How Frame.io v4 even plans to improve its core commenting tools

One of the things that Frame.io has always been known for is its commenting tools and, with the forthcoming and greatly overhauled v4 currently in beta, it's been good to see that even these have been tweaked for its new era.

It’s not just the commenting tools, of course, that have had a makeover, it’s also the player that they’re a fundamental part of. These have been the core part of what frame.io means to many people to date, and it’s good to see that they have been given as comprehensive an overhaul as everything else in the new software.

With a new panel system in place users can keep a pocket-sized version of the player pulled up while they browse through assets in the grid. For a more focused viewing experience, they can then enter the redesigned full screen player for access to the full suite of commenting, playback, and zoom controls.

Usefully, regardless of whether someone is working with video, audio, images, or PDFs, these tools are always pinned in the exact same spot in the bottom of the player, which is the sort of ergonomic benefit that can make life a lot easier for anyone working with multiple medias. Which is pretty much everyone nowadays.

The Version 4 player also features standardized HLS playback, providing a smoother viewing experience for video regardless of bandwidth. Frame-accurate seeking has also been added, helping find the exact moment users are looking for by hovering over the timeline and seeing a preview of each frame as they move along.

The commenting experience has been completely reimagined. In Version 4, users can share feedback down to the pixel with the new anchored comments; just tap anywhere on the video to leave a comment directly on the asset itself.

This is useful all round. Anchored comments are really easy to find for new users, which is helpful for reviewers who might be unfamiliar with the concept of time-stamped comments. They work on images and PDFs as well.

Comment attachments have also been added to help move the conversation forward with some additional context. Comment hashtags are always indexed, which means the next time hashtags are used, the previous ones will pop up as a suggestion. When a comment is submitted focus immediately shifts back to the player, so users can keep using the keyboard to control playback.

The player is immediately paused whenever users start typing again so that they can finish the comment without missing any detail. 

Comment filtering has also been added which helps users find the exact conversation they need to see and respond to. Comments can be filtered by annotations, attachments, reactions, and more, to quickly narrow down a long list of comments. And in Version 4, there’s a specific link to every comment so that reviewers can be directed to a specific conversation.

Finally, for those times when people just run out of words, emoji support has also been added. 👍❤️💪🤘