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Welcome to the Readerware® Newsletter

Readerware 3.0 is now in beta!

What's new in 3.0?, an in-depth look at views in Readerware 3.0, upgrade pricing and more.


Readerware 3.0 is now in beta

Finally! Readerware 3.0 is now in beta. The beta test actually started a short while ago with a private beta. As that went smoothly the beta 2 release is now available to all users.

The first question to answer is "What is a beta release?". It means that Readerware 3.0 is complete and has been tested in-house. It is now ready for final real world testing before it is released. User feedback is an important part of a beta, please report any problems you find and give us your feedback on the changes and new features. beta@readerware.com

It is possible that there are still bugs in 3.0 and for that reason it should not be used in a production environment.

A beta is not for everyone, so if you are not comfortable with running a beta release it is no problem, you can wait for the official release.

If you can't wait to try out Readerware 3.0, there are installers available for all platforms, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions are available.


Installing Readerware 3.0 Beta 2
Your existing databases need to be converted to the new 3.0 format. This will happen automatically when you start the program or open a 2.x database. Readerware will recognize that the database is in 2.0 format and offer to convert it. The conversion is a copy process, your existing 2.x database is not touched. You can also create a new empty database for testing if you prefer.

Readerware 3.0 will be installed in a separate folder so it can exist on the same system as Readerware 2.x. Because both the program and databases are separate you can continue to run Readerware 2.x alongside Readerware 3.0.

There is a new e-mail address for beta support, e-mail beta@readerware.com if you need any assistance with the Readerware 3.0 beta or have any feedback.

There is no client/server support in beta 2, that will follow. The product help is still being updated. Some sites have not yet been switched over to the new extraction system.

There are installers available for all platforms, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions are available. The beta test starts as you install, we have new installers so include the installation process in your testing and feedback.
Download Readerware 3.0 Beta 2


Upgrading to Readerware 3.0

Firstly, there is no need to upgrade now in order to run the Readerware 3.0 beta. It will run in evaluation mode for the duration of the beta period.

Readerware 3.0 is the upgrade for all users of Readerware 2.x and Bookography 1.x.

The upgrade to Readerware 3.0 will be free for all users who purchased Readerware on or after January 1st 2009. This is a lot longer than our official upgrade grace period and is for Readerware 3.0 only. If you are eligible for the free upgrade send your upgrade request to upgrades@readerware.com Please include sufficient information so that we can locate your original order and send you new registration codes.

If you purchased Readerware 2.x before January 1st 2009, upgrade options and pricing follow.

Basic Pricing Information
Upgrade Price
Readerware 3.0 Single Product Upgrade. Upgrade your current single product 2.0 license to the Readerware 3.0 equivalent. $25
Readerware 3.0 Bundle Upgrade. Upgrade your current 2.0 bundle license to the Readerware 3.0 equivalent. $45
Readerware 3.0 Single Product to Bundle Upgrade. Upgrade your current single product 2.0 license to the equivalent Readerware 3.0 bundle. $60
All prices are in US dollars. These are download prices, add $10 for CD delivery.



Special beta upgrade pricing
During the beta period we are offering a 20% discount on any upgrade order. Just enter coupon code Beta20 at checkout and your discount will be applied to your order.

The coupon code will expire the day Readerware 3.0 is officially released so make sure you order soon to get your discount.

You will receive your new Readerware 3.0 registration code right away. If you order a CD, that will be shipped as soon as the official release is available.
Order your discounted Readerware 3.0 upgrade



What's New in Readerware 3.0?

Here are the highlights for Readerware 3.0. Later in this newsletter we take an in-depth look at how the views have changed in Readerware 3.0 and the options available for viewing your database. We will continue this in following newsletters, taking a look at one or more of the new features in detail in each issue.

Readerware 3.0 and views

Readerware Views We start our look at the changes coming in Readerware 3.0 by looking at Readerware views. It is a good place to start as views are really the main interface to your database, they determine how you view your data.

Readerware views are configurable, you can customize the default views included in the product, you can create your own custom views for different purposes.

