Inking on Web Pages - Discussion

Microsoft

We have received a lot of feedback about supporting inking annotations for web pages like what we have in the current version of Microsoft Edge. Many users have told us that they use this functionality as a daily driver and would like to see it in the new version of Microsoft Edge as well. We would like to understand the scenarios in which you would use this functionality. Details about what you use it for, what are the expectations about availability of different tools, saving and sharing options etc. would be extremely useful in making sure we provide the best user experience to you. Your input will help us making sure that the feature works best for you. 

292 Replies
Hi,
could you guys please add the Same web inking functionalities and tools that exist already in the classic Edge, to the new Edge browser?

@Elliot Kirk 

 

Once again then.

if the function exists in Edge HTML it should be ported to new Edge because we do use them and releasing a broken browser (not feature and icon complete) will only kill of even more of your marketshare.

 

We have no further needs than inking on classic Edge provides. Therefore first focus on porting the functionality, fix the bugs and get the browser stable. 

When that is done you can start working on new features but as long as MS Edge on MS Windows on MS Surface doesn't even work - focusing on new features is the wrong priority

 

 

 

@matsmcp 

Agree 100%, Mat; top priority.  Add notes or Inking (& the rest of "the list") absolutely MUST be in Edge C.  No leeway on this. Nothing can be omitted or neglected, in this context.  Otherwise, yes, it will make ppl mad & lessen adoption.

Cheers,
Drew


absolutely

@Elliot Kirk This boils down to trust and it affects the whole of Microsoft, not just Edge. You build a platform, we invest in it and you abandon it. If we have to put up with that then we might as well use FOSS. You screwed us on Silverlight, then on Windows Phone. It looks suspiciously like the same thing is going to happen to WinIOT. Using the pen to mark up web pages is a value proposition that sets a Surface apart from lesser convertibles. The pen is worthless without platform integration. If you remove it the way you removed voice control of music from my Windows Phone, then tell me why I shouldn't ask for a refund?

@IndustrialAutomation 

I must say (add) as one reads the comments in here, all saying the same thing, BTW.  
"Continue Edge features & functionality" <-- That's the nutshell, Reader's Digest version. Whether Add notes, Share (beside not, buried in the ellipsis), Reading list, a proper group w/ FS.jpg, Set Aside or a complete set of Reading view Tools.  

This is stuff that makes Edge special, that draws Users to it.  HELLOOoooo. This is stuff people take for granted as "standard equipment" for Edge.  This is stuff PEOPLE know (Read: familiar), use AND LIKE!  And like it the way it is, ALREADY... as in, leave well enough alone, don't re-invent the wheel.  Make the guts better, make the guts the world's best... we'll love it and adopt it... BUT, don't mess with the mechanics.  We like how it's laid out and how it works, on the surface, it's quite comfy... go nuts under the covers

At least, tell us the Edge features & functionality WILL be there.  There's 2 months to go & we, still, do not see some basic requirements, the MUST HAVEs, the MUST KEEPs.  The natives grow restless.  Give a light at the end of the tunnel.  It's not stuff to discuss. Has to exist as, it does, now. Edge MUST maintain the features & functionality it has, now;  Even if, on a better performing Platform.

NB: Having Share w/out Add notes makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  W/out Add notes all one can 'share' from a web page is its URL.  One of the Stars of Edge is that built in anything from a page can be, both, shared AND marked-up! That's why their icons sit side-by-side on the Edge Toolbar Icons.jpgHello, they work together and they work well for people!  Unless they are not there, then, the people will rebel.

Cheers,
Drew

@IndustrialAutomation 


@IndustrialAutomation wrote:

@Elliot Kirk This boils down to trust and it affects the whole of Microsoft, not just Edge. You build a platform, we invest in it and you abandon it. If we have to put up with that then we might as well use FOSS. You screwed us on Silverlight, then on Windows Phone. It looks suspiciously like the same thing is going to happen to WinIOT. Using the pen to mark up web pages is a value proposition that sets a Surface apart from lesser convertibles. The pen is worthless without platform integration. If you remove it the way you removed voice control of music from my Windows Phone, then tell me why I shouldn't ask for a refund?


