We've Been Listening Hard to Colleagues All Over the Country and Now We're Proud to Unveil

New Magnet

We've been listening hard to colleagues all over the country and now we're proud to unveil a version of Magnet, incorporating as many of the suggested improvements as we can. It's a fantastic advance on what was possible before!

What's new?

Proximity magnetism
If you drag a tile close to the right edge of another tile, the two will lock onto each other. To move them around as a block, simply drag the left-most tile in the chain (the lead tile). To disconnect them, drag any tile other than the lead tile.
Flip
A tile can have as many faces as you like. A flippable tile looks like a stack of tiles and has a little fringe of shadow. To flip so that you can read the other faces, simply double click on the tile. Alternatively, you can also select a tile and then click Flip from the menu bar, or select a tile and press the TAB key on the keyboard. To create a flippable tile, separate the alternatives with the | character (shift + \ on the keyboard) – for example red|crimson|scarlet|magenta would produce a tile that can be flipped to show alternatives to the word 'red'.
Copy
You can generate a copy of any tile. Simply click on your chosen tile to select it, then click Copy from the menu bar.
More working space
The frame around the working area has been trimmed back – all the brand names have been removed, and we've even made the menu bar something you can hide if you still need more space!
Hide-able menu bar
The menu bar has two states. You can have it showing permanently, or have it hidden so that it will pop up miraculously if you hover over the foot of the screen. Switch the menu bar on permanently if you are using a SMART Board.
Change case
Simply click on the lower case or upper case 'T' on the tool bar.
More colours
There are now ten bright colours. Select a tile and click on the colour you want from the tool bar panel, or simply select a tile and press the Ctrl key on your keyboard.
Change size
You can select a tile and make it grow or shrink by clicking on the plus or minus signs on the toolbar.
New lines on a tile
You can have multiple lines of text on a single tile. To break a line within a tile, either include the ¬ symbol in your input text, or press Enter in your input text, enclosing the relevant words in the usual angle brackets < and >. This will enable you to have whole verses of a poem on a tile.

Stack and tile
Clicking on the Stack button piles all your tiles in one place top left of the working area. Clicking on the Tile button arranges all your tiles, spread neatly from top left of the working area.
Scatter tiles
This is an option in the input screen – it has the effect of splattering the text all over the working area. You can also ask for random colours.
Save and load
This powerful feature allows you to save a version of your work for another time. It will only keep one snapshot. If you save again, you will automatically delete previous saves. However, this feature would be ideal if you are working with a class and want to resume after a break, or the next day.
Note -There are two buttons marked SAVE on the toolbar. The leftmost one saves a newly input word onto a magnet tile on the screen. The rightmost one (which appears together with the ‘LOAD’ button) is the one which enables you to save a version of your work.

Together these features provide you with a powerful text-mapping tool and an environment where a wide range of word-based activities can be created.

The screen-grab below shows the various options on the set-up page.

Click on the various buttons to select what you want and when all's ready, click on Create Tiles.

This is the new menu-bar.

This is what tiles look like when they have magnetically clicked together.

This is what a flippable tile looks like:

This is what the scatter effect looks like: