Brian Cooke emailed me about my comment in my announcement about WebnoteHappy Lite 1.0b15, about the new feature to add a webnote manually:

Hopefully this tides over the Firefox, Camino, and OmniWeb users until I get them better integration.

He thought that was incorrect, since he tried out the Add webnote bookmarklet in OmniWeb and it worked. Well, except that it made Safari open.

He tried the same thing in Camino and it also worked, again making Safari open.

I just tried Firefox and the bookmarklet also works, though I had Safari running already.

The reason why it is doing this is because WebnoteHappy is currently asking Safari for its current selection (to use as the initial notes) when you create a webnote by using the bookmarklet. I’m going to change this soon so that the current selection is retrieved via the bookmarklet itself. I’ll also be beefing up the keyboard shortcuts so that they work with those three browsers.

But until then, Camino, Firefox, and OmniWeb users can use the Add webnote bookmarklet as long as you don’t mind Safari sitting in the background. To do so, open up WebnoteHappy Lite and go to “File > Install Safari bookmarklet” and ignore the Safari part of it. :)

Thanks for the tip, Brian!

Technorati Tags: mac, software, beta, webnotehappy

I use MarsEdit often to post to my blog so I’m really glad that we now have a public beta release of 1.1. It’s been right about a year since MarsEdit 1.0 was released. If you’ve got a blog and a Mac (and like to try out the newest betas), go check out the MarsEdit 1.1b5 public beta. It’s got some interesting new features like Technorati Tags. I’m actually using it to write this post.

Keep up the good work, Brent and Gus!

Technorati Tags:marsedit, mac, blogging, software, beta

I just uploaded the latest version of WebnoteHappy Lite, version 1.0 beta 15. It’s only been 11 days since the last release, but I wanted to get some bug fixes out to everyone. Plus, that last beta release is expiring this Sunday the 11th.

Thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback, bug reports, and feature requests. It’s great to see that people are using WebnoteHappy Lite and liking it!

Here is what is new in this release:

1. Added a way to add a new webnote manually, called “New Webnote”. This replaces the toolbar button and menu item previously called “New Webnote from Safari”. Thanks to Arnaud for suggesting this. Hopefully this tides over the Firefox, Camino, and OmniWeb users until I get them better integration.

Note that if you enter an existing URL, the previous title will be filled in if you haven’t filled one in yet. Also the previous notes will be prepended to whatever you already have in the notes field.

If you can’t tell, I’m undecided whether to call that field the notes field or comments field.

2. Fixed a crashing bug encountered sometimes when setting global hotkey preferences. Thanks to Gunnar for reporting this.

3. Fixed a bug where rename wouldn’t start in certain circumstances. Thanks Slava!

3. Clicking on a column header to sort now doesn’t select all webnotes. Instead, it remembers your selection and keeps it in view after sorting. Thanks to Jeffrey S for telling me about this.

4. Improved Safari import.

The Safari Import was importing duplicate bookmarks. However, WebnoteHappy is intended to have webnotes that are unique by URL, so that you store all your notes about a URL in one place. So the new import does two things:

1. Combines duplicate webnotes into one by appending existing comments. So don’t be alarmed if you see fewer webnotes.

2. If any text is duplicate while combining, doesn’t append it. This helps with bookmarks that are in multiple folders that are the same. So you won’t have a note that looks like “Toolbar Favorites Toolbar Favorites” for any new imports.

This beta release will expire on December 21st. Download this latest release of WebnoteHappy Lite and tell me what you think.

I’ve been busy working on WebnoteHappy Pro as well as fixing bugs in the Lite version. But I thought I’d come up for some air to share a nice little photo I saw on TUAW. It’s of a cake in the shape of a Mac mini! I wonder if tasted as great as it looks.

I’m looking at what it will take for WebnoteHappy to support browsers other than Safari. The top request is for Firefox. So I’ve been looking at Firefox, Camino, and OmniWeb.

OmniWeb is probably the most feature-filled browser for the Mac but I haven’t really tried it out much. I do know some people who really like it.

Firefox is probably the least Mac-friendly browser. It has a woeful AppleScript dictionary that seems to date back to the first release of Netscape for the Mac. And it uses its own private password database instead of using the Keychain. But if you also use Firefox on Linux or Windows, then it is familiar.

