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"The CM Organizer is Getting a New Look"
- This topic has 21 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 4 months ago by
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Just got an email about this….they say the CM Organizer will look different…..
Noooooo…….I can’t handle change…..now I’m going to have to go into therapy!
Oh, wait–you say it will work better on my tablet now? I can plan, plan, plan on-the-go??? Hmmm……therapy is overrated. I’m going back to being a happy camper!
First impression? After taking a deep breath, opening one eye, then opening the other?? I’m with cdmzkk, the colors are really nice.
One thing I like is that the navigation pane (or whatever that was….see? I’ve forgotten the “old look” already!) is gone from the left side. It just took up valuable space most of the time.
I’ll have to get used to all of those tags that you see first thing on the bookfinder tab, but maybe I’ll actually use the tags more often now that they are buttons instead of just strings of words.
I also like having things shifted to the left on the daily plan tab now that the stuff on the left is gone. I often thought that the actual working space for checking off work and adding notes to an assignment was a little crowded, sometime even overlapping when the calendar pulled out to the side.
Speaking of calendars, I love the new drop-down calendar for assignments. So much easier to read, and my visual mind somehow functions better seeing what you’ve checked off in a box that shows it vertically.
Ooh, I wonder how the “show upcoming assignments” function looks? I’ll have to check….I’ll be right back.
Okay, I’m back. Hey, the list of upcoming assignment is bigger! I can almost read it without my reading glasses or enlarging my screen display to 1,450% (All right, no comments….wait until you guys with all the littles hit 55 and are Simply Charlotte Mason-ing your grandkids!)
The practicality of having things shifted over to the left is probably the best part of the new look since it makes more of the screen available. The only thing I wish was possible for individual users to customize would be the option of collapsing the “Students” and “Subjects” sections at the top of the daily plan tab. I only have one student now, so I really don’t need to select just her or even “family.” And I don’t often need to see only select subjects, so collapsing that section would be helpful. What I’d really prefer to see right under the daily note box is the weekly overview, but that’s just my personal preference.
So, Doug, there are my thoughts. Tee-hee, in this case, it’s not really, “Be careful what you wish for;” it’s more like, “Be careful who you ask….” Ask some forum members, you get a few sentences. Ask me…..well, just wondering….would Simply Charlotte Mason be interested in publishing my novel, “Confessions of a CM Organizer Connoisseur” when it’s finished? I think you’d file it in the bookstore under mother culture…..
Oh, Sue, you crack me up! And I like your avatar. We are getting baby chicks today! I liked your other avatar too. It made me laugh when I saw it. Laughter can be contagious. 🙂
One more thing for the wishlist….would it be possible to set up a preference to have the organizer open up on the daily plan tab instead of the bookfinder, if an individual wanted it that way?
Ooh, baby chicks! We got our bunch last April, so they are full-grown hens now, laying to their hearts content. The chicks were so much fun, but they grow into that awkward, not-so-pretty “teenage” stage so quickly. I love our hens, though. Best of luck with yours.
Actually, I enlarged that avatar and put it on the front cover of our portfolio for this past year, with a caption that read, “The Educated Chicken.” Our teacher evaluator got a kick out of it.
That’s great feedback, Sue. Thanks!
I had actually forgotten about some of the stuff you mentioned, like larger text. We reviewed the whole app to make sure sizes were large enough and more consistent so that everything would work well from phone screens up to large desktop monitors.
I’ll make sure Jordan sees this and captures your wishlist items for future consideration. Speaking of Jordan, he took the lead on working with our software developers on all of these nice changes. So a big job well done to him and the team!
Sue, I use google Chrome and in its settings I have selected continue where I left off and so when I open the organizer, it opens to the daily page if that is where I was when I closed it out.
Channa
I hadn’t thought of that. I have the forum page bookmarked, and I usually check that first, so I’ve gotten used to getting into the organizer from there.
I’m running out of room on my bookmarks bar, maybe I need to move something out into my other bookmarks…..
I think it’s worth pointing out that, on the daily tab screen, above each scheduled assignment where it says “Today” (white lettering on dark blue bar across the screen), there is a white circle. That is where you check off “worked on” or “finished” as before.
I know, you’re thinking, “Of course!” However, all day today, I’ve been clicking on the calendar icon and checking it off there….
I’m liking the look of the new planner 🙂 One thing I’m wondering about is if I mark that we worked on something and then write notes about it, will those notes be for that day or will they accumulate until I check it off as comleted?
I would really like to be able to schedule a book that I know will be worked on for weeks or months (but do not have specific pages assigned to each day) and make notes that are specific to that day and have them show up on that day on the report. I don’t want to have to write the date and what pages we read all in one big note that only shows up when the book is completed.
Another thought on this is that some books are worked on over different years so you would have to mark the book completed but then assign it again later. This has really been my only complaint about the scheduler. I love it otherwise. 🙂
I’ll have to get used to all of those tags that you see first thing on the bookfinder tab, but maybe I’ll actually use the tags more often now that they are buttons instead of just strings of words.
Those tags have always been there, but this design refresh makes them a lot more obvious. We have some ideas for making those more useful in the future. 🙂
would it be possible to set up a preference to have the organizer open up on the daily plan tab instead of the bookfinder, if an individual wanted it that way?
I do think the Daily Plan is the most used part of the CM Organizer and I’ve wondered if it makes more sense for that to be the default page. Good to know that I’m not the only one who has thought that.
One thing I’m wondering about is if I mark that we worked on something and then write notes about it, will those notes be for that day or will they accumulate until I check it off as comleted?
Right now any notes you put on an assignment accumulate for that assignment until you check it off as completed. You can use the Daily Journal note at the top of the Daily Plan to make a note tied to today’s date.
I’m curious if anyone else would prefer that assignment notes were attached to the date you marked the assignment as Worked On and then the next day the note would be new and blank. That’s an interesting feature idea that I don’t think has been suggested before.
Another thought on this is that some books are worked on over different years so you would have to mark the book completed but then assign it again later.
Can you explain this a little bit more? I’m not sure I’m fully understanding what you mean. If you need to use a book for more than one year, you could just leave it on your schedule after the school year ends and it will continue to show on your Daily Plan until you finish it. Another option would be to schedule just the chapters (divisions) of the book that you plan to use this year.
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