August 2010
5 posts
Back
Starting the first day of my new work schedule.
There have been two big changes around here. Grey Burkart is now helping me out with all non coding aspects of Hog Bay Software, so I have more time to code. And Jeanne, my mother in law, just moved to a new house within walking distance. She will be helping to watch the kids Wednesday through Friday along with my parents who watch on Tuesdays. The...
Hog Bay Software, now using the plural 'we.'
Hello world.
An introduction would probably be in order before you start seeing my replies on the support forums and elsewhere for Hog Bay Software.
I’m Grey Burkart, the new guy working with Jesse. We’ve known each other for (my) entire life, and Jesse extended the (awesome!) chance to work with him and Hog Bay Software following my recent move back to the area from all the way...
PlainText iTunes copy text
Here’s a draft of the PlainText description that I’ll post to the iTunes app store. Thoughts and improvements welcome, though I’d like to keep it as short and straight forward as possible.
PlainText - Simple text editing
For editing text on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. PlainText is a simple text editor with an uncomplicated, paper-like user interface. Unlike the default...
PlainText beta 5
New icon.
Hide iAd when in landscape on iPhone.
Fixed toolbar sizing on rotate on iphone.
Graphics updated for iPhone 4 retina display.
Added short welcome document for new installs
Better select title behavior for new folders and files.
Natural sort ordering for files that contain numbers.
Fixed crash on startup that was effecting some users.
Dissallow entering ‘;’ in...
July 2010
7 posts
PlainText beta 3 is ready.
This release is more polished, and I hope should be useable for real world work. Sync has been improved so that it’s faster gives you a better indication of what is happening durring the sync process.
There are thre known issues:
On iPad if you create a new folder the current files title begins editing instead of the new folders. To finish creating the folder tap in it’s title...
PlainText update
Typing fast, Kai’s been asleep for about 20 minutes and 40 seems to be the limit.
Well it’s not done yet. My old estimations were always off by a factor of three. But that was with a full five day work week. Now I’m watching kids for about half the week, and it seems that my time estimations are even worse then normal.
I Posted the beta a while back. Generally it was well...
Not work related
…but maybe gives an insite into the mental state of Hog Bay’s programmer. Here is an excerpt of an email that Laurel (my wife) just sent:
They went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant in our absence, and Jesse related the following story to me…
Jaeda had apple juice, and when she ran out, wanted some more. Jesse said, “OK, when the waitress comes back, I’ll...
On vacation
I’ll be away for the next week and a bit.
This vacation we are staying close to home (rented cabin on pond about an hour away) so I might check in from time to time, but basically I’ll be out. I’d been pushing to get PlainText sent to app store before this, but the TaskPaper for iOS crash on launch issues put an end to that idea. I did just get a beta out though, so at least a...
PlainText & TaskPaper betas
I’ve just send out a beta for PlainText and for TaskPaper.
The TaskPaper beta is borning, but important. I’m hopeful that it will fix that crash on startup bug that many people are experiencing. If you’ve experienced that bug, please try the beta and see if this version fixes it.
The PlainText beta is more fun. If you can (if you are an iPhone developer I think you can self...
WriteRoom for iPhone status
WriteRoom for iPhone was my first real app in the app store. The first release was mostly a learning project. Subsequent releases added unique and useful features such as full screen mode and syncing.
But over the last year I’ve neglected it, and new bugs keep popping up as the iPhone OS gets updated. The end result is a mediocre app with a number of 1 star reviews. A good summary might be:
...
June 2010
4 posts
PlainText update
My goal was to submit PlainText by last Friday… missed it. Remember anytime you here a date from me that it’s probably wrong. I’ve once again proved that statement correct :)
Two things slowed me up.
First sync service login issues for TaskPaper and WriteRoom for iPhone were hard to trackdown and fix. Eventually I just redid all of that code in a different way that I hope...
PlainText - Synced text files for iOS (Preview)
A new app for reading and writing text files on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. PlainText is a fast, clean, synchronized text editor. Unlike Notes, PlainText works with Dropbox to instantly sync your changes to your Mac, Windows, or Linux desktop.
Clean paper-like user interface.
Organize your files with Folders.
Dropbox sync with offline and merging support.
Watch the screencast and...
New TaskPaper for iOS submitted
Added option to disable live search in document view.
Fixed scrolling problems in longer documents.
Fixed new entry type is determined by current selection.
