printing and organizing
I have used mental case for the past year and overall have gotten good use out of the program as a college student. However, one thing about mental case that I think is long overdue for improvement.
PRINTING OPTIONS. the options given by mental case for printing flash cards is extremely confusing and limited. In particular, there is one essential option that needs to be included, which is an option that prints cards in a very condensed list for studying. Similar to the "print basic list" found on flash card exchange. Sure its nice to be able print a huge flash card, but not always practical. In most cases, the more cards one can fit onto a piece of paper, is the option they will choose. Especially when all you need to do is cram for an exam and then throw them in the trash afterwards.
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Support Staff 1 Posted by drewmccormack on 30 Jul, 2011 07:52 PM
Hi Gary,
We have some big changes coming in version 2.0. We started beta testing last week.
Would you be interested on testing? We would like to know what you think of our new printing options. You can test 2.0 and still keep using 1.x.
Kind regards,
Drew
The Mental Faculty
2 Posted by Carlos on 05 Aug, 2011 02:05 PM
Hi,
Could I participate in your beta program?
Thanks.
drewmccormack closed this discussion on 05 Aug, 2011 02:29 PM.
drewmccormack re-opened this discussion on 11 Aug, 2011 03:44 PM
Support Staff 3 Posted by drewmccormack on 11 Aug, 2011 03:44 PM
Dear Mental Case 2 Beta Testers,
We have a new version of Mental Case 2 Beta available. You can download it here:
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Beta2.0b2.zip
This version looks very similar to the last beta, but quite major changes have taken place under the hood. In particular, the way data is stored should be much more efficient now.
The first time this beta launches, it will migrate your old Mental Case 2 data. This can take a little while, but it is a once off event. Please be patient, and don't Force Quit.
There are still many issues to address. If you have already sent in issues, and don't see them fixed, no need to send them again. We are aware of them, and will address them when we get a chance.
TESTING WITH A CLEAN SLATE
If you want to start anew with your testing, deleting all of your Mental Case 2.0 data, you need to move the following files to the Trash:
~/Library/Application Support/Mental Case/Library.mentalcase2lib
~/Library/Preferences/com.mentalfaculty.mentalcase2.plist
Note that on Lion, you may need to use the Finder Go menu to enter the hidden Library folder. Just choose Go to Folder… and enter ~/Library
FEEDBACK
Please send any feedback or bug reports about Mental Case 2.0 to
[email blocked]
Thanks again for offering to help us test Mental Case 2.0.
Kind regards,
Drew McCormack
The Mental Faculty
4 Posted by The Mental Facu... on 26 Aug, 2011 06:49 PM
Dear Mental Case 2 Beta Testers,
Beta 3 is now available. Here are some of the major changes since the last beta:
- You can now tab to the notes browser, and navigate by keyboard with arrow keys. You can press return to flip to a note, or edit it, and press / to flap it up and examine the other facets.
- You can now tab between facets in the note editor.
- Screenshots should work better
- Notes in smart cases should be sorted in order now
- Added a more direct way to start a slideshow, a button in the center of the note browser toolbar (please excuse the ugly icon for now)
- You can now drop media files directly on the image/video edit area, rather than only the drop zone.
- Popovers that were appearing at strange times (e.g. Make Template) should be fixed
- Taking a shot with your camera now appears in a popover HUD.
- The main mode selection in the toolbar at the top could turn off if you pressed a button twice. Now it shouldn't.
- Added note count and case name in the note editor (top-right)
- Added due note count in note browser.
- Improvements to scroll wheel/two-finger swiping in note browser. You can flip cards by swiping to left or right, and if a note is already exposed, you can flap the note by swiping right.
Things we didn't get to yet:
- Slideshows
- Excessive memory usage, particularly with video files.
- Other bugs already reported.
Regarding the icon, we are still undecided which way to go. This beta has a box of cards. None of the icons are polished yet, but if you have a strong opinion about whether the leather case or box is better, let us know.
You can download the beta here:
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Beta2.0b3.zip
Drew
5 Posted by The Mental Facu... on 02 Sep, 2011 11:11 AM
Dear Mental Case 2 Testers,
We have a new beta for download. We have been working a lot on slideshows, and even though they are not entirely done, a lot has changed, so please take a look.
The beta is at
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Beta2.0b4.zip
As usual, there is no need to report issues that you have already reported. We include all issues in our tracking system, and if it isn't fixed, it is probably because we haven't got to it yet.
Kind regards,
Drew
6 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 02 Sep, 2011 11:15 AM
Hi! the link says me "access denied" Help!!!
Support Staff 7 Posted by drewmccormack on 02 Sep, 2011 11:17 AM
Fixed now. Try again.
Drew
8 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 02 Sep, 2011 11:26 AM
Hi, thanks, now it works. Other thing, on slideshow mode, there is a
textbook which says "type your answer" and then when I see the "Respond"
says "no text". I don't understand this feature, Could you explain me that?
Thanks.
