Help me design the Check for Updates Feature

Well, it DOES happen on launch if the checkbox is checked, right? I think the "check on launch when checkbox is checked" + menu item are fine.

Also, will you make it opt-in or opt-out? Opt-out makes more sense to me, since most people will want the updates, and there needs to be some special reason why you would NOT want the update. If you make it opt-in (checkbox unchecked by default, you need to approach it via menu), many people will not notice this feature.

+ is this only for desktop version I guess? In the desktop case users can install it themselves, but in case of server it requires admin action and regular user shouldn't see it.

Awesome! We couldn't convince Peldi to do implement this =) glad to see this at the top of your list.

Only small change would be changing the button at the bottom from "Upgrade" to "Update"

Would be helpful to know when I last updated (in addition to my currently installed version). The versions probably don't mean much to most users, but knowing that I haven't updated in 6 months tells me I'm using really old code.

Can there be a "secret" mode which allows me to download the "next release preview" version?

I think upgrade check should occur at each startup. Only display window if upgrade available and let user select which version they want to upgrade to if there have been several updates since current version. Also have a "check for updates" menu option.

What about a radio button: [on startup] [once a month]

Whatever you do here, please also consider this. It's very important...

http://getsatisfaction.com/balsamiq/t...

This is related to Noel's idea of checking at every launch. Instead of the user checking to see if there's something available, it would be a lot better to be informed that something new's available. "A new version is out. Check out what has been added.." and this shows the new things and a 'Upgrade'/'Not Now'.
This is something from my days as a programmer at an antivirus company, as we would have to push signature updates. While those needed to be up-to-date and immediate, it is not necessarily the case here. But the point is, why make the user's keep track of one more thing? Pushing vs Pulling, and while experienced users like to pull, pushing might be a better idea for everyone.

I'm only partially following this thread so pardon me if it's been brought up. But why not have the user selected the frequency of when to check for upgrades.

- Each time
- Every day
- Each week
- Each month
- Never

This is what I would like to see:

I agree on the design decisions to date, good job. Currently it's hard to update and even hard to find the correct download page on the website, so this will help a lot.

While you're working on the automation, put a link in the help / about page that points directly to the update page on your website. That will save a lot of hunting.

Be opinionated about frequency and avoid preference configuration hell. Choose weekly if that suits you; most seem to agree that monthly is too long, especially if you're releasing every week. Frankly, I'm not sure I even care what the frequency is. The check box should be "Check for updates," period. Users won't care when the check happens. And for those that do care, include a "Check for updates..." menu item so they can check right away.

In most conceivable real world situations, you probably should just check on every launch. The only reason not to is for load on your server. If your web site can't handle that load, you have bigger problems (the good kind of problem -- you're too popular :-).

Marco,
We implemented this feature for our products and the customer's love it. We create tax & accounting apps and we often need to post updates due to rate table changes, emergency tax law changes, etc. Rather than write all of this ourselves (I tend to be a buy-before-you-build kind of developer), we use TrueUpdate from IndigoRose. It's a great toolkit allowing you to script out your updating process pretty much anyway you wish. We put in check for update automatically, check for update on demand, etc with very little effort.

Hope this helps,
MB

Update -

I would recommend going with "check for update on startup" and a "check for update" on the Help menu. There's no need for a "check for update every N minutes". We did that for one of our apps and found that either no one used it or we received calls from customers who were annoyed with it. In practice, people tend to open/close the app on a regular enough basis to make an auto check every so many minutes unnecessary. So basically, just the 2 options I mention above.

MB

Marco - how's this feature coming along? =)

You're setting expectations pretty high =).

Please don't increase the startup time in case of a slow network connection. Instead start the application and do the "is there a new version" check in the background.

We're not letting you off the hook on this one =)

By the way, I'd really curious to know what versions of Mockups your customers are running. Anyway you can tell that? Do most keep up to date by manually upgrading or are many using old versions?

I'd like to have "check on startup" as option... just to be sure to don't have "noise" while sketching...

In our company, we want to try to keep individual user versions of the desktop app in sync with each other, but also with the confluence plugin version, which has to be updated on a slightly different schedule, because the group in our company that maintains confluence (considered an "enterprise app") is different from individual users maintaining their own desktops.

Has a solution been imagined for the confluence (and other) plugins as well?

One of your partner's products NAPKEE does a great job in this respect. He seems to use the native Abode AIR UI/AX to check on startup (also via the help menu) and it upgrades in situ, with a section for releas enotes.

I didn't realize when I posted earlier that this idea has languished for an entire year. PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS GO ANOTHER YEAR. That's all, thanks.

So I used to think that I wanted to be notified when a new version was installed. Since google chrome was released I find I don't mind that it updates in the background. Have you considered if you opt in, to allow the for checking for updates when opening Balsamiq and then upgrading silently when closing?

Is there any reason why Balsamiq doesn't use the built-in AIR update capabilities? (http://gregsramblings.com/2009/10/16/...)