GUI improvements to the proof design
Following requests from several clients, we made some simple but very effective changes to the design of the proof page
Big green buttons
The “New Comment” and “Your Decision” buttons are the most important on the proof. We were asked to make them more prominent.
New welcome screen
We have created a new welcome screen that reviewers see when they first open a proof. This explains a simple three-step process for reviewing a proof. They can access a demo movie and download PDF guides that explain how to review a proof.
You can hide the welcome screen by clicking the “Don’t show this screen again” check box.
To show the welcome screen at any time, click the help menu and choose the “Show welcome screen” option.
New side bar tabs
We wanted to make make navigation of the side bar easier, so we have created three tabs:
1. Comments - list of comments in numerical order. Click on the comment in the side bar to open the comment wondow and mark-ups on the proof. Hover over the comment in the side bar to see a pop-up showing the comment and replies.
2. People - list of people on the proof. Shows name, number of comments, number of replies and current decision.
3. History - shows the history of the proof in date order. Includes comments, replies and decisions.
Basecamp integration improvements
Some big changes to ProofHQ in the last few hours.
Basecamp integration - much more streamlined proof access
We had a lot of requests to streamline the way that people accessed proofs from inside Basecamp (and miniproofs generally). The previous “Login or Subscribe” form was very confusing. To fix this we have created a much smoother way to open proofs:
1. When you open a proof from Basecamp you and your reviewers will now see a simple form asking them for their email address. Once they enter their address, ProofHQ will remember it the next time they open a proof.
The email address tells ProofHQ two things. First, whether they are an existing user of ProofHQ, and Second, whether they are an existing reviewer of this proof.
2 a. Existing users are then asked for their password. Once they enter this they are logged in fully - no more having to login twice!
2 b. Non-users are asked for their name which will be displayed against their comments.
3. Non-users may not get immediate access if “Validate Subscribers” is turned on in proof settings. They will need to wait until they receive an email containing a validation link to the proof.
New ProofHQ Release - Sunday 7 September
We released a few small but important improvements to ProofHQ. Here’s a summary.
Email notifications – new Hourly summary email
We had a lot of comments from people about the email notifications. The “All comments and replies” option resulted in a deluge of email on very active proofs, but the “Daily summary” was too infrequent to be useful.
To solve this we have introduced a new “Hourly summary” which send an hourly email ONLY if there has been a new comment, reply or decision on a proof. You can set your email notification preferences to “Hourly summary” on each proof.
1. In the proof, go to the File menu.
2. In the File menu, select Email Notifications. The Email notifications sub-menu will open.
3. In the Email notifications sub-menu select “Hourly summary”.
You can set Hourly summary as your default preference in your profile.
1. Login to ProofHQ.
2. On the Dashboard click the Profile tab.
3. In the profile page look for the Your Personal Details table click Edit.
4. In the edit page find the “New comments emails” field and select “Hourly summary” from the dropdown menu.
5. Click Save.
Email notifications – changed default to Daily summary
As part of rationalizing the email notifications, we have changed the default setting for all new proofs to “Daily summary”. This means that reviewers will only receive a summary once a day. They can change their preference in the File menu of the proof.
Basecamp link in proofs
If you have added a proof to a Basecamp you will now find a link to the Basecamp project in the Links menu of the proof. This will take you straight to the Basecamp project.
1. In the proof, go to the File menu.
2. In the Links menu, select Basecamp.
3. The Basecamp project will open (you will see the Basecamp login page if you are not already logged in to Basecamp).
New Miniproof design for Basecamp
The new Miniproof design is now active in Basecamp. This means that you can easily see the comments in the proof when you are viewing the proof in Basecamp.
Here is a link to a screenshot showing the Miniproof in a Basecamp project:
New filters on the proofs list
We have created more useful filters on the proofs list so you can quickly sort the proofs that you need to see:
All proofs - all proofs where you are the owner or a reviewer
Proofs to review - proofs that are open (late or not), where you are a reviewer and where you have not make decision
Late proofs to review - proofs that are open and late, where you are a reviewer and where you have not make decision
Proofs to manage - proofs that are open (late or not), where you are the owner
Late proofs to manage - proofs that are open and late, where you are the owner
Closed proofs - all closed proofs where you are the owner or a reviewer
Files sent - files that you have sent
Files received - files that you have received
1. Login to ProofHQ.
2. On the Dashboard click the Proofs tab.
3. In the proofs page click “Change view” on the left hand side at the top of the list.
4. Select the view that you want from the dropdown menu.
The ProofHQ “advertisement” on new proof emails to non-users
These “ads” were at the bottom of all proof notifications to non-users and said:
“What is ProofHQ?
ProofHQ is a web based application that makes it easy to manage proofing and approvals of designs and documents.
