Help, powered by Get Satisfaction

Today, we announce the launch of new improved help powered by Get Satisfaction. Here is our mini-faq of the questions you may have on your mind:

What is Get Satisfaction?

Get Satisfaction is a place where people can get the most from the products they use, and where companies are encouraged to get real with their customers.

How do I use it?

Nothing changes for you. You can simply visit our help page and either browse through a set of pre-defined help topics or post a question in the get-satisfaction box if you don’t find what you are looking for.

What are the benefits?

Ask a question, report a problem, share an idea, or join in conversations already in progress. The most useful replies rise to the top and you will be notified when people respond to your queries.

June 16, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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Minor enhancements that you asked for

Today, we pushed out a couple of enhancements that you have been asking for:

1) For blog imports, blob on the timeline shows text
We want your timeline to look gorgeous, so wherever possible, we try to use photos in the blog content. However, for blog imports, it may be more important to showcase your thoughts. We have therefore updated our rendering engine to show blog text wherever the post has been imported from a blog.

2) Clicking on a person/place/tag shows you the same post in a different context
When you make a post on your timeline, you can link it up with other people, places and tags. This association gives you an interesting ability to view the same post in different contexts. With this enhancement, you will now be able to click on a person/place/tag on a post you are viewing and land on the same post on the other timeline.

3) Scroll buttons lock on double-click
Scroll buttons are small arrow buttons that show up on the top-left corner of your timeline. If you keep your mouse pressed on a scroll button, you can move the timeline forward or backward in time. With the new enhancement, if you double-click on the scroll button and leave your mouse, the timeline will continue to scroll in the chosen direction as long as the mouse remains on top of the scroll button. To stop the scroll, simply move your mouse out of the scroll button.

Keep sending us anything else you have on your mind - we love to see your mails :)

June 13, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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Sharing timelines just got easier

You can now share timelines with the click of a button. Here is how you do it:

1) Use the navigation tools to get the timeline view that you would like to share.

2) Click the “Share” link in the top navigation bar.

3) Simply copy the link in the dialog box that shows up. If you wish to embed your timeline, the dialog box also contains the code that you can embed.

Didn’t I say it was really simple :).

June 9, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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A sparkling new home page

Yay, we have a brand new home page now, and it has something for everyone.

If you are not already a member and would like to take a test ride, there is a featured timeline embedded in the home page that you can play around with.

Whether you are already a member or not, you will love our popular timelines section where the most popular timelines of people, places and tags are showcased. This is where you can take a deep dive and see most popular timelines in lifeblob in real action.

Well, thats pretty much it - short and sweet. Do tell us how much you like it.

June 6, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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Showcase your timeline and become famous

iPod is more popular than any other portable music player , not because it plays songs better than others, but really because it makes a style statement for you.

Lifeblob does for your blogs, what iPod does for your music - enhances your style quotient and makes your views stand out. So get an account today, import your blog, use your timeline to express your views and embed your timeline wherever you want.

How do I embed my timeline?

Its really simple - just include the following HTML snippet in your web page and replace the <type> and <display name> parameters with those of the timeline to be embedded.

<iframe height=“225″
        width=“800″
        frameborder=“0″
        scrolling=“no”
        marginheight=“0″
        marginwidth=“0″
        style=“border: 1px solid #999; margin-top: 5px;”
        src=“http://www.lifeblob.com/embed/<type>/<display name>“>
</iframe>

Here are a couple of valid values for the “src” parameter:

http://www.lifeblob.com/embed/person/pranav
http://www.lifeblob.com/embed/place/bengalooru
http://www.lifeblob.com/embed/tag/trilogy

Here is what my timeline looks like when embedded in this post ( try dragging it around ):

PS: You can use the same timeline to write your blog and build a timeline of your life if you use the visibility settings wisely.

June 6, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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Timelines are open for sharing

Till date, timelines have been protected behind a wall - you needed to sign up for Lifeblob to view a timeline .

