Salix Monitor 360 • Product update
Salix Monitor 360 update: big screens, sharper PDFs and apps that are getting real
Written by Graeme Moignard
Published:
Last updated:
Since the last blog update, Salix Monitor 360 has had a dense and useful round of work where some improvements are visible straight away and others are about preventing future problems before they reach customers.
The main themes this time: the Big Screen view is becoming a proper wallboard, PDF/report output is being pushed towards desk-reference quality, companion apps are moving from experiment to real distribution, and the product now has clearer thinking around hosted use, customer-facing polish and launch material.
The Big Screen page is turning into a proper status wall
The Big Screen work has carried on from “this could be useful on a TV” into something more deliberate. A large display is not just a bigger dashboard. It has different rules. It needs to be readable from a distance, it needs to show the urgent things first, and it must not hide data just because the layout feels tidy.
The latest push has been about getting the shape right: a single-line header where possible, critical and warning alerts at the front, at-a-glance health near the top, latest monitor checks and recent alerts close by, then the richer graphs and supporting panels underneath. The page should scroll when it needs to scroll. No secret trapdoors. No vanishing agents. No “pretty but incomplete” dashboard theatre.
TV mode direction
Urgent signals first, supporting detail below
The layout is being shaped around how a real screen is used in a room: alerts first, then monitor activity, then graphs, agents and wider operational detail. Compact, but not clipped.
PDFs and reports are getting the serious treatment
A big chunk of the recent work has been around reports and PDF exports. The target is not “click a button and get a vaguely printable page”. The target is proper desk-reference quality: complete content, clean spacing, readable tables, sensible headers and footers, useful evidence, and the right branding in the right context.
That last part matters. Super-admin/global reports should not accidentally wander out wearing a customer organisation’s logo. Organisation and user reports should honour the organisation branding rules. Child organisations should follow the main/root organisation branding unless self-branding is explicitly allowed and configured. That is the kind of detail that sounds small until a report lands in front of a customer.
There has also been careful recovery work after broad PDF changes proved too risky for normal pages. The safer approach is now clear: one route at a time, test the normal web page first, then improve the export. Less heroic sweeping, more surgical gardening.
Report quality bar
From web page dump to printable report
The PDF work is about making reports feel designed, useful and trustworthy: full data, scoped correctly, branded correctly and readable away from the browser.
System health checks got more practical
The system/admin side has had attention too. One useful example is the runtime health work around Apache temporary folders, logs and request handling. That came from a real class of problem: when runtime plumbing goes wrong, pages can slow down or fail in ways that look confusing until the right evidence is visible.
So the system view has been gaining more useful evidence panels rather than vague green lights. Runtime health, background processing, queue checks, scan evidence, agent evidence and request telemetry all belong in the same practical toolbox. It is not just “is the app up?” It is “can I see early signs of a problem before customers are affected?”
The companion apps are becoming real distribution work
The Salix Alert Desk apps have continued to move forward. On Windows, the v0.1.47 work cleaned up corrupted text, restored the agent images and kept refining the app around alert handling, notes, snoozing, recovery state and update checks. The important part is that this is no longer just “can a desktop app talk to the API?” It is becoming a distributable companion app with release notes, checksums, download links and support wording around unsigned installers.
Android has also been moving through its direct APK path, with public download work and checksums being added so testers can install the app without pretending the Play Store is ready before it is. On the Apple side, the work is more about getting the source and Mac build environment lined up properly so the iOS app can move towards TestFlight testing without folder chaos and ritual keyboard punishment.
Windows app preview
Salix Alert Desk is starting to look like a proper companion app
The Windows app now gives the monitoring work a dedicated desktop place to live. This view shows monitor health, agents, notifications and quick actions in one focused window, so the alert desk is not just buried inside a browser tab.
Click the screenshot to open a larger preview. The image has been converted to WebP so it is lighter for the blog page.
Companion app work
From API feature to installable tools
Windows, Android and iOS each need their own packaging, update and support path. The recent work has been less glamorous than a shiny screenshot, but much more useful: release notes, checksums, install guidance and predictable download links.
The download pages are being treated as part of the product
Public download pages matter. They are often the first moment where someone leaves a marketing page and starts doing something real. That means they need clear version numbers, clear installer choices, checksums, honest warnings and install help that does not collapse underneath the footer like a cardboard bridge in the rain.
Recent website work has therefore been around practical download UX: Windows installer and portable ZIP wording, Android APK wording, release notes, checksum files, warnings about unsigned Windows builds, and clearer “only download this from the official domain” guidance. There has also been ongoing public-site polish, including layout tweaks, call-to-action buttons, SVG/icon work and making headings feel more like part of the same visual system.
Version clarity
People should know which build they are downloading and what changed.
Checksum confidence
SHA256 files give users and testers a way to verify downloads.
Honest warnings
Unsigned Windows installers need plain guidance, not woolly hand-waving.
The hosted tiers are being kept simple
The public product shape is being kept easy to understand: start with a smaller account, then move up through the hosted tiers when an organisation needs more room for monitors, agents, users or linked organisations.
The useful point for readers is that Salix Monitor 360 is being designed with clear hosted tiers rather than a confusing maze of add-ons.
Hosted tiers
Clear hosted steps
The tier names remain simple: Free, Standard, Professional and Unlimited. The blog now explains the role of each tier without listing public price points or detailed commercial limits.
Free
For evaluation
A smaller hosted workspace for trying the product before deciding whether a larger tier is needed.
Standard
For small teams
A hosted tier for smaller organisations that need more checks, agents and users than the evaluation account.
Professional
For busier teams
For organisations with a wider monitoring footprint, more people involved and stronger reporting needs.
Unlimited
For heavier use
For larger hosted use where standard capacity guidance would get in the way.
Launch material is being tidied too
The Salix Monitor 360 sales brochure and public download pages are being tidied alongside the app. That public material needs to explain the product clearly without turning the blog into an internal planning document.
Brochure preview
There is also a work-in-progress PDF brochure
The brochure is useful as a quick overview, but it is still work in progress and may change as the launch material settles.
The thread running through all of it
The useful thing about this phase is that the work is less about adding random “features” and more about making the product feel dependable. Dashboards should show the right thing. Reports should stand up outside the browser. Downloads should be safe and understandable. Apps should have predictable release paths. Hosted tiers should be easy to understand. Admin tools should reveal evidence, not riddles.
That is the current rhythm: sharpen the product edges, remove the confusing gaps, and keep turning rough but working pieces into things that ordinary users can trust without needing technical support beside them to explain every edge case.