In the previous version (2.5) of iMap I had put together a brief help book. The help book covered quick solutions to some of the errors that iMap might throw at you. It turned out that the help book was a very good idea. I had basically gotten no mails regarding iMap errors in the past week. Makes me feel a bit alone – but I guess this is how it works when you have a help book.
So over the last week, I have enhanced this help book to be way better. Now it not only includes solutions to errors – but whole articles and a documentation as well. The amounts that I have written are just vast compared to the previous one.
Some say lot’s of documentation is a sign of a not-working or hard-to-understand application. Though, I don’t think iMap is hard-to-use at all; on the contrary it has just two buttons and several textfields. 
I don’t know how this new help book will help or just confuse, so I need some help myself. I am looking for some beta-testers who simply look at the book and read through it. Besides receiving spelling and grammatical errors, I hope to get some tips on the actual content and structure as well.
If you are interested, then let me know by sending me a mail from the contact page.
The new help book will go into iMap version 2.6. Here are basic other improvements for the 2.6 version that we are implementing:
- Buttons and textfields get enabled/disabled during runtime. For example, if a person wants to create a sitemap, the fields will only become editable if he checkmarks the option below. Same goes for hitting the “Create” button. That “Create” button will only be enabled if the user has chosen his site successfully already.
- MobileMe and .Mac switch will be more apparent. Fields and labels will change from “.Mac” to “MobileMe.”
- Improved label descriptions
- Slightly less cluttered main window interface
If you have any other ideas that can give last minute improvements to iMap, then let me know.
By my plans, iMap 2.6 is the last release of any 2.X iMap. This will also mark the end of Tiger compatible iMaps.
iMap 3.0 will be Leopard only. The 3.0 version will see a major change in the interface and licensing. The interface will be tabbed like Coda (or Safaris preference panes) and much more organized and easier to use. The licensing will also change. Currently, iMap is being sold as a download with no sorts of license numbers or registration framework. I originally favored that method – but by now, we have started to convert the new iMap to be license based as it is much more secure and easier to handle.
One last major change, is the name of iMap 3.0. iMap gets confused with IMAP servers way to often; bad for us. Thus, we are thinking of a new name. If you have any ideas for new names, let us know about that as well. Thanks!
Believe it or not, iMap 2.6 and 3.0 will kick ass!
