Thank you for joining the Mellel 6.1 beta. The purpose of the beta period is to make sure Mellel 6.1 is working as planned, and that the plan makes sense - that is - that the features are useful, easy to use and easy to understand.
The purpose of the beta is to get people outside our close-circle to try the features, give us their impressions and tell us about problems they see. Following your reports we will fix and improve the app and send you another version (AKA build) to test. This will repeat a few times.
When we feel that the app works well enough for public consumption, we will end the beta period and release the version to the public. We will give you credit as testers in the Mellel about box.
Note : While we welcome everybody to the beta program, this is not a public beta and we would like to ask you to avoid discussing the beta and the features in public forums. If you have anything you like, dislike or don't care about the beta, please write to us.
Using the beta to edit your document will, of-course, change them so it is a good idea to have backups of your documents (it is actually a good idea to have backups anyway), if you are using Time Machine or a third-party backup solution like Backblaze then you're all set, if you're not using an automatic backup then you should consider using one and at the very least, make sure you have a snapshot (that is, a backup copy) of your important documents.
To install the beta do this :
When subsequent builds of the beta are released, you can update your copy of the beta by choosing Mellel->Check for updates . No need to re-download the app. We will send you an email when a new build is released but we recommend using the "Check for updates" feature to do this so we can make sure it works as well.
The main purpose of the beta is to test the new features. You can use it to do your day-to-day work (but make sure you have backups of your documents, just in case), and you are welcome to report issues even if they aren't related to the new features, but the main goal for us is to test the new features so even if they aren't very relevant to you, try to use them at least once and let us know if you see any issues.
Here are some guiding questions for testing a feature:
To report any issue, use the Mellel beta form:
Choose Help->Support or click the beta button in the window toolbar
Attachments like sample documents and screenshots are very welcome but unfortunately you can't attach files in the report form. To attach files do this:
Please report any issue you see, no matter how small or common, we don't mind getting multiple reports about the same things so don't worry about reporting something even if you're sure other's have already reported it. Also, don't refrain from sending a report if you think it is relevant only to you, let us make this call. Last, but not least, if you like something, also let us know! We like good feedback and it really helps us in gauging the response to the various features.
If you can, please send us at least one report when you first install the beta to check-in and test the beta form.
Crashes are very important. If Mellel crashes, please make sure to send the crash report. Please read the instructions here on how to send the crash reports to make sure that we actually receive them.
Shortly after Mellel crashes you will see a window titled "Problem Report for Mellel 6" and an icon of a warning sign (Yellow triangle with an exclamation point). This is not the report you need to fill in. This is the prompt to send a crash report to Apple and these reports are never handed to us Click "Reopen" and you can skip entering the comments.
Once the app is relaunched you'll see another window titled "Problem report for Mellel 6", this time this window will be adorned with the Mellel icon and also contain fields for name and email. Please fill in your name and also enter your comments detailing what you did right before the crash. Click "Send" to send the report.
Make sure to also use the beta form to inform us about the crash.
Equations
This is the main new feature of Mellel 6.1. Using the feature is simple
Please refer to the user manual and quick help guide for more details. This will help us make sure the documentation is clear and error free.
New Target Type for Cross Reference
As a complement to equations you can now list equations in the document by choosing the "Equations" target type in the Reference Edit dialog.
New "Equation" Auto-title Stream
Another complement to equations. The blank factory templates (Blank A4/US Letter (Modern/Classic)) now feature an "Equation" caption stream in their Auto-title styles.