Realized app development continues

September 19, 2012

About a year ago we launched Realized-app.com in a no cost, preview phase. Development is continuing, with a focus on the addition of stock option capabilities, including option exercises and automated expirations.

As previously mentioned, Realized-app began as a simple Ruby on Rails demonstration project. Quickly the proof of concept became a viable app, due mainly to the developer productivity that Rails provides.

For a preview of its capabilities, check out the product tour.

With nearly 90 models in this release, Realized-app represents a relatively large Rails app. For those developers who would like to explore the app, you are welcome to sign up for free and try it.

Workflow for Realized support

May 29, 2012

Squarespace has an extensive user manual. Beginning users can easily find a Getting Started section. A searchable set of how-to articles and FAQ answer questions from more experienced users.

When we explored alternative platforms for Realized-app support, we wanted to emulate Squarespace as a starting point. We anticipated that a typical need for support might pass through three stages:

  • Reading the manual
  • Searching the forums for similar issues
  • Asking a question via email

One aspect of Tender stood out from the other SaaS providers. It provides a searchable knowledge base to 'Help your customers help themselves'. After seeing that feature, other platforms seemed to be just combinations of forums and email managers.

Tags: support

Fancybox screenshots with jQuery

February 27, 2012

In late April, we added screenshots to the Realized-app product tour. Our design drew upon an idea we saw at AgileZen.com, where clicking a thumbnail expands into a larger screenshot lightbox.

The Realized-app already makes use of jQuery, mainly for client-side processing of stock ticker choices. To animate our screenshots, we adopted the jQuery plugin that AgileZen uses, Fancybox. Our configuration:

$(document).ready(function() {
  $(".fancybox > a").fancybox({
    'hideOnContentClick':true,
    'titleShow':false,
    'transitionIn':'elastic',
    'transitionOut':'elastic',
    'speedIn':800,
    'speedOut':800,
    'easingIn':'easeInOutExpo',
    'easingOut':'easeInOutExpo'
    . . .

One interesting aspect of configuring Fancybox is its support of the Easing plugin to control the transitions. Easing controls how an animation progresses over time by varying its acceleration, giving each transition a more natural effect.

Tags: jQuery and marketing