the short version
the connections tab has a new look and a simpler control. every connection now has a switch: slide it on to connect, slide it off to disconnect. the top of the tab says how many are on, in gold, with the marks of the ones that are. each shelf shows its tools in their own colours and how many of them are on before you open it. and the paragraph that used to explain all this is three short facts you can read in the time it takes to scroll past them. the same counts and the same three facts are on the phone.
why it changed
rich, who builds underway, opened the tab and listed what was wrong with it the way a founder would. the top of it was a block of writing about a hundred and twenty words long, which nobody reads. it stopped three quarters of the way across its box while the shelves under it ran the full width, so the page looked like two different pages stacked. the tools on each shelf were grey labels, github in the same grey as linear and youtube in the same grey as x. and every other choice in the app slides, the captions, the repositories a series is about, what post everywhere means, while the connections still had a grey pill that said not connected and a separate button to disconnect.
none of that was hard to fix. it just had not been looked at since the rest of the app moved on, which is how a product drifts away from its own look one screen at a time.
what is on the tab now
- what the day is read from, on the dark. one line on what connecting is for: connect the tools your day happens in, and the interview asks about what really happened, with nothing to write down. then the live count, in gold, because it is the state of things right now: how many of the connections this server offers are on.
- three facts beside it. yours to keep or drop: what they bring lands on context before you film, and a line you untick never reaches the interview. on every plan: the free episodes too, because the interview is only as good as what it knows. posting is series: one tap to every network, the reach that comes back, and whatsapp messaging you first; on founder the words for each network are written for you to paste.
- seven shelves on the dark, the way the phone already showed them. each one names what it is for, shows its tools as their own marks in their own colours, and says how many are on, so a closed shelf still tells you something.
- a switch on every card, top right. on means connected. the card's own connect button is still there, in the brand's colour, for anyone who would rather press it.
what the switch does, exactly
sliding a switch off disconnects, the same as the disconnect button did, and deletes the token or the key underway kept for that tool. sliding it on does what the card's connect button does, so nothing about how a connection is made has changed. a tool you sign in to, like github, your calendar or youtube, opens its own page to ask you, the way it always did. a tool that connects with a key, like linear, vercel or stripe, cannot connect until there is a key to check, so sliding it on puts the cursor in the key box and waits. the switch only shows on when the connection really is on; it never claims a connection that has not been made.
the cards that are not yours to switch yet stay as they were: a tool waiting on a platform's review is greyed and says in review, and a tool this server has no keys for says so.
what did not change
what each connection reads, and what happens to it, is exactly as it was. the director reads what the app collects and ticks the lines that matter to your season, and your own tick or untick always wins. meeting tools are context for the questions and never footage. audience numbers come back to you and never to the director. the switch is a new way to say on or off, not a new thing to be on or off about.
on the phone
the phone's connections room opens with the same band: the same line, the same three facts and the same live count in gold, and every shelf says how many of its tools are on. connecting a tool still signs you in to it, which needs a browser, so the phone opens the same page on the web to do it.
does sliding a switch off delete anything from my episodes?
no. it deletes the token or key underway kept for that tool, so nothing more is read from it. lines it already brought in stay where they are, and your episodes are untouched.
why does sliding linear on not connect it straight away?
a key-based tool needs the key first. sliding it on puts the cursor in the key box; paste the key and press connect, and it is checked against the tool before it is kept.
what does the gold number count?
how many of the connections this server offers are on for you right now. it is gold because it is live, the same way today's episode number is.
are connections still on every plan?
yes. every connection on the tab works on every plan, the free episodes included. posting in one tap and the reach that comes back are series.
every connection is on every plan, the free episodes included. start a series.