Fixed login alert and rename alert so that they work on iOS 4
Fixed locking no longer resets current document search
Fixed typing “:” into notes no longer turns them into projects.
Fixed changing keyboard type no longer...
TaskPaper for iPhone and Bubbles for iPhone...
A new version of TaskPaper for iPhone is now availible:
Added undo help and reinserted some lost help pages.
Fixed bug in TextExpander multiline expansion behavior.
Fixed crash in tag value searches such as @priority = 1
A new version of Bubbles for iPhone is also now availible:
Shake to pop all Bubbles at once.
Bubbles fall slower and with varriable speed.
May 2010
4 posts
TaskPaper for iPad is now availible
TaskPaper for iPad is now availible in the iTunes app store.
With this release TaskPaper becomes a universal application that runs natively on both your iPhone and iPad. This is a free update for existing TaskPaper for iPhone users.
I hope you like it, and tell your friends to get it quick. I think I’ll be raising the price soon.
WriteRoom for iPad
Now that TaskPaper for iPad is out I’ll be changing focus to WriteRoom for iPad. This release will be simular to the TaskPaper for iPad release. It will be a free update that turns WriteRoom into a universal app that runs natively on both iPhone and iPad. It will be a free update.
TaskPaper for iPad on the way
I’m now ready to release TaskPaper for iPad. Changes include:
Added native iPad support.
Added undo history of document edits.
Added default tags list to preferences.
Tag searches are now case insensitive.
Archive @done adds items to top of list.
Fixed TextExpander multi-line expansions.
Of course in the app store being ready to release isn’t enough. There’s a bit of a...
TaskPaper for Mac and iPhone compared
Nice in depth comparison and review from ATPM.
April 2010
3 posts
The other Hog Bay
Hog Bay Pottery (my dad) just opened a store on Etsy. Please check it out.
iPad/iPhone versions of TaskPaper and WriteRoom
I’ve been working on TaskPaper for iPad for a few days now… I know I started a week or two ago, but have only squeezed a few work days out of that time, Kids! My original plan was to make the app universal, one app that works on both iPhone and iPad.
But I’m adjusting my plan. The new plan is to release a universal quick port (basically just like the iPhone version, but at full...
Open source and for sale iPhone/iPad app...
If you are an Xcoding parent you can now hack away on the source code for Letters, my ABC entertainment for toddlers app for iPhone and iPad.
Letters has never sold well, and I’ve always had a fantasy of open sourcing all my apps, and continuing to sell them. So this is a first experiment. Here’s the source code.
March 2010
15 posts
Support Expectations
For the past (about 10 now!) years my goal has been to answer each and every Hog Bay Software related forum post and email. I haven’t always been successful at this, but that was the goal, and I felt bad when I didn’t reach it.
For the past few months I’ve had about 100 unread email in my Inbox. Each day I spend time answering some of the most important, but the next day they...
TaskPaper for iPhone 1.1 now availible →
Hog Bay Software pizza post
This post is inspired by Gus Mueller’s pizza post. I’ve liked making pizza for a long time, and last summer I got a bit more serious after hearing about cooking pizza on your oven’s cleaning cycle. In the end I never tried the cleaning cycle technique, instead I channeled my new excitement into getting what I really wanted… a wood fired oven. But most of my recipe/process comes...
TaskPaper for Mac 2.2.2
This is a minor release that fixes one more integration issue with SimpleText for Mac. Now when you create a new document in the SimpleText folder, you will no longer be warned “This document has been modified” on your second save.
Geeky, but really nice TaskPaper printing solution →
SimpleText.ws sharing documents #2
Last week I posted a geeky way for sharing documents on SimpleText.ws. Since then I’ve had a few requests from people who want to hack the open source SimpleText.ws server code to make this process easier. So here are some thoughts on how to do it:
First, as shown in the last post, the server code already supports document sharing. I don’t think any major modifications need to be...
WriteRoom 2.5 Preview release #2
Here’s a new WriteRoom 2.5 preview release. This release should both remember, and scroll to, the last cursor position when switching between fullscreen and non fullscreen modes. It should also add the encoding extended attribute when saving plain text files. This should help other apps read the right encoding. I recommend that you start always using UTF8 as your default plain text file...
TaskPaper for Mac 2.2.1
Fixed New projects are not indented if current selection is also a project when “New Project” command is performed.
Fixed Better recognizing and merging of external changes made to open document files. Fixes “This document has been modified error”.
Fixed After saving document edit status is now set immediately after you start new typing, instead of waiting until you...
TaskPaper for Mac 2.2.1 Preview
I’ve just posted a preview release of 2.2.1. The big issue that I’m trying to resolve is the warning message that some people often see when saving documents in the SimpleText for Mac local folder.
If TaskPaper’s been telling you “This document’s file has been changed by another application since you opened or saved it” when you try to save, please download...
SimpleText.ws sharing documents
Document sharing between two or more accounts is built into the SimpleText.ws website, but I haven’t yet built a user inteface for it. At the moment I have other priorities, and so I’m not likely to build the UI soon.
But if you really want this feature now you can do it from the command line, though I would only recommend trying this if you are comfortable on the command line and a...
TaskPaper for Mac 2.2
Changed File format changed to use indentation only to determine item parent child structure. You can run this applescript on old documents to update them to the new format.
Added Shift Up and Shift Down commands, for reordering the current line.
Added Select block command, selects current entry and all descendants.
Added Open link command, opens the current link that the text cursor is...
Appstorm reviews and documents TaskPaper for... →
WriteRoom 2.5 Preview release
It’s long past time for WriteRoom 2.5 to be released. I’ve just been doing some cleanup, and am now ready to post this preview release. Please try it out, and let me know about any show stopping bugs that you run into. If no huge problems show up then I’ll make it the official release.
SimpleText for Mac 1.0.1
When you add a file to the local SimpleText folder files ending with “.taskpaper” will now get the document tag “TaskPaper”, all other files will get tagged “WriteRoom”. These tags are not visible in the Finder, but can be used to filter out different documents sets on TaskPaper for iPhone. Eventually document filtering will also be in WriteRoom for iPhone.
February 2010
16 posts
SimpleText for Mac 1.0
I’ve switched SimpleText for Mac from a “development” release to a 1.0 release. This release is the same, except it ignores “(Autosaved)” files by default.
TaskPaper for Mac 2.2 Preview
TaskPaper 2.2 for Mac has been a “development version” for a long time now. It’s all that I’ve used for a long time, and I think that goes for many TaskPaper Mac users. At the same time it’s been in various forms of development for so long that I kinda forget what’s still being worked on and needs to be finished before it’s released.
So, it’s time...
SimpleText sync diagram →
Website update #2
I’ve just updated the site again and would like to hear what people think. Two changes from the last version.
First I’ve removed the “Home” landing page, and instead turned “Products” into the landing page. Home always seemed a little redundant since it didn’t have content, just big icons.
Updated TaskPaper and WriteRoom product pages to contain all...
Website update
I’ve just pushed a big update to the website.
I’m not sure that the new version sells as well, but it’s more consistent with my apps, that was my big goal. I’m trying hard to cut out all the extra marketting and feature talk, and instead just focus on what my apps do, and why I created them.
Other changes include:
Merged Mac OS and iPhone pages for TaskPaper and...
TaskPaper iPhone file format changes
Some existing TaskPaper Mac users are running into what look like bugs when opening their TaskPaper Mac documents on TaskPaper iPhone. The problems aren’t really bugs, instead they are due to a change in the TaskPaper file format.
Originally TaskPaper for Mac allowed lists like this:
project 1:
- task 1
- task 2
- task 3
In the above list all the tasks were considered part of “project...
I'm back from camping and now answering email
Just got back from Camping, now trying to dig myself out from under a large pile of TaskPaper for iPhone related email. It’s going to be a few days before I get to everything. In the meantime I’m going to try to answer some of the more common questions with posts here on my blog.
But before that I’d really like to thank everyone who’s been helping and answering questions...
MINIMAL MAC TaskPaper iPhone first look →
TaskPaper iPhone is out!
The timing is a bit tricky for me, but TaskPaper iPhone made it through the approval process and is now ready for sale in the app store.
I just found out at 9:30pm. Tommorrow I’m up at 4:00am, and will be off camping until late Tuesday. One of the few times of the year that I’m away from the computer for more then a few hours… and it’s launch day!
Well, I hope it goes...
Scrambling...
Trynig to get TaskPaper for iPhone product page ready. I was planning to go live Feb 17th, but apparently if I don’t give live just as the app is approved then TaskPaper misses its place in all the iTunes “sort by release date” lists.
The app is “in review” today. Could be on sale in an hour, could get rejected and take weeks or months. I love iPhone programming, I...
SimpleText for Mac client back ported to OS X 10.5 →