Symbaloo is starting the year of 2013 with a bang! Our Marketing and Development teams have been working hard to incorporate your feedback to create a new and improved Symbaloo. Our team set out to revamp Symbaloo to give you a faster, sleeker and easier experience. Thanks to your feedback, we will be introducing a fresh new look and tons of improvements on the new Symbaloo interface. This blog post will show you the changes that will take place within the new Symbaloo.
We are excited to hear your thoughts on the new features so fire up the comments!
Here is a preview of what the new interface will look like. This is not the final version so there will be slight changes made once we officially launch the new Symbaloo.
Symbaloo New Look
The new version of Symbaloo has a sleek new look. It’s a clean and simple interface that keeps your webmixes organized and you can easily navigate within Symbaloo. The tabs will still be available on top of your webmixes but there are other functions that has been added. In addition to that, there’s an option for you to expand the sidebar.
TABS
Besides the new look, we have changed the way you navigate between your tabs (webmixes). One of our favorite new and time-saving features is the sidebar, in which you can easily switch between tabs to quickly access all your webmixes. The tabs above your tiles are now the tabs that you have “opened” in the sidebar. When you click on a webmix, a new tab will open up just like your web browser opens up a new tab every time you go to a new site.
Sidebar
The sidebar is not just a place to organize all your webmixes but it will be an admin panel to control your Symbaloo settings. For example, you can add and edit your webmixes, and customize your tiles and background all through the sidebar. How cool is that?
Customize your background
Futhermore, you will find a search bar that will help you search for tiles and webmixes from the Gallery and from other Symbaloo users.
Search for a tile
Manually add a tile
New search bar
And more…!
Besides these three major changes that you can see from the interface, we have made Symbaloo to be faster, more stable, more fun, simple and efficient. We added more than 10 new beautiful pictures in our background collection and more icons to choose from. This will all add to your personal experience and make Symbaloo YOURS.
We are excited to hear what you think about the new Symbaloo. Leave a comment here or connect with us through our social media!
Looks terrific! We are loving Symbaloo esp. for our elementary folks.
Wondering if there will be the ability to have multiple editors for a webmix? We do so many things collaboratively and this would make a huge difference for us!
Thank you!
Hi Jenny,
Are you talking about teachers collaborating or the students? We suggest getting an admin panel that can be share with multiple teachers. For students, we suggest sharing tiles and webmixes. What are some ideas that you have for collaboration?
Team Symbaloo
I’ll be a tester!
Hi Jeff,
Thank you! We are still testing the new interface. Once we are ready to roll out a beta version, we will let you know.
Team Symbaloo
I enjoy your desktop. It helps me to organize all my sites. I like the improvements you are planning
Hi Robert,
Glad that you’re enjoying using Symbaloo. Thank you for your support
Team Symbaloo
Whats the difference?
Hi Will,
There are a lot of new improvements. The look will be different and there are new features that will help you navigate the page more quickly and easier. Also will be more fast and secure.
Team Symbaloo
I’m excited!! Looks even more user-friendly.
Bring on new Symbaloo!
Yes! We aim to make Symbaloo as user-friendly as possible! We’re excited for the change!
Team Symbaloo
The new features look good & I’m looking forward to them. I am a relatively new Symbaloo user and I access it from my laptop, phone, and tablet. I only have one complaint: I can’t d/l the Android app cause Google Play and Google Store do not recognize my tablet (I have a Coby 7125 running Android 2.3). Is there somewhere else I can d/l the app?
Thanks!
Hey Marc,
Welcome to Symbaloo! We have a Symbaloo web app that is available for your tablet. You can access it by going to http://www.symbaloo.com in your browser. Hope that helps!
Team Symbaloo
I just love symbaloo, and the new features are just what it needed, Thank you.
Thank you for your support Sana!
Team Symbaloo
Thanks for the updates. But, I have a question. I was able to get the new version on one computer but when I opened up Symbaloo on my other computer, it was still the old version. Is this normal? Thanks, Karen
you know what to say
tabs en menu’s YES YES YES… het wordt nu ècht een volwassen ding !! kan niet wachten.. kom op !! dag en nacht doorwerken hè !!
Hi Corne,
Glad you’re excited about the changes
.
Team Symbaloo
Excited about the new interface. I’m really looking forward to the new sidebar feature. ROCK on Symbaloo!
Thank you Paula! We’re glad that you are excited! The sidebar is an awesome feature that we can’t wait to have!
Team Symbaloo
Love it! The ability to only open specific tabs is something I’ve been hoping for. I can’t wait to try it out!
