News: all updates for our software and apps
CLZ Alwin here, with the CLZ Newsletter for November 2020.
We’re in the middle of the Black Friday craziness here, which means that my wife Sytske and I are answering over 250 support tickets on a daily basis. Providing renewal advice, correcting wrong purchases, helping with problems, etc…
AJ is assisting us with the more complex 2nd line issues, even logging in to user’s computers with TeamViewer to fix problems for them.
Today’s newsletter topics:
Just like last month, this newsletter is all about our tools for video games and comic books. Good news for the comic and game collectors among us, but if you’re here for the music, movie or book news, you may be thinking… “hey, what gives?”.
Don’t worry, we’ll be swinging back to the other programs soon. Let me explain what’s going on:
In the past few years, we have been doing a lot of improvement to what we call our “framework”. Improvements that benefited all collection types, like faster cloud syncing, easier folder options, faster image downloads, better shelves view, etc… Super efficient work and resulting in updates for all our tools, so for movies, books, music, comics and video games.
However, since about 6 months ago, we have changed our focus to implementing dedicated collection specific features, finally responding to common requests and complaints from our 5 different audiences. Since most of these were about games and comics, we started with those.
Also, because of we’re all still working from home, it makes project management and communication a lot easier if the entire CLZ team is working on the same project. So that is why we all spent 3 months working on many video game specific features, then after that the entire team switched over to work on the most common comic book related requests.
Next up are our movie collecting solutions. Our web-developer Stijn is already preparing our back-end for the things to come. First up: audience ratings from IMDb. We are also looking at delivering movie ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, as a nice 2nd opinion next to the IMDb Ratings. Cool movie stuff coming up!
Now, let’s look at all November updates, plus a sneak preview at what’s coming up in December:
- Game Connect / CLZ Games 6.1: New “Updated Values” report
- CLZ Comics 6.0: Batch editing, Updated Values report, Add Issue, etc..
- Comic Connect: Add Issues / Updated Values report
- Coming up: Comic Collector 21 for Windows
- Coming up: CLZ Comics 6.1 with new Pre-Fill screen when adding comics.
- Coming up: Comic Connect Missing Comics tool
Game Connect / CLZ Games 6.1: New “Updated Values” report
Since we introduced the Update Values from PriceCharting feature, one of the most common questions we received at customer support has been:
“After I update the values for my games, is there any way I can see which games have been updated?””
So, after several years of having to say “sorry, no that is not possible”, we figured, let’s make it possible.
This new “Updated Values” report is now live in the Game Connect web-based and in the 6.1 update of the CLZ Games mobile app. Just choose Update Value from the menu and when done, the report will pop up.
Screenshots: Game Connect / CLZ Games for iOS / CLZ Games for Android
CLZ Comics 6.0: Batch editing, Updated Values report, Add Issue…
CLZ Comics was the last mobile app to receive the 6.0 treatment, but I think you’ll agree it was worth the wait, as this is a HUGE update:
New “Update Values” report
After using Update Values from GoCollect, the app now pops up a nice report showing you:
- which comics have been updated
- their previous values and the new values
- the value change, in green when increased, in red when decreased
- total value changes for the updated comics and for your entire collection
New: Add Comics by Series AND Issue Number
A new “Add Issue” tab in the Add Comics screen, offering a super efficient way to find and add a comic by series title and issue number. E.g. search for “iron man 17” and it will instantly show you a simple flat list of all issues 17 of matching Iron Man series.
New: Edit Multiple Comics in one go!
The most requested feature is finally here: make changes to multiple (or all) comic entries in one go. Just tap and hold to select comics, then choose “Edit x Comics” from the “3 dot” action menu.
Warning: the Edit Multiple feature is a very useful and powerful feature, but… remember what Uncle Ben said: With great power comes great responsibility!
New look for Edit Comic screen, plus Crop/Rotate tool
A new look for all edit boxes and a more compact layout, making it much easier to edit your comic entries, without scrolling through long lists of fields.
Also, the Cover is now on its own tab, with new Crop and Rotate tools for instant rotating and cropping of self-made cover photos or downloaded images.
Comic Connect: Add Issues / Updated Values report
With Comic Connect being web-based software, we don’t have to “bundle” features in software updates. We can just push features to the live software as soon as they’re ready and tested. So this month, we did two separate updates, bringing two big features:
New: Add Comics by Series AND Issue Number
A new “Add Issue” tab in the Add Comics screen, offering a super efficient way to find and add a comic by series title and issue number. E.g. search for “iron man 17” and it will instantly show you a simple flat list of all issues 17 of matching Iron Man series.
New “Update Values” report
After using Update Values from GoCollect, the software now pops up a nice report showing you:
- which comics have been updated
- their previous values and the new values
- the value change, in green when increased, in red when decreased
- total value changes for the updated comics and for your entire collection
Coming up: Comic Collector 21 for Windows
In Comic Collector 21, we will be responding to the most common feature requests we have been receiving in the past few years. ETA: early next week!
Here’s what will be new:
- Missing Comics screen: a new screen that will compare your list with our Core, and will show you exactly which comics you are missing.
- New Add Issue tab in Add Comics screen (see above)
- New Update Values report after updating from GoCollect (see above)
Coming up: CLZ Comics 6.1 with new Pre-fill screen
Another update for the CLZ Comics mobile app is almost ready for release, ETA within 2 weeks. In this update, we are adding what we call the “Pre-fill screen”.
This screen will pop up when adding new comics to your app, letting you pre-fill some fields right there and then: Grade, Storage Box, Owner, Purchase Store/Price, etc…
Coming up: Comic Connect Missing Comics tool
Comic Connect is the first of our comic book solutions that will get this commonly requested feature. Almost every day users ask us: “how can I find which comics I am missing for my series”.
We have designed a cool new screen for exactly that purpose, which will compare your list with our Core, and will show you exactly which comics you are missing.
Stay safe!