Making progress

I was off on vacation for a week and have been back for a few days and getting back into working on the next version of Memorize-It. Before I left I had finished the tabbed test/quiz system in the standalone quizzer. This required a lot of rewriting in the multi-file loading system and cost an extra week's time. Now I'm into the testing side of the house. I had a conversation this morning with a potential customer who was asking about the t-scope feature. He had one idea that I may add to the list of things I'm going to do in v5.

He asked me when it would be done and as usual, I have no idea when something this large is going to be done. The biggest problem being that I'm focused on building a new application/learning system built around Memorize-It Flashcards and once I get that done I still have some polish on Memorize-It to deal with. I've moved into the last big feature on the standalone quizzer/learning system and that as I said is testing. I first have to go back and redo the art for the test pane and I've started that and hope to have it done soon. Once that is done I think I'm into the testing (bug finding and fixing) and installer phase which will be very nice and feel like I'm nearing completion of a huge task. The second biggest problem is that I'm leading a trip to Africa in August and have been working hard on training the team, and I'm starting a new game development class in the fall. Both of those are beginning to impact the Memorize-It development effort.

As usual, don't think delaying your purchase of Memorize-It will make any difference. I offer free upgrades to those who have purchased in the previous 6 months and my upgrade price (for any version of Memorize-It, even 1.0) is $10.

General update

I'm still working on the upgrade and yesterday I finally saw some brighter lights at the end of the tunnel for the new standalone quizzer. I had the quiz portion done and decided to add a test tab to the mix. As usual it required some reworking, sometimes called refactoring. This is a fancy term for tons of work and you end up where you started. It is a common thing in programming, but sometimes you paint yourself into a corner and the only way to get out of the room is to repaint it so you can move on to painting some new rooms. I completed that last week and have made great forward progress again this week.

I did spend a couple of days chasing down a print problem. The first problem had to do with the file name being too long, the second was a formatting error on the blanks USA paper style with the Gutter. It was offset on the page. It has been a long long time since anyone reported a bug in Memorize-It so fixing this took a lot of extra work. The 5.0 version got dropped in 2005 because of a family emergency. When I came back to it last year the compiler I was using was no longer going to be usable. I made a huge shift to a new build environment and continued on. This meant that I had also left the 4.0 version stranded. In order to work on this print problem I had to bring it into the new build environment as well. This was a two day ordeal. When I finally got that working and started adding some instrumentation to the print process I found what I think was the problem. I'm still waiting to hear back if this fixed the problem for the user.

So what does this all mean to you? If you purchase Memorize-It and find a problem that can be fixed. I drop what I'm doing and fix it. If I can't fix it or you are just unhappy about the purchase, I refund your purchase. I'm in this to help you study. I squeeze my expenses so I make a little bit on it each year (a few hundred dollars), but what I really like is to hear that this helped you in some way.

Internet Sales Tax

It looks like the California government is finally trying to grapple with Internet sales tax.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080314/wr_nm/california_itunes_tax_dc_1

As I stated a few months ago I had to prepare my sales tax reports and for about the 10th year they came out to $0.00 owed. I think I've owed a dollar or two a couple of those years, but basically $0.00. I don't think this law would effect me since I do all my sales through Digital River and they are considered my vendor of reference. Since they are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it it is just like an out of state sale which I wouldn't pay sales tax on anyway. If there is any tax to collect, which there is when something gets sold to the UK, they collect it and deal with it. It alleviates a lot of headaches for me and I really love Digital River for that. Even though they do take a pretty large chunk of my sales. It makes me think I should use paypal for 1.9% of the sale and just deal with the tax! But then I wouldn't have access to the affiliate system and changing my website is something I always resist. If something is working, leave it alone!!!

As for paying taxes, I wouldn't mind. I use the roads, I appreciate the police and fire departments, programs for the poor, I used the county health department when I got bit by a dog in Africa, I like after school programs and the such. Paying it hurts and I whine like everyone else, but I do appreciate what my tax dollars do. I just wish it was a little more efficient and government officials took a little more pride in their duties. Sometimes a lot of those positions look very cush from the outside and could be done with about 10% of the current size and the rest could go to other programs. But I'm not expert, I just think the good outweighs the bad of a smaller income. As long as we are all taxed equally (which we are not and is a whole other matter) I'm fine.

New Edit Window

I "finished" the new edit on Monday. This has been a huge effort and glad things are still moving along. Here is a screenshot.