Thank you Meredith! We are excited to have that feature as well! All your tabs will be neatly organized.
Team Symbaloo
I would like to have the option to show or hide or change the location of the middle search box.
Hi Danny,
Thank you for the feed back! We will forward this to our development team for future developments.
Team Symbaloo
Yes. PLEASE! I really don’t need/want it in every single webmix. And I could use the space.
More options for the default graphics – a music note, a film reel, a polaroid-style photo outline so that when I create the shortcut, I can see at a glance what they are. Even more stars of different colors would be helpful.
Hi Dayne,
There will be more options for graphics. Stay tune.
Team Symbaloo
I’m not sure I care for all this complexity. It may be fine for the Mac, but one of the best features of the original interface was that you could set up a matching one on your iOS device. I’d sure hate to try to deal with all these bells and whistles on an iPhone. I. m. h. o. the fact that the original Symbaloo worked so well cross-platform was one of its strongest features.
Hi there,
Thank you for your feedback. Symbaloo will work the same way as before. It will sync through all your devices. Nothing will change with that. These features are developed from our users feedback to help enhance the navigation of the system.
Team Symbaloo
bonjouir
en effet une barre latérale sera la bien venue ainsi que de pouvoir personnalisé sont symbaloo
j’ai hâte de pouvoir profiter de tout ces changements !
ps: je n’ai jamais réussi à faire de symbaloo ma page d’accueil, je suis sous chrome et je ne réussi pas…
peut-être pourrez vous quelque chose pour moi dans la nouvelle version symbaloo ?
Hi Morgane,
We’re glad that you’re excited for the changes. Here’s the direction on how to set Symbaloo as your homepage on Chrome. Go to Settings. Second option is “On startup”. Check “Open a specific page or set of pages”. Click on “set pages” and put Symbaloo.com as your set page. That should set Symbaloo as your homepage. Email us at feedback@symbaloo.com if you have any other questions.
Team Symbaloo
Hi,
looks nice, will you fix and/or improve some other stuff as well, e.g.:
- The gmail tile is nice, but it _always_ shows 25 unread mails and clicking on a new mail does not have any effect (Opera, Chrome)
- Google tile search results are opened in a new window, there’s no option to open those in a new tab.
br,
Martin
Hi Martin,
Thank you for the feedback. The Gmail widget is made for you to receive notifications for new emails. Unfortunately you can not access your emails from this widget. The Google tile search results can be open in a new tab. You must set the settings for it to open another tab through your Google Chrome preference.
Team Symbaloo
Looks interesting but until I actually try to navigate it, I can’t comment. I am always looking for ways to find the best webmixes but your search option hasn’t delivered that yet. Folks can’t even find mine when they search by name.
Hi Gail,
Thank you for your feedback. We’re working on that and the new interface will be better. Stay tune.
Team Symbaloo
How about removing the nag screen upon start up….it’s already my home page…….
Hi Daniel,
If Symbaloo is already your homepage, then that screen should not start up everytime. Can you check your preference and where you set Symbaloo your homepage, check to see if the address is http://www.symbaloo.com and not a different one? Also clear your cookies, your page might be stuck on a bad cookies. For more questions, email us at feedback@symbaloo.com
Team Symbaloo
Any chance you can make the search bar in the middle optional. I use safari in mountain lion and I use the unified search bar so I don’t need it. It is quite annoying because the cursor used to default to the unified search bar before when I open a new tab or window but now it defaults to that search bar then I have to click onto the unified search bar. So it just makes it less useable.
Hi Nilesh,
Thank you for your feedback. We cannot change the search bar option but I will share your feedback with our team.
Team Symbaloo
Does this mean the google search widget will always be there as it is annoying. I think many people have complained about the widget in the middle. It should be optional, I’m not the only one requesting this to be removed or at least optional. It seems like you are not willing to listen to your users.
Hi Nilesh. We try our best to improve the site by listening to our users’ feedback, but what you are asking is in the frame work of the system. Also a majority of our users utilize that center box daily so it is not possible to remove it. If your concern is not having enough columns to add your tiles, you can take a look at this tutorial: http://www.screenr.com/3bDs. This will help you edit your webmix so that you can add more columns for more space.
Team Symbaloo
Looking forward to the changes. I’m a big fan of Symbaloo. Keep up the good work!
Hi Cheryl,
Thank you for your support!
Team Symbaloo
I find the iPad web version not as good as the safari version. The titles are too small in portrait mode and the display of the tiles is not high resolution. Any chance you could improve the iPad version of better have a specific app for it?
