Order Counting & Section Details Tab Anomalies

[JFro]

It would be very useful to be able to select a group of orders in Actinic, and have the number of orders that are selected displayed somewhere on the bottom bar in the Actinic window - a bit like MS Word does with wordcounts etc. That way I could very easily find out how many orders there are, how many since a certain date, how many with a certain criteria, and so on.

I have also noticed a couple of anomalies on the details tab of Sections. The Meta description allows you to use Ctrl + A to select everything in the box, and you can also use the Delete key as well as the Backspace Key to delete text. The Meta Keywords box opens a site preview when Ctrl + A is used, and nothing happens when I press the Delete key, although I can still use the Backspace key to delete text...

[guccij]

The Meta Keywords box opens a site preview when Ctrl + A is used, and nothing happens when I press the Delete key, although I can still use the Backspace key to delete text...

This is a long standing bug, have lost count of the number of times a fix has been requested

[Sean Williams]

Mole End's One Stop utility does this

[JFro]

Maybe an extra mention will help push it up the list a bit! The bug must have been on the receiving end of a lot of cursing, particularly on slow computers that take an age to open internet browsers...!

It is Mole End's One-Stop that counts the orders that are selected? Does that mean Actinic cannot add it into their software themselves? I guess so, otherwise Actinic would nick all their good ideas

[brucet]

Sorry the keystrokes bug has been overlooked. There are a few irritants like that which we intend to fix, but which always seem to get overtaken by something more serious that arises.

The order count is a good idea. We are certainly not bound to avoid implementing stuff that is already covered by a plugin developer like Mole End. In practice, though, we do lean towards providing features that are not otherwise available, unless it's something quite fundamental or frequently requested.

[Mike Hughes]

The order count is a good idea. We are certainly not bound to avoid implementing stuff that is already covered by a plugin developer like Mole End. In practice, though, we do lean towards providing features that are not otherwise available, unless it's something quite fundamental or frequently requested.

I think I recognise the intent here but believe it's a fundamentally flawed approach.

Actinic don't really have the technology, infrastructure or support system to create a thriving 3rd party development community.

For me, Actinic should be trying to create the absolutely best software they can and that includes copying the best bits and ideas that 3rd parties come up with.

People shouldn't have to buy plug-ins to make the software work well. Yes, there might be a market for specific important functions, but TBH Actinic have shown that they want to include these in the software (like email marketing and RTSC) so there's not much scope for plug-ins there either.

It would be nice if Actinic could get to grips with this and realise that their success depends on the software being the best they can make it and that includes all the little features and details that make it nice to use.

Mike

[brucet]

I wasn't really talking about long term aims, more tactical development. We absolutely want to make our software the best it can be, and provide as much functionality as we can. But our wish list runs to hundreds of requests, and the more features we add, the more requests we get for extending them. We can't possibly do everything, we have to prioritise somehow.

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Bruce. I was thinking of the tactical issues too. It just makes me uncomfortable to see what looks like important areas falling behind because the focus has to be on strategic areas.

I wasn't trying to take the discussion of topic so will leave it here rather than taking this discussion off at a tangent.

Mike

[brucet]

I will certainly bear that in mind, thanks. We do always try to include a few tactical enhancements in each release, usually things requested by several users that are not difficult or risky to implement.

[Jan]

While Actinic may look at the plugins available when prioritising features, they definitely do add features to the product that are available as plugins - online stock control is an example from V10.

Actinic have always been very honest with me about development work and have made it quite clear from the start that they will include features of my products into the core product at times. I would claim order colours, one click processing and quick find as originating from my work.

I think that I suffer less than other plugin developers because I work closely with Actinic and I have an idea of what is coming in the future (and no I can't tell you, lol) and so I actively avoid developing plugins with a short life.

Regards,