Unfuddle Blog

Keyboard Shortcuts

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:05:08 UTC

We've just deployed an update that will boost your efficiency in Unfuddle so you can get more work done faster. Introducing Unfuddle keyboard shortcuts!

Throughout Unfuddle it is now possible to create new items, navigate to different projects or tabs within a project, modify a ticket, comment on tickets and messages and more, all without touching your mouse. You can quickly see what is possible by tapping "?" on your keyboard. This will popup the window, shown below.

Want to create a ticket? No problem! Simply type "nt" and go. Or do you want to accept the ticket you are currently viewing? Just type ".a". It's that simple.

Here is the full list of available shortcuts. What do you think? Are there any shortcuts you feel are missing? Let us know!

Updates to Project Activity and Messages

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:00:00 UTC

This week we are bringing you some updates to both the Activity page and Messages.

The Activity page has been completely revamped to function as a daily activity report. This makes it extremely easy to catch up if you were out of the office for a while or if you are looking to see what happened on a project on a specific day. Activity is grouped by object (ticket, message, etc), making it easier to parse, especially if you have a very active project. We expect to add additional filtering and sorting options in the future.

Messages have also received a complete facelift. You will notice that the comments have moved to the right hand side of the screen, greatly optimizing screen real estate for most users. And don't forget that drag-and-drop attachments are active everywhere on the page now, including on message comments.

There have been a lot of changes to the interface lately. We have been really happy with the results and we hope that you are too. But as always, we are hungry for your thoughts. If you have any comments, please let us know!

A Notifications Notification

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 01:11:11 UTC

It goes back more than a couple of years. There have been multiple community forum discussions about it. We have had plenty of diverse email feedback about its usefulness. All this talk, yet our email notifications have not changed much in a long time. This is for a good reason: they generally work very well. However, not everyone has been happy with the formatting of our email subject lines. We've attempted to change things up multiple times in the past, always with a lot of push back.

Well, the personal settings for notifications have now been updated to provide a little more flexibility.

All the previous options are there. If you like having the existing project-specific email subject lines, you don't need to change anything. However, if you wish you could have more specific subjects, that is now a possibility. Simply select "for every action" in the notifications drop-down menu.

Once this new option is selected, you will begin to receive notifications with subject lines specific to the ticket, message, notebook, repository, etc., in question. For example, with the new option selected, a ticket notification will now have a subject something like the this: "Project Name: Ticket #1234 - Ticket Summary". This way all notifications for that ticket such as comments or other updates will all have that same subject. In email clients like Gmail which group messages based on subject, the emails will still be separated into conversations but on a smaller scale and with only very relevant emails grouped together.

Alchemy Update: Multiple Assignees

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:11:11 UTC

Today, we have released an update which allows you to assign an objective to one or more people. You read that right — you can assign an objective to multiple people. This has been a long-standing request of our customers and we are already appreciating its usefulness.

Assigning someone to an objective is really easy. Simply click that objective's "Assignee" button and select the person or people responsible for that objective. That person's avatar will then show up alongside any other assignees for that objective.

With assignees in place, we can begin doing some interesting things throughout the interface. For example, it is now possible to filter a schedule by assignee(s). Select the desired assignees from the schedule's "Assignees" menu and the schedule automatically updates to show only the relevant objectives.

Notification Emails

In this update, we have also slightly modified how notifications are sent via email. Particularly if you use Gmail or another app which consolidates messages into conversations, you will notice that each objective will receive its own thread.

Spreading the Word

Did you know you can invite other people to work with you in Alchemy? From within the workspace settings or an objective's settings, you can invite others via the permissions panel. At the top of the permissions panel, enter the email address of the person you wish to invite and select the level of access you wish to grant him or her then click the "Invite" button. If you invite someone to work with you, they do not need to be formally included in the Unfuddle Alchemy beta.