 

Windows phone was destined to lose..I could tell it from the beginning. comparing how Android was taking over the market in such a fast pace..it's actually one of the things that Bill Gates very much regrets about and he himself confessed it, that why Microsoft didn't build something like Android first and instead let Google do it.

 

 

Spoiler

@Drew1903 wrote:

I must say (add) as one reads the comments in here, all saying the same thing, BTW.  
"Continue Edge features & functionality" <-- That's the nutshell, Reader's Digest version. Whether Add notes, Share (beside not, buried in the ellipsis), Reading list, a proper group w/ FS.jpg, Set Aside or a complete set of Reading view Tools.  

This is stuff that makes Edge special, that draws Users to it.  HELLOOoooo. This is stuff people take for granted as "standard equipment" for Edge.  This is stuff PEOPLE know (Read: familiar), use AND LIKE!  And like it the way it is, ALREADY... as in, leave well enough alone, don't re-invent the wheel.  Make the guts better, make the guts the world's best... we'll love it and adopt it... BUT, don't mess with the mechanics.  We like how it's laid out and how it works, on the surface, it's quite comfy... go nuts under the covers

At least, tell us the Edge features & functionality WILL be there.  There's 2 months to go & we, still, do not see some basic requirements, the MUST HAVEs, the MUST KEEPs.  The natives grow restless.  Give a light at the end of the tunnel.  It's not stuff to discuss. Has to exist as, it does, now. Edge MUST maintain the features & functionality it has, now;  Even if, on a better performing Platform.


 

 

 

what Edge team is doing is reevaluating the Edge functionalities. they are trying to get more context. maybe there needs to be changes made to how Edge classic functionalities and features work, so instead of applying them to the new Edge, they could improve on them and add even something new.

 

 

@HotCakeX Yes, I understand what went wrong there. It is nothing short of tragedy that Windows Phone lost out precisely because Microsoft tried to do a proper job of it instead of rushing a lashed-up **bleep**fight to market the way Google did.

 

But I'm sure you'll understand that I'm not pleased that every time I get an update, performance gets worse, features are pulled and battery life gets worse. I'd roll the last four updates back if I could.

I wrote OneNote 2013 For Dummies and was curious when I saw this, so decided to check it out on my new Surface. Overall there doesn't seem to be a ton of info available obviously from the feature to make it make sense to me, but from what I can tell it just freezes the page in a way and lets you write on it.

 

This leads me to why this feature isn't OneNote, not Windows. It belongs in OneNote. One reason my book hasn't sold and people haven't used OneNote enough is the lack of integration into the operating system. Sticky Notes seem totally redundant to OneNote.

 

So, that said, if the feature moves forward I think it needs to be an extension handled by OneNote, which already includes this functionality.

 

As to its usefulness: the ability to mark up a page is obviously killer, but I'm not sure how it's implemented from my brief usage. Is it a screenshot of the page you're marking up?

 

Either way I think the feature obviously needs to move forward, but I'd let it be a OneNote addition. This would have the benefit of not having to recreate the entire feature within Linux.

@Elliot Kirk 

@IndustrialAutomation 

BTW, I have a Windows Mobile which, I, actually, really, like.  It's not my 1st, either.  Grabbed a Windows Mobile soon as they came available... and, stuck with them. And it, a Windows Mobile, still, does just fine, for me.  The Mobile's OS updates rather than, having to update the Mobile, itself, too :happyface:.

Cheers,
Drew

@IndustrialAutomation 


@IndustrialAutomation wrote:

@HotCakeX Yes, I understand what went wrong there. It is nothing short of tragedy that Windows Phone lost out precisely because Microsoft tried to do a proper job of it instead of rushing a lashed-up **bleep**fight to market the way Google did.

 

But I'm sure you'll understand that I'm not pleased that every time I get an update, performance gets worse, features are pulled and battery life gets worse. I'd roll the last four updates back if I could.