Click here to set up your own FREE account: www.proofhq.com/signup”
This annoyed a lot of people so we did the right thing, and removed them.
Other small fixes
If you select a colleague as the owner of a proof, they will now receive the Proof Created email notification, not you.
Existing reviewers who are not registered users of ProofHQ can now open a proof via the Public URL or the Miniproof by using the subscribe option.
ProofHQ Tutorial Movies
We wanted to provide an easy to access list of our tutorial movies:
New ProofHQ Release
We just released a new version of ProofHQ. Here’s a summary of the main features.
New Dashboard
We have introduced a brand new Dashboard that will give you a much clearer view of all of the activities on your proofs.
There is a new Overview section, which helps filter quickly to the proofs that you have to either review or manage.
We have created a new Stats section, so you can keep up to date with the proof and storage that you are using.
We have also added filters to the Recent Activity section so that you can filter to view New Comments, New Proofs and Decisions.
Additional options for proofs
We have added some additional controls to the Create Proof and New Version:
Proof Owner. When you create a proof you can now make someone else in your organization the owner of the proof. For example, a designer may create a proof, but make an account manager the owner.
Activate passcode. You can quickly add a passcode to your proof for additional security.
Block download of the original file. You can now prevent reviewers downloading the original file.
Block the embed code. You can now block the embed code being used so that reviewers are not able to embed a miniproof.
Block the public URL. You can now block the public URL being used so reviewers can only access the proof via the personal URL that they receive in the New Proof emails.
If you are interested in joining the Beta for the API, please contact us at support@proofhq.com.
Amex and PayPal
We have had calls from lots of people asking why they can’t pay using Amex.
The simple answer is that we use PayPal to manage our credit card processing. Unfortunately PayPal in the UK doesn’t have a deal with Amex and won’t process Amex cards. We have spent about 2 months working with PayPal to try and resolve this problem including days in the developer forums, but the end result is “can’t do it”.
The upshot is that we are switching to another credit card processor and will be able to take Amex in about 2 weeks time.
New ProofHQ release
We released a great new version this weekend. The main focus of this release is improving the usability of ProofHQ, especially the proof page.
Our whole mantra is “quick, simple, easy online proofing”, so we have been listening to your feedback and working hard to improve how you and your reviewers work with ProofHQ.
We made a couple of obvious changes, and lots of small ones. We hope that these make online proofing with ProofHQ even easier.
More obvious mark-up tools
The first big change is that we have moved the mark-up tool into the header of the proof, so that they are the first thing reviewers see when they open a proof.
Reviewers can now open the proof with just one click and start marking-up and commenting on the proof with just one more click.
New tutorial movie on the proof page
We have added a new tutorial movie to the proof page.
A link to the movie appears whenever a reviewer opens a proof. Regular users can hide the movie so that they don’t need to see it each time, although it is always available in the Help menu.
(The movie is a bit basic right now, but will be updated in the next few days)
Multi-page proofs - page navigation
You will notice a new button at the bottom of the proof that opens up thumbnail images for each page. Just click on a thumbnail and you will go to the new page.
Easier navigation from the proof page to the rest of ProofHQ
You can navigate around ProofHQ more easily. We have created a new menu in the proof page call “Go To”. From that menu you can go to the detail page for the proof, the dashboard, the proofs list and the workspaces list.
Today’s outage
We want to apologise profusely for the outage today. It’s the first time this year that we have had any unplanned downtime (in fact third time only in four years!) and it’s galling that it happened.
The problem was with a network component in one of our data centers and so affected both our main and backup systems. We have rectified that specific problem and will be reviewing the infrastructure again to make sure that there cannot be a repeat. We are also reviewing our service level agreement with our data center provider so that future problems will be rectified faster.
As a result of today’s outage we want to be totally transparent about our uptime record and will be publishing our uptime data on our website so that can see our performance. This data will be generated and validated by a third party.
Once again, I apologise for the events today and can assure you that it is our number one priority to ensure that there is no repeat.
Can design save the world?
Put’s our self-obsessed “designy” lives in perspective.
Designed by Frank Chimero. Spotted by Swiss Miss and Joanna Goddard.
Review of ProofHQ on Bright Hub (Natasha Baker)
Natasha Baker has written a review of ProofHQ for Bright Hub.
Initially Natasha seemed quite sceptical:
“ProofHQ reduces the time and cost of managing proofing and approvals for everyone involved….. That’s a big claim……. I had my doubts. “
But after an extensive road test and review, we definitely got the thumbs up:
“ProofHQ is my dream come true. I highly recommend ProofHQ to add to your project management arsenal. The application’s seamless integration with Basecamp is an awesome functionality that I have already began to tout as a service that I provide to would-be clients. “
Great news and thank you Natasha for taking the time to try the product.