(It’s Friday as I write this, and they say it’s a bad idea to release to stuff on a Friday, because it means the poor folks who wanted to enjoy a weekend are apt be be saddled with the fallout from whatever goes wrong with the release.  But… speaking as the guy who did it all and will handle whatever fallout… well, I gotta good feeling about this. :)

It’s done!  It’s here!  And it’s ready for everyone to check out.

Version 4 ISN’T a huge mix up of things.  Truth be told, unlike Version 3 I have NOT been laboring in silence over it for the last 21 months doing a comprehensive rebuild.  The switchover from 3 to 4 is utterly seamless, with virtually everything in it’s place exactly as it was.

But Version 4 DOES feature some substantial changes. Let’s take a look!

Bright New Design

First and foremost you’ll notice there’s a whole new design theme.  I think it’s gorgeous, and I hope you will agree.  Not to throw shade on Version 3’s design, but after working in the new for a little, the old looks kinda like a gloomy, rainy day with all those shades of gray; while the new just looks bright, clean and crisp.

Here’s a typical screen in Version 3…

…and here it is in Version 4:

After a day of working in the new I suspect you won’t want to go back to the old!

Team Edition at Basic Account Pricing

The second big change up in Version 4 is there is no longer an alternate pricing structure for Team Edition: those accounts get to have subscription plans that are priced just like the basic accounts.  For those of you on Team Edition, that means your monthly cost is apt to go down a fair amount.  And if you’re on a Basic Account, well, you can now enjoy the benefits of Team Edition, now or down the road—at no extra charge (for those of you who work with a VA of any kind this could be immediately useful!).

Frankly I love this: just like when we made White Label Branding free for everyone with Version 3, this is another instance of us being all good, revenue-wise, and thus really happy to extend the full power of CoachAccountable to ALL our users.  It gives me great joy to have this rising tide benefit the whole CA community!

New Tree View of Folderizations

There’s a new way to view your collections of items that are organized into folders (such as your courses, templates, and whiteboards).  Wherever there are folders, you’ll see a little toggle (just left of the +Folder button) that allows you to switch between the usual card view and the new folder tree view.

Please, nobody delete Levity. And not just because there’s still 3 items in there.

Folder tree view makes a better way to navigate and see all of your content at once, and is especially handy when you’ve got a lot of items and folders in a given collection.

Retiring the Side Tasks Widget

After careful consideration and to tidy things up, I’ve removed the little tasks widget that appears under the left menu on certain pages (see the no-longer-present “Notes / Tasks” tab controls in the screenshots above)  As a not-terribly-useful feature that’s a holdover from the version 1 days, it’s time to remove it as clutter in the UI that went ignored by over 99% of users.

For those of you who had tasks in there, I’ve moved them into the neighboring notes section.  This change up should generally be a win, design and clarity-wise, but if you truly miss it, no worries–drop me a line and I’ll turn it back on for you. :)

Switching to Version 4

The switch to Version 4 is the most seamless one yet.  You can check all this out right now by bringing up the top right user menu, and clicking “Version 4 switch…”

By a sheer matter of coincidence, you are exactly 4 clicks away from Version 4.

You can flip the switch back and forth to see the before and after anywhere in the system.  If you prefer the old solid color style of the top bar, you can get that by turning off the Bright top bar—this is a new setting for the Branding color scheme as well.

When you’re satisfied you can flip the switch to Version 4 for yourself and all your clients.  If you’re on a Team account and not the account owner, you’ll not be able to flip the switch BUT you can toggle into V4 for yourself freely (necessary only until your account owner does it for everyone!).

Once you’ve migrated over (and not a minute before!) your account will be subject to the new pricing scheme, i.e. Team Edition at Basic pricing plans.

Staying on Version 3?

If you love the current look and prefer it to the new, you can stay with it–there’s no particular rush.  If you want to wrap things up with current clients without risking what might be viewed as a jarring change up, you can.  And if you’re on Team Edition, you’ll remain subject to its separate pricing until migrated to Version 4.

That all said, I’m keen to unify the platform (and simplify the efforts to further evolve it!) sooner than later, so all accounts will be switched over to Version 4 sometime in the next few months.  To avoiding undertaking the design transition with any more clients than necessary, starting today all of your newly added clients will see only Version 4.

Looking Ahead

I’ve been staring at the V4 almost exclusively for the last month or so, and, to me now, it just looks right.  And happily I’m not the only one: better than a matter of me just being overly pleased with my creation BECAUSE it’s my creation, it turns out Morgan and Jaclyn feel the same way (Morgan confided in me that she’s been toggling over to the V4 style as often as possible–namely whenever she’s NOT sharing her screen with a CA user, because just like V3, we keep this sort of thing on the down low until launched!).

Again, everything is exactly where you’re used to it being so you (and your clients!) are virtually bound to feel right at home with the same-but-brighter interface to get things done.  You can toggle back and forth with a single click and see what I mean.

And there you have it, I give you version 4!  I hope you and your clients love it, and would love to hear what you think below.  Onward!