The new iPod sync extension is so simple that besides the options GUI (which most people will never need to touch), this is the only UI a user will ever see.
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
The new iPod sync extension is so simple that besides the options GUI (which most people will never need to touch), this is the only UI a user will ever see.
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
Yummy. Properly detecting iPod, syncing address book, and everything. Very cool.
First release will likely be Windows only, but Mac support is easy once I get things stable. I just don’t feel like debugging on two platforms at once (reformat iPod each time).
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
I’ve gotten several emails about this now, so it’s time for an update. I’ve been busy with many other projects, and have been slow on this for a little while. It’s almost at 0.1 (our first release). Asa’s working on some icon love, and I’ve been testing a few things. I’m hoping to have a release out soon (few more weeks). Some general notes in no particular order or relevance (make what you will of it):
Summary
0.1 will be a rather rough release, just to get an idea of what we can do, and how it can be done. It’s far from a release quality product, and only recommended for those willing to give detailed feedback for fixing bugs.
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
I’ve got a bunch of things in the works:
So things may be a little quiet as I wrap some stuff up, and keep up with school work. All are looking pretty good at this point. So I’m rather excited. So much work being done, and so little to actually show right now. But hopefully at some point in the future things will start seeing the light of day.
So keep your eyes on this general space for a new amazing design, big announcements (some bigger than others), and a secret something to be unveiled (the secret may be under wraps for quite some time) to be unveiled on a day of the week that ends in ‘y’. And yes, that’s the only hint I’m giving.
Don’t you love it when I post stuff like this?
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
There’s been a ton of speculation regarding “gbrowser”, google’s alleged browser, Netscape’s Firefox based browser, now even thoughts Yahoo might be interested. Though I wonder if that really is beneficial to anyone involved?
I’m going to make the bold statement that custom browsers are bad, making extensions are good.
There are several reasons why custom browsers are bad:
The Correct Approach
I personally believe the correct approach in this arena is extensions. A great example is the brand new Yahoo Toolbar, or SpeakEasy. Why are these the right way?
What do they lose?
Really nothing. You can do pretty much everything via extensions. You can create a skin, add features, overlay menus, add toolbars etc. etc. There’s quite a few possibilities.
Conclusion
Releasing your own browser, unless you really make radical changes (Camino, Galeon, K-Melon) is somewhat of an ineffective use of resources. You can accomplish the same thing, while providing better service to customers by trying to use an extension framework. Extensions by nature have less development requirements, easier to update, allow the user to have the latest browser, and give the user choice.
I personally think Yahoo and Speakeasy have done an excellent job. They accomplished their goal and really addressed the point I’m trying to make in this post. I just hope some other companies will seriously consider what they are doing, before they try and get their users to install hacked up copies of Firefox.
Extensions and Themes are the best way to customize a browser. If at all possible, try to keep within those frameworks. You’ll thank yourself later when you realize that you need little/no changes to work perfectly with Firefox 1.5 or later.
Take a list of common acronyms like this, and create an extension similar to the acronym
tag so that a user can put their mouse over an acronym and get the actual meaning of it.
Should work for html, and plain text emails.
Would be quite useful.
I’ve promised mozPod for some time, well it’s getting close to a 0.1 release, just a few more things I want to do. Some cool things in the past few days:
It’s not done yet, but were starting to look usable, and that’s a good thing π
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
I mentioned a little while ago that I was working on mozPod, to bring iPod sync to Mozilla products. I stopped for a while because I don’t have USB 2 on my laptop, and that makes hooking an iPod up really really bad. In fact, it’s pretty much been sitting in a box since November (yea, that’s bad). Well I ordered a USB 2 Card for my laptop the other day. It shipped, so I should get it in a few days. But it will be another few days until I get a protective case for my iPod, so I won’t be taking it with me, so I’ll only be doing a tiny bit of hacking.
Oh yea, the reporter tool has been consuming a ton of the time I devote to open source work. So as that starts to slow down a bit, mozPod gets a little more time.
Now if anyone wants to write some synchronization code, feel free to do so. π
Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.
Speakeasy is now offering a customized version of Firefox. One can assume it’s branded, and contains some bookmarks, and links of Speakeasy nature. Of particular interest was this quote:
Mozilla Firefox: Speakeasy Edition has been customized to work best with a Speakeasy broadband connection, taking just a few seconds to download. The simple installation process quickly imports all current browser favorites, passwords and other settings. In addition to pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, increased privacy and security, embedded Google search and smoother file downloading to the computer desktop, the Speakeasy Edition of Firefox offers specialized options including select bookmarks and a custom look and feel.
In 2005, Speakeasy will add more features to its edition of the browser to enhance Speakeasy services for their customers including Voice-Over IP, business utility and network performance.
Well, they aren’t done yet, but I thought I’d share some new reporter screenshots. As you can see quite a few refinements. Still a little rough, but I think it illustrates how simple the process is. There’s some obvious UI uglies still in there. It can take well under 30 seconds to submit a report.
We automate the collection of just about all the important data, so we can make sure we get a pretty accurate rundown of what is included.
Still missing is collecting some buildconfig info. So if anyone knows why the following code doesn’t work, let me know: