MacItBetter Blog

BetterZip 1.7.1 Released

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:05:23 -0400

Yesterday was not a day that I will remember especially proudly. I have released version 1.7 without testing it as thoroughly as I should have, although I changed major parts of the application. And so two bugs slipped in that caused some crashes and frowns. It speaks highly of the Mac community that no one started calling me names, but rather you all remained calm and friendly. I apologize for any inconvenience, and thanks for your patience.

To spare us all another such unfortunate release, I am going to start a more rigid beta testing regime and will not release a new version without prior beta testing. If you are interested in participating in the beta test group, please contact me by e-mail.

BetterZip 1.7 Released

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:56:45 -0400

I have just released the new version. It includes a Spanish localization by Hugo Bueno Sánchez and CodingMammoth's crash reporter by Jelle De Laender which will help me fix bugs and spares you the task of locating and mailing crash reports manually. Thank you both!

The new version also includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements and again a little speed-up. Find a complete list of changes in the version history.

BetterZip 1.6.2 Released

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:00:09 -0400

The new version 1.6.2 fixes a few bugs that were just discovered after the last update two weeks ago. Additionally I have added a small convenience shortcut for accessing the toolbar search field: Command+Option+F. This is the same shortcut every Apple program and a lot of other 3rd party applications use. I didn't know and use this shortcut myself until recently, when a user on MacApper asked for it to be added. Small requests may get added quickly.

Find the complete release notes here.

BetterZip 1.6.1 Released

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:49:03 -0400

Small update to version 1.6. The most critical bug was the handling of international characters in archive file names. This issue has been fixed.

Another important change is the elimination of the message box that popped up when you dropped an archive into an empty BetterZip window, the "Matryoshka warning." I thought that Matryoshkas are globally know, but it led to some users being confused, so I decided to remove the question and do what the user most likely intended to do: open the archive. If you drop an archive into a window that already contains files, it will be added. And if you really want to add an archive into an empty window, just hold down the command key while dropping the archive.

See the other fixes and changes in the version history.

BetterZip 1.6 Released

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:30:17 -0400

I have just released BetterZip 1.6. The new version fixes some bugs, prevents BetterZip from hanging at two possible points, enhances Leopard compatibility, introduces a major speed-up when opening larger archives, and it gives you the option to directly extract an archive by double-clicking it in the Finder. Find all the details in the version history.

Speaking of direct extraction: I changed the keyboard shortcut from Command to Control+Command. For keyboard users the Command key was not a viable solution, since the key combination for opening a file from the Finder is Command+Down Arrow. Of course, BetterZip always detected the pressed Command key, and always started a direct extraction. Ugh. Pressing only Control on the other hand is not an option for mouse users, since holding Control and clicking will activate the contextual menu. Finally, holding down the Option key while clicking will close the active Finder window, and holding Shift will (possibly) change the selection before opening the archives.
A tricky situation, but Control+Command should work for everyone, and the new combination will quickly find its way into your muscle memory. Or you can use the new option on the General tab in the preferences window.

Black Is the New Black

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:19:58 -0500

flickr.com is a great way to kill a day without actually wasting it. flickr is also a great way to share photos with friends and family. And there are many talented photographers who post their art to flickr for all the world to enjoy. Unfortunately, there is a lot of noise and distraction on a flickr page.

blackr is a bookmarklet I created which you can put in your browser's bookmarks bar. When you are on a flickr photo page or one of the "All sizes" pages, you can click the bookmarklet and it will hide everything on the page behind a soothing black canvas except for the photo.

Optionally you get a white border around the photo. artissoft told me that exactly 52.3% of all photographers prefer 12 pixel wide white borders around their pictures and I can understand why. Although I prefer the border version, there are a few pictures that look better without the border. And then there are photos that look better on a white background. Mostly with a black border, but again, there are exceptions. So, while blackr is active, you can toggle the four versions with your keyboard. Yeah, hotkeys!

I found blackr to run best with Safari and Camino. Firefox works perfectly well too and IE6+ works nearly perfectly. Guess which one was hardest to tame.

To see how it all works or to modify blackr (ipernity anyone?), get the complete zipped source here. Installing blackr locally is also very easy, but you will need a little Javascript knowledge. I have created a forum for blackr.

After installing blackr why not look over your Favorites again on black or on white.

xScope 2.0 by ARTIS Software and The Iconfactory

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:52:11 -0500

My friend Wolfgang Ante from ARTIS Software and the legendary pixel magicians from the The Iconfactory have just released a major update of xScope, their «Swiss army knife for web and graphic designers».