Support Staff 9 Posted by drewmccormack on 02 Sep, 2011 11:31 AM
When you are on the prompt, and your answer is some simple text, you can enter the answer and see if you are right. If you are not on the prompt, entering text doesn't make sense, so it changes to 'No Text', as in 'There is no text to enter'.
Drew
10 Posted by The Mental Facu... on 09 Sep, 2011 03:19 PM
Mental Case 2 Beta 5 is now available for download:
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Beta2.0b5.zip
Changes from Beta 4 are mostly under the hood, with few interface changes.
- We have fixed some important data related bugs, which could cause save errors.
- Some bugs have been fixed in slideshows
- Dragging of images and screen grabs have also been improved.
- Handling of video files should be much more efficient.
- It should now be possible to export and import with mental case 2 archive format.
We also have an updated application icon. Please send us feedback to let us know what you think of it.
As always, you can send feedback to [email blocked]
Drew McCormack
11 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 09 Sep, 2011 04:31 PM
Hi Drew,
Do you fix or find the memory bug?
Thanks.
Support Staff 12 Posted by drewmccormack on 09 Sep, 2011 04:43 PM
Which memory bug?
Drew
13 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 09 Sep, 2011 04:51 PM
Oh sorry,
Do you remember that I sent you that when I browse around my flashcards
(5000 with only text), the app takes over 700 MB RAM? And,
I think that I've find other issue. When I pass the sliders in slideshow
mode fast, I mean, hitting the forward key 2 times per second or hold
the key, the sound becomes non-synchronous and arbitrary and the CPU
load rises to 100% and also the RAM rises significantly.
Thanks.
Support Staff 14 Posted by drewmccormack on 09 Sep, 2011 04:56 PM
We haven't looked closely at memory usage yet, other than improving the video memory usage.
The slideshow issue is normal. Making slides is a reasonably expensive operation, so if you make them fast, it will take a lot of CPU, and the sound may play too late. We have just added a navigator to make it easier to jump to other slides.
Drew
15 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 09 Sep, 2011 05:01 PM
Ok,
It makes sense. But maybe you can add a limitation; maybe a slide per
second or something like that, but it's only a suggestion. Anyways,
great job. I am exciting to have the back-end version.
Thanks.
16 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 10 Sep, 2011 07:40 AM
Hi Drew,
I am wondering if you could add a option in "settings" to disable
animations on "slideshow" mode, Could you? So, CPU load would be lower.
Because, when I pass over again a "case" of vocabulary (maybe a flash
per second) the CPU load reaches 60-80% and after 15 minutes the fan of
my macbook pro becomes noisy, and it drains the battery faster
Thanks.
Support Staff 17 Posted by drewmccormack on 10 Sep, 2011 09:54 AM
The animation may not be the problem. In any case, you can turn it off in the Advanced settings when you start a slideshow.
Drew
Support Staff 18 Posted by drewmccormack on 23 Sep, 2011 12:23 PM
To Mental Case Beta Testers,
We have a new beta to test. This one is special, because we are going to freeze features at this point.
So we don't want more feature requests at this point — if your favorite feature is missing, it will have to wait for a future upgrade. What we do want to hear about are bugs. Please let us know if you find things that aren't working as they should. It might be a good idea to go over any old bugs that you sent to us to see if they are fixed. We have been tracking your feedback, and we think the most important stuff is fixed in this release.
This release also has quite a lot of new features, including study stats in the note info pane.
Here is the download link:
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Betav2.0b6.zip
We will now concentrate on bug fixing, finishing what remains of the graphical design, and writing documentation. Should only be a couple of weeks or so, so get the comments in reasonably quickly.
It's not clear yet whether this will be the last beta release. We will keep you posted.
Thanks,
Drew McCormack
The Mental Faculty
Support Staff 19 Posted by drewmccormack on 23 Sep, 2011 02:11 PM
There was a problem with the beta posted today. We have now fixed it. If you downloaded it today, please redownload the following:
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Betav2.0b6.zip
One more thing: This beta will generate thumbnails for your images, which may make its performance poorer when you first browse notes with images in the 3D browser. Please just be patient. The next time you view the images, it should be much faster.
Drew
Support Staff 20 Posted by drewmccormack on 01 Oct, 2011 05:45 PM
Hi all,
We have decided to keep sending out regular betas.
This one has some bug fixes for some of the common crashes, and some performance improvements. Also the beginning of some help pages, but far from finished.
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Betav2.0b7.zip
Drew
Support Staff 21 Posted by drewmccormack on 08 Oct, 2011 09:50 AM
Dear Mental Case Beta Testers,
Beta number 8 is now available for download
http://mentalfaculty.s3.amazonaws.com/mentalcase/betareleases/MentalCase2Betav2.0b8.zip
This version includes help pages, a soft landing screen, and import of sample data (although the sample data is not created yet).
It also has a simplified interface for starting slideshows, and various bug fixes.
Kind regards,
Drew
22 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 08 Oct, 2011 10:37 AM
Hi Drew,
I was waiting some betas to let you and your team fix bugs and glitches.
