Everything fabulous about your fabulous friends, on your iPad.
You may have noticed that development of The Dossier has accelerated somewhat since the 1.1 release a couple of months ago. The Dossier 1.2 has only been in the App Store for a few days, but I’m already getting close to submitting 1.3.
So, what’s new in 1.3? Well, we’re adding some significant additions to Gifts! I wanted to get Gifts into everybody’s hands well before the holiday orgy of shopping got underway, but that doesn’t mean Gifts is done — far from it.
First, we’re adding details to gifts. An arrow appears beside each gift, and if you tap it you’ll be able to change the gift name, as well as enter the store you bought it at, how much you paid for it, where you’ve hidden it, as well as a website and notes.
Next, you’ll be able to check off the things you’ve already purchased. Simply tap the gift itself, and it’ll mark it as purchased. Now you’ll know what still needs buying.
All this is fine and good, but wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to see all the things you need to buy for everyone? With the new Shopping List feature, you can do this easily! Instead of just a dossier list, we’ve added a Shopping List tab:
The Shopping List will also allow you to check things off the list, so it’s great for either using while in the store, or as a place to cross things off the list when you get home.
So, there you have it, a quick preview of what’s to come. I’m not sure yet when we’ll be finished, but we’ll be sending a version to our beta testers in the next couple of days.
We’ve submitted the update to Apple for approval, and should be in the store in a few days. This is the largest single feature added to The Dossier since we originally shipped in March. It’s also, arguably, the most important feature and one that should have been there from the start: Gifts.
It all starts with what you see in a dossier:
This is a list of all the gifts you’ve given in the past or will give in the future. The goal is primarily to remind you what you’ve given, but also to help you with ideas for the future.
Tap on Gifts and you’ll see the editor:
You can see the items for the event you tapped on, and can just start typing in items, pressing return after each one. Need to delete? Swipe an item and the delete button appears.
If you want to view the gifts for a different occasion, tap the occasion button at the top:
You can type in an occasion if you want, but there are also quick entry items for common occasions. Upcoming events with known dates (like Christmas or the person’s birthday) are at the top. Other common events, like housewarmings, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and so on are below. Then, there are historical occasions — things you created in the past, like Birthday 2009 and 2008.
So: tap an occasion, set the date if you need to, and tap on the Gifts button at the top to go back and add gifts for it.
That’s it! It’s a straightforward way to remember what you’ve given people and what you intend to give them in the future.
Gifts are an integral part of our social lives, and I really think it’s the feature that really defines what The Dossier is all about.
This is our new Gifts feature! We’re doing some last minute cleanup, and will be submitting it to Apple later today. This shows both gifts that have been given previously, as well as gifts you intend to give in the future.
Once we’ve submitted, I’ll write up a detailed overview of how it all works.
Things around the Without Software offices have been buzzing[1] with changes. Last week we started some new advertising with a unique look and feel. We’ve been working to extend that across to our website as well, a place that is woefully in need of some updating.
We should be launching our new website in the next couple of days, once we’ve finished tweaking it. Here’s a quick preview:
I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a fair bit better than our current, generic, bland, informationless site! :-)
We’re also hard at work on the next update to The Dossier, which will see a few new blocks and some improvements to existing blocks. If you have any ideas, now is the time to let them fly! Tweet us at @thedossierapp with your ideas, or even if you just want to say “hi!”
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[1] May not actually be buzzing, as both James and I work from our respective homes!
