You Tube Instructional Videos Please

[Michael K]

Ultra Recall can clearly be a very useful and powerful program, if one knows how to use it. I've had the trial a couple of days and I really am finding it difficult to get to grips with what it can do and how.

Could you please create some YouTube instructional videos that explore the program's functionality and capabilities - as the cliche goes, "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words".

An Ultra Recall YouTube channel would helpful to users and a great promotional resource for you.

Thanks

Michael K

[Michael K]

Ultra Recall can clearly be a very useful and powerful program, if one knows how to use it. I've had the trial a couple of days and I really am finding it difficult to get to grips with what it can do and how.

Could some advanced users please create some YouTube instructional videos that explore the program's functionality and capabilities - as the cliche goes, "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words".

An Ultra Recall YouTube channel would helpful to users and a great promotional resource for the program.

I've also put this request in the "suggestions" area for the program in the hope that the kinook experts will also create some videos to show what Ultra Recall can do and how to use it for best effect.

Thanks

Michael K

[tfjern]

Loyal UR users for years now have asked (begged) Kinook to provide such videos and a comprehensible help file, but so far -- goose egg. Maybe when 5.0 finally comes out.

[Michael K]

Thanks for the response which raises a some important points:

1) Why would kinook not create some videos when they take little time to do. Why would it be necessary to beg a developer to produce something that can only benefit them, benefit their users enormously and promote the software to a wider audience of potential new customers? I understand some developers like coding rather than telling folks how to make the most of their programs but it makes no sense to me to produce a super piece of software and then not do all you can to show folks how to get the best from it.

2) You mention the possible release of version 5 of Ultra Recall and yet I see it is only on version 4.2a so that would be quite a leap to make and the first thought that comes to mind is: "If i buy this software after the trial, how soon before I'm asked to pay for a major upgrade?"

3) Hopefully kinook will respond to this post on the first two points mentioned above but in the meantime, could some advanced users please step into the void left by kinook and create some instructional videos and post them on a YouTube channel or perhaps there aren't any advanced users out there? :)

Thanks

Michael

[$bill]

Perhaps you have overlooked:

Introductory videos-

http://kinook.com/UltraRecall/demos.html

Order policy-

http://kinook.com/order_policy.html

[tfjern]

The first two demos are rudimentary, at best, as you will soon find out, and the other three are long in the tooth. This issue has been discussed repeatedly, and kinook is well aware of all the complaints regarding this issue (namely, inadequate demos and help file), but no amount of nagging will do any good. Kinook marches to its own drumbeat.

[kinook]

If the videos that have been provided are inadequate, please provide specifics on exactly what sort of content you'd like to see in other videos, and we'll consider putting something together.

We don't make announcements for new releases until ready, but a major update is likely several months out. Thanks.

[tfjern]

The demos should focus on separate, specific UR features or topics, say, "All About Attributes." (Even this topic would have to be subdivided, considering the multitude of confusing options and tweaks available.)

The demos should NOT be made by UR programmer(s). Take a look at the UR "help" file and you'll see why (it might as well be written in C++).

The demos should be step-by-step in easy English: e.g., if you want to do ..., do this: first click on ..., then click on ..., and finally click on ... Keep everything simple, clear, and succinct. Most demos (e.g., Google's) go too fast, assume too much, include too much, try to be too clever or cool,...

Thus, the demos don't have to be fancy or flashy (e.g., the UR Introduction demo is nicely done, but superficial at best; no help whatsoever regarding the most useful or powerful features of UR).

How many times have you had to dig around the forums trying to figure out something that could have easily been addressed in a simple demo? How many times have you stumbled across some useful feature or tip in the forums that could have easily been explained in a simple demo?

Kinook deserves great praise for developing a fantastic product (even though for most of us its most powerful features remain undiscovered or unused), but so far it doesn't deserve any kudos for marketing savvy.

[Nobodo]

Perhaps some demo videos should be made by some of the more advanced users of UR, then made available in an EASILY FOUND location on the UR website.

Maybe donating quality videos to the cause could be a way to get a free upgrade to version 5, or something like that.

Thanks,
Mark.

[kinook]

If anyone does create a demo or demos, we'd be happy to put them on http://www.kinook.com/UltraRecall/demos.html and offer a free upgrade or UR license to give away. Thanks.

