The latest news about product updates and everything else related to Fanurio.
June 04, 2012
One of the most requested features, especially from people who multitask, is to be able to use the timer for more than one task at one moment.
Version 2.5 allows you to track time for only one service from start to end. If you want to run it for another service item, you need to stop the timer and then start it for the other service item. This model doesn't work if you need to just interrupt the timer, work on something else and then come back to what you did initially.
We now have a beta version that can do this. We've changed the timer so that you can start as many timing sessions as you need to. Only one will be active, the others will be interrupted.
You can download the beta version from the download page. This version doesn't change your database so it's safe to install over your current version. Please note that if your annual maintenance plan expired, you will need a trial license key to run it. We'll be happy to provide one if you want to try it.
Since this is a beta version, it means that this feature is not ready for an official release yet. Not that it wasn't tested but because we need your feedback on some of the design decisions that we made.
Q1: How well does the new timer support your workflow? In other words, is it easy to switch between tasks and record time for more than one activity? Would you change anything to this implementation?
Q2: Once you start the timer, the Start Timer action is enabled again only when it is paused. Should it also be enabled when the timer is running? By enabling it again only when the timer is paused, we want to prevent the timer to be started again by accident.
Q3: Should we paint the pause and resume buttons in yellow instead of green so that the resume button cannot be mistaken for the start button?
Q4: What do you think about the new behavior of the Stop Timer action? There are two Stop Timer actions now, one that stops the timer and saves time immediately and the other that prompts you to save time.
Q5: If you use the new Stop Timer action and time is added directly to a service item, would you prefer to see a tray icon notification to inform you about this event?
If there is anything else you'd like to see changed before the final release, please let us know.