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FP Product Team

October 22, 2020

Fresh Proposals Software Update – Editor Enhancements

Fresh Proposals Software Update - Easy Editing, New Proposal Templates

Looking at the items listed here, it may look like a minor version or work. However the reality is different. Certain enhancements which may appear not-so-huge for user, in reality consumes lot of energy (mental, time).

We believe the changes we have been doing since last month or so, have brought immense improvement to user experience, performance.

 

Here we go.

New Proposal Templates

FP Update 29 Oct 2020 - Proposal Templates

Fixed Top Text Toolbar

The top toolbar in text editor is now fixed. Earlier we would show textoolbar only when textbox is clicked. But the way toolbar appear/disappear wasn’t noticed by users. Now it has a fixed position at the top of the editor and always remain visible; hence it shouldn’t make users ‘think’ what/where should I check next.

Combined Undo-Redo, Zoom Bar with Texttool bar

As a related change, we have merged existing undo-redo, zoom level, fullscreen toolbar with texttool bar. Undo-redo function is not only about text, it is also about adding/deleting/updating images, shapes, etc and their properties; undo-redo menu will keep showing for all content blocks, so will zoom level and fullscreen icons.

However the texttool bar, which is used to change paragraph style, font-size, font-color, line-height, etc, will be active only when textbox is clicked (selected). In other situations, it will be visible but remain disabled.

 

Editing inside textbox, handle to move textbox

We have researched and experimented significantly with textbox functionality in Fresh Proposals tool. There are two essential actions user would like to take while using a textbox

  • To edit/format the text inside
  • To move the whole textbox from one place to another on the same page

[Strike-through content reflects foregone changes]

We got feedback from couple of the users:: to get in & exit active textbox by using double click (like it is done in Figma). So the expectations were,

  • To edit inside a textbox, user will double click on it. 
  • Then to move away from the active textbox, s/he can again double click on it. 
  • But again if s/he would like to select a word s/he can double click on a given word (MS Word behaviour). 

The problem was with the way this request was implemented, double click events would conflict. Software wouldn’t know what is user’s exact expectation – whether to go out of the textbox or select underlying word. 

Until recently, couple of users complained about their struggled to move the textbox (in such case double click turned out to be a conflicting event), hence we decided to revert the double click related changes.

And the way textbox click actions stands now:

  • Single click over the textbox, you will see a cursor and you can edit any word/text by pointing a cursor on it.
  • You click in the area, outside the textbox, and hover a mouse over the textbox, you will get a hand-grab icon. Use the hand-grab icon to move the textbox on the page wherever you wish
  • Double click inside the textbox, and it will select underlying word. If you double click again, it will select the paragraph. It is exactly like you would do it Google Doc or MS Word.
  • We have also added drag/move icon on top of all the content blocks (including textbox). You can click on the textbox, you will see move icon on the top, use the it to move the textbox on the page.

Now we think, this is much cleaner, easier way to use textbox. But do let us your feedback.

Responsive Proposal Preview Page for Various Devices

Before sending a proposal, you can preview it on smartphone and tablet. Such preview is more like a simulated smartphone/tablet device view (but not a real one). The left panel displaying sections list would render in bit non-responsive fashion.  Unlike desktop/laptop, user can not use mouse/click in smartphone and tablet. We have removed the section’s panel in smartphone and tablet.

Placeholder Variable Popup

We noticed that new users tend to get confused with yellow text i.e. placeholder variable 🙂 and we ended up writing a separate FAQ article and posted it to our helpdesk.

  • To make it easier for new users to understand variables, we have added label to the pop-up
  • Added short note about variables
  • Added close button
  • Fixed the top part of the pop-up when users scroll through the list of variables

[Update – 4th week of October, ]

After making above mentioned change, we continued to analysed user behaviour, reactions – when, why they start clicking on the variables. We came across interesting observations and comments.

  • The Yellow color is tempting (makes me click)
  • Why Yellow color? I don’t like it
  • What is it? I deleted it and wrote my company details, entered client’s information

The cover page of every proposal template has to have info about who wrote the proposal, to whom is it submitted, when, etc. It means every proposal/template has to have variables on the first page. So you can’t hide variable on the first page, even though it is highly irresistible. And we need to figure out right way – that enables editors to use placeholder variables, without getting confused or avoiding it.

Read here to know how did we improve it?

Image in Email Signature

Now you can upload image in your email signature. You can reuse image from your image library or upload new one to it. This is especially helpful if you want to add company logo, social media images in your email signature.

Performance Improvement

Got significant performance improvement when proposals, templates, sections list is rendered

Removed Bookmark Feature

This was part of work-in-progress activity that got pushed to LIVE. Since Add to favorite allows users to quickly access their preferred templates, bookmark feature was causing a bit confusion (and couldn’t identify a reason to have a Bookmark as  distinct feature when Favorite is already available).

So for now we have decided to remove the bookmark template feature. You can always add a template to your Favorite list (and there is a separate tab for you to see your favorite templates).

That’s all for now, FPians. Have a good one.

 

Fresh Proposals Software

Send beautiful proposals, add interactive pricing and eSignature to it. Get proposal insights to better understand your prospect’s actions and intention and close more deals. Know more about Fresh Proposals software here: https://www.freshproposals.com

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