Differences between Visor's Datebook+ and DateBk3
C. E. Steuart Dewar
differences between the Datebook+ application on the handSpring Visor and
Datebk3. As the author of both applications, I suppose I should be able
to provide a truly definitive list, but I'm sure I've missed an item here
or there - so if you DO notice something I've overlooked, please email me
so I can update this list.
This is what I have down so far...
Items in Datebk3 not present in the Visor organizer's Datebook+
application
Major Items
* No Timezone support
* No Category support
* No icon support
* No appts spanning midnight
* 2nd weekly view has no details dialog - tapping on a cell goes straight
to the day view
Minor Items:
* No dialog to go forwards and backwards by some # of days (dialog also
displayed Julian day numbers etc.)
* No 7 button in details/repeat dialogs to advance by 1 week
* No 24Hr advance option on untimed alarms to get untimed alarms to sound
on current day
* No Alarm info button to view upcoming alarms
* No Make Exception command
* Snooze dialog has no Edit button and only 5/10/30 min and Other buttons
* Priority setting for displaying todo's is global to all categories (as
opposed to being individually set for each category)
* Floating advance is either off or always done at midnight
* Time settings are only to the nearest 5 minutes (using the standard OS
time dialog)
* The NEW button always pops up a list of options including an option for
templates (since there is no Tp button).
* There is no option for the display of Non-Roman languages so using
hacks for languages like Hebrew, Chinese, etc. will cause odd displays in
the second weekly and list views. (Note: I have an external utility on my
web site that "sets" this option for Datebook+).
* No Reminder feature (in the template dialog)
* No Custom week # - only the std. palm Week #'s are available.
* List View has no option to Show All Events
* No duration dialog to set durations of events
* No feature to turn off the warning on making an event private if
private events are displayed
* No feature to control whether you move to a new day after changing the
date of an item
* No option to toggle the display of Todo's on and off quickly
--
____
/ ___)
( (___
\____)HEERS!
____
/ ___)
( (___
\____)ESD
Pimlico Software
Home of Datebk3 and WeekView
http://www.gorilla-haven.org/pimlico
Brad
between the two? I'm assuming it's because you wanted to maintain the
opportunity for sales of the full version to Visor customers. Is this
it?
In either form, it's a great enhancement and it's what the original
Datebook should have been!
Brad
In article <MPG.12a93349b...@news.tds.net>,
ce...@gorilla-haven.org (C. E. Steuart Dewar) wrote:
> Several people had asked me to post a comprehensive list of the
precise
> differences between the Datebook+ application on the handSpring Visor
and
> Datebk3.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Steve T
I think Handspring did *not* want to get into rewriting the Palm Desktop...
so the vast majority of changes in DateBk3 that were clearly not supported
in the desktop (timezone support, icons, events past midnight, event times
not on five minute markers, and so on) were not included in Datebook+ simply
to avoid people complaining that the Desktop and Handheld versions were
"incompatible".
After all, if you're new to the world of organizers, it would look very
strange to have functionality on the Visor device that was "kludged" or
clearly not supported on the Visor Desktop. You'd think they did a
half-baked job.
That's my theory, anyway :)
Regards
Steve T
Brad wrote in message <81otum$6ku$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
Eric
categories because they didn't want tech support calls from customers
wanting to know where their data dissapeared to.
"Steve T" <steve_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:81p6ku$dmq$2...@ssauraab-i-1.production.compuserve.com...
Brad
noticed DateBk3's code characters in her desktop's note fields. So,
while they've limited the complexity/confusion, they haven't done away
with it completely. I agree with your logic though, because it took
some time for me to explain to her how DateBk3 was different and how
she'd just have to ignore DateBk3's mysterious characters in her
calendar notes. I can just imagine how people could get into trouble
with this if they didn't understand.
Brad
In article <81p6ku$dmq$2...@ssauraab-i-1.production.compuserve.com>,
C. E. Steuart Dewar
>Maybe this is well-known by many, but why are there so many differences
>between the two? I'm assuming it's because you wanted to maintain
>the opportunity for sales of the full version to Visor customers. Is
>this it?
I guess the world is full of cynics these days<g>. That was the not the
case at all. The specifications for Datebook+ were exclusively drawn up
by Handspring, not by me. Every design decision on what was to be kept
and what was to be discarded was made by their technical staff. The
opportunity to sell the "full version" never even entered into the
discussions, and neither would it have been relevant for Handspring.
Not everyone will agree with every decision, but for the most part their
decisions struck me as entirely logical, given the much broader market
that the Visor would sell to (as opposed to the market for 3rd party
applications which by definition is more sophisticated). Datebook+ is
also quite a bit smaller than Datebk3 (190k vs. 255k) and considering
that it was going into ROM was also important.
As was previously mentioned, the floating events were a thorny issue, and
I did point out that there were the ONLY reason in Datebook+ to retain
the tagged note field, but floating events are one of the most popular
features in Datebk3. Of course the tagged note field could be eliminated
by providing a custom conduit and support on the desktop, but that would
not have been a good solution for the huge number of users who do not use
the Palm desktop software. The tags, while cosmetically unattractive on
the desktop and are not particularly obtrusive, and the advantage of
floating events surely outweighs those minor detriments.
So far in all the discussions about datebook+ on the Visor versus
Datebk3, the only thing that I hear a consensus on is the icons which a
lot of non-power users find helpful...