FileMaker 14 One Month Later

Hal Gumbert of Camp Software takes a look at FileMaker 14 one month later, and offers an honest take on those things he likes–and dislikes, as well:

  • WebDirect has been overhauled. It’s now much faster and uses less resources which means your server can now handle more connections than before. It’s also been updated to work better on phones and tablets, even non Apple devices. I have issues with the pricing which I go into detail below.

  • Status Tool Bar has been updated to flat icons. Personally, I think the icons look cheap, but doesn’t change how it works. I really dislike the change to the pie graph for found / omitted records. Only using the pixels around a circle makes it difficult to see quickly. All the pixels in the circle are wasted.

  • Auto Reconnect to Server is fantastic. This came out of a FileMaker Go feature which automatically will attempt to reconnect to the server if the internet is interrupted or if you laptop goes to sleep. I love keeping our FMSBFoundation database open all the time now. Here are the Security / Extended Privileges that we add to our solutions.

I agree with his take on the flat icons, but I take it one step further.  I don’t like the the whole flat interface design concept that has swept the computer design world.  It’s harder to read and less visually stimulating. But, as with any of these trends, it will be gone in a few years, replaced by the next great design advancement.  One has only to wait.

Another not often noted improvement in FileMaker 14 is the ability to upload files to FileMaker Server.  That feature existed in V 13, but seemed buggy and didn’t work most of the time.  In v 14, it has worked flawlessly, which is a good thing.  I have had problems every time I have tried to just copy a file into the database folder rather than upload through the client.

Source: CampSoftware: FileMaker 14 One Month Later

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