Camino is a nice happy middle. It is like “Firefox for the Mac”. It has a good AppleScript dictionary, it uses the Keychain, it uses native OS X widgets, and so on. So here’s my question:

Why don’t Mac users use Camino instead of Firefox? Is it just marketing? Or does Firefox have some advantage over Camino? I guess I’m making a plea here for Mac users who use Firefox to try out Camino and see if it fits them better.

(BTW, I use Safari most of the time and then drop down into Camino or Firefox when there is a site that doesn’t support Safari, which is relatively rare.)

If you want to see some classic Mac icons (like our beloved Moof the dogcow) blown up larger than life and planted on Apple’s Cupertino campus back in the 90s, check out Jory’s Apple Icon Garden. If you take the entire tour, you’ll be rewarded with a Quicktime VR tour at the very end which is even nicer.

[via TUAW]

Or more generally, Dave Taylor, Mac / UNIX / Web Guru, asks How quickly should companies respond to customer email?.

I’ve gotten quite a bit of email in the past several days and I’m currently trying to answer within 24 hours. This will probably get longer over time. However, I just got an email right before I was about to write this blog entry, so I stopped and replied. So I sent a reply to that person in under an hour. That would be ideal, but please don’t expect that.

Happy Apps is a one man operation, so that definitely puts limits on how fast I get to respond. Maybe I should try to shorten my replies, but I like to be thorough. Also there are blog entries all around the world that I try to respond to. Those are just as important as emails to me.

All that being said, I love getting emails from people who have downloaded and used WebnoteHappy Lite. So keep them coming!

I remember the first email I got after I released the public beta, it was really so wonderful that I felt like I was floating. And I’ve been on a Developer’s High since. I think I might even frame that email, kind of like when a restaurant frames the cash it got from the first customer. But first, I have to get to work on some features…

I’m curious to see what people think of the integration options between Safari and WebnoteHappy. So you have three choices, although one is relatively tedious: New webnote from Safari from within WebnoteHappy. Its good, but you have to be in WebnoteHappy. Probably you are in Safari when you see something interesting.

So you have two options: use the global hotkey (Command-Shift-D by default) or use the bookmarklet.

The global hotkey is nice in that a window pops up where you can type your comments, press Enter and you’re done. You’re back to where you were in Safari and your webnote is saved away for later retrieval in WebnoteHappy. Note that WebnoteHappy has to be running for the hotkey to be active.

The bookmarklet is also nice, but in a different way. You have to install it, although there is a starter webnote that explains it as well as a menu item: “File > Install Safari Bookmarklet”.

It sits in your Bookmarks Bar and when you press it, it brings you over to WebnoteHappy to edit the webnote. This will happen even if WebnoteHappy is not running. You can even use the Safari hotkey to trigger the bookmarklet, depending on where it is. For example, if it is the first bookmark in the Bookmarks Bar, you can use Command-1 to trigger it. The only issue is you have to get back to Safari manually. Command-Tab to switch back is one way, though Command-H (to hide) will work too, as will mousing back to Safari.

So which one do you like better: the global hot key or the bookmarklet?

I just ran Software Update and installed the latest Security Update 2005-009. I normally install Security Updates pretty soon after they come out, but this one is especially important since it has 4 patches for Safari.

The last patch actually applies to any app using WebKit, of which there are too many to name. WebnoteHappy Lite doesn’t use WebKit, though my original builds used to.

Anyways, go run Software Update and you’ll feel (and be) safer.

Today was a great day. I finally released a Mac app to the public, although in beta. I have to admit, it was a bit nerve-wracking this weekend leading up to the release. But I am so glad that I finally pulled the trigger.

A lot of people visited the site and downloaded WebnoteHappy Lite. I got some link love from Brent Simmons at Ranchero/NewsGator and Gus Mueller of Flying Meat. Thanks guys! WebnoteHappy even made it to http://del.icio.us/popular/.

I got quite a few emails. Keep them coming! I love feedback. I thrive on it. Its like I’m already cruising along by myself, but when I hear from someone who likes WebnoteHappy, its like turning on the afterburners.