[ashwken]

The demos should focus on separate, specific UR features or topics, say, "All About Attributes." (Even this topic would have to be subdivided, considering the multitude of confusing options and tweaks available.)
Trying to wrap my mind around how do you address the topic "All About Attributes" in a video.

How do you explain general database concepts and components, and their implementation in UR, in a video?

For example,

General Database Concept
========================

At the most basic level a database is a two dimensional table consisting of rows and columns, where the rows are individual records and the columns are data fields. The intersecting cell contains a specific field value for a specific record.

A data field consists of:
- a field name
- a field value

Each field is of a specific type:
- Character
- Number
- Logical (yes/no, T/F, 1/0)
- Date

A Form can be employed to represent a single record of the table.


UR Translation and Implementation
=================================

A row (individual record) is an Item.

A field is an Attribute.

The two dimensional table is somewhat represented by a Template, in that, Attributes are created for a specific Template. But a two dimensional table is a collection of rows (records / Items), and in usage these would be grouped under a Folder, so that the Folder becomes the visual representation of the two dimensional table.

Or not.... because an Item (based on a specific Template) can reside under many different locations in the Data Explorer, which represents one aspect of UR's relational nature.


Understanding the UR Template
=============================

Every Item is based on a Template.

A Template will be one of three types:
- Text
- Document
- Search

The Template type governs what is displayed in the Detail Pane (Viewer).

The Templates - Appointment, Contact, Folder, Project, Task - are all based on the Template Type Text. What this means is that each of these Templates were created by Inserting a Text Template under the Templates parent item. Then specific attributes are created for this new Template, and in some cases, a Form is created and assigned.

The Templates - Appointment, Contact, Task - are special Templates because they can integrate with MS Outlook.

The Templates - Folder, Project - are simply Text Templates that have been renamed and specific values given to the Attributes for Icon and Default Child Template.

The Template - Document - will be used for ALL data files imported into UR.

What constitutes a data file in UR - email, html pages, images, MS Word and Excel, pdf, music... When these types of files are brought into UR, the Document Template will be used to create the Item.

Some of these data file types will be displayed in the Detail Pane (Viewer), while others will show a link to launch the file externally (relying on the Windows File Association to handle the file).

If the user wants to track additional data for a data file, then they should create a new Template based on the Document Template - Insert a Document Template under the Templates parent - and create the desried Attributes for this new Template (and possibily create and assign a Form for the new Template). This new Template can then be assigned as the Default Child Template of a specific Item, then ALL data files imported to this location will be created using this Default Child Template.

Now the queston becomes, what do you want to accomplish in UR?

The answer of how a goal can be implemented in UR will vary with the specifc needs of each user. In some cases, a structured relational database will be needed, in others, a loosely organized dumping ground will suffice.

While I can see where rudimentary procedures may be best explained thru a video presentation, the nuances of implementing a goal are probably best handled thru a forum discussion.

Which rudimentary procedures should be covered in these videos?

[tfjern]

Last week Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, wrote a post that was widely read: "Crazy: 90 Percent of People Don't Know How to Use CTRL+F."

"... This week, I [Madrigal] talked with Dan Russell, a search anthropologist at Google, about the time he spends with random people studying how they search for stuff. One statistic blew my mind: 90 percent of people in their studies don't know how to use CTRL/Command+F to find a word in a document or web page! I probably use that trick 20 times per day and yet the vast majority of people don't use it at all.

"90 percent of the US Internet population does not know that. This is on a sample size of thousands," Russell said. "I do these field studies and I can't tell you how many hours I've sat in somebody's house as they've read through a long document trying to find the result they're looking for. At the end I'll say to them, 'Let me show one little trick here,' and very often people will say, 'I can't believe I've been wasting my life!'""

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/08/crazy-90-percent-of-people-dont-know-how-to-use-ctrl-f/243840/

Note Russell's use of the phrase "let me show" you "one little trick" regarding how to do a search: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECUX-y-M7DE&feature=player_embedded

Granted, explaining -- make that showing -- simply and clearly, step-by-step, the "general database concepts and components, and their implementation in UR, in a video" that ashwken took 624 words to explain, would pose more of a challenge than the lowly CTRL+F concept. But even a few simple and clear screenshots would be better than nothing, especially than wasting our lives digging around the forums looking for help.