Design feedback needed on Notes feature.

I think you nailed it exactly.

The "per day" note can describe things like ranges of time or overall effects, while the "per activity" can summarize what was actually done, if you opt to go that far with it -- I hope I don't, personally, because that's a bit too fiddly for my taste. I'd probably use the "per activity" note field to explain why temporary activities exist, or maybe to remind myself of daily goals.

Looks great! I suppose these will also be printed in the reports?

I'd like to see a notes section always visible on it's on line.
Just have little blocks of text aligned to the time it was entered for.

Thanks for listening!

Looks good to me - this is one of the features I really need to make using Bubbletimer a viable option (I'm using paper ETT at the mo.) I wonder how you would put this info into the export of the day - would there be a notes column next to the Activity column?

I was talking about the spreadsheet. But whether it is the spreadsheet or print out, I'd like to see the notes included in it please.

BTW - I've only just discovered the print out, its excellent!!!! The print out is exactly what I've been looking for - the totals of activities table doesn't seem to be included in the spreadsheet but that is what I was most interested in. I think you are downplaying the printout but just having the little printer icon - i presumed that was just a print page button, had no idea it created a nicely laid out report like that.

Thank you for continually upgrading the BubbleTimer experience! That in itself is so much fun! Kind of a surprise egg for grown-ups. ;-)

I think I like the basic idea behind the mock-up. If possible, I would also appreciate time-based notes, let's say per hour slot or something like that, because I tend to have some rather broad activity types I am using to collect everything that's not worth having a specific activity for (I have simplified my setup). With notes for time-ranges, I would have the option of capturing some helpful info to a time frame.

Josh

IMO It's not useful without being able to see the notes all the time. Anyone else feel this way?

@j0dan no, I don't need to see the notes all the time - I only add them for reference later, so that I see them on the Reports which I print at the end of each week.

No, I would neither like to see the icons of unused notes all the time nor the text of the notes w/o hovering. The way it is right now is beautiful!

I don't actually use notes much yet, but when I do, it's just the "whole day" note. I like how the note itself changes graphics when there is text there -- it reminds me to hover over it to see what was written, in case it's important! Since I write so rarely, the written-on graphic stands out a lot for me. The per-activity notes also stand out a lot, since I use them so rarely too. But someone who uses notes more often would not have this effect.

There is also a bit of a time delay when hovering over a note, and that's a little awkward. Maybe there is some validity to having a note text preview visible up near the note icon... like the way Google does web search and email previews in light grey.

If that was done, I would suggest that the currently-hovered-over time-range indicator moves over to the right side of the date. (I think it would be more visible there anyways -- it seems my eye is moving around too much when trying to figure out where I'm hovering. Then again, I have a huge list of activities...)

IDEA! Maybe there could be something to hover over that makes ALL the notes visible! That could simplify reviewing them all. Would this maybe work for you, j0dan?

IDEA! The goals part of the window could, instead, be toggleable between a panel showing your goals and progress, and a panel showing your notes! Then there can be a way to see the per-activity notes all the time!

And then...

More panels could be brainstormed after the framework exists for them, each panel showing a different aspect of useful information about what the BubbleTimer data is saying. Graphs, heatmaps, and goal progress bars that look like tachometers, oh my! Even the Sharing page could be an option!

This needs a mockup... but no, typing is faster. Bear with me!

I imagine taking the current top grey bar, and compressing it to be the width of the section with the bubbles. To fill the space, a title bar for the side panel, with little arrows on either side of the title indicating that there are other panels. A small pull-down menu would pop down from the title (just like the calendar does from the date), containing a list of panels, plus the option to manage panels (reorganize panels, select default panel, add new panels, hide panels, etc.)

On the panels themselves, there could be a way to hide the panel, to make it not available on the pull-down menu nor through scrolling; only available through the 'manage panels' window. So it's still possible to keep things simple.

There could also be a view showing thumbnails of the most-used panels! That would be an interesting one to use as a default panel, but some may feel otherwise, and so it should be just an option like any other panel. But it could be the default for new accounts, perhaps, to flaunt the possibilities! :)

And and and! You could make it possible for people to make plugins that can be optionally installed! Imagine the possibilities... ! If you enabled others to build on this beautiful data set you have, and have a place to display it within BubbleTimer iitself, you'll get the customize-freaks begging to use (and create for!) your product!