DeskPRO

I just released DeskPRO v3.4. Head over to your Members Area to download! Be sure to read our release announcement and the version changelog.

As touched on last post, we have some new features like User Notebooks, Mini-Ticket Reader and Workflow Paths.

One thing I wanted to talk about is how we’re discontinuing maintenance releases for older branches (v3.1.x, v3.2.x and v3.3.x). We added a little FAQ to the release announcement that sorta explains why. But the main reason is that if you could upgrade to v3.3.2 (or any other branch version) then you could just as easily upgrade to v3.4.0 with no added effort. So we thought “why spend the extra effort maintaining 5 branches when we only need to maintain one?”

There seems to be a stigma associated with point versions. People think that an upgrade from say 3.3.1 to 3.3.2 will be easier or safer than an upgrade 3.3.1 to 3.4. This is not true, though. Both upgrades are equally easy (our wizard does all the work), and neither are any “safer” (both are safe!). We introduce new features in point releases, but it’s up to you to use them. So if all you want is bug fixes, then that’s all you get — just don’t use the new features. (By the way, I blame Vista for the general publics fear of new versions).

Anyway, I should also mention that our new website is now live at DeskPRO.com. Tell us what you think. We think it’s a massive improvement over the old one. In my last post I explained some of the goals we tried to accomplish with the redesign.

And one last thing: If you’re interested, we’re looking for testimonials to publish on our website. You can email us or submit one from your Members Area (click on the link in the intro text of your main page).

Well, that’s it for today, folks.

– Christopher Nadeau

Good afternoon ladies and gents. I thought it was time to share some of the stuff we’ve been working on lately. Mostly because if you visit blog.deskpro.com, it’ll be utterly obvious anyway.

New Website

If you’re reading this post through your RSS reader, try loading up the page instead (I know you’re busy, but it’ll be worth it). Welcome to a small example of our new website design. What do you think? The actual website will probably “flow” a bit differently since a blog isn’t exactly what we spec’d the design around — but you get the point.

Anyone who has browsed our old (and at the time of this writing, current) website can tell how hideously 1998 it looks. The homepage has a flash header for goodness sakes! And trying to find information is not very intuitive.

The main goal for the new site was to make things easier to find. We’ve tried to cut down on the number of pages, preferring more concise descriptions to the overly verbose and fragmented pages of yestersite. We’ve got better navigation to help you find things and a site-search feature for those who don’t like to browse. The new homepage is perhaps the largest change. We’ve got a set of tabs that will allow new visitors to dive in and learn all about DeskPRO without even loading a new page.

The site isn’t live yet, but you can have a peek by visiting DeskPRO.net, where we’ve been staging things.

DeskPRO v3.4

Also in the pipeline is a new version of DeskPRO. This version will have the numerous bug fixes of course. But as with any point release, we’ve got a number of new features too. Here are a few:

• User Notebooks are notebooks attached to every user account. A user can create pages to store any sort of information they’d like. Techs also have access to these notebooks. Additionally, specific notebook pages can be linked to tickets — creating a relationship that is listed in the UI.

  The way we envision this feature being used most is in cases where users or techs need to share sensitive information like login details. Pasting sensitive info into a ticket isn’t always the best idea because messages are sent all around the world in the form of email notifications. Notebook pages however never leave the helpdesk. Just stick your helpdesk behind HTTPS and you’ve instantly got a secure way to pass information back and forth.

• The mini-ticket reader is a new widget we’ve added around DeskPRO. Click on an icon next to a ticket title (for example, in search results) and a little floating Javascript window appears. You’re able to read the entire ticket using this mini-reader. Very useful when you want to use the mass-ticket actions on search results!
• You can now change the user owner of a ticket. A very requested feature.
• You can set up predefined workflow paths. Basically this means that you as an admin can set up a route for workflows to go one after the other. For a tech, advancing the workflow is done with a single click.

It’s a modest release in comparison to some of our other point releases, but some interesting new stuff nevertheless.

Stay Tuned

That’s all I really have to say for today. Just stay tuned in the next couple of weeks. We’ll be making the new website live, release 3.4, and we’ll also have a few more blog posts that might catch your eye.

Until next time,

Christopher Nadeau