Thanks for participating in the preview of Contour 2.2, we plan to release this new version publicly next week (target = 3/12), but before we do, we wanted to get feedback from a group of our users. The focus of this new release is on performance and user experience.

Beta Notes:

• We recommend you use Firefox 2.0 (we're still testing for IE)
• You are set-up as a named user within a User Group called "Beta Group", login to http://www.jamasoftware.net/demo
• You should have received an email from John Simpson with your login credentials. If you didn't, please send an email to jsimpson@jamasoftware.com
• The sample project data to play with is named "Aquatic Shoe - Jellyfish Training Fins", a project for our demo customer MOVE - you can add/edit the data within this project as much as you wish
• Your privacy is protected (a fake email is assigned to your user account, so the notifications will not work for this sneak preview)

Specific Feedback We're Seeking:

• Tabs: We've added the ability to open and work within multiple things (at the Project, Set and Item level) along the top, mimicking the tab structure of modern Web browsers. We eliminate the old structure of "define, relate and report" at the top, integrating these Actions as buttons within the Panes as you work. What do you think of the new tab structure from a UI perspective? Any suggestions for improvements?
• Speed: We've updated the platform to increase performance, in some cases 3-5x faster. Did you personally notice a difference? How significant was it for you when doing specific activities?
• Usability | UI: We continue to improve the UI with the goal of maximizing the workspace so that Actions and Views are just a click away. The challenge is doing this without overwhelming the user or cluttering the application. Overall, do you find v2.2 intuitive? Was there a specific activity you tried to accomplish but found it difficult to do? Any other suggestions for the size, spacing or placement of specific Actions, Views or Panes? Here's what we mean by these terms:

Actions - to execute a specific task - e.g. add an item, create a relationship, add an attachment, etc.
Views - different ways to view data and find what you want - e.g. Explorer View, Filters, Tags, Releases, etc.
Panes - the different dynamic frames within the application where Views and Actions are displayed - e.g. My Projects pane.

• Naming: As a general default we name the primary container of items (requirements, use cases, etc.) as a "Project", with the ability to rename it if your company organizes its portfolio differently - some organize items based on "Products", "Solutions", "Modules" instead of projects. This is a case where the underlying functionality of the tool works for most scenarios, but the naming can throw people off when they manage things differently than "projects". Any suggestions for a better default name? Or, bigger picture, how would you recommend we solve this naming structure to work across different scenarios?
• Welcome Tab: To help orient new users, we've added a Welcome Tab that will load on the first login, this page will provide a quick orientation to the different Panes within Contour and provide videos and other links for quick tutorials and support resources. In this initial v2.2 build, the Welcome screen will appear for the first login session. In later version, will allow the user to activate/deactivate the Welcome tab as they wish.

Capture Your Thoughts Here.

Please use this discussion thread to capture your comments and suggestions. Thanks for your feedback and taking the time to participate in this light beta program.

Cheers - Jama Crew