The result is an amazing interface with good options and settings but
the performance is quite poor. As I told you I have almost 4500
flashcards only with text (vocabulary), and when I browse around the app
takes more than 550 MB of RAM. In addition if you want to browse around
your folders or groups with the arrow-keys or even with the mouse there
is a quite remarkable delay even though when those folders only contain
10 flashcards. I don't know, with mental case 1.9x this does not happen,
I understand that version 2 is more powerful, but the performance is
something relevant, more than full-screen, animations,... although one
thing has nothing to do with the other. Do you expect improve this point?
Thanks, Carlos
Support Staff 23 Posted by drewmccormack on 08 Oct, 2011 12:00 PM
Hi Carlos,
We spent a lot of time reducing the memory footprint and performance. The activity monitor does not represent true memory usage.
MC 2 feels as fast as MC 1.9 on my Mac. What Mac do you have?
Kind regards,
Drew
24 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 08 Oct, 2011 01:25 PM
Hi Drew,
Thanks for your answer. Well, I have a Macbook Pro 17'' with an i5 2,53
Ghz and 4Gb (DDR3-1067 Mhz) and Lion installed. In my Mac, MC 1.9 shows
flashcard items faster than MC 2.
Kind regards,
Carlos
Support Staff 25 Posted by drewmccormack on 08 Oct, 2011 02:03 PM
That should certainly be fast enough. I can use MC 2 fine on a much slower MacBook Air.
Is there any particular part of MC2 you think is slow? Do you just mean the general note browser? Or the slideshows?
MC v1.9 is an extremely simple app. It just shows a simple list of words, and generally shows fewer cards on the screen than MC v2 at one time. It is also very inefficient with images, and can actually run into issues if a library reaches 2GB.
Sometimes there are costs to progress. In theory, you can do all your study in TextEdit. It would be very fast, in all likelihood, but you lose a lot of functionality in the process, because the data you enter is unstructured, and the app cannot present it in different ways or schedule it for study.
MC v2 is a much more advanced and useful study tool, but there comes some costs with that, including complexity of data. We think it is snappy enough, but MC v1.9 will be faster at some things simply by virtue of the fact that what it does is much simpler.
There is not much that we can do about that. We have decided we want to build the most powerful study tool on the market. There are simpler, more focussed tools around, and maybe they would suit you better if speed is your absolute priority.
Kind regards,
Drew
26 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 08 Oct, 2011 02:26 PM
Hi Drew,
Maybe you understand that I'm trying to pull down your work but I'm not.
I agree with you that the app is great, I just feel it a kind of slow
when I use the note browser, so as I am a beta tester I send you my
opinion because maybe you can improve this point. If you cannot improve
it, the app will keep being the best, this is indisputable.
Thanks Drew,
Carlos
Support Staff 27 Posted by drewmccormack on 08 Oct, 2011 02:31 PM
Hi Carlos,
You should also know that we didn't ignore your feedback. We took it seriously, and spent quite a bit of time trying to reduce memory usage and making other changes to try to improve performance.
Our tests indicate that memory is handled better, with less data pulled into RAM. (Unfortunately the flip side of this is more disk access, which is slower.)
For some reason activity monitor is not showing the same improvements in RAM usage that we see in Apple's specialized developer tools.
Kind regards,
Drew
28 Posted by Carlos Vilacha ... on 10 Oct, 2011 11:16 AM
Hi Drew,
I am very thankful for you support. I would like to ask you some questions:
1. Are you going to set an option to make automatic backups?
2. Can I work with the current beta safely? I mean, I am going to update
to final version, but in the meanwhile...
3. Do you have a deadline to release the final version?
Thanks.
Support Staff 29 Posted by drewmccormack on 10 Oct, 2011 11:26 AM
Hi Carlos,
> 1. Are you going to set an option to make automatic backups?
No, because these days people use Time Machine more than when we originally made the app. Just make sure your user folder is backed up, and your data should be fine.
> 2. Can I work with the current beta safely? I mean, I am going to update
> to final version, but in the meanwhile…
A beta is a beta, so I can't promise that everything will work fine. I can say that your Mental Case 1.9 data is stored in a separate file, so if something does go wrong in the beta, that data should not be affected.
You can also export as study archive from the beta to bring notes back to MC v1.9 if you need to.
> 3. Do you have a deadline to release the final version?
No deadline, but we are looking to submit to Apple in the next 2-3 weeks. Apple usually take about a week to approve, so at this time it seems end of october. Only an estimate though.
Drew
Support Staff 30 Posted by drewmccormack on 11 Oct, 2011 07:39 AM
I regularly get emailed asking when syncing will be supported with the new beta.
It's actually already there, and was there from the first beta. We have changed things to be more iTunes-like for syncing.
To sync:
1) Select 'Start Sync' on your device.
2) In the Mac app, you should see the device appear in the list on the left
3) Select it, and follow the instructions.
Drew