Hi Nilesh,
Thank you for your feedback. I will forward this to our development team.
Team Symbaloo
Bonjour,
J’apprécie beaucoup Symbaloo aussi bien sur mon ordi, tel ou tab, il correspond tout à fait à ce que je recherchais pour organiser mes favoris. Beau – convivial – facile à gérer – mais surtout d’un gagne de temps considérable…
Je suis ravie de vos nouvelles fonctionnalités mais j’aimerai savoir comment je peux les obtenir.. en effet par ex l’icone pour la sidebare n’apparaît pas.. sur mes Webmix je n’ai aucune des nouvelles fonctionnalités dont vous parlez..
Pouvez vous me dire la marche à suivre pour les obtenir
Merci d’avance et encore Bravo pour votre travail
Cordialement Contesse
Hi Contesse,
Glad you are enjoying using Symbaloo. We have not yet release the new Symbaloo. Stay tune and we will transition you over to the new Symbaloo once it released.
Team Symbaloo
Use this as my homepage so that I can quickly get to the important sites I need depending on why I am using the internet.
Love the changes.
Planning to show students my page for them.
Hi Kathy,
Glad you like the changes! You definitely should show your students. Many students from k-12 enjoy using Symbaloo
Team Symbaloo
Greetings. Will it be possible to sort-organize webmixes within each mix (alphabetically, by rating, etc.)? That would be useful.
Hi there,
Thank you for your feedback. We will definitely forward this to our development team.
Team Symbaloo
Hello
I’ve been using Symbaloo since 3 years and that I love this page, since I I have it I have not had problems remembering the pages. I would like know when you the new version it will be ready and whether something would cost.
Thank you very much
Alejandro Chamorro
Hi Alejandro,
The new version will be available in a couple of weeks. We will automatically start switching everyone over to the new version. This will be at no cost to you.
Team Symbaloo
Will you making Symbaloo available for Kindle Fire?
Hi Kathy,
If you are able to use Kindle Fire browser then you should be able to use the Symbaloo web app.
Team Symbaloo
If I leave all the tabs on top when I close symbaloo, will they all be there when I restart IE (symbaloo set as home page). Would not want to go to Sidebar to find tabs every time.
One question, I have Symbaloo as my homepage too, is there a way to change the google search to google.co.uk rather than google.com?
Hi Chris,
At the moment, we do not have the option to do that. We’re sorry about that! We will keep this in mind for future developments.
Team Symbaloo
Çà fait déjà une paire d’année que j’utilise Symbaloo. Félicitation pour le travail que vous faites!
Hi Thierry,
Thank you for your support!
Team Symbaloo
Nice
Love Symbaloo – I started using it as a teacher and found that it helped me stay organized and saved me valuable time. And it keeps me organized in personal life – use it on both my computer and as an app on my android phone!
Thank you for your support Bonnie!
Team Symbaloo
J’ai découvert symbaloo il y a quelques mois et depuis il est toujours ma page d’accueil. J’attends avec impatience la nouvelle version!
Hi Alain,
Thank you for your support!
Team Symbaloo
Hi,
All of my classes grades 3 through 8 have our class web mix set as their homepage. I rely on it every day as all our class assignments are posted there. Will there be any down time when this upgrade occurs? I would like to know ahead of time if the site will be unavailable so that I can make alternate arrangements for my classes to access their assignments. Our web mix has been a wonderful way to save navigation time in class and students access it at home and in school. I don’t know how I managed without it!
Hi Patti,
Great to hear that you are using Symbaloo every day with your students. There will be no down time so you don’t have to worry about that.
Team Symbaloo
when will this update be? it only said in 2013…
Hi there,
We will release the new version in a couple weeks. We will make an announcement. This blog is a sneak peak for our Symablooers
.
Team Symbaloo
When is the new Look coming out?
Hi John,
We will release it in a couple weeks but no set date yet. Will keep everyone posted!
Team Symbaloo
When will the new version be available?
It will be available in the upcoming month. We do not have a set date yet but we will keep you posted!
Team Symbaloo
Symbaloo is getting better and better. And prettier. ;]
Good work guys !
P.S.
Is there really a need to keep central panel ? To be honest – available options are useful, but not that much to “steal” the place of a few additional tiles.
+1
I absolutely agree with you.
The central panel is ( for me ) really useless and I would prefer to have 8 more blocs.
Also sometimes that central panel make symabaloo crashed. I mean that some free space (or free blocks) aren’t available around the central panel. When I try to put or move a blocked inside it becomes red and I can’t fill it, so it stays empty…….
