We have an InkSeine update for you.

UPDATE: We have discovered that this build does not work on Windows XP. We are working on a fix (ready tomorrow?).
UPDATE #2: XP problem fixed!  The build number on the update install will show up as 1.2.1720.0.

We'll be publishing it shortly via the OfficeLabs auto-updater, so if you have auto-updates enabled, leave InkSeine running for a couple of minutes, and when you exit InkSeine it should ask you if you want to install the update. (Update: the Office Labs auto-update has not yet been pushed out.)

If you do not see the auto-update for any reason, you can install the new version directly from our downloads site :  InkSeine version 1.2.1720.0 1.1.1714.0 (but if you do it this way, you must first uninstall your old build of InkSeine).

This build addresses a number of issues that have been on our plate for a while now:

• Windows 7 Support. InkSeine's search features now work on Windows 7.
• Inking Performance.
  We fixed some issues with our ink stroke capture and rendering that produces a much snappier feel for drawing in InkSeine. This is a significant improvement for most tablets; if you have a UMPC like the Samsung Q1 series or an OQO Model 02, the difference is dramatic.
• New Page Viewing Options and Scrolling within Pages (see details below)
• Hide / Show the Arc
  The arc with all your pens and other tools on it now has a small +/- symbol on it. Just tap it to hide or show the tool arc. I find it's great to hide the arc when I'm really concentrating on a full page of notes, or projecting an informal presentation that I've sketched up in InkSeine.
  
  
  
  
• Tool Ring in task tray. The InkSeine Tool Ring now resides in the system task tray. For the many people who run the "ScrollControl.exe" application separately from InkSeine, this will make it easier to manage.
  
• Print margins bug fixed. Printing from InkSeine now always scales the page correctly so that the entire page will be visible on the printout; previously InkSeine would sometimes clip off the margins.
• File loading bug fixed. We fixed an obscure bug that on rare occasions would cause opening of certain InkSeine files to fail. Thanks to everyone who helped us track this down!

 New Page Viewing Options

Previous versions of InkSeine were limited to always show one whole page of your notes at a time. From the feedback we received, it became abundantly clear to us that this could sometimes be too limiting, particularly when switching between portrait and landscape screen orientations on your tablet.

InkSeine now supports a new Fit Page to Screen viewing option that scales the page to fill the current screen dimensions. For example, you can give this a try by creating a page in landscape format (step 1 below) and then switching your tablet to portrait orientation (step 2). InkSeine now applies the Fit Page to Screen mode by default whenever you switch screen orientations.

You can still view the entire page at once by choosing the Whole Page viewing option instead (step 3). The Fit Page to Screen / Whole Screen viewing option is a toggle found in the InkSeine Options menu, as shown below.

Scrolling within Pages - without a Scroll Bar

The new Fit Page to Screen view implies the need for scrolling.  But InkSeine has no scroll bar. That would just be wrong. A concept car for pen computing can't have scroll bars on it.

But now, InkSeine does allow you to scroll within pages. Here's another example where I'm using my tablet in landscape mode to view a page I originally created in portrait mode. I can now circle my pen starting on the InkSeine tool ring to scroll the page up and down.

Note that InkSeine still has an underlying model of discrete pages, so if you continue to scroll, it will not scroll you through all the pages in your note.

You might even notice that InkSeine now adds a subtle effect so you can tell when you've scrolled to the edge of a page. Do you see what it is? What do you think?

Still a Work in Progress...

I had really wanted to get custom pen and highlighter colors (and thicknesses) into this build, but we didn't make it. We believe there are a lot of subtle issues with supporting that well, and we didn't want to include a half-hearted attempt just to check off a new feature. But this is a new capability that I'm desperate to add myself.

There's also a couple basic usability requests that we didn't get to, such as having both Personal Search and Web Search available as top-level options in the context menu which appears after lasso selecting an ink phrase. I have a particular solution in mind for that which we didn't have time to complete.

I currently have three kids at two years old or less, and Raman (our developer extraordinaire) is currently managing our group's entire dev team, so we've both been running on limited cycles this year. But we are still pounding away and looking to introduce more new features and innovations for future InkSeine releases. Definitely be sure to let us know of any new requests, bugs, or reflections that you have on your use of the new features in this update.