Hi,

I evaluated SS back in April and have just come back to have another look...

I was very impressed with SS first time around, but for my needs it had a few (major) shortcomings which were the subject of Feature Requests e.g. text wrapping around objects, text styles etc. Much of it was stuff that makes ongoing site maintenance easier.

It seems to me that SS makes some very complex tasks easy, yet some of the more basic stuff (in other Apps at least) is quite difficult in SS. I did in fact persevere for quite a while with a Trial copy and even got to do some pretty advanced tasks (for me anyway). What killed it for me was text management; specifically no ability to wrap it around images...separate boxes with no abilty to flow text from one to another is just not workable.

I see common references to "insert your own code" but that seems to me to contradict the whole ease-of-use philosophy of SS, particularly if you have to do it for straightforward tasks e.g. using images for text bullets

My question is what is happening with development? As far as I can tell the product has been static for 12 months or more which doesn't give me a good feeling that it's the subject of on-going enhancement.

I'm sure your (obviously) enthusiastic supporters would appreciate some insight into where SS is headed

Don't get me wrong, I think SS is conceptually brilliant, it's just that for the want of nail...

Thanks,
Patrick

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Newbietoo,

Hello Patrick,

Rest assured that we are fully committed to continued development of SiteSpinner as well as all our other products. I can't tell you exactly when the next release of SiteSpinner will be posted, though I can say there has been a lot of work done on it since the last release.

This does not mean however that the next release will have all the features and functions you may want, we have to keep in mind the needs of all our users when doing development.

The ability to enter code into the work window is not simply a way to add non WYSIWYG functionality, but a necessary tool to allow users to enter code from third parties, or to enter custom scripting for those who want to do that type of thing.

Derry,

Yes, I appreciate code insertion is both useful and essential; I was more commenting on the need to do it to perform common (and from a user perspective) basic requirements e.g. GIF's for Bullets.

I do appreciate your situation, perhaps more than most (we develop a commercial Software Product). However, giving users an overall sense of direction, without making promises, helps them in their planning. I'd suggest that is particularly so in your case, given you have such a loyal band of followers...no doubt you're keen to add to their number though!

I believe I have at least a sense of what your architecture is and I can appreciate that some things that are easy to implement in other Apps can be difficult in SS, while conversely you can easily implement stuff they'd find very hard.

I don't believe it would be giving too much away to give users some insight into that e.g. A, B and C are functions we're likely to implement within the next 12 months, D, E, and F perhaps in the longer term and G, H and I are unlikely to to be implemented in the foreseeable future if at all.

I'm not suggesting you comment on every single item either, just in broad terms and always with the caveat of course that you're not making any promises about any of it.

From my own experience, Users respond to that openeness; given advice that G,H and I is not seen as critical in the context of the future strategy for your product they eventually stop bleating about what you're not going to do and provide useful input for what you are.

In my case, and we offer the potential for quite a few SS licenses in our user base, it would help us to decide whether to go for SS (in the knowledge that what we're after is coming) or look elsewhere because it will never be there.

Anyway, not trying to tell you how to run your business; just providing a "prospective" User perspective

Thanks
Patrick

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Newbietoo,

I can't comment for the 'powers that be'. However, I can pass your comments along and say that they will get a serious review.

I can say however that posting 'features to come' can be problematic in that it raises expectations - sometimes these features may in the end have to be pushed back or other features added in their place. Features that we may deam as 'critical' may end up being pushed back due to more demand for different functions. I can also say that extensive work has been done to both SiteSpinner and Web Engine since the last release, and that both products will be updated in the 'not too distant' future.

If you have specific requests, you can send an email to vmsupport@virtualmechanics.com

Just another person's input: to me, text wrap is not needed at all. Text flow would be nice but I can live without it. So everyone's hot list is a little different.

I too noticed that SS hasn't been updated in some months. On the other hand, I have hardly seen any bugs and I've been beating on it fairly well in the past month. So am I screaming for an update? Not yet.

I am comforted to hear it's being worked on even if there is nothing to announce yet. SS does have competition, so I hope whatever they implement keeps them ahead (in my opinion). And finally I do have that whatever features were on the hot list, that they make sense (i.e., from customer requests rather than things marketing has decided should be included.)

I am hanging out for just one new feature in the next release and this is it -- for those who make long pages.

As you say, everybody's hot list is different, but if you want something new, this is the place to ask