Hey guys,
Thank you for your feedback. Is the central panel that you are talking about is the center box? This is how our system was originally built so it is part of the system and cannot be changed. However, you can have unlimited tiles in your webmixes by adding additional columns to your webmixes.
Team Symbaloo
I CAN’T WAIT TILL THIS COMES OUT!!!!!!!! X)
I love Symbaloo and this looks awesome. Also I like how you tell us about a new update, unlike Youtube ):<. Cool look too!!!
Thank you for your support Jared
Team Symbaloo
Hi
Is it going to be possible to make a tile fill as much as ex 4 tiles if you want to have a tile in focus.
Is it going to be possible to adapt the size of your own image to the size of the background when you make a wallpaper.
I love symbaloo, but one of the very few things I do not like about it is that I cannot see all of my 15 tabs at once. Will the new symballo be able to show more than 6 tabs at once?
Hi Oliver,
We haven’t launch the new interface yet since we are doing some last minute tweeting, so we have to get back to you on that. However, your list of webmixes will scroll down from the top to bottom so you will be able to display a lot more tabs at once. When you open a webmix, it will open up another table on top.
Team Symbaloo
Looks great. When do you anticipate it being released?
Hi Mark,
Thanks. We will be releasing this in a couple weeks.
Team Symbaloo
Did I miss a release date somewhere? When does this come out? Looks great!
Hi Brian,
We did not announce a release date yet as we are still tweeting some last minute stuff. We will release the new interface in a couple weeks.
Team Symbaloo
I don’t like the sidebar overlapping my tiles.
Especially when used with a browser on an ipad … extra input required to remove the sidebar.
Sidebar is only good when not blocking the tiles on the page.. either move the main page to the side or allow clicking on the tiles page when sidebar is active ..
Hi Marc,
The sidebar will only open if you decide to open it by clicking on the sidebar button. You will have the option to hide it.
Team Symbaloo
Hace ya tiempo que uso Symbaloo, y estoy esperando esos cambios interesantes para mejorar esta gran web que tuve la suerte de descubrir. Sólo agradecer el esfuerzo y desearos lo mejor. Un abrazo desde España.
)
MANY THANKS FROM SPAIN and BEST WISHES
I do PD for my district and the teachers are loving using symbaloo to direct students to websites and they are embedding on their websites. We also love the ability to create these for projects to help students know where to search and what resources are available. Thanks, and look forward to the new updates in Symbaloo.
Hi Lisa,
Great to hear! We have a Symbaloo Certification program for PD. Have you heard of it? Here’s the link to it if you haven’t: http://www.symbalooedu.com/certification/ It would be great to have you listed as our Symbaloo Certified Educator along with the teachers from your school that use Symbaloo. Thank you for your support!
Team Symbaloo
Super !
J’ai hâte que la nouvelle version soit disponible.
J’adore Symbaloo
Thank you for your Support Sylvie!
Team Symbaloo
I just spent my February vacation creating on Symbaloo. What an amazing tool. I have shared with several teachers today and they are excited to try it.
I really like the side bar navigation. Time saver!
When do you project the roll out of this new format?
I can’t wait!
Hi Susan,
We appreciate your enthusiasm and expect to roll out the new interface soon. Possibly in the next few weeks if everything goes well with testing. Please stay tuned and if you are subscribed to our newsletter or follow any of our social profiles you will be updated as soon as it goes live.
Best regards,
Kimmie
Team Symbaloo
Symbaloo is one of our favorite teaching tools. Several of our teachers embed their resources on their Moodle pages for student projects. Our library lessons incorporate symbaloos for creative commons links and fake websites and digital citizenship. Love it!
Hi Cinde! Thank you for your support! We appreciate it!
Team Symbaloo
How do I get back to the ‘old’ Symbaloo menu.
The ‘old’ look is more simple and better readable.
Hi Antoon,
You can switch back to old version on the top left corner. You will be able to switch back and forth so you can slowly get used to the new interface but we will do a permanent migration soon. We designed the new interface to be even more simple and easy to navigate. Every Tuesday we will be posting up a new tutorial for the new interface and hopefully that will you become more familiar with the new version. Please email us at feedback@symbaloo.com if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mimi
how can I move tabs left-right in the new looking Symbaloo?
Hi there,
You can remove it by going to “option” then click on “change webmix size” and click on the double arrows on the right hand corner to remove and add columns.
Sincerely,
Mimi
my question was not how to remove, but how to move tabs on the tab bar to the left or to the right. thanks for your reply, anyway
by tabs I mean the names of the webmixes
OK, I’ve found it. Thank you