Development Progress Report

yaTimer 2.3 Release Date

I said yaTimer will be released sometime in November and yet today is December 1st and yaTimer 2.3 is still not released. yaTimer 2.3 is ready but I decided to delay the release another week, just to let me test it better and finish updating the web site for the next version. If you can’t wait until then send me an e-mail or use the contact form and I’ll send you a link to download the new version.

yaTimer 2.3 is now in testing

All the features, fixes and improvements that will make it into yaTimer 2.3 are finished, as always I had to delay a lot of features to the next version to keep something even remotely like a schedule. If there are no serious bugs yaTimer 2.3 will be released this month. yaTimer 2.3 will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers, you can download the current version on the download page.

yaTimer Development Update: Version 2.3 Almost Complete

The next version of yaTimer is almost done, I expect it will be finished in another week or so. When it’s finished there is still a lot of testing to do, but based on my experience and the fact that this version is about making the existing features better and not introducing new features I expect the testing phase to be relatively short. I estimate yaTimer 2.3 will be released sometime near the beginning of December, the actual release date will be when the version is ready. yaTimer 2.3 will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers.

yaTimer 2.3 Development Plans

There are a lot of small user interface improvements in my to-do list, each one, taken separately, is not worth doing – it will just not have the impact on user experience to justify the time investment. But all of them together – that’s another thing entirely. So, for the next version of yaTimer I’m going to put all the big features I’ve been planning on hold and add all the small user interface improvements instead. If you have any suggestions about UI improvements to yaTimer there’s still them to add them to the next version, leave them in the comments for this...

yaTimer 2.2.1

Today the next version of yaTimer went into the final testing phase, a few more days of intensive testing and the new version will be released. Version 2.2.1 is a minor service release, it contains a few bug fixes and only one new feature.

StartMenuSearch for Windows XP Released (finally)

My second product StartMenuSearch for Windows XP was finally released yesterday – two weeks too late. Never underestimate how much work it takes to turn a working program into an actual product, also never underestimate how much unexpected work you’ll have to do on other unrelated projects the moment you publish a deadline for a product :-)

yaTimer 2.2 Changelog

Here is the list of all user-visible changes between yaTimer version 2.1 and 2.2: NEW - Add create from template to toolbar NEW - Grouping in task list NEW - Un-pause tasks FIXED - Comment text truncated on reports NEW - Weekly project timesheet report NEW - Weekly client timesheet report NEW - A new version of all task reports with full comments NEW - Reset all tasks FIXED - Time event text unreadable when using XP classic theme FIXED - Time event show up in wrong order when resetting a running task NEW - Automatically start yaTimer on login option FIXED - Bug when manually entering time in the past FIXED -...

Announcing Start Menu Search for Windows XP

I have a lot of software I wrote for my own use and that I think can be useful to a lot of other people – one of those is StartMenuSearch for Windows XP, a program that adds start menu search capabilities to Windows XP. It is a lot of work to get from a working software program to a product and until now I made a strategic decision to concentrate on yaTimer, so all those useful programs were just left behind. Now I’m going to spend two weeks finishing and releasing StartMenuSearch, so, it will be released on June 26, 2008. Don’t...

The Next Version of yaTimer – version 2.2

Blogging has been very light the last few weeks – this is usually a sign I’m working on something big, in this case it’s the next version of yaTimer – my time tracking tool. First, the standard disclaimer, this post is about an unreleased version of yaTimer, nothing is final until the software is actually released. yaTimer 2.2 will be a free upgrade for all current customers. yaTimer version 2.2 is almost ready – and it’s a big update: Billing <>In this version I’m introducing the first set of billing related features, you can set a fixed task cost or an hourly rate and yaTimer...

yaTimer Documentation

I’m working on updating the yaTimer documentation, the first part of the documentation is scheduled to be available on the second week of April. You can find the page with short descriptions of the buttons on the main yaTimer window here I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about yaTimer you can contact me using the contact form or by leaving a comment on this blog. If you have any suggestions for the documentation or areas of the software that need clarifications please contact me or leave a comment on this post. UPDATE: I will release a new version of yaTimer late...

Usability of the ToolBar

The first version of yaTimer had just one button in the toolbar, the version after that had 4, the latest version has five and the next version will add two or three more for a total of seven or eight. While eight toolbar buttons are still much less then what you’ll find in most applications yaTimer is designed to be able to run in a very small window – and there is just not enough space for 8 buttons in a small window. I can think of four simple ways to deal with this problem: The first is to never add toolbar buttons,...

