Softwares, Online Tools & Web Services

I’ve just published the latest update for Browser and it is a long list of changes and improvements:

fixed Context Menu bugs

improved Preferences

added default window frame

improved performance

improved auto-fill

fixed printing

fixed URL handler bug

Browser can now be used as default Browser

added ‘Private Mode’ for the tender-hearted

Parental Control

improved suggestions

improved progress indicator

fixed feed view bug

fixed webview delegate bugs

improved password auto-fill

fixed some GUI glitches

fixed a lot of other glitches

Apple finally approved the latest update for Write. And btw. – thanks for constantly keeping Write in the Top 10 (on the US store).

This latest update is a big one. Write now has the same features of its bigger sibling. Or at least the guideline and Sandbox compatible ones.

It is about the user experience – isn’t it Apple? That’s why you’re the biggest (and best) company on earth. So what the heck where you thinking as you implemented sandboxing the way you did?

Currently sandboxed Apps can’t do (and these are just random examples):

· be used with Dock icon hidden (by user) · display custom icon (changed by user) · communicate with other Apps · mount volumes · create mail attachments · open files/attachments without open/save dialog · and even those save panels do not work properly! · proper work with Dropbox (the way we are used to) · send Apple events (really, Apple?) · fake key commands

And I could extend this list for days.

Many of those cute little Apps and tools that simplify our life will be thrown out of the App Store in the future. Yes. They all have been already approved and are currently sold by Apple. And yes, with Gatekeeper there is a ‘possibility’ to offer them outside of the App Store.

But – c’mon! No one purchases Apps outside the App Store anymore.

Concurrency. And concurrency. And once again: concurrency. The holy grail to writing good Apps. And the hardest part. At least to debug. The simplest way to performe a task not on the main thread is: [self performSelectorInBackground:@selector(myConcurrentAction) withObject:nil]; - (void) myConcurrentAction { NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [NSAutoreleasePool new]; // do whatever needs to be done // but only all things NOT GUI // ensure that nothing else tries to access used objects meanwhile

As requested and requested and yes, requested – Browser now comes with an Omnibar. And because that way much more tasks have to be performed at the same time without slowing down the interface – I had to rewrite lots of code.

Thus this beta version first, to ensure that everything is also working for you and as always – feedback is highly appreciated.

I’ve also worked (of course) on the performance and Browser now already supports the upcoming Mountain Lion as well …

Rest assured – I was as confused as most of you.

What happened to the size inspector? How to I edit ScrollViews, and TextViews? But there is a simple trick, to get the old and much more useful behavior back.

Xcode 4.3 and above automatically creates projects with the new Cocoa Autolayout API enabled now. The moment you disable it in the XIB settings – everything will be fine again.