The new version 2.0 has an extensive list of new features, but one stands out that will leave you speechless: Dimensions. This tool alone will save you minutes every time you use it. You click somewhere on the screen and it shoots laser beams (not real ones of course, no safety goggles needed) in all four directions and finds the nearest edges and measures the distances. Oh my, if only English was my mother tongue. Fortunately, they recorded a movie that explains everything. It's really ingenious. If you are a designer or developer, I urge you to give it a test run.

MacSanta 2007

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:23:00 -0500

Fellow indie developer Paul Kafasis at Rogue Amoeba and his team have set up a great holiday deal for you: MacSanta. Every day through December 24th you get a 20% discount on the applications from five Mac developers. Today, December 22nd, is my day. So, quick, run to the store and grab as many BetterZip licenses as you can.

The secret password you need to whisper into Santa's ear is MACSANTA07.¹ And don't miss the other great applications on the MacSanta page. Happy holidays everyone!

¹ Translation to adult-ish: Please, enter the discount code MACSANTA07 into the field on the checkout page.

Update: I'll leave the discount code valid through December 24th.

BetterZip Quick Look Generator 1.1

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:37:32 -0500

So, I have been busy the last week, implementing everything you wished for since the last release. Well, nearly everything. I have added the most excellent prototype.js framework and the spectacular script.aculo.us effects library and a little Javascript and CSS magic of my own to recreate the outline view (the tree thingy) we are used from the Finder in HTML. Neat. It's of course much slower than the tree in BetterZip or in the Finder when opening/closing folders in large archives, but it's there if you need it.

I have added a configuration panel which lets you set various aspects of the file list. I had the intention to save the settings in a cookie, but unfortunately cookies do not work in Quick Look generators. So, the settings will be reset every time. To soothe your suffering I have added a configuration file in the bundle where you can easily set your preferred options. Read all about it in the Read me, please file or on the brand new product page.

You can quickly download it here.

As always, I am looking forward to reading your feedback.

BetterZip Quick Look Generator

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:29:50 -0500

These two buttons on the right (->) refer to my flagship product BetterZip. (Just in case you wonder.) The BetterZip Quick Look Generator on the other hand is free and can be downloaded here.

Don't you wish Leopard's Quick Look would let you inspect the contents of compressed archives? Well, I do, so I took a little code from BetterZip, a template from Apple's Xcode, added a little code here and there, and after simmering this soup for three days the BetterZip Quick Look Generator is ready for a public tasting. Hot!

The currently supported archive formats are: ZIP, TAR, GZip, BZip2, ARJ, LZH, ISO, CHM, CAB, CPIO, RAR, 7-Zip, DEB, RPM, StuffIt's SIT, DiskDoubler, BinHex, and MacBinary.

Download it here, unpack, and after carefully studying the License Agreement for the next two weeks, copy the BetterZipQL.qlgenerator bundle to your /Library/QuickLook folder (if you want to install it for all users on your Mac) or to the ~/Library/QuickLook folder, this is the Library/QuickLook folder inside your user folder. You may need to create the QuickLook folder inside ~/Library first.

The Quick Look framework will need a little time before it realizes that a new generator has been added. If you are impatient and not afraid of using the terminal, you can execute this command to make the Quick Look framework reset immediately: qlmanage -r

Last and best of it all: It's free!

Version 1.5.6 out now

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:48:53 -0500

This version should finally solve all the problems with setting BetterZip as default handler for the various archive file types. For some users (it didn't affect everyone) this was really annoying. If you still experience problems with that, please let me know.

The second bug I fixed is the re-saving of SIT archives in some other format which didn't work in the latest version.

Version 1.5.5 enhances Leopard compatibility

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:31:11 -0500

Of course, there were a few things not working smoothly on the new Mac OS X 10.5 a.k.a. Leopard. Most annoying was that Apple changed the identifications for many archive types like zip, and BetterZip did not know about this change and could not be used as default handler for these archive types. At least not without fiddling. The type system was not really predictable in Tiger, and unfortunately, the situation hasn't improved with the new operating system.

For best results start BetterZip, open the preferences, go to the tab File Types, click the Handle None button and then either click the Handle All button or select which file types BetterZip should handle using the check boxes in the list. This does not necessarily change the icons of all zip files to the BetterZip icon. Restarting the Finder might help, but not in all cases. If you have set an archive to open with another archiver, this archive will still not open in BetterZip and have the other archiver's icon. Or not. Unpredictable. Maybe Mac OS X 10.6 will solve the problem.