Unfuddle Alchemy is changing FAST. Your comments and suggestions are directly impacting our development and we are hungry to hear more. Please be sure to let us know what you are thinking so we can take your ideas into consideration as we continue development.

Want to get in on the beta testing? Request an invite or have one of your friends who is already part of the beta invite you in!

Drag-and-Drop Attachments and Better Attachment Management

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 01:11:11 UTC

To date, attachment management in Unfuddle has been pretty basic. Today we are releasing a few features that hope will make attachment management a whole lot easier for our customers.

Drag-and-Drop

Starting today, you can now attach files to your tickets, messages, notebooks, and comments simply by dragging and dropping them in the appropriate place in your browser.

In addition to this, we have updated the lists of attachments throughout the interface to include previews of certain types of files to make it easier to see what's attached at a glance. This includes comments, for all of you who have requested this.

Attachment Management

Also, since many accounts have a huge number of file attachments spread over hundreds or thousands of tickets, messages, and notebooks, we have added a little feature to help administrators manage them better. In both project settings and account settings, if your account supports file attachments, you will see a "Manage Attachments" link under the disk usage graph. Clicking this will take you to a page listing all attachments for either the selected project or the entire account. This list is sortable and can help you download certain attachments, bulk delete attachments, or see which attachments are taking up the most disk space.

Attachment Search

We are pleased to release an attachments update to search as well. It is now possible to search for attachments by name. When searching, simply select the "attachments" filter and you will see all matching attachments in your account or project.

Managing Disk Usage

Much of the work done this past week, including Attachment Management, has been under the umbrella of improving how our customers can manage their disk usage. We have also updated the information displayed for each repository in the Repositories tab. Most notably, you will see the total disk usage of the repository listed in the bottom-right corner of each repository. It is no longer necessary to click through to each repository's settings to find which repositories are taking up all the space in your account.

We hope you find this most recent release helpful! Please let us know how we can make Unfuddle work better so we can help you and your team be even more productive.

Unfuddle Git Hosting Now Over HTTPS

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:11:11 UTC

Over the years, we have spoken to so many of you who have had issues with Git over SSH. Let’s be honest. Creating and managing key pairs is a hassle, especially on Windows.

Well, you can say goodbye to those troubles as we have recently enabled Git access over HTTPS. Not only is this available immediately, but it is now the default and preferred way to access Git repositories in your Unfuddle account.

You will now notice two URLs associated with each Git repository in your account. Use the URL starting with "https://" for accessing your repo with this new method. Use the other, starting with "git@", for accessing your repo via SSH.

If you wish to use HTTPS for a repository you have already cloned locally, you will need to update the appropriate remote in your git config. This can be done with the following command:

git remote set-url REMOTE_NAME https://SUBDOMAIN.unfuddle.com/git/SUBDOMAIN_REPO-ABBREVIATION/

For more information on accessing your Git repository via HTTPS, please see our Git support page.

Alchemy Update: A Changelog

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 01:11:11 UTC

We've been having a great time working on Unfuddle Alchemy and our beta users have been giving us some great feedback. We are happy to post some of the updates we have deployed during the past week or two. Here they are in no particular order:

Updates

All of the actions for an objective have now been grouped under the objective's gear menu. We have also included the ability to change an objective's state from this menu so it is simple to move an objective through your workflow, even to a state which is hidden in the current schedule.
We've added more bulk actions in schedules to facilitate better movement of objectives from one state to another.
We have increased the vertical space available for listing objectives in a schedule to help you see more without having to scroll.
You are now presented with a warning when attempting to leave/close a window before data has been synced with the server.
Newly added actionable objectives are now added to the top of schedule columns instead of the bottom.
URLs in thoughts are automatically converted to actual links.
The input for editing an objective's name is now multi-line.
The add objective input is now full width to better give the feeling of list rows on the page.
Thoughts are no-longer collapsed if they exceed the height of the page and the newest thoughts are always shown when an objective is loaded.