Not any more - with the changes that we pushed out today, people will now be able to view timelines without logging in.

What does this mean for me?

  • You can now share your timeline with your friends, family and anyone who is not already a member of Lifeblob. We do hope they would want to join Lifeblob after they see your timeline, but they are not required to.
  • You still have complete control over the information that anyone ( logged in or not logged in ) is able to see on your timeline.
    • Posts marked “private” are visible only to you.
    • Posts marked “participants” are visible only to you and people who are listed as participants.
    • Posts marked “public” are visible to everyone. People who are not logged in will only be able to see these posts.
  • You can reference your timeline in your email signature, just like you reference your blog today.
  • You can make a post on your timeline and twitter about it.

How do I share my timeline?

The URL structure for a timeline is really straightforward:

http://www.lifeblob.com/timeline/<type>/<display name>

Here are a couple of examples of real timelines:

http://www.lifeblob.com/timeline/person/pranav
http://www.lifeblob.com/timeline/place/bengalooru
http://www.lifeblob.com/timeline/tag/trilogy

We will soon add features to make sharing of timelines easier and also to allow you to specify the date range that you want to be shown when the link is opened up.

Let us know what you think and watch this space for more !

May 25, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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New layout for blobs on timeline

Today, we pushed a new layout for the maximized view of blobs on the timeline. This should address two problems that we have heard from our users in the past:

1) “As a new user, I did not know how to switch between different pieces of information ( text / photos / comments )”

With the new layout, it will be really easy to switch between different pieces of information. When you maximize a post on your timeline, you will now see one tab for each piece of information that your blob contains ( see image below ). Simply click on the tab to see what you want.


2) “I added 30 participants to my blob and the data overflows outside of my blob.”

We never thought we would have blobs being shared between 30 participants ( wow ) so soon ! But really, we are happy to see that happen and we have added another tab for participants. The participants panel on the left of the maximized blob will now only show a max of 8 participants and you can click on the participants tab to see all of them.

Keep blobbing and keep telling us what you need !

May 16, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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Yay ! Scroll buttons are here

You can call this our first step towards playing your timeline like a movie, or you may call this a better way to scroll, but whatever you choose, I can guarantee you will love it.

When you login next, you will find a small cluster of buttons on the top-left corner of your timeline. Here is what these buttons do for you:

Arrow Buttons: Scroll the timeline in the direction pointed by the arrow. If you want to scroll a relatively long distance, simply hold the button down until you reach the date range that you are interested in viewing.

Zoom Buttons: The other two buttons in this cluster are for zooming in and zooming out your timeline. Yes, thats one more addition to the variety of zoom options we have to offer, but we figured you would not want to move your mouse too far for changing the zoom level, when you are already around that area.

So now, sit back, relax and click that button and see your timeline roll in front of your eyes.

May 9, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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Navigation panel with zoom selection

Today, I am here to present a new feature that you will find immensely useful in navigating your timeline.

We just added a zoom selection dropdown in the navigation panel. This is intended to serve the dual purpose of:

  • Letting you know what zoom level you are browsing your timeline at.
  • Letting you jump to a zoom level based on the granularity at which you would like to see your posts.

As always, we would love to hear what you have to say about this new addition.

May 7, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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See those hidden posts

Today, we pushed out a nifty little feature that will now allow you to click the hidden post arrows at the bottom of the timeline and view those hidden posts instantly. This will come really handy when you know you are at the right spot but do not see your post being displayed on the timeline.

Here is how it works:

  • If one of your posts is hidden, you will see a green arrow at the bottom, just above the date bar. This arrow indicates the location of the hidden post.
  • When you move your mouse over the arrow, it will turn red, indicating that you are ready to click it.
  • When you click the arrow, one of the posts that is already being displayed will be replaced with the hidden post you just selected.

You can do this as many times as you want to cycle through the hidden posts. However, if there are too many hidden posts in an area, we suggest zooming in to get a more granular view instead.

May 6, 2008 · Filed Under Features

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