Oops, The download page doesn't work

For a small software company that sells try-before-you-buy software the download page is the most important page of the site, the whole purpose of the web site is to get potential customers to download the software. Earlier this week I started a little split testing experiment (using Google Website Optimizer) to test some change to the AdWords landing page, while setting up this experiment I accidently broke the download page. If you tried to download yaTimer then it's fixed now. If you have anything to do with a software company remember to test the download page after every change to the web site.

yaTimer 2.1 Relesed

You can view the new screenshots, download the trial, upgrade from previous versions and buy it on the website. If you have an older version installed you can follow this link to upgrade now or wait for the new version to be available as an automatic update (in about one week).

yaTimer 2.1: New Look

This post talks about yaTimer 2.1 that will be officially released on February 1st and will be a free upgrade to all customers, with the release I'm also raising the price – so if you buy now you'll get the new version and save 20$. yaTimer 2.1 got a new look, one reason for the new look is the graphic redesign I'm doing company-wide, (I published the new yaTimer logo a while back, the blog changed and the rest of the site will follow in a few days. But the real reason behind the change is compatibility, I switched the technology I...

yaTimer 2.1 is finally ready

I originally planned to release yaTimer 2.1 in early December, but December came and it was obvious there's still much work to do, so I rescheduled it to late December – I almost released it on time but I have been delayed by some bugs that were discovered late in the development process. Now yaTimer 2.1 is finally ready and I'm starting my release process: Today the new version will be sent to family and friends In a few days, if there are no show-stoppers I'll also send it to customers that were promised...

New yaTimer Logo

As part of the next version yaTimer is getting a new logo. yaTimer version 2.1 is getting closer to release, there are no major (known) problems left and its all about testing, testing, testing and more testing. Version 2.1 isn’t available yet, but it will be a free upgrade to all customers, you can download the current version here.

yaTimer 2.1 Progress

The next version of yaTimer (2.1) is scheduled to be released this month (December 2007). yaTimer is now in the first stage of preparation for release – only features I already added to yaTimer will make it for this release, no new features will be added only bug will be fixed, that coupled with extensive testing should produce a high quality release. Over the next few days I'll publish some of the new features of yaTimer 2.1 here.

yaTimer 2.0 Automatic Update Released

I've uploaded yaTimer 2.0 into the automatic update server, If you click the “Check for Updates” button on the main menu you'll be prompted to upgrade. And I messed up the auto-update installation again, so most of my customers wouldn’t be able to update from within yaTimer. As always, updates are free from the web site at: http://www.yatimer.com/Upgrade.htm I've fixed the auto-update bug and I hope that the auto update service will work for the next version. Now that version 2.0 that I worked so long and hard on is finally done its time to think about what to do next. I have my to-do list...

yaTimer Version 2.0 Released

I am very happy to announce that yaTimer version 2.0 has been released today. You can now download a trial of the new version or upgrade for free from any previous version. The new version will be available using yaTimer’s automatic update (by clicking “Check for Updates” on the right side of the main menu) sometime later this week.

yaTimer 2.0 Almost Finished

I haven't posted much in the previous few weeks, this is because I was too busy working, several projects I'm involved with are getting close to finished (and to deadlines). yaTimer is one of those projects I've been working like crazy getting all the little details right and now finally all the features planned for this version are finished. yaTimer now has to go through several days of rigorous testing, and then, if I don't find some huge bug I'm going to finally release version 2. As with all previous versions I had to make painful decisions about which features are going to...

New yaTimer 2.0 Feature: New Reports Engine

Finally yaTimer get a reporting feature that's as good as the rest of the software (In case you're new here, yaTimer is my time tracking software). This is still a work in progress and many things will change until the final release, but here are is a picture of two of the new reports from the latest development version. I'll write about printing and documents in WPF after I finish my current WPF tutorial series

yaTimer Roadmap (what's after 1.2)

I've already started working on the next version of yaTimer, and for the first time I'm going to reveal my plan for the future of yaTimer but everything written here is just my plan, plans can change, I'm not promising anything. As a lesson from version 1.2 I've split my plan into smaller versions, this will allow me to release more frequent updates and get the improvements to my customers faster. I'm not publishing the target release dates for future versions but all the versions listed here are supposed to be released in less than a year, this combined with my 1 year...

