Runstoppable Blog

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We’ve been working on our next version of Runstoppable for a while, and we just wanted to give you a taste of some of the things we’re working on for version 1.4, so here goes

One of the big things we’re doing for this version is a beta version of a new route editor. Based on some feedback we’ve gotten, we’re redesigning some of the layout of the route editor to make it easier to use and more self explanatory. A big part of this is removing the tabs which aren’t as intuitive as we had earlier hoped. Soon, all the tools for generating routes will be laid out right in front of you, just a single click away.

Another change we’re developing is a new welcome page. The existing page is the stepping stone to the grander scheme of a dashboard where you can quickly see your recent activity, view updates to your groups, and jump into your routes. We have some big plans for it that you’re bound to find useful.

We’re also doing tons of other things on the site, from facelifts and graphical tweaks, to allow the importing of more GPS data, to giving you the option to stay logged in across visits.

All that aside, we’re still looking to you, our users, for more feedback. Tell us what you love! Tell us what you hate! And most importantly, tell us how we can make Runstoppable more useful to you! We’ve opened up a separate forum (click “Feature Requests” from the Forums tab) just for you to tell us what you want us to work on. So jump on the forums and drop us a line!

The upcoming version of Runstoppable will include the long-awaited upgrade of the statistics system. This encompasses three new features:

• Much more readable graphs
• The ability to click a bar in the graph and see the related runs
• A graph for each route showing the pace on recent runs

A preliminary version of the first two items is shown below (click the picture to see full size):

A couple of the features we have planned (and some in progress) for later versions:
- Printable graphs
- Easy graph customization

We’re still finishing up version 1.2.. hopefully it’ll be out within a week (I’ve been saying that for a while, though…)

We’re hoping to complete another version of Runstoppable (1.2) early next week. This release will bring a lot of behind-the-scenes changes that I won’t bother talking about, but some more interesting ones, as well. For example, if you’re a part of a group, you’ll be able to take any route you’ve created and listed in the “shared routes” for that group. We’ve also updated our mapping software to use the latest version of Google Maps. This means better performance, some better satellite imagery (in some areas), and maps for a large portion of Europe. We’re investigating expansion into more countries.

A big change you’ll notice is the new statistics system. While we don’t expect the released system to be a complete realization of our ideas for statistics, this will be a big step in the right direction. Expect cleaner-looking graphs that are interactive: for example, if you ran 30 miles on a certain week, you’ll be able to click on that week in the chart and view the relevant runs. A more detailed description will be on here as we get closer to release.

Another change will be the introduction of text-based advertising to some parts of the site. We’re trying to do this in a way that will not be obtrusive to our users, and will provide ads that are relevant to runners. Most pages still won’t have any advertisements. This is being done in order to offset our costs. Runstoppable has been under development since last August. At $10/month for hosting, that’s $90 so far, plus we spent $45 to license some software for the new statistics system. Our goal (at this point) is not to make a living off this, we just want to offset our costs. Feel free to contact us via the site if you have questions or concerns about this.

I figure that I’ll take a break from development tonight to provide a brief update as to Runstoppable’s status and what’s coming in the near future.

Runstoppable has over a hundred users who have logged over 2100 miles so far. Considering that’s coming from almost no effort on our part, that’s pretty good. We want to work on features now and save the marketing for later.

Right now we’re working on the 1.1 release, which is very close to completion. This release will bring a lot of features that we wanted to fit in to 1.0, but just didn’t have time. This includes elevation graphs, a much-improved groups system, a “there and back” feature in the route editor, and many smaller features throughout the site.

I’m most excited about our elevation graphs, because I think they’re more useful and readable than those on other popular sites. Here’s an example (click the image for a larger picture):

Note how you’ll be able to track your mouse over the elevation graph in order to see the corresponding location on the route. We’re hoping that people will find this feature to be useful and interesting.

For the 1.2 release, our priorities are: continued improvement of the groups system, a much more powerful statistics system (more on this at a later date), shoe mileage tracking, data export, and a lot of behind-the-scenes changes that need to be made. I’m sure that there are things missing from the list, but that’s the basic idea for now. Following that release, the focus will be on the route editor, as there are a lot of improvements we’d like to make in that area.

As always, we look forward to your continued feedback.

Beta 3 is nearing completion (it should be done around Jan 14). As always, the upgrade from Beta 2 to Beta 3 will be automatic, there’s nothing you need to do. Here are some of the things you can expect in Beta 3:

• Groups - Finally! Create or join groups that have forums, upcoming event listings, and announcements.
• Edit a Run - If you made a mistake while logging a run, you can simply go back and edit the run.
• Public Signup - No need to deal with invite codes anymore, anyone can simply come to the site and sign up.
• Custom Fields - Is there something you’d like to log for each run, but wasn’t listed on the site? Soon you’ll be able to define “custom fields” to record things like weight, heart rate, weather, or whatever.
• Lots of small fixes

This will most likely be the last full release before our public 1.0 release, depending on the feedback we get. After that, we have a lot planned for a new statistics system (the current one is pretty boring), a modified route editor, and improved group features.