Bug Fixes

We've gone ahead and fixed a bunch of issues as well:

We fixed some issues which were affecting pre-populating schedule columns.
Separators created adjacent to each other display properly now.
The tracked objective dialog no longer appears unintentionally when toggling schedule columns.
The Tab > Enter key sequence now works properly in Safari to post a thought.
Live update now only updates the correct schedule.
The feedback form is now visible on all pages.
We fixed some issues with text overflowing the thoughts area in certain cases.
Objectives which contain other objectives are now always bolded in the objective hierarchy as expected.
States are colored properly in all schedules.

Want to Help?

We would love it if you would help us test Alchemy. If you are interested, please request and invitation.

Alchemy Update: Drop The Drawers

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:11:11 UTC

While working to improve the existing Unfuddle experience, we have also been hard at work continuing to bring Unfuddle Alchemy closer to public release. This week brings some significant changes outlined below.

First, we have dropped the concept of "drawers" on the side of some views. These drawers used to hold content such as thoughts or permissions for an objective. These drawers were a little too constraining for thoughts and just didn’t work well enough for their other purposes so they are gone. Thoughts for an objective are now always visible either to the right of the objective list or below it depending on the width of the window. This provides more horizontal room for the thoughts making them much easier to read and it also makes better use of the page in general. See below:

Also, as a result of getting rid of the drawers, we have consolidated the workspace settings view and changed where to manage the permissions for an objective. They are now configurable from the objectives "gear" icon along with a number of other options which were already there.

We continue to send out invites to those who have requested them. If you are interested in helping us bring new features and improve existing ones in Alchemy please request an invite.

Adding New Resources and Live Preview

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:11:12 UTC

We are pleased to announce that we have released more updates to Unfuddle this week. Let us show you even if you have already noticed them.

Adding resources in your projects

We have added a new "plus" button to the tab bar at the top-left of the screen. This button will allow you to easily add a message, for example, to any project from any page in your account. Just thought of something you wanted to share with your team in project X? No problem. Click the quick add button and create a message in that project right from where you are on the page. Since tickets are the most commonly created resource, we have included an always available "quick ticket" button next to this. Along with this addition, we have gone ahead and updated the forms for creating new resources.

Live Preview

The other major addition in this release is an update to the text editor. We have had many people express difficulty in getting their text to look right without clicking the preview button or repeatedly saving the text to check it. Now, you will now notice a live preview area so you can see what your markdown/textile will look like when your text is saved. No more wondering if you got the formatting right. Note: If you wish to hide the live preview, you can toggle it by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the editor toolbar.

Additionally, we have enabled the text areas to automatically resize to fit their contents. This is especially convenient when editing a large notebook page or other resource with a long description or body.

Miscellaneous Updates

We have also released some bug fixes, the most notable of which is a fix for the project selector functionality on touch devices. This now works as expected. Finally, we have updated the Unfuddle Mylyn Connector for those of you who use the Eclipse IDE in your projects.

More is on the way. As always, please let us know if you have any comments about our recent updates or things you would like to see changed or added in the future. We really value your feedback!

Upgrading Interface Performance

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:12:12 UTC

A few weeks ago we wrote about how we were working to speed up Unfuddle's user interface. We saw some significant increases in performance as a result of that work. This week we have worked to squeeze even more performance out of Unfuddle. Here are some of the steps we have taken to do this:

We are now serving all static assets from Amazon CloudFront. This alone made a huge difference in page load times.
We have improved the caching headers and cache-busting of static assets.
We have reduced the number and size of requests on a given page by bundling and minimizing CSS and JavaScript files.
We now proactively load the different views in your account so they are available immediately when you request them.

We also made some notable updates to our database which affect performance across the board, including the Unfuddle API requests. On average, all database queries are now much more efficient (about 60% more!) which results in less server load and faster response times.

You may have also noticed that, while not particularly performance related, we have continued to integrate Bootstrap throughout the interface to continue to lay the groundwork necessary for future visual updates throughout the Unfuddle interface.