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Snap problem

jwhitener
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 16:46:42 GMT

I'm trialing AT version 2.2.6 on Windows 10 and on Windows 7. I'm generally really happy with it and likely to buy. However, on both platforms, I've noticed more and more often that events in the timeline will not snap to other events when moving them. Other details: this is moving a single event. Neither the shortened dotted vertical line appears, nor the message about snapping. When there are several events on the page, the moving event will fail to snap to most of them, but sometimes will snap to a random one or two, but not when the cursor is near them, rather when it is offset from them by quite a lot. This snapping feature is key to the usefulness of the application. Is there something I can do to get events snapping again? Quitting and restarting AT doesn't help. Also, I am syncing to a Scrivener project.

aeonjess
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 23:40:33 GMT

Hi, Sorry to hear you are having problems with snapping. When you are moving an event to snap to another, it is not the cursor position that determines where to snap to - it is the long dotted line that appears when you move the event. If we used the cursor for this, then if you don't click on the exact spot of the event when moving the cursor will jump immediately, which would be confusing. So, when you start to move an event, are you seeing the long dotted line, with a message saying Shift Event by... ? Then if you try to align this line up with the start or end date of the event the line should change to be shortened and the message to "Snap to start/end of..." This shortened line might sometimes disappear if it is trying to snap to an event that is outside the current view, but the message should still remain. However if you were trying to snap an event using the cursor position, it would potentially look like it wasn't working, since the cursor will often be at an offset to this line. Let us know if you still have problems with it. Jess

jwhitener
Tue, 19 Dec 2017 21:56:33 GMT

Jess, thank you for your reply. Confusion over the dotted line versus the cursor position was not the problem. If I take Event B and drag it slowly so that the long dotted line passes over either the beginning or end of Event A, the line never switches to a short dotted line, and the "Snap to" message never appeared. Rather, the behavior is as if there is no Event A in the timeline. Here's a quirk that might help you troubleshoot it: I found that if I embedded both Events A and B in a new parent event, THEN the snapping worked between the two as expected. If I then undo the "embed in new parent" command, then the snapping again doesn't work at all. This next thought is pure conjecture, but it seems like this problem occurred more and more frequently (to the point of becoming the default behavior of the whole timeline) the more complex my timeline became. If I create a new empty timeline, and create just two events, the snapping works as expected. It's in my 70-or-more-event timeline that this issue is happening. Thanks again. Jon

jwhitener
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:33:30 GMT

I have set up Aeon Timeline on Mac OS X (10.11) as well, and loaded the same timeline file from a cloud drive. Unfortunately, the snapping issue here is the same as described above. I thought it might be a Windows-specific issue, but this indicates it is a cross-platform issue. The Scrivener integration remains a major selling point for Aeon Timeline, but this glitch is a big bummer. I might try grouping events into parent events, or breaking down the timeline into several smaller timeline files, to see if either of those things help restore the snapping behavior. If I get around to that, I'll let you know. Thanks, Jon

aeonjess
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 01:18:20 GMT

Hi, Are you able to send through the timeline that is causing problems for you to [email protected] with a description of the events you try to snap that aren't working? That would be helpful for us to recreate the problem. We keep all timelines confidential. Have you tried the Murder on the Orient Express example timeline? (you can open this on the welcome screen by clicking the Examples tab). This timeline also has >70 events, so I was wondering if you still see the problem with this timeline. Jess

jwhitener
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 19:51:30 GMT

I have emailed you my timeline with several screenshots. The Example timeline snaps much more like expected, but I've several times tested and reproduced my issue on multiple platforms.

jwhitener
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 20:35:56 GMT

I'm not sure what the intended behavior is, but with the Example (Murder) timeline, with several close events such as #61-68, with the zoom showing four days, the snapping seems hard to control, where a horizontal movement of the mouse (when dragging an event) even just a few pixels can cause the snap suggestion to cycle through several events. The vertical position of the cursor seems to have no influence as to what events should be snap-suggested. I wonder, when dragging an event, if the vertical position of the cursor should be taken into account for snap suggestions, so that in an event-dense area, the user has more control what they're snapping to?

aeonjess
Tue, 02 Jan 2018 23:20:53 GMT

Hi, Thanks for sending through your timeline, we will use it to look into the problem. Jess

theinkpages
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:13:52 GMT

Hi, was any solution found for this problem? I'm also experiencing it.

aeonjess
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:45:16 GMT

Hi, Yes we have found a solution for this problem, the fix will be released in the next update. Jess

theinkpages
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:50:25 GMT

Awesome!