These are a few of my frustrating things...

As the writer of the 1000 Irritations blog will tell you, there’s plenty in life to get narked about - that guy is up to 207 at the last count and doesn’t look like stopping any time soon. 

Here are my personal top three:

• Spoons put in the washing-up bowl (even though we have a dishwasher) at just such a position and angle that when you turn the cold tap on you get showered with water. Aagh!
• People who drive up to the right turn/straight on lane at a set of traffic lights and not signalling to turn, so you happily follow them ready to go straight on too, then as the lights change, they signal to go right, holding up me and everyone else waiting to proceed. Grrr!
• The DVLA’s automated phone system. More options than a potential NASA astronaut's multiple choice entrance test recently had me back to where I started in a Kafkaesque loop after umpteen apparently logical selections. Forgoodnessake! I rapidly lost the will to live while on this one.

You might not be feeling quite as bad as chummo above. However, perhaps you find some things about using ChurchInsight annoying - perish the thought - it’s inevitable with something so powerful.

Well, my good friends in the development team at Endis have heard our cries and want to share the love, so have fixed a few of these little irritating things for us.

Timeout trauma

You're using the Web Office, maybe typing an article and the creative juices are flowing, so you keep hammering at the keys to get your thoughts down. Then you go to Save those valuable words and find the system has timed out - Ack! It's always a nervous moment. You haven't lost your stuff (phew) - but you have to log back in again before you can save your precious work. It's a pain, and not designed to keep the blood pressure on an even keel either. 

The time out feature (after 20 mins) is important for a number of reasons - the most important being security - but the development guys have widened what Insight regards as "Ah, I see you're still using the system" to include actually working on an article or creating a complicated form, so the need to log in again should be reduced.

Coffee break double-login

You step away from your computer to make a drink, start talking to someone, or get stuck on the phone, and before you know it you've exceeded the time-out limit above; then, when you try to log back in to ChurchInsight, the system makes you sign back in again. Twice. That's so annoying. You might feel that Insight is sulking for being ignored for too long and making you suffer for it, but 'tis not so. Thankfully, the tech guys have fixed this.

Repeated clickery

Many of us using Insight have to do the same stuff repeatedly - put that email together, manage those resources, export that query, run that report - well, the guys have enabled the facility to bookmark any of the main top tab locations in the Web Office (Site Manager, Query, Mailing, Resources, Reports, Shop etc) to save us a time.

And here's a neat thing - even if you aren't logged in to Insight and click on one of these bookmarks in your browser, the system will take you to the login page where you can enter your details and then straight to the Tab you wanted. Simples!

And finally...

There are also loads of new tweaks, fixes and additional features for you if you use the Insight Shop and Payment Groups - that's you if you sell stuff, take donations or receive event bookings through the system - so it's well worth taking a moment to read through the latest stuff on the specific Release Notes page which detail these.

Humph... 

If you found the 1000 Irritations blog a bit too grumpy for your taste, then try it’s quirky, goody-two-shoes sister site, 1000 Awesome things. Now, high-brow it ain't - number 190 is "Making disgusting slurping noises while eating a really juicy peach" - so it has a certain grungy, studenty charm if you enjoy a grungy, studenty view of life, but please note, Endis can’t be held responsible for the content of external sites, so, if you're of a nervous disposition, look away now. (There, it’s obvious, but we told you...)