If you still have problems with associating BetterZip with some archive types, let me know. And if you know of any solutions or tricks for this, please, please, pretty pleeeeease, share your wisdom with us. Thanks!

Like with every release, find all changes in the version history.

Leopard

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:38:37 -0400

So, as (nearly) every other Mac developer on earth, I installed the final version of Leopard yesterday, upgrading my Tiger installation. Of course, I did a complete backup on my external hard disk with SuperDuper, and like John Gruber I suggest you do the same. Of course, use the tool of your choice to back up your data, but do it. Fortunately, everything went really smooth and an hour or so later, I booted the great new Mac OS X.

1. The dock on the (left) side looks really great. Thank you Apple for doing this last minute change. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

2. The menu is, in my humble opinion, broken. How can anyone think it is a good idea to display text on a transparent background over some other text (or whatever the window below the menu displays)?

3. All this transparency. Oh my. I hope someone will write a tool to disable it really soon. Like today. I'll buy it. Today. I promise one thing: BetterZip will not be transparent. Ever. I really don't think that information is best presented with more information behind and shining through. There is a reason why in the good old days when slideshows where done with projectors and real slides (sheets of transparent plastic) the teacher/presenter removed one slide from the projector before putting the next on. Everyone loves Steve Jobs' clean presentation style and laughs about the overloaded slideshows of Bill Gates, but when it comes to our desktops this style (Zen or 'less is more' - pick your favorite) is forgotten or ignored. It annoys me in the menus, the stacks, the Dock's tooltips, and give me a few more days, I bet I will find more places. Or is it just me? Getting old. Mumbling about good old times. Maybe Steve will actually put each slide of his next keynote speech on top of the previous.

4. The icon of a folder in the dock (I have only my Applications folder there) is not the folder's icon, but some dynamically generated icon with the first document's icon on top. Unfortunately, I have an application with a rather ugly icon (no, I am not going to tell you which one) as the alphabetically first file in the folder. I have now renamed this app, so that it is no longer the first, but that's not what we should do, is it? So, now I have two Addressbook icons in my dock, because Addressbook is now the first icon in my Applications folder. D'oh!

5. The new Finder and Safari look gorgeous. Finally. Thanks again, Apple.

6. Spotlight is so fast now that I have removed QuickSilver which I only used as application launcher. Let's see, if it stays that way. One app less running all the time, consuming my memory. Well, not really my memory, but my Mac's memory.

7. The iCal icon in the dock shows the current day. Hurra! It's little details like this that make me happy.

You can read about all the great new things like time machine, the new functions in Mail, iCal, iChat on the Apple website or on the NY Times website or many other blogs in the Mac community, e.g. The Unoffical Apple Weblog.

As a last note: BetterZip's help is broken in Leopard. It says, it wants to connect to the internet: The CSS stylesheet references missing images, sorry. For now, please use the online documentation, a new version is on the way. If you find any other issues, please let me know. Thanks! I am off, exploring 300+ new features.

BetterZip 1.5.4 is Leopard ready

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:52:12 -0400

I have just released BetterZip 1.5.4 which will run nicely on Leopard, the new Mac OS X 10.5 which Apple will release this Friday.

There are two changes:

RAR now stores symbolic links as such, which is now consistent with all other archive formats.
Extracting when the preview drawer is open is much faster now.

And I have fixed a couple of bugs that have been reported:

SIT: The wrong file size was displayed for files that only consisted of a resource fork.
Direct extract (holding down the Command key while opening an archive from Finder) crashed for larger archives.
An error occured when extracting folders with custom icons from tarballs.
When previewing files in a password protected archive you were asked for the password for every file.
Fixed the progress indicator for SIT extraction: It was much faster than the actual extraction.
Folder properties like color labels and icon positions were not saved correctly.

Now, where do you get two updates a day? Version 1.5.3 is here.

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:21:44 -0400

Version 1.5.2 was out in the wild for a mere six hours. Then a concerned user found out that 7-zip handling was completely broken. Sad little version 1.5.2. Fortunately, the bug was really small and the fix needed only a single line of code. And because I have automated my build system completely the new version 1.5.3 was out within half an hour.

The function in version 1.5.2 that identified 002, 003, ... files as parts of a multi-volume archive misidentified 7z files breaking handling of 7-zip files. I am really sorry for the inconvenience of upgrading BetterZip twice in one day!

If BetterZip does something stupid, please let me know. I can only fix problems of which I know. Sometimes it takes a little longer than 30 minutes, e.g., 30 days. Anyway, thanks, concerned user!