yaTimer 1.2 Released

yaTimer version 1.2 has been released on July 27 (3 days ago) and I've been so busy catching up on other projects I haven't had the time to blog about it yet. yaTimer 1.2 is a free upgrade for all yaTimer customers, To upgrade your installation visit http://www.nbdtech.com/yaTimer/Upgrade.htm. I haven't released the auto-update for 1.2 yet because of a bug in the setup program of version 1.1, I forgot to include one dll that is used by the auto-update service, as a result the auto-update just doesn't work (it does work for anyone who originally had version 1.0.1). Version 1.2 does include the...

yaTimer 1.2 To Be Released This Week

yaTimer 1.2 is now at the final testing phase and I will delay the release only for critical bugs. If you leave a comment in this post I'll e-mail you the moment the new version is available for download.

yaTimer 1.2 Task List Improvements: Highlight active counters

Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer application, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers. This is the most requested feature for this version – and one that I actually wanted to add a long time ago, the reason it took so long is that at first I wanted...

New yaTimer 1.2 Feature: Quick-Task

Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer software, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers. Quick-Task is a very simple but powerful feature. Before yaTimer 1.2 to time a task you had to fill in the task details and only then you could start timing, this is perfectly fine...

New yaTimer 1.2 Windowing Features: Always on Top and Minimize to Notification Area

Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer software, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers. Sometimes you want your timer to be always visible, sometimes you don't really care – that is why yaTimer 1.2 not only let you set the task list window as always-on-top it also let...

yaTimer 1.2 Progress Report

I haven't wrote about yaTimer in a while, that's mostly because I spend so much time working on it I didn't have time to write about it. I've just decided to freeze development and release the new version, version 1.2 was not supposed to be a major upgrade but it does have a huge number of tiny improvements – and work on all those tiny improvements adds up, it has taken me more time then I originally planed. So, everything that isn't already done is going to be postponed to the next version. It will take me some more time to release yaTimer...

More Reports in yaTimer

The current version of yaTimer – version 1.1 – has just one report, a timesheet report. I plan to add some new reports over the next two versions, the current plan is to add at least one new report for the next version and 3-4 more in the version after that. If you are using yaTimer or any other time tracking tool please tell me what kind or reports you would like to see in yaTimer. Please post details about the reports you want to see in the comments, if you want to contact me privately you can use the contact link at...

New yaTimer 1.2 Feature: Running From External Drives

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.2 that is not available yet, the latest version is 1.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page . Version 1.2 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone. The idea is simple, just run yaTimer from an external drive (for example a USB thumb drive) so you can take it with you and transfer it (with your data) from computer to computer. This feature is very simple to implement, but difficult to implement well, this was actually...

What's Next?

Now that yaTimer 1.1.0 was released what am I going to do next? Work on yaTimer 1.2.0 of course. I have a short list of feature requests that didn't make it into the 1.1.0 release, I hope to have them all in 1.2.0 (version 1.2.0 will be a free update for all current customers, if you buy 1.1.0 now you still get all the new features). If you have a suggestion for a new feature for the next version of yaTimer please contact me. ...

yaTimer 1.1.0 Released

I’ve just uploaded the new setup program and update package to the website, the next time you run yaTimer while connected to the internet it will ask for permission to update itself.

yaTimer 1.1.0 Release Date

The next version of yaTimer – version 1.1.0 – is finally done, I’ve just finished preparing the setup program and the auto-update package. Tomorrow I’m going to release the version to my very capable testers, this is going to be a very intensive day of testing on different computers, if they don’t find any show-stopping bug then yaTimer 1.1.0 will be released sometime over the weekend. The first time you run yaTimer after I publish the auto-update package it will tell you there is an update available and offer to update itself.

yaTimer 1.1.0 New Feature: Set Initial/Total Time

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page . Version 1.1.0 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature. Sometimes you start working on something without timing it, sometimes you are away from your computer, sometimes you just need to set your timer to some predefined time - For all those situations we...

yaTimer 1.1.0 New Feature: Rearrange Tasks

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page. Version 1.1.0 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone. UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature. If there is something that is obviously missing from yaTimer it’s the ability to rearrange tasks, so it was a high priority feature for the second version. As you see in the image there are...

yaTimer 1.1.0 New Feature: Countdown timers

disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from here. UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature. Version 1.1.0 will have countdown timers, using them is very simple, when you add a task you can choose to count up or down (you can change it later) and if you choose down you can specify you start time – and that’s it, the timer will count...