Views are used for more than viewing your data, you can define a view to use as a report, you can define a view to use when exporting data, Creating your own views is a powerful feature in Readerware.

The default view in Readerware 2.0 was the table view and this is still the case in Readerware 3.0. You can change the default view, the one Readerware uses when you first start the program. This got easier with 3.0. Select the view you want to use using the View Menu. Then select the View->Save as Default View menu item. This view will now be used when the program is first launched. You might choose to use the same view for all products. Personally I use different views. I use the table view for the book version and I use the thumbnail view for the video version, for me that works well.

You can change the active view using the View menu. In 2.0 you could select the view from a drop down list in the toolbar. We removed this to simplify the toolbar, however if you would like to bring this feature back, you can select it in preferences.

You can change the font used by each view type. Have trouble reading the table view? Use a larger font.

One more general point before we move on to the individual views. When displaying your search results Readerware 2.0 always set the focus in the search bar. I found this very handy, after Readerware starts up I can right away type in the first few characters of an author name and hit the enter key to display books by that author. The disadvantage is that if you want to scroll the view, you have to first click in it to give the view the focus. There is a new option in preferences that you can set to determine what component gets the initial focus. It is just a small change, but it can make a big difference in usability. If you are like me and find yourself wanting to search for a particular item, you will want to set the focus in the search bar. If you find yourself wanting to scroll the view using the cursor or page keys, then set the focus in the view.


The Table View
Readerware Table View At first glance it might not look like the table view has changed that much in Readerware 3.0, but there is one very powerful new feature that you will want to use. When you first see the table view it is in navigation mode. This is the classic Readerware table view. Cells are displayed as links and you can use these to refine your search results. Click on a category link to display just the items in that category, click on an author link to display just books by that author. Use the Back and Forward buttons to navigate through through your search history, just like a browser. Hit the Home button to return to the top of the search results.

In Readerware 3.0 there is a new edit mode. Click on the Edit Mode toggle button in the toolbar, the table is now in edit mode. All cells are editable, just click on a cell to change the contents. The table view remains in edit mode until you click on the button again to return to navigation mode. You are no longer limited to editing one row at a time, you can bounce around from cell to cell, row to row making changes as you go. Readerware updates your database automatically.

You will also notice that as you click on a cell in edit mode that an appropriate cell editor is displayed to make it easier for you to edit the cell contents. For example if you click on a release date the date editor is displayed and you can set the date from the calendar like display. Similarly if you click on an author the author list is displayed. You can change the author by selecting a new entry from the list, by typing the first few characters of the name, using the cursor keys to move up and down the list. Enter a new author by simply typing in the name. Display the author biography or image by clicking on the green enter icon. A lot of effort has gone into making it easier to edit and maintain your database.

We mentioned changing the release date by using the date editor. This brings up an important change in the database structure. We will cover this in more detail in a later newsletter, but all dates are now stored in the database as dates and not strings. A common question from Readerware users was how do I sort my database by release date. Because the release date was just a string, it would not sort correctly because of all the different formats used. Now it is a real date, just click on the release date column header, and your results are sorted by release date.

Another problem reported by users was that the show popup menu was difficult to use when there were a lot of hidden columns. The menu is now always sorted and fully visible. Right click on a column header to show and hide a column. Mac users should Control-Click.


The Tree View
Readerware Tree View Lots of changes in the tree view.

A common request was to have the option of changing the tree hierarchy, structuring the view by category instead of author for example. You can now do this be selecting the desired sort from the drop down list above the tree. You can set the default sort in preferences.

As before the folder nodes in the tree display multiple items, for example all albums by an artist. In Readerware 2.x these were always displayed in a table view. Now you can choose between the thumbnail view and the table view. The combination of the tree view and thumbnail view can make browsing your collection very easy and fun.

When you use an embedded table or thumbnail view, they operate in the same way as standalone views.

Clicking on an item node displays the item in the detail view as before, but it is not the same old detail view. See below for more.


The Thumbnail View
Readerware Thumbnail View The thumbnail view is a lot more configurable in 3.0. You can use preferences to set the thumbnail size, the sort and the format and contents of the popup that is displayed when you hold the mouse over a particular item.

