SlideMagic Blog

I just released version 2.1.25 of SlideMagic with more bug fixes and performance improvements:

• Better integration of copy-paste and other clipboard function with Mac OSX and Windows, enabling you to copy paste things between SlideMagic and other applications
• Fixed the mystery bug that stopped slide rendering when you flip an image
• Fixed an issue where crop rectangles would be reset after compressing an image
• Fixed an issue that could corrupt .magic files upon exiting the application (thank you, one of my frequent blog readers)

On the server, the browser now tells you that your password reset link has expired, rather than producing a generic message that something is not quite right.

I am starting to feel happy with the application as I am using it now myself really intensively to build the template database, but I am keeping the number of beta users small at the moment, just to make sure. One important decision that I need to make before expanding the user base, is the freezing of the file format, I am still pondering making potentially breaking changes here.

The update should install automatically in the background if you leave your existing SlideMagic app open in the background. Beta version from a few months ago have now expired as we move into 2020, please contact me if you have an issue re-starting the app.

Photo by Jeff Cooper on Unsplash

SlideMagic 2.0 beta users will have their app updated over the coming days with a few tweaks and improvements, mostly the result of me now using the app in earnest for the expansion of the template database.

• I gave up on insisting that you cannot change the layout of the title page of the presentation. Page 1 still looks like it did before out of the box, but you can now change it, delete it, move it, like any other slide in the presentation. Whatever you do to it, the design will be 100% consistent with the other slides in the deck though. Page one is important to brand your presentation, and I was imposing too many restrictions on my users. The side effect of this is that removing the need to distinguish between page 1 and regular pages I could simplify the app code massively (= deleting many, many lines of code). Legacy SlideMagic 1.0 presentations will be converted automatically.
• I removed the ability to edit slide titles in story mode. Initially I thought it would be a useful way to edit headlines of your slides all together. Now in use, I found that it actually confuses the story user interface.
• I perfected drag and drop of slides, now also across multiple presentation windows (something that is hard to do in browser-based applications such as Google Slides). As result the clipboard in story view was no longer needed. You can now also drag, copy, delete, move slides in the small thumbnail strip at the side of the main edit screen. There is still work to do here (dragging multiple slides for example)
• I implemented right-click context menus throughout the presentation, enabling me to declutter the user interface by removing icons that are no longer needed.
• Popup menus enable you to work with very fine grids now, as I no longer need to render lots of icons.
• Popups also solve user interface conflicts between drawing connector arrows and combining/splitting shapes

I just returned from a wonderful trip to show my kids California (apologies for the silence here on the blog). To find places to stay I had to browse AirBnB and hotel web sites, basically online sales presentations for real estate. I was struck by the images most places used. They could have been better:

• Real estate people like to show features: close up pictures of washing machines, wide angle shots of living rooms, bed rooms. But I think most short term tenants look more at the atmosphere of a place… Few features, more ambience.
• Related to this: lighting. Super bright flood lighting, flash, makes all the objects in the property visible, but kill the ambience of the photo. Everything looks like a high school canteen. Add images that actually highlight the outisde view through the windows, not the inside. Take pictures in the early morning or around sunset for softer light.
• Think of the sequence of the slide show: your best shots upfront, but don’t forget the last ones as well. Spread out the washing machines and ironing boards in between more atmospheric shots of the property.

Sales presentations are everywhere.

Dragging and dropping across multiple application windows looks easy, but from a development point of view it is tricky to get right. I think I managed to get it to work for SlideMagic 2.0. In the same effort, I removed the clipboard in story view, that was a hack that I had to use in the web-based SlideMagic 1.0. A hack, because it was weird and confusing to use. No more need for it now.

Beta users should receive the update to their software automatically.

Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash

Years ago I started SlideMagic 1.0 “brain washed” by “modern” application design: cloud, tablet-friendly, SAAS, an always up to date version of software running in the browser.

Bit by bit, I am reverting to a 1990s setup for SlideMagic 2.0, focused on a desktop application with a selected cloud-tweaks:

• Design apps need to be super snappy and fast, latency because of saving stuff in a database that sits at the other end of the world is not ideal
• Presentations do get edited on planes that still do not have 100% WiFi coverage
• Presenting a presentation on a screen that is dependent on a live internet connection is risky, yes even in 2019.
• Having multiple windows on a screen and copying, pasting, dragging things across is actually useful (not yet implemented in SlideMagic 2.0). It is funny to see the developer discussion on bulletin boards where people are waking up to the challenges of managing multiple windows of the same application. Something web designers usually do not have to do.
• Storing things in a tried and trusted local file system solves security headaches and is good set up for when creating documents: finding things, copying, pasting. (Long-term storage and archiving is a different story)

Photo by Matthew M on Unsplash

A critical feature of any presentation app is the management of screens when presenting for a live audience. The presentation needs to show up on the big screen, and if possible, the presenter windows with the slide count, next slide preview, and timer needs to pop up on the secondary monitor.

