It was earlier than we expected, the next version of iStats, 2.0 has been developed strictly between the hours of 7pm and 1am each weekday over the past month. While developing and reading Getting Real, we decided to release iStats to the public a little early, this way we can gather your feedback and help iStats become the best it can possibly be.

This means that little bugs might come up now and then while your using iStats, although all the ones that we have found have been removed, if you do find a bug please contact us so we can fix it right away.

Here is a brief overview of the new features you might notice…

• Completely new user interface - it’s been redeveloped with a web 2.0 look and feel, focusing on ease of use and simplicity
• New Technologies - the introduction of AJAX has allowed a more rich user experience, we have utilised AJAX when entering data so now there’s only one page you need to go to manage your groups & exercises.
• Teams - you can now join teams with other members who have similar goals as you, you can use teams to keep each other motivated, share tips on how to achieve your gaols & organise workouts. What’s better is that you can even create your own team!
• Exercise Directory - You can now quickly and easily view all the exercises in iStats, as more members add exercises to their program, they will become available here. We hope to be the largest exercise directory on the Internet. Pictures of each exercises are pulled directly from Flickr, so you can see how other people look while doing an exercise.
• Exercise Tips - Each exercise has its own “wall” where members can post tips & comments about that exercise.
• Statistics - Everyone loves statistics (especially us!) , we now have a statistics section which lists some fun facts about iStats members, 2 are displayed randomly each time you visit the homepage, 10 are displayed randomly on the Stats page.
• Ratings - Every member can give a rating to a team or exercise out of 5 - this will help other member’s find the better exercises and teams to join.
• New Graphs - We found a better way to display your data in graphical format (see below)
• If there is anything you want to see in iStats, please let us know.
• Member profiles - Each member has their own profile on the web, their page will show some basic information about them, plus graphs about their progress. Other members can post to your “wall”.
• The “No Data” page - If you don’t have a data for a section of the site, instead of an empty table or graph, we will display a sample graph explaining where the data comes from and how you can enter it.
• The iStats Blog - That’s right, we’ve caught on the blog craze, we will be posting screencasts (videos of the mouse moving around the iStats website with commentary), tips & tricks as well as news & updates about the iStats website.
• No Forum - The forum was clunky and hard to use, so we canned it!
• OpenID - Allows you to login using your OpenID, which is a single username & password you can use accross 100+ sites around the Internet.

The iStat and your Graphs

Did you find the old graphs didn’t make much sense? So did we! We’ve researched under the hood and around the Internet and we’ve found a better way to present your data..

• We have removed the concept of the “iStat” - a factor so members can compare the effort they put into their workouts, as each exercise requires more effort for the same amount of reps then the next one. This factor is WAY too complex given the variety of exercises available today, and every individual is different so comparing would not be fair.
• Better look & feel - Your graphs are now easier to read.
• Find your graphs easier, your 10 latest exercises and your 10 most completed exercises are displayed, you can then access the graphs for any exercise you do by clicking on a group name.
• Let others know how your going with your fitness, you can insert your graphs on your website, blog or MySpace. The graph will automatically update as you enter more & more workouts.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 2:49 pm and is filed under News & Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.