixed together, as ONE database.

New: Notes as a column

The Notes field can now be added as a column in List View:

(example screenshot from Movie Connect)

key multiple collections

New:

The resizable panels in the add screen now have the same design as the ones in the main screen.

Fixed:

iPad: Wrong initial panel layout in the main screen when the app is started in landscape mode.

adding key layout

A useful update of your app today, that is, if you are using the app on an iPad:

All panels in the main screen (folders, list and details) are now resizable using draggable separators between the panels, so that you can customize the layout to your own liking.

ipad key resizable panels

All panels in the main screen (folders, list and details) are now resizable using draggable separators between the panels, so that you can customize the layout to your own liking.
The resizable panels in the Add screen have been updated to use the nicer look of the draggable separators.

key resizable panels

New: quick search box in the Folder Panel!

Another useful addition to your software today, as we added a Quick Search box in your folder panel.

Especially useful for those long folder lists, e.g. when using Series as the folder field. Just type a few letters of the series title and the folder list will instantly “filter down” to the matching series, while you type!

See it in action:

folders key search

A nice time-saving feature was added to your Comic Connect software today:

Next / Previous buttons in the Edit Comic screen

These buttons let you go through your comic list to make changes, while staying in the Edit Comic screen. Just use the Next or Previous button on the bottom left.

While doing so, the screen will keep you on the same tab and same field, making it super-easy to make changes to same field(s) for multiple comics.

editing key next previous

New: Redesigned app icon

We designed new icons that give new users a better indication of what the app actually does (as opposed to just a different color CLZ logo), but still obviously belong together, when shown together.

Fixed:

List did not scroll to top when the status bar was tapped
App could crash on startup in rare cases

key

A small UI tweak today, made necessary because of the growing number of field options for the folder panel: the folder field menu is now grouped into 4 categories.

This should make it easier to find the field you are looking for.

folders key

New: Redesigned app icon

We designed new icons that give new users a better indication of what the app actually does (as opposed to just a different color CLZ logo), but still obviously belong together, when shown together.

And if you have Android 8.0 or higher, we’re also including an “adaptive app icon” as of today which are in line with all your other app icons!

key

Do you like to customize your software to suit your needs or just your personal taste? Then we have big news for you today, as we have just introduced four “Skin” choices in your Comic Connect software:

Default (the standard look, as it was before, so dark toolbars, light content)
Dark (dark toolbars, dark content)
Light (light toolbars, light content)
Blue (shades of blue, with yellow highlights)

On top of that, we have given you 3 template style choices for the Comic Details area: Dark, Light and Blue. Either to match your Skin choice, or to mix to up, it’s up to you.

Both the Skin and Template selectors can be found in the Settings screen, under Customization.

Screen shots:

Default Skin:

Dark Skin:

Light Skin:

Blue Skin:

key skin skins template

New in your Add Comics screen: a Pull List tab, a useful tool for listing your favorite comic series, so that you can easily find them when you add your weekly purchases, or for quickly adding upcoming releases to your wish list.

To add a series to your Pull List, first find it using your Series or Barcode tab. Once you found your series, hover your mouse over the series cover to reveal a white star icon. Click the star to add this series to your Pull List.

Then, click the Pull List tab to reveal the series on your Pull List! Expand a series to see which issues have been released in the last 2 weeks, or still have to be released, and if you want, add them to your wish list!

adding key pull list

We just added 6 new folder options to your Comic Connect software, for grouping your comics in 6 different creator folders!

You can group your comics in folders based on:

Writer
Artist
Cover Artist
Editor
Inker
Colorist

Example: Click the folder icon top left and select Cover Artist to see all your comics neatly grouped in cover artist folders. Click a cover artist to see all comics that have that person as a cover artist!

folders key

A new grouping option is now available in your Connect!

Click the folder icon top left and select Release / Publication Year to see all your items neatly grouped in a year folder. Click on a year to see all items that were released/published in that year!

folders key

This week, we added several new settings and improvements, all based on your feedback:

New setting for the List View: Wrap column content

This new “Wrap column content” setting can be found in the Settings screen. It lets you choose if text in the List View columns should wrap to multiple lines or not.
The default is YES / Checked. Uncheck this setting to keep your List View row as single rows, resulting in a cleaner list and more rows in view.

New Date Format setting

Also found in the Settings screen, this new selector lets you choose how dates are displayed, anywhere in the program where date are shown.
Choose from:

7 January 2018
07 Jan 2018
7 Jan 2018
January 07, 2018
January 7, 2018
Jan 07, 2018
Jan 7, 2018
07/01/2018
7/1/2018
07/01/18
7/1/18
01/07/2018
1/7/2018
01/07/18
1/7/18
2018-01-07

Core IDs can now be added as columns in the List View

Now available in the Column Selection screen for the List View: The Core ID fields.
E.g. for movies, add the Core Movie ID and Core Media ID fields to your lists, to quickly find movies that are not linked to our Core entry yet.

core date format key wrapping

Some changes in CLZ Comics for you:

The buttons to switch folders, sorting and view options have been moved to more logical places to make them more accessible.
The skins and templates options are now only available from the settings screen.
The selection mode button has been removed, just tap and hold on an item to start selecting items.

