Some VenueOps users may have noticed that we haven’t released an update since June. For us, that’s a really long time! What have we been doing these past few months?
Since mid-May, we’ve been hard at work under the hood of VenueOps updating all of the code which powers what you see in your browser (what is called the front end, as opposed to the back end, which is the data access, server-side stuff). This has involved lots of discussion about various frameworks, hammering out new patterns for how things appear in the application, and rewriting all — and we do mean all — of the front end code. While we’re in there, we’re also prepping the app so it can be translated to other languages. At the same time, our QA team has been getting daily code updates in a test environment so they can make sure everything works the same way that it used to.
You may ask—why would we do this to ourselves? And more importantly, why would we do this to you? Why would we put new features on hold for six months? Two words:
1. Performance
Let’s take performance first. As a software-as-a-service, we host the program on our servers and you access it via a browser and the internet. Because the software could be on a server hundreds or thousands of miles from you, speed is everything. There are two parts to the speed of the software: how fast the server can respond (the back end), and how fast the stuff in your browser can respond (the front end). Keeping the front end framework up to date is key to ensuring that graphics-heavy pages — like the calendar, and specifically the grid view — load and respond quickly.
2. Mobile
Now for mobile. We hear from existing clients as well as potential ones — everyone wants to access their calendar and data from a phone or tablet. While VenueOps has always been mobile-friendly, the new VenueOps will work even better on smaller screens. You’ll see some changes to how information is presented; many of those choices were made to improve the mobile experience.
Improved performance and a better mobile experience are great. But. There’s always a ‘but’, right? When we updated the front end framework, that also updated how the program looks. So when the new VenueOps comes your way, you’ll be seeing a whole new VenueOps.
We understand — major changes to the software you use every day is hard. You just need to get your job done, and the last thing we want to do is to slow you down. So you should, in almost every case, find the same functionality in the same place — it will just look different. In the few places where we did update functionality, it was because of feedback from our users that made sense to incorporate now, rather than in a later release (speaking of, would anyone like to see your combos on the grid view? You can do that in the new VenueOps!).
Drag the slider to see one of the different looks—the new event details!
As we get closer to the release, we’ll get you more and more previews of what is to come. We’ll be publishing a Part Two of this blog post with all the technical details along with a video tour in a couple weeks. The week prior to release we’ll host a webinar showing you the new look and also any specific changes we want to give you a heads up about. If you can’t attend live, we’ll post a recording of that webinar on our help desk. We encourage everyone to take a look so they are familiar with the new look before it rolls out.
So — when does the new VenueOps roll out? We are aiming to release in mid-December. We’ll be wrapping up development in the next week or so, and once the QA team has wrapped up their testing it’ll be all hands on deck for one last pass through the entire app to make sure we don’t miss anything. Stay tuned!