Product updates feed

A message by @can3p at Mon, 19 Jun 2023 04:51:05 +0000

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 04:51:05 +0000

Since last week it's possible to edit streams metadata!

This feature should allow to fix stream information easily or add new metadata fields easily

A message by @can3p at Mon, 01 May 2023 02:00:30 +0000

Mon, 01 May 2023 02:00:30 +0000

Dabdab streams provide a natural place to store observations with optional metadata that can be used to render graphs or serve other purposes. This sounds like a great fit for any projects where you would like to record the data automatically, however right till this moment there was no api to use to integration.

From today dabdab has api! It's not global and works per stream on top of share concept and what's better it's zero configuration - no need to mess with api keys, you can copy an example from the share page and start pushing data right away!

A message by @can3p at Fri, 17 Feb 2023 01:51:48 +0000

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 01:51:48 +0000

Dabdab has received a major update on the stream sharing functionality. Not only you can create multiple share links, you can also control the functionality of the link:

Possible link types are:

Read-only
Write-only
Read/Write
RSS

The names are pretty self-explanatory, compared to the previous state it's now possible to give write access if you like! You may wonder why anyone would need a write-only link? One of the use cases is when you want to collect information from other people while keeping the collected information private. Dabdab has a contact form now which is pretty much just a shared stream with a write only access.

At the moment you will not get email updates on any messages posted this way, but another share type might be helpful. If you choose RSS a special private rss link will be created that you can use with your RSS reader or any other workflow to keep track of updates.

To make sure the functionality is not abused too much, there is a requirement for anonymous users to complete the captcha.

As part of the support form implementation the following changes have also been made:

A new field type: email! The field is validated, so you can be sure that you'll be getting at least well-formed email addresses
A field can be marked as required. In some cases you really want to have field value for all the messages.

Stay tuned for the updates about API!

A message by @can3p at Wed, 08 Feb 2023 23:29:51 +0000

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 23:29:51 +0000

Here is another demo of the service!

Most of the features I've showcased are from the earlier update:

A stream per book
Loose structure to keep the quotes and your impressions in one place
Image upload support
Stream share support

Image upload support has not been announced previously but it's there and you can add images in any way you like - copy/paste, drag'n'drop or click on the photo icon in the tool bar. In any way the picture will be uploaded to the service and added as a link to the message content.

Thanks!

A message by @can3p at Thu, 26 Jan 2023 02:29:29 +0000

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 02:29:29 +0000

Today is a day of bigger updates!

Home page for logged in users was cleaned up. Closed streams are hidden by default and the timeline is hidden as well to remove the noise from the page and allow to access open streams easier
Every new user will get a number of example streams in his profile now. This is the first step towards proper user onboarding
There is a separate button to close the stream now. Out of experience it turned out that it's super easy to forget to click on the checkbox while typing the message and the old behavior was forcing users to create a dummy tombstone message in order to close the stream

Last but not least, dabdab supports stream shares from now on! If you have a private stream that you want to share with your friends you can share it. I've decided to experiment with share mechanics and now on dabdab you can create multiple share links for the same stream. In future users would be able to assign different capabilities to them and also revoke them individually. Imagine you have a wish list that you want to share with your friends once in a while but want to be able to close it down for parts of the group from time to time

A message by @can3p at Mon, 23 Jan 2023 00:48:20 +0000

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 00:48:20 +0000

A minor update: new message input now has a set of buttons to help out with formatting! Nothing fancy like preview, however buttons should make it even easier to do messages on the go from mobile

A message by @can3p at Wed, 11 Jan 2023 02:04:52 +0000

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 02:04:52 +0000

One more small step forward, the registration is now open! The pricing information will come with more users on the platform

A message by @can3p at Tue, 10 Jan 2023 01:43:10 +0000

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 01:43:10 +0000

Small update: clicking on a lock item next to the stream name will toggle stream visibility with an obligatory confirm prompt

A message by @can3p at Thu, 15 Dec 2022 01:37:42 +0000

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 01:37:42 +0000

Hi! I've recorded the first demo of the service in order to show case basic features there, please check it out!

Features, mentioned in the video:

Public/private streams
Custom fields and visualisations
Nested streams
Timelines
RSS feeds
Notes and facts

A message by @can3p at Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:22:15 +0000

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:22:15 +0000

Dabdab has a waiting list from now on! That's a shame that no one will see this announcement since product updates feed is not yet linked from the index page

A message by @can3p at Tue, 06 Dec 2022 02:08:58 +0000

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 02:08:58 +0000

Time is a central feature to the streams. One of ideas behind dabdab was that it might be very useful to not only have streams but also see how they interact with each other in time. The initial support for timelines has been just shipped. It doesn't allow to see much, but will hopefully act as an initial push to develop the whole idea later.

You can see timeline both on the controls index and on the stream page in case it has substreams.

A message by @can3p at Fri, 02 Dec 2022 02:08:27 +0000

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 02:08:27 +0000

Dabdab was designed to allow to keep notes in a simplest way possible, which also means as little formatting as possible. Markdown does a good job there, but there are cases that still need some additional help from the service side to make them effortless, one of them is media links.

From now on you can simply mention a youtube link and it will appear right next to the paragraph it was mentioned.

If a paragraph contains just one link, it will be totally replaced with the video player.

Dabdab will make it's best to avoid being intrusive and still be helpful when possible. Stay tuned!

A message by @can3p at Wed, 30 Nov 2022 02:13:10 +0000

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 02:13:10 +0000

Dabdab supports different field types from now one. Currently it's only two - text and number, but in the future more will be added. What's the reason to have types?

Different types allow to interpret fields in interesting ways. Together with field types a new feature was rolled out to test out this concept - If a stream had number fields, on the steam page you will find a new "Visuals" tab in which the the field values will be plotted against time. Let's try it out and check if it's useful at all!

The service still does not support videos or images which makes these announces less compelling, however they will hopefully be added quite soon

A message by @can3p at Mon, 28 Nov 2022 01:26:56 +0000

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 01:26:56 +0000

RSS support has been updated to handle substreams properly. Like everything in product development any new feature brings a lot of questions that need to be answered in order to integrate the feature into the current system.

Current logic is pretty simple - RSS is available only for public streams, substreams are not available. One may argue that both points could be different. That's true! However any branching brings initial complexity and rather then solving all of it before moving on to other features, the plan is to implement other essential features before starting iterating on them.

Now, what features am I talking about?

First of all some landing page + waiting list needs to be there
Since a stream can have fields, the dream is to make them actively impact the stream page. For example, if you're recording temperature in your stream, I'd like to show you a graph.
The streaming nature of the notes becomes clear if the events are put into timeline and that feature needs to be built as well.
Another concept to play with - sharing. Simple way would be to have one link for all, however I'd like to play with a concept of unique sharing links. Why is it useful? It allows me to apply different sharing criteria for every single one of them. E.g. you can grant a temporary access to your stream like temporary location share in whatsapp or telegram. In this case one can imagine this coud enable paid streams in the futue
API: Current plan is to build dabdab as an open platform. Actually I think it's completely fine to have some streams generated by the services or apps. Just imagine, how cool it would be if your training sessions get into one of the streams and you don't need a separate app for that!

All features will be implemented at some point, stay tuned.

A message by @can3p at Wed, 23 Nov 2022 00:38:41 +0000

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 00:38:41 +0000

Initial support for rss feeds has been deployed!