It is fully functional at this point. The biggest difference is that all card elements are on this one window. To change the title, card number and category you used to have to click a button to open a dialog which slowed the card creation process. I've also made the card styles and tabs single click "buttons" instead of pull downs in the previous version. This will cut down from two click to change card style or card side to one click speeding the card creation and editing process.

I've also added fixed sizes for the cards (3x5,4x6,5x7,6x8) as well as the Max setting which maximizes the card size for the edit window. The previous version always maximized for the window size. This caused problems when people maximized to full screen the cards were just too large. At least now the card size can be easily set to a specific size. One concern I have is that 3x5 is in inches which is very American. If you know how the metric world sizes index cards please contact me, I could use the help.

My friends don't link the green buttons so I'm probably going to go back and rework the button colors, but that is just are and doesn't change the functional working of the window.

Now I'm back to working on the standalone quizzer and will finish that and come back to working on Memorize-It 5.

Good Progress

I made really great progress last week on the new version. Remember, if you think you should wait to purchase because you just learned I'm working on a new version, don't. I offer free upgrades to anyone who purchased in the last 6 months and everyone else is $10. Compare that to the minimum $199 for Adobe Photoshop which seems to only be available to people who purchased on the sixth Tuesday of the previous month. The $299 price is for those who purchased on the fifth Tuesday and everyone else is full price. I spent way to much time trying to upgrade a version 4 copy of Photoshop and it was a very unpleasant experience. Dealing with Adobe always seems to been unpleasant (and very expensive) to me. Okay, I'm a little off topic.

Also, this upgrade has been in progress for at least 4 years now, but the past six months have shown that it is finally going to happen. Last week I made extremely good progress on the new edit window. Even so, don't hold your breath, I still have a lot to add. I finally saw a hint of light at the end of the tunnel last week.

Last week I added fixed card sizing. The previous version tied the size of the card to the size of the edit window. This had problems when people maximized their screens and the cards were huge. This was not a problem until they went to print and a small font on that giant card was resized to a microdot when printed on a 3x5 card. Now you can fix the card size to 3x5, 4x6, 5x7 or the existing full window size.

I'm also almost done with a system that puts ALL the information for the card on the edit window. Previously the title and category were on a separate dialog box and required a few extra clicks. Having this all on a single window will help speed the card creation process.

I changed the card sides to use tabs above the card edit area. Previously this was a pull down menu box and required two clicks to change the card side. With tabs it only requires one click.

I changed the card style choice (Honor System, Multiple Choice, True/False, Type-In and the not yet released Scrambled Multiple Choice) to use radio buttons to choose the card type. This was also a pull down menu box and now only requires one click. Every click counts and this release is going to offer a lot of stream lining.

When I get the edit window done I will post a screen shot. Then it will be on to the list window and another new feature called an image library which I can explain later.

Wikipedia and competing software

I have to laugh sometimes. Long ago I created a Wikipedia page for Memorize-It. I did this mostly for a better Google rating, but also as a historical reference. I've been revisiting it recently as another company I do some advisory work for has been talking about adding a Wikipedia entry. I then went to look at the electronic flashcards entry on Wikipedia to see what software was listed.

It seems that Wikipedia has removed all references to the different flashcards software. Which seems odd, but as much as I really love Wikipedia, their content rules for external links are quite schizophrenic. It doesn't bother me really, but then I started looking at the page history for edits to the electronic flashcards page (anyone can edit a Wikipedia page) to see when those references were removed.

The edit history looks like a war zone where tons of people (mostly Supermemo) are desperate to have their link on that page. Wikipedia editors have been fairly quick to delete references to real electronic flashcards software (over and over and over again). I don't understand why Wikipedia doesn't want links to real electronic flashcard systems, but it is just interesting to see the attempts. Then I went and looked at the Wikipedia Memorize-It page and there were a ton of similar edits to competing products added and removed. I wouldn't mind them there since I still believe that Memorize-It is the best flashcard software, but then again the Wikipedia editors have been fairly diligent about removing those links as well.

It should be noted that I did include a real link to a (very militant) competitor (Supermemo). Some may think it strange, but my goal in this venture is for people to learn with the method that is best for them. The more information you have in your decision making process, the better life will be for all of us. I don't always agree with the tactics some companies use, but I don't mind the competition at all. My suggestion to the Supermemo folks is to use a little larger font and a little more substance on their main page. My eyes went cross after about 20 seconds. Looking at their history, Supermemo has been around just as long as Memorize-It. The original DOS versions were both developed in 1987. Interesting. It has been a long road. I've never met or spoken to Piotr Wozniak, but I'm sure we could have an interesting conversation.