I think Nokia was doomed lol

Finnish people were not very happy after an American company (Microsoft) bought their company (Nokia).

 

I'm kinda 50/50 about the new surface phone too. the one that has dual screen and runs Windows 10X.

 

I had heard before that it's going to run both Android and Windows 10X, not only Windows.

 

it's really great that it has Windows 10 but there are certain Android apps that are necessary on-the-go and they are not available on Windows store to install.

I could use an Android emulator but that's too much performance to sacrifice.

 

about the updates that you talked about, are they Windows 10 updates or Edge insider updates?

 

@JHRussell1972Guess it is onenote and it is just marking up a screenshot.

@JHRussell1972 


@JHRussell1972 wrote:

I wrote OneNote 2013 For Dummies and was curious when I saw this, so decided to check it out on my new Surface. Overall there doesn't seem to be a ton of info available obviously from the feature to make it make sense to me, but from what I can tell it just freezes the page in a way and lets you write on it.

 

This leads me to why this feature isn't OneNote, not Windows. It belongs in OneNote. One reason my book hasn't sold and people haven't used OneNote enough is the lack of integration into the operating system. Sticky Notes seem totally redundant to OneNote.

 

So, that said, if the feature moves forward I think it needs to be an extension handled by OneNote, which already includes this functionality.

 

As to its usefulness: the ability to mark up a page is obviously killer, but I'm not sure how it's implemented from my brief usage. Is it a screenshot of the page you're marking up?

 

Either way I think the feature obviously needs to move forward, but I'd let it be a OneNote addition. This would have the benefit of not having to recreate the entire feature within Linux.

@Elliot Kirk 


These are some examples that I did to show all the functionalities in Edge classic that people want to be shipped to the new Edge insider browser.

 

after you're done marking up, coloring, adding notes etc, you have 2 options. either clip a part of that page and save it to desktop. or use the "save" button at the top and save it to OneNote, favorites or Reading List.

 

5.png

 

1.png

 

2.png

 

3.png

 

4.png

 

Also I found sticky notes app very useful. specially its ability that automatically syncs everything I write and I can access the same notes on browser or my Android phone.

not to mention that I can also add images, custom fonts etc in the Sticky notes app.

 

@JHRussell1972 

2 points:

1. Whatever one grabs to share with Add notes can be directed to OneNote.  So, they, already, DO work harmoniously.

2. It is wrong or certainly, incomplete to think of it as a 'screen or page grabber'.  Web pages have heaps of stuff on them.  If & when one cares to keep & or share a part of a page Add notes rises to the occasion. That "part" can be a recipe, an image, a piece of text, free-form AND THEN... one can draw, highlight, different colours & thickness, compose text ("This recipe sounds good.") Remember the recipe? It's like having a built-in Snip & Sketch... one can crop, print and more. It's terrific and invaluable!

Maybe, if & when one, in current Edge, uses Add notes and Share a wee bit, one suddenly understands & appreciates it & wants it a whole lot.

Cheers,
Drew

Good for you,
the apps and the compatibility level with other devices that I need only come with Android OS, which is Open source.

 

companies don't need to seek permission to put Android on their phones. one of them is Huawei which created the best and most powerful phones in the world and they manufacture their phones without Google services or relying even one bit on Google. that's a great thing. to have full control over your product.

@JHRussell1972 

Please, reread my recent note, here.  It is far, far more than that!  Nor should it be downplayed, that would not be fair to it or the whole concept.

Cheers,
Drew

@Elliot Kirk 

 

I have been teaching the teachers at my school on how to use the markup tool to highlight web pages they are showing their classes. They can markup the page ahead of time and bring it up on the classroom touch screen during class. When they are done they can save any comments and markups and send the whole thing to their class via email or post it in One Note. There were several sites that did not play nice with the classic Edge but work well with the New Edge. I would love to have this as an option for all of the teachers as we are migrating to an all Surface fleet of laptops for the teachers.