Topic: Email Files from Backpack Page

I thought the likes of Backpack was supposed to stop people emailing files back and forth?

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

date/time stamps for note posts only show month and day. it would be nice if year were there as well (at least for posts that are not in the current year).

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

With the new upgrade it seems like the login page for the mobile version of the site has changed to require a username in addition to a password. That seems kind of unnecessary to me since my username is already in URL itself. Having to type out my username on my phone keypad every time is really annoying, and one of the things I really liked about the mobile version was how easy it was to log in with just the password. Is there any possibility of that being changed back to the old functionality at any point or was there some reason that the username had to be added to the mobile login form?

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

(from above post) “into their grouping area”

This is my point exactly. Everyday is an adventure now. My emails are not falling into a group area, they are at the top of the page, or who knows where and why. Can anyone please explain to us. Also, Instead of jpg files becoming gallery images, they are just files sitting at the top of the page. We are also getting duplicate emails on them and I’m not sure if this is you or our server who is forwarding but we have a single email coming in 7 times or more.

This is annoying and random. Now I’m looking to see if there is another way to go as this is messier than what we had before and will take an hour out of each days’ workload to try to reorganize. Messy.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

OK. I actually hate these style revisions. I’ve been a subscriber since May of 2005, and I was such for a reason: clean organization of content. I have a dropbox page with ninety or so word files, fifty writeboards, and a very long checklist, and these revisions took it from being a clean, easily scanned page to a giant inefficient mess resembling a website in 1995, only with better fonts and graphics. At the very least, bring back two column file displays, and whether or not things can be moved all over the page, save a headache and at least post new writeboards, files, etc, into their grouping area. I simply don’t understand how removing logical functionality in favor of some chaotic mess is an upgrade. I have a server. I could build a big chaotic mess, myself. Your service filled a need in my workflow, and, based on your stated design principles, I hadn’t expected that to change.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

@Gayle:

I agree re your second point (and first, see my post above). If you have hundreds of pages, you are surely NOT going to have them all in the sidebar. The only way to move them is to go to the page, enable show in sidebar, go back to the first page and move the content, then go back to the second page and re-hide it.

Better idea in my opinion: be able to click an arrow next to each piece of content that displays all your pages in sub-menus: ALL PAGES, or BY TAGS. Go to the appropriate sub-menu, find the page, and viola – done!

Note that I say list by tags – again, if you have hundreds of pages, just displaying them all in a menu would be as silly as doing so in the sidebar. It would be a nightmare.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

I’m SUPER happy with the update.

I do NOT wish to complain, however my workflow was interrupted by two things:

- I am one of the people who used the Links a lot and now I am a little lost without it; clearly I can make <a href> tags but I have to first go to the page I want to link to and copy its URL, then come back to the page I’m linking from and paste… it takes a lot longer now and isn’t nearly as lovely as the Links was before with its drop-down menu. I especially miss making a new link to a brand new page in one step.

- The second thing is that we can only move content to other pages if the page we’re moving to is in the sidebar…? I only have a couple of pages in my sidebar (each of them a main topic, with Links (sigh) to the relevant pages). That really limits where I can move my content to.

Anyway. Just my two cents. I upgraded a couple of months ago and I’m really happy I did – but it’d be nice to hear any thoughts about these two issues.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

Yeah, search is absolutely worthless! I can easily skim the titles of my pages, I would like to be able to find text within those pages… I hope it is just broken, but I wonder how (if it is just borked) it could have possibly not been tested…

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

When a page with multiple notes is emailed, the notes in the email are not in the same order as on the page.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

@theambler: surely the search function is just broken?! if not, i can’t take it seriously at all: it doesn’t find text within a page, except if the same text also appears in a page title, in which case it does. that’s just silly – or broken.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

I’m another one who is not happy with the inability to code the list headings with colour or as links. We use our pages as Work Schedules and the colour scheme was very important to our presentation, and linking titles direct to pages was extremely useful.

I don’t see how anybody could have thought that limiting list titles to a static bold black would be an improvement.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

The search function

Am I right in thinking it only finds text in the title of a page, not the body or notes etc.