Don't pay extra for an archival cdrom

Another trick software vendors have been using to wring extra pennies out of you is to have you pay extra to send you a cdrom with the software. You can do this for free. Simply download it to a CD-R and write the name of the application on the disk and put it in your drawer. I also tend to create an extra file on the same cdrom (you can use notepad or wordpad) which contains the serial number. It takes an extra few seconds and then you have an archive of your download. Better yet, you should expect your software vendor to keep your downloads around for a long time. It really isn't that hard to do and vendors that don't are just trying to take advantage of you.

I know I've said it a hundred times that I don't make a lot of profit on this project (yes, I still have a day job and this doesn't bring in enough to even get me close to the poverty level), but maybe I would if I would just adopt some shrewed tactics like other companies in this industry? Then again, why compromise, I'm still an idealist. That is not to say that I don't want to sell enough copies of Memorize-It to do this full time. I would love that, but I don't want to resort to questionable tactics to try and get you to buy something you don't really need. I just want to make great software that helps you learn and make enough to live off of at the same time. Anything extra would probably go into one of the Africa missions I have been on.

After all that, you may be saying to yourself, "Hey, he does sell an extra cdrom for $10". Yes, I do, but that includes over 7000 flashcards on many different subjects. The flashcards are a separate product and I do give a pretty steep discount if you purchase it while purchasing Memorize-It.

Recap

This is a recap of this blog I have been writing for the past few years. Memorize-It is alive and well and the best flashcards software available since 1992. I continue to develop and support this product have a version that works for every version of windows since Windows 3.1. That includes Windows Vista which we have been using to develop the next generation of Flashcard software. Upgrades are always only $10 and we give free upgrades to anyone who purchased Memorize-it in the 6 months prior to the upgrade release. We don't have a target date for the next version and it has been in development for over a year now, but it is showing progress. The time frame is unknown mostly because there are some huge new features and a new look and big changes just take time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Repetition Is Good

Recently I had to recreate the section of the website that described the principle of repetition in the learning process. It is something that I personally have used in my own studies over the years and built my own learning system (Memorize-It) around how I learn, knowing that there are many others that use flashcards like I do. In automating this learning process I was able to increase the speed at which I was learning.

In searching for case studies on repetition, the one I found most interesting was The Dana Foundation study on Better Teaching Through Brain Biology. It says: "Without this step of converting new learning to long-term memory-through repetition and elaboration, students are unlikely to be able to use it for a lifetime." The Dana Foundation is a non-profit organization interested in brain science, immunology and arts education. The article I found is a very interesting discussion on the learning process.

Latest development effort

I've gotten past the first tax hurdle and back to development. I have the edit window all laid out and all the art created and have begun the process of stitching it all together. Based on a new design of the home grown class library I use I had to make a pretty big change to the way the window works. I finished that and have been putting it altogether and getting the editor to work again.

I keep going back and looking at maybe rewriting this in C# or maybe doing something C++ .net with it, but either way it looks like it would be a complete rewrite and I thank that would just take a lot more work and I would rather move on to more projects. Technology is tough to keep up with. When I wrote Memorize-It for Window the first time it was done in cutting edge fashion. Since that time, there have been about 4 different APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) pushed out by Microsoft and I'm sure if I chose .NET with XAML today it would be obsolete in a year just as if I would have chosen .NET with Forms last year. Memorize-It is actually layered very closely to Win32 which is at the lowest layer for all the other APIs that have come and gone over the years, so I'm happy with that decision even if it does cause some extra work. The good news is I didn't choose MFC a few years after I wrote the first Memorize-It because even though it got a recent update it is looking more and more tired and I'm doubting it will be supported forever. At least with Win32 I know they'll have a lot of problems ever dropping it completely since all their other technologies rely on it.

Tax time

Tax time has distracted me a little from development. I have to get my books in order before the 31st when I have to report sales tax numbers. Since I do all my business online and my vendor or reference is in Minnesota (Digital River) I don't pay any California sales tax so it is an exercise that doesn't make any difference, but it is still a hoop I have to jump through. As I've said before, this doesn't make me much money, I have been doing it for years because it makes a little bit of money, but mostly because I wrote this software for myself and it worked so I decided to share it with others. If you have any ideas on how to improve it, or how to improve sales I would love to hear them.