The next version of yaTimer

I have been spending a big part of my time working on the web-site and the AdWords campaign – but I'm still working on the next version of yaTimer, it's just taking a little bit longer then I would like. yaTimer is still very much under active development and I'll blog about some of the new features over the next few days.

Slowly Improving My AdWords Campaign

I'm now working on my Google AdWords Campaign and the web site. The blog is still using the old web-site design, I really like the old design, but the it did need some improvements. I moved the product name, icon, download button and buy button into the header and dropped the nice graphic effect below the header and the box with round corners around the content - this helped with the two big problems with the old design: It freed up some space "above the fold" that was wasted by graphic elements and gave me a good place for the download and buy buttons. On...

Updated Web Site - and PayPal Integration

I've just uploaded a new version of the web site, I've cleared up some text and wrote some new pages about yaTimer. The biggest change to the site is the PayPal integration - yes, now you can actually pay me if you want to. I'm going to resume my adwords ads and see exactly how many people want my little taTimer

yaTimer 1.0.1 Released

yaTimer version 1.0.1 is now officially released (unofficially it was already on the web site for almost a week). Version 1.0.1 does not have any new features compared to 1.0.0 but there are many small improvements in the application, the timers respond faster to clicks on the start button, printed reports have page numbers, an auto-update feature will make future upgrades easy and many more tiny changes just make it much nicer to use. Over the next few days I'm going to prepare to accept payments using paypal, then we will see how much demand there is for a tool like yaTimer.

yaTimer 1.0.1 Progress

yaTimer 1.0.1 is ready, but I'm not releasing it just yet, I want to test it some more and update the web site a bit first.

Paperwork Delays

I don't have a bank account just yet, I have to get my lawyer to write some useless documents first. This is annoying, I paused my adwords campaign until I'm set up to collect payments on the software I'm trying to sell. On the other hand - everything is going according to plan on the development front, I'll be ready to release yaTimer 1.0.1 early next week

Change of plans, delay yaTimer 1.0.1 a bit

I wanted to release yaTimer 1.0.1 today, this is a minor upgrade with some small usability improvements - I've decided the upgrade is just too minor. Version 1.0.1 of yaTimer will be released sometime over the next few days with the following features: The usability improvements I've already implemented. A minor improvement to the reports system, so it's actually usable. A real automatic-update feature. Real trial version, the trial version will stop working 45 days (I've just made this number up) after installation and will need...

Setup Improvements

I'm using Inno Setup for the yaTimer installation program, and the biggest challenge is getting the .net framework installed. I'm using a modified version of the script from this post on the joel on software business of software board, in the previous version of the setup program I used this script almost as-is (I just replaced .net 2.0 with 3.0), this solved the problem of getting .net installed but the user experience was very poor. If you don't have .net 3.0 it will be downloaded with the isxdl component, this has an acceptable user interface, after the download it will run the...

yaTimer 1.0.0 Released

The first version of yaTimer was released on time, unfortunately I made a little mistake and forgot to include one of the required files in the installation, the result is that yaTimer would crush on startup. The reason I made such a stupid mistake is that I only tested on my computer before releasing, and the offending file was already installed on my computer. This is a classic mistake, every realse has to be tested on a clean Windows install - otherwise you get into this kind of trouble. I've updated the installation and I hope I managed to update it before anyone...

yaTimer Beta Will Be Released Tonight

Yes, YaTimer is almost ready, the application itself is working very well and all the must-have features are done. What's missing is the help text (that will not be ready for this release) and the setup program, luckily I have a good working setup program from another project I can adapt with minimal work. The Auto-Update feature will be faked with a static web page – When you click the check for updates button it will open a web page on this site, the page will have the text "There are no updates available at this time" or something like that, when...

yaTimer Progress Report

I have 4 different programs I'm going to start selling on the NBD-Tech web site, they are all currently in an almost ready state. The first one is yaTimer, I've written a page with the application's main features and a few screen shots late one night and put up some google ads. The reason I've added yaTimer to the web site before its full product-quality is to see if there is a target audience to such a program, and the clicks from my unoptimized google adwords campaign show me that there is an audience. On Monday morning the "public beta" version is going...