If so, this is a shame.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

The only other way around it as far as I can see is to use some sort of javascript to see if you’re viewing the public page

No scrap that, because it’s now not possible to include the SCRIPT or STYLE tags. This is completely breaking my pages. :(

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

@Jason:

Links are still there on pages that had links, but we’ve removed that option moving forward. It was almost never used (less than 1% of all pages had “links”). You can still make your own links between pages using HTML or Textile in a note or list, of course.

I understand that the option was rarely used, however it was still useful. The problem now is that if I want to link a publicly available page to another publicly available page, I need to include a link to the private/account-only copy, plus another one right next to it to the public copy. This is extremely confusing for users and does not make any sense at all in my opinion.

If the links option is not going to be included in this version, is it possible to at least include some logical way so that this double-linking to a private and public copy of the same page is not necessary. The only other way around it as far as I can see is to use some sort of javascript to see if you’re viewing the public page – but again, this is not a very convenient option for other Backpack users out there who may not be familiar with scripting, and are using this tool for its simplicity.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

ouch! where did the date stamps go on notes in a page!?

Yes, this is a must have.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

I think the removing of the “links” maker is not getting real.

Now if I need to make a link to another backpack page, I need to make a new note, insert a link and drag & drop the note to the bottom of the page :(

I agree Jordan. I used this feature a lot to tie in groups of pages (eg., lists, help info, projects, etc), but now I need to manually add in those links. Bummer.

Also has anyone else noticed that the font in the buttons and textbox to enter a new page title is completely different to the rest of the page? Makes it all look a little unconsistent.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

I’m another writer alarmed by the new interface. Typically, I had just upgraded the day before the changes were rolled out. It’s a bit like discovering on your wedding night that your bride has trotters.

There is something very seriously wrong with the new look. My eyes were swimming last night – I was convinced the text was bold. The Backpack logo isn’t rendering properly in Safari on my Mac, either (or maybe it really is that blurred). Where did my beloved, elegant Backpack go? Beaten to death down a side alley with the fugly stick.

Worst of all, that <shudder> lowercase ‘g’ in ‘Picture gallery’ </shudder>. That alone is enough to propel me into the blotchy arms of TiddlyWiki.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

I think the removing of the “links” maker is not getting real.

Now if I need to make a link to another backpack page, I need to make a new note, insert a link and drag & drop the note to the bottom of the page :(

This is the only thing who sucks in the new backpack ! :(

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

The week in my country begins on Sunday, and it’s critical to my work.

Same here if you replace Sunday with Monday. Option would be good and keep all happy.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

hey, this is great! i’m excited. have you made any changes to the calendar? i downgraded a few months back, but if you’ve also improved the calendar interface – especially allowing weeks beginning on mondays – i’ll be rushing back to give you some of my money.

That change would probably lose me as a customer – unless it’s only employed as an option. The week in my country begins on Sunday, and it’s critical to my work.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

Congrats on the 2.0 upgrade!

“oh, and are there now unlimited reminders on all accounts? no limits are mentioned in the upgrade info.”

My upgrade page reads 100, 200, 300 limits for reminder. Am I missing something is there a difference between active reminders and future reminders?

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

oh, and are there now unlimited reminders on all accounts? no limits are mentioned in the upgrade info…

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

For me, sadly, Backpack wasn’t broken. I suppose I’m in the wrong demographic, but I’m a writer and I used it as a composing and editing tool, a very pleasing and extremely useful one because of the simple elegance of the page layout, as well as the actual box you do your editing in, whatever that’s called. The tweaks and changes to the CSS and the way the pages work horrified me today, I’m sorry to say.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

hey, this is great! i’m excited. have you made any changes to the calendar? i downgraded a few months back, but if you’ve also improved the calendar interface – especially allowing weeks beginning on mondays – i’ll be rushing back to give you some of my money.

Topic: The new Backpack is live!

Guys, many doubted this day would come but it has and I for one am so grateful you released these enhancements. Great job. You’ve have won my business once again.