Having not posted for the paste weeks, I thought I’ll give you all a bit of news on how I am going about iMap 2.6 and iMap 3.0. As most of you know, I am working on both of these versions at the same time. iMap 3.0 will be Leopard only. iMap 2.6 will be the last Tiger build and so I am trying to get all things as perfect as possible.
I’ve made a little video to show you what I’ve changed in iMap 2.6.
By the way … don’t think I am actually talking to myself while going through folders.
I am wanting to release the 2.6 version of iMap by tomorrow. If you are still interested in helping out with the help book, then check this post out.
Lastly, if you are interested in localizing iMap into languages than the ones listed below, go ahead and drop me a mail. Those who are interested in helping out in both help books and/or localizing will get the iMap 3.0 for free. If you have purchased iMap before, you can get the upgrade for free. Yes, iMap 3.0 will be a paid upgrade.
In the previous version (2.5) of iMap I had put together a brief help book. The help book covered quick solutions to some of the errors that iMap might throw at you. It turned out that the help book was a very good idea. I had basically gotten no mails regarding iMap errors in the past week. Makes me feel a bit alone – but I guess this is how it works when you have a help book.
So over the last week, I have enhanced this help book to be way better. Now it not only includes solutions to errors – but whole articles and a documentation as well. The amounts that I have written are just vast compared to the previous one.
Some say lot’s of documentation is a sign of a not-working or hard-to-understand application. Though, I don’t think iMap is hard-to-use at all; on the contrary it has just two buttons and several textfields.
I don’t know how this new help book will help or just confuse, so I need some help myself. I am looking for some beta-testers who simply look at the book and read through it. Besides receiving spelling and grammatical errors, I hope to get some tips on the actual content and structure as well.
If you are interested, then let me know by sending me a mail from the contact page.
The new help book will go into iMap version 2.6. Here are basic other improvements for the 2.6 version that we are implementing:
Buttons and textfields get enabled/disabled during runtime. For example, if a person wants to create a sitemap, the fields will only become editable if he checkmarks the option below. Same goes for hitting the “Create” button. That “Create” button will only be enabled if the user has chosen his site successfully already.
MobileMe and .Mac switch will be more apparent. Fields and labels will change from “.Mac” to “MobileMe.”
Improved label descriptions
Slightly less cluttered main window interface
If you have any other ideas that can give last minute improvements to iMap, then let me know.
By my plans, iMap 2.6 is the last release of any 2.X iMap. This will also mark the end of Tiger compatible iMaps.
iMap 3.0 will be Leopard only. The 3.0 version will see a major change in the interface and licensing. The interface will be tabbed like Coda (or Safaris preference panes) and much more organized and easier to use. The licensing will also change. Currently, iMap is being sold as a download with no sorts of license numbers or registration framework. I originally favored that method – but by now, we have started to convert the new iMap to be license based as it is much more secure and easier to handle.
One last major change, is the name of iMap 3.0. iMap gets confused with IMAP servers way to often; bad for us. Thus, we are thinking of a new name. If you have any ideas for new names, let us know about that as well. Thanks!
Believe it or not, iMap 2.6 and 3.0 will kick ass!
As I have been working for the Developer Tools from Apple for quite a while now, I have really gotten into finding out about all sorts of nice things that others have created for the developer community. One of them is the Sparkle Framework. This framework allows you to automatically update your application via appcasts and deliver them right to your customers; just like Apple’s Software Update application.
So integrating and using this framework is just a charm. I really suggest that you use it! Although the framework works totally fine it really lacks a good documentation for those who are new to this whole developing community (or are coding in a different language other than Cocoa). So I thought I’d make a tutorial that should make life easier. I fiddled ages with the original documentation until I got it to work – which wasn’t that exciting.
BTW – The Foolworkshop (by K. Lawson) has also done a tutorial which includes larger images. Take a look at that as well.