You can also include the thumbnail toolbar which lets you dynamically resize the images and change the sort. Shrink the images down to fit more items on a page when browsing for example.


The Detail View
When you first see the detail view you will see a number of new tabs. As you catalog new items you will quickly see that Readerware 3.0 now supports multiple images, both large and small.

The default detail view tab is the Summary tab, but you can change that in preferences. The summary tab displays a read only formatted display of the item. This is template based, you can choose the template in preferences. It is also possible to create your own summary template.

The Edit tab is the classic Readerware detail view, you can edit fields, images etc. You will probably notice that there are a lot more fields now and you might have to scroll the view. You have always had the option of moving the image around and changing the panel split so that more of the data section is visible. We have tried to make that easier in 3.0 and one of the things you might consider is clicking on the divider button to collapse the image section and focus on the data as images now have their own tab.

The display type is new on the edit tab. You can control the level of detail displayed for each item, choose between Full, Standard and Brief. You can set the default display type in Preferences. Normally the display type is used globally and applies to all items but you can save a different setting for each item if you want. For example if your music library is mostly jazz or rock you are probably not interested in fields like Composer, Conductor, Work etc. So you choose the standard display mode as the default as it does not include this information. You do have some classical albums though. For these you would like to see this information. Select the full display type and then click on the Update button. Readerware will save this setting in the record and always display the full listing for this item.

The images tab displays all images associated with this item. To maintain an image, right click on it. Mac users should Control-Click. Changing images is much easier, you can copy/paste an image in and out of Readerware

The User tab is optional. It will only appear if you have added user defined columns to your database.

Finally you will see one or more content tabs. All Readerware products now support the "tracks" concept previously found only in the music version. Readerware for books now supports volumes and chapters for books that span multiple volumes, magazines etc. ReaderwareVW lets you define discs and episodes for those TV series DVD sets.

The track editor itself is vastly improved making it easier to enter and edit tracks. Using the music version as an example, right click on the a track number to display the popup menu. You can copy/paste tracks, insert new tracks, delete tracks. You can insert side breaks, great for vinyl. If you have a 12 track album with six tracks per side, insert a side break on track 7. ReaderwareAW will now show what tracks are on each side of the album. You can insert a disc break. Some sites will list a multiple disc album without any indication of what tracks are on what discs. When you catalog an album ReaderwareAW may list it as a one disc 45 track CD. The first thing to notice is that the old 30 track per disc limit is gone, ReaderwareAW now has all the tracks. You can easily insert disc breaks and break up that one disc into three.


View wrap up
As you can see a lot of changes to Readerware views in 3.0. These changes are designed to make it easier to configure the views just the way you want them and to make it easier to move around in Readerware and maintain your database. Some are very visible, some are subtle, I think you will find they make a big difference.

During this article we have made references to some of the changes in the Readerware 3.0 database structure. That will be the subject of the next Readerware newsletter.


Readerware support

There is nothing more important than answering your questions and suggestions. You can always e-mail support@readerware.com and expect a prompt reply. You will receive a reply within 12 hours maximum, normally a lot sooner. Unfortunately e-mail communications are not as reliable as they once were. Spam and the various schemes people have dreamed up to combat spam are interfering with normal e-mail communications.

If you have not received a response to your support request within 12 hours, something has gone wrong.
If you have not received a response within 12 hours, don't wait any longer, send a follow up e-mail. If possible try and include an alternate e-mail address. We will re-send your answer from another e-mail server to all addresses you specify.

Obviously Spam is a real problem. But it is important to realize that none of the defense mechanisms are anywhere near 100% accurate. There is nothing more frustrating for you than feeling ignored, you aren't being ignored. Every e-mail you send is answered promptly. From this end there is nothing more frustrating than taking the time to create a reply that is never seen and then getting a "why aren't you responding" e-mail a couple of days later.

All support e-mail is answered within 12 hours, if you don't get that response, check your anti-spam measures and try again.

Thanks.

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