Messing with monitors under the stressful time pressure of standing in front of a waiting audience requires serious stress testing. I am now doing this for SlideMagic 2.0. Pulling out monitor cords mid-presentation, sticking them back in, closing windows. I removed many bugs, but there are still a few left (the dual operating system set up is causing some additional challenges).

Soon, I will have ironed them out all. But as a precaution, I might not go as far as PowerPoint or Keynote where the user does not see the presenter and audience windows explicitly. I will leave them visible as non-maximised windows so the user can find them and move them around if Murphy’s Law strikes.

To be continued.

Apologies for the quiet blog this week. I am extremely busy ironing out the SlideMagic 2.0 app. This week the focus is on tightening the integration with the Windows and Mac operating systems:

• Designing app and file icons that look good and stand out next to other desktop icons (clutter)
• Linking those icons with the ‘.magic’ file extension on a computer
• Making sure double clicking icons, recent files, recent files in the dock, etc. works
• Certifying the app both with Apple and with a certification agency for Windows so that double clicking an installer does not generate scary security warnings
• Adding SSL security to file downloads
• Accept-cookie banners, and other regulatory issues

To be continued. Beta testers can check in now and then to download a later version of the installer, I am putting a new one up almost every day now.

This list of resources might come in handy for anyone who is considering learning how to code from scratch, or like me, wants to get back into things again. Your objective could be

1. to land a job as a developer,
2. have a startup idea and you want to build it, at least build a prototype in a low risk way without the pressure and money required to hire professional developers
3. you just feel a bit technology illiterate and want to acquire basic coding skills just as an interest.

For me it started actually with number 3, that slowly turned into objective 2. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, you could simple turn on a computer enter a few lines of simple code and get a computer to do things. Now there is actually a bit more ‘overhead’ required before you have a basic piece of code running that can take an input and do something with it.

Option 1. and 2. are very different. Being a developer inside a huge organisation, and at the receiving of incoming feature requests by others is different from building a project that is really yours. Option 1 can actually be very similar to a regular admin job (a ‘cog wheel’ inside a big machine).

Thinking a bit ahead, I think that ultimately I will not be the person to keep un coding SlideMagic if it ever becomes a big and successful operation, but I am convinced that it is very hard (maybe impossible) to run a technology company if you yourself are completely illiterate in the world of coding.

At the moment, SlideMagic 2.0 is tested by “friends & family”. Soon, I would like the help of more beta testers for SlideMagic 2.0:

• Mac only for the moment: I am doing all the development on Mac with short cycles without having to build a Windows version every time (Windows will be available the moment the Mac version is stable)
• I would love to get the help of users who have invested time in getting to grips with V1.0, the web app, they understand the design concept and can focus on the improvements (hopefully) of V2.0.
• As an early beta tester, you will need some patience, as release version can still be unpredictable. If you would like to find out in general what the app is like, I would suggest waiting a bit until things become more stable.

Let me know at jan at slidemagic dot com if you are interested.

Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash

Today I reached the point where I have much improved, fully working, stand-alone version of SlideMagic running on my machine, every line of code put in by myself. That was quite a journey…

• I started with experimenting with PowerPoint macros to automate some processes for the template store
• Then I moved on to Windows and C# to start writing a 100% accurate conversion plugin that can read and convert SlideMagic files to native PowerPoint and was considering expanding the plugin to cover a full slide edit engine inside PowerPoint
• I got the sense that Microsoft is not putting all its energy into C#/com plugins for Office, but rather is focusing on Javascript. At the same time, I discovered Electron (owned by Microsoft…), that would allow me to write an app that would run on both Mac (early adopters) and Windows (the market).
• Next phase: learning JavaScript and coding a stand alone SlideMagic to PowerPoint converter, outside of PowerPoint.
• Then came the big leap: why not write the whole app from scratch…. Writing a converter is relatively straight forward: you read the file and translate it. An app where the user can click an unlimited amount of items is a different piece of cake…
• Bit by bit, I made progress: all app modes in one screen, live what-you-see-is-what-you-get editing, hard core image cropping and processing, drag-and-drop (tricky), shift-click selecting multiple objects (app complexity to the power n), and a complete PDF rendering engine in addition to the PowerPoint conversion.