Development Room
Honeycomb is an ongoing development and will be continually enhanced over time. New features will be added to Honeycomb regularly as technology develops and you let us know of your ideas here.
Release 3
Document upload / file store
You can now upload most types of documents into your Honeycomb resource bank. Put the document on your page and people visiting your page will be able to download the document.
Scaling / Zooming
If you find that your page is too big to fit on your screen or too small to be shown at its best, you can choose the scale you want to show the page at or select ‘Fit to screen’.
Panning
Selecting the panning tool allows you to move the page around without relying on scroll bars - the tool allows you to drag to the part of the page you’d like to view.
Rotate objects
Improve the design of your page by rotating videos and pictures.
Version window
This provides a full list of all the features in Honeycomb including when they were released. This will be updated each time we release a new version.
Also, new widgets:
Mindmap widget
Create a diagram of your thoughts and ideas.
Voting widget
Poll your peers! Ask their opinion or pose a question.
Honeycomb (Release 2)
Help and support
This has been removed from the User Chooser and is now a link from the toolbar to a pdf document held on the honeycombtools.com website.
Grid and Moving/Sizing short cut keys
When dragging objects around the page a grid appears to aid positioning. This is not restricted to objects automatically snapping to the grid.
Using the arrow keys on your keyboard moves the object one grid square width. Holding down ‘CTRL’ moves the object a small distance.
Use the ‘-’ and ‘+’ keys to change the size of the object one grid square width. Holding down ‘CTRL’ makes small adjustments to the size.
Graphics tools
Click on the button once to draw the shape once. Click on the button twice and a padlock appears. This allows you to repeatedly draw that shape.
Holding 'CTRL' when you draw the shape will cause it to snap to the grid.
Holding ‘CTRL’ and ‘Shift’ when you draw to draw a regular shape – a square or a circle.
Layering
Resources can now be layered on the page and reordered as desired by simply using the ‘up layer’ and ‘down layer’ function.
User Chooser
The User Chooser now splits sites, groups and users into three separate panels. You only see the panels that you have permission for. For example, if your viewing permission is limited to your group then you will not see the sites or groups panel. In the old User Chooser all users were shown to you. Now only users who have published pages that you are allowed to view are shown.
Recording audio / video
It is now possible to record audio and video in Honeycomb, e.g. to record audio into objects, to add resources to the Resource Bank or to add audio / video comments. Go to the Sounds or Movies tab in the Resource Bank to see if a record button is evident.
For further details see page 9 of the Getting Started Guide.
Recoding audio into objects
You can now record audio into text, images and graphics. Select the object and click the record button in the properties dialog. To play an embedded audio, click the play button that is on the object or expand the properties dialog to see the audio controls. If the object is deleted the audio is also deleted.
Recording audio/video and capturing images into the resource bank
In the Picture, Movies and Sounds section of the Resource Bank there is a record button. Using this button, pictures, movies and sounds can now captured and stored in the bank.
Recording audio/video & capturing images into comments
It is now possible to leave image, audio or video comments as well as written comments
Video support
You can now load all of the following file types into the resource bank: '.wmv', '.mpg' '.mpeg', '.mp4', '.avi', '.mov', '.qt', '.flv'.
You can however, only record video in .flv.
Access to microphone and webcam input
When using a microphone / webcam a dialog box is shown asking for permission to allow access to the device. This is a security feature of the flash player and nothing to do with Honeycomb. It is possible to change the settings to permanently allow access:
Templates
You can now create and publish your own templates or access and use templates shared with you by others. See the Getting Started Guide for details.
Accessibility Shortcuts
A number of accessibility shortcuts have now been introduced. See the Getting Started Guide for details.
Control Panel
Supersites (e.g. LA layer)
Supersites can now be added as an organisational unit for sites, e.g. LA layer. Currently supersites have no other function than that, so subscriptions and user membership are still handled on a site-by-site basis. Sites can be moved in and out of supersites by clicking and dragging them on the Sites tree.
Importing Users
Users can now be imported from a CSV file. This could save a great deal of time when setting up individual user accounts. See the Control Panel guide.
View Added Users
Once a new user has been added (either individually or via the user import feature), clicking this button will show the login details for all the added users created during the logged-in session. The “View as text” and “View as CSV” buttons can be used to display the list in a format which can be selected and copied elsewhere if required.
Moving Groups
Groups can now be moved by clicking and dragging on the Groups tree. Groups can be subgroups of either the site or other groups - they cannot exist outside of the site.
You can also move users around groups by selecting the user, clicking on ‘Move user’ and selecting the group you want the user to move to. All of their pages will move with them.
Deleting Groups and Users
Groups and users can now be deleted by clicking the appropriate button with a group or user selected.
WARNING: this operation removes the group/user from Honeycomb completely, and can not be undone! If you only wish to stop the group appearing in Honeycomb, or the user from logging in, consider using the ‘Disable’ option instead.
Creating Passwords / Password Protection
You can now generate your own passwords for users OR allow Honeycomb to automatically generate passwords for you. An indication of the strength of your chosen password will be given. This indication will only be given when adding additional individual users. CSV importing will allow you to create your own passwords but will not indicate the strength of the word.
Further information
For further information on Honeycomb, or to register your interest, call sales on +44 (0)1332 258381, or email customercare@lightbox-ed.com |