Fixed:

Update from Core could (in some cases) overwrite manually entered information for the Edition, Crossover, Imprint and Age fields.

fix interface key

Previously, setting up for the usage of the CLZ Barry as a barcode scanner required going to your Connect Profile page and back. Not anymore.

You can now get started with CLZ Barry straight from the By Barcode/ISBN tab of your Add screen. Just click the blue text “Set your Barry ID” on the far right of the barcode box and all the setting up can be done right then and there:

barry key

Some changes in 4.11.3 for you:

The buttons to switch folders, sorting and view options have been moved to more logical places to make them more accessible.
The skins and templates options have been moved to the settings screen.
The selection mode button has been removed, just tap and hold on an item to start selecting items.

interface key

Sharper images in Cover View and Card View

This week, we have implemented several changes to the cover images that are shown in Cover View and Card View, making them much sharper/crisper, less blurry.

Also, on computers with a 4k / Ultra HD screen, both the Cover View and the Card will automatically switch to even higher quality images, with twice the resolution!

The difference is huge, check out the screen shots below. But the best way to experience the sharper images is to log in to your own account and look at your own collection!

Other improvements to Cover and Card View

At the same time, we made other improvements to the Cover and Card views, to make them look nicer and to make the scrolling experience smoother and faster:

While scrolling, the images now load faster.
Scrolling the view while images are loading is now smoother, less “choppy”.
The Images view now has black background for a more classy look.
In both Images and Card View, while scrolling, it does not first load a placeholder image anymore, it just show the background color until the actual image is loaded, also resulting in a less choppy scrolling experience.

cards images key performance

Two updates for the Comic Connect software and the CLZ Cloud viewer today. One a big step forward in usability, the other a nice cosmetic improvement:

Comic Details now integrated in main screen

Up till now, when you clicked a comic entry to see its’ full details, you were taken to the comic details page, that is, a new page in your browser. One had to click “Back” to get back to the comic list again. Often resulting in an annoying back and forth clicking, each time causing you to lose your position in the list.

But not anymore! Starting with today’s update, the comic details are now integrated in a panel within the main collection view:

No more back and forth clicking. Just click a comic entry to see its’ details, click another one to see that comic’s details. Nice and easy, never lose your spot again.

Choose from two Layouts:

Horizontal Split: folders on the left, list on the top right, details on bottom right
Vertical Split: 3 panels side by side, folder, list and details

In either layout, the 3 panels are fully resizable by dragging the black “splitter bars” between the panels, so that you can customize the layout to your own liking.

The comic details panel comes with its’ own “action bar”, with the main actions you may want to take on the selected comic (Edit, Share, Delete, Duplicate, Loan and Link with Core).

Improved Cover View and Card View

At the same time, we made some small tweaks to both the Card View and Cover View, so that they’re making better use of your specific screen width. Both now use a “fully justified” layout, with the Cards auto-resizing to fit your screen width and the Covers distributing over the width, both resulting in a cleaner, less “jagged” view.

card view details panel images view key

Up until today, the quick search box in Comic Connect (and the CLZ Cloud viewer for comic) only searched in the Series title, Issue title, Barcode and Tags fields. Pretty limited, but necessary for performance reasons.

However, with the new search engine we created last year, it became possible to search more fields while keeping the search super-fast. So lets use that capability!

From now on, if you use the search box, it will also search in many more fields. The complete lists of fields that are now searched:

Series Title
Issue Title
Barcode
Crossover
Story Arc
Series Group
Plot
Tags
Notes

Example: searching for the crossover “Crisis On Infinite Earths” will return all issues that are part of that crossover:

key search

By popular demand, we have added 7 more editable fields to CLZ Comics. These fields were already available as automatic Core fields but are now fully editable:

Fields that are now fully editable:

Edition
Crossover
Story Arc
Imprint
Age
Cover Price
Release Date

But wait, that’s not all: All the above fields now also sync to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our recent GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11 CLZ Comics now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

for logging in with your username and password
for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
for sending your searches to Core.

To make this possible, we have created new secure “entry points” on our servers, that are only allowing secure HTTPS connections. The new CLZ Movies app only communicates with those secure entry points.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

clz cloud https key security ssl

By popular demand, we have added 7 more editable fields to CLZ Comics. These fields were already available as automatic Core fields but are now fully editable:

Fields that are now fully editable:

Edition
Crossover
Story Arc
Imprint
Age
Cover Price
Release Date

But wait, that’s not all: All the above fields now also sync to and from the CLZ Cloud!

Note: Because of the new fields the app needs to perform a database optimization. If you have a very big database (over 10.000 items) and/or a slower device, this optimization can take a while to complete. If you’re having troubles with this, please contact us for a solution.

Secure HTTPS connections, for your security and privacy

As indicated in our recent GDPR email, we are updating our software and services, to be more secure and to better protect your privacy.

Starting with version 4.11 CLZ Comics now uses secure HTTPS connections for all communications with our servers:

for logging in with your username and password
for syncing your data with CLZ Cloud
for sending your searches to Core.

For your privacy and security, we strongly recommend updating your app to v4.11.

Fixed:

Last update made some settings disappear in the settings screen. They are back now.
Added bottom margin to the add auto screen on iPhone X to make the add button more reachable
The sync screen wasn’t logging local deletes.

clz cloud https key security ssl

Recent changes