As I stepped away from development to do taxes I had just finished a new layout for the edit window and had begun to implement it in code.

Don't pay extra for extended downloads

There has been a trend lately in the software download industry to try and up-sell customers with an extended download service. This is the scam. You pay an extra $5-10 dollars when you purchase and then you can have your serial numbers resent to you later if you have a hard disk crash or something. I've seen a number of e-mails praising how well this works to increase revenue. To me it just seems like robbery or taking advantage of people. If you purchase Memorize-It and lose your serial number, send us an e-mail. We keep records (like everyone else) and it is pretty simple to look up and send you the serial number.

As for the download, you can always download Memorize-It from right here: http://www.memorize-it.com, including older versions in case you can't afford the $10 for an upgrade.

Extended download, just say no.

Windows Vista Compatibility

I've been getting a number of questions on Windows Vista compatibility. Yes, Memorize-It 4.0 works with Windows Vista. I have tested it and have also been developing the latest version using Windows Vista.

As for Windows Vista itself, I have a number of complaints, but overall it looks nice and seems to mostly work. Most of the problems I have had have been minor annoyances in the user interface. Especially in the constant popups that warn you when ever you seem to push a button that has anything to do with accessing the network or changing some application.

What's in the new version so far

Since I've announced that there is a new version in the works and has been in the works for a few years now, I'm sure there will be questions about the new features. Also, before you decide to hold off on your purchase I have given a FREE upgrade to anyone that has purchased in the 6 months previous to every other release. Also, upgrades are always only $10.

The biggest change that I'm the most excited about is the ability to use multi-byte Unicode fonts. It was actually the one feature that I get asked about most over the years. It was a tough change and touched nearly every file in the program. It took me a few months, but I'm really glad I finally got it done. This means that Memorize-It will finally work with Asian and Arabic fonts which is one of the biggest items on my list of features to add.

I've also redone the user interface and all the graphical elements in the application. The multi-file browse window was the biggest change since I keep getting requests to license Memorize-It, but have not really had a great way for people to show their cards outside the Memorize-It application. Hopefully this new system will lead to a better system for others to share their flashcards. Also I'm planning making better bundles of the flashcards we already have available.

Jpeg and Gif image importing. I've looked a little at PNG, but I don't think it will make it into this release.

A new card style. Random multiple choice will move the answer between A-E instead of the current way where the correct answer is fixed in a specific location.

ToolTips were added. It may seem like a simple thing, but Memorize-It is written on a home-grown application framework I call BareBones. This was written before MFC which has since become the most popular application framework for Windows. In general, I like BareBones because it doesn't have any overhead. It does the basics. The problem with this is when new technologies come along I have extra work to do to add them to my framework. In this case it was a few weeks work, but this will make the application easier to use because the buttons will now pop up a little tip on what they do when the mouse hovers over them.

I'm now starting work on the edit window, then the list window and after that there are probably another million tasks, but I am committed to getting this done. I have some ideas to add on card sizing that will help in one of the problem areas people have had and that is full screen editing and quizzing. I'm going to allow full window size editing of cards, but I am also going to have 4 fixed sizes for 3x5, 4x6 and 5x7 cards which will force the size of the card no matter what the window size is. This typically causes a lot of problems with printing and will be nice to finally have a better system for people that like to maximize the edit window.

The list continues, but I think that is enough to give you a taste of what is coming in the new version.

Behind the scenes

For the past few years I've been working on a new version of Memorize-It. Before you decide to hold off on your purchase I have given a FREE upgrade to anyone that has purchased in the 6 months previous to every release. Also, upgrades are always only $10. One of my biggest disappointments with the software industry is the cost of maintenance and yearly updates. It really gets my blood boiling: the yearly cost, the upgrades that are nearly the same price as the original and the crazy schemes that companies come up with the take advantage of you. I never started this venture to make a ton of money. I have a regular job and did this on the side for my own benefit and decided to release it as a product after a few years of refinement. Mostly just to share what I've done with others. Anyway, here is a screenshot of the latest quiz win.


I still have a lot more work to go, but it has been a consistent bit of progress forward for the past six months. Probably a lot longer to go, but I'm excited to finally get this done and have been putting much of my extra time on getting there.