Overview

Version 9.1 contains many improvements and corrections that were not mentioned in the other articles of this blog. See the version history for a complete list of improvements. A quick summary of the more significant changes is listed below:

• An option has been added to show event start and end times in the Day and Week views.
• The Month view and Monthly print layout have been improved to fit more events within the available space.
• The user interface look-and-feel has been refreshed in preparation for Windows 8.
• A "Sync Now" button has been added to the status bar.
• Shared event creator and modification times are shown in the Details Pane.
• Many other improvements and corrections.

Start and End Times in Day and Week Views

The Day and Week View Settings menu has been improved to include a new "Show Start/End Times" option.

This option is especially useful in the Week View, or when the Day view shows multiple days, because it eliminates the need to visually scan over to the time bar along the left side in order to see when an event occurs. Here's how it looks when this option is enabled:

Month View Fits More Events

The Month view has been improved to fit more events (as well as notes or tasks) into the space available. In version 9.0.3 and earlier, if an entire event couldn't fit nicely, along with a small margin, then it wouldn't be shown at all. In many cases, this resulted in events not appearing even where there was obviously enough room for at least one more event to fit, which detracted from the user experience.

Version 9.1 removes this limitation. Here's a before-and-after comparison, to demonstrate how this improvement works:

As can be seen in the example, the 7th event clearly fits within the available space. An 8th event also partially fits. A similar improvement was also made for when printing the Monthly layout.

Note: As in past versions, the triangle in the lower-right corner of the date can be clicked to access the Day View, where all events will be visible. Also, the zoom button at the top-right corner of the Month view can be used to make more space available, so all events will appear.

Refreshed User Interface

With Windows 8 on the horizon, with its Metro UI and simplified user interface, we felt it was time to give VueMinder a facelift. Although VueMinder hasn't been converted into a Metro app, the user interface has been improved so that VueMinder will bear a closer resemblance to Metro-style apps (and yes, VueMinder will run on Windows 8 PCs - we've already tested to ensure there won't be any compatibility issues).

The user interface has been modified to take attention away from the VueMinder window and focus it on what's important - the content and events the user has added to the calendar. Except for button and menu icons, all elements of the user interface are in neutral shades of gray, allowing user-defined colors to pop. Most rounded corners are gone, replaced with Metro-inspired square corners. Gradient shading has been reduced. Unnecessary lines have been removed. The end result is a much cleaner appearance, which helps focus attention to user content.

For some users, this might take some getting used to. For that reason, most of the other appearance themes have been untouched. These themes are accessed via the Appearance command on the Options menu in the Pro and Ultimate versions. It might take some time to adjust the square corners, but this is where user interface trends are headed. Hey Apple - we're sick of round corners and glassy reflections on everything! That stuff was cool 5 years ago. Now...not so much.

Sync Now Button on Status Bar

When a calendar is activated, if that calendar supports syncing, a new "Sync Now" button will appear on the status bar, next to where the last sync time is shown. When this button is clicked, the calendar will be queued to sync, which will happen as a background process within a few seconds. Of course, previous methods of syncing, such as pressing the F5 key or using the Share menu, are still supported.

Shared Event Creator and Modification Details

For calendars that are shared through VueMinder Server, the Details Pane has been improved to show which user created an event and when the event was last modified or synced.