Today, we’re pleased to announce several long-planned enhancements to minute writing and search on MinuteBase.
Unattributed Minutes
With this update we’ve introduced an unattributed option to the speakers in our editor.
As we noted in our first blog post, minute writing can take many forms. The first beta version of MinuteBase only allowed the creation of attributed minutes, in other words each minute had to have an associated speaker. We chose to do that because it enabled users to search for minutes by their speaker.
Attributed minutes work well for interviews and discussions, but in businesses and the public sector minute taking is more description than transcription. Even when attributed minutes are used there can be instances where the minute taker will want to use description.
Unattributed minutes are distinguished by omitting the speaker name and not indenting.
Improved Editor
We think that MinuteBase offers the simplest way to create clear and professional minutes, and we’re constantly striving to improve our tools. In particular we’ve been looking at enhancements to the MinuteBase editor. Previously, text entries over four lines resulted in a scroll bars appearing inside the editor, trying to write lengthier entries wasn’t as easy as it could be because the user wasn’t able to see everything they had typed. With this update the editor expands as needed and wraps round an entire text entry when it is edited.
We think you’ll agree - it’s a major improvement.
Keyboard Controls
The fastest way to use MinuteBase is with keyboard shortcuts. Along with the updates to the editor we’ve changed the add / update minute shortcut from Return to Shift + Return. We thought it was best to stay with convention and for Return to move to the next line when typing text minutes. See the tips section for more on keyboard shortcuts.
Enhanced Search
This update of MinuteBase enhances the integration of search throughout the site. Users can now filter meeting searches by category and month, people searches by company, and minute searches by speaker, month and minute type (text, action, file or link). Best of all, minute searches display entire minute entries exactly how they appear on the viewing and writing pages.
We hope you enjoy these updates, we’ve got much more planned. As always your feedback is greatly appreciated.
