WebKarnage on Blogger
This is Karn's personal view on what is affecting WebKarnage in the world of web and here in the studio. Don't expect subtlety any time soon...
Safari 4 Beta, other Betas and support for them.
Hi all!
Been a long while, but we need to put a few thoughts to you about Beta browsers and developers/users responses to them. This was all brought into a new focus when, just a couple of weeks ago, Apple released the Public Beta of Safari 4.
Wow, what a browser, but what an even more amazing response to it! Let us try and put some perspective onto this, which we think shows how unique the response to this Safari Beta has been.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta has been with us for a while, and has some users, but not really a noticeable amount from the view of the world of development and support, and with Microsoft's track record of changing things dramatically after the release of a Beta, who could possibly afford to put work in to support it, only to have to redo that work in the near future? All developers were turning out the standard response of "We don't support browsers while in Beta". And why wouldn't they. Standard practice we all say, then....
Apple release the Public Beta of Safari 4! The Mac world in particular goes rampant on it, getting Safari 4 reaching over 1 percent of active browsing in a matter of days! In todays market, that is an unheard of response to a Beta, and this isn't just a 'normal' beta from the Mac perspective either. Safari 4 Beta replaces some core parts of the system, namely the WebKit system used by not just Safari, but apps like RapidWeaver (web authoring), DEVONnote (information gathering + browsing), LittleSnapper (screen and web shots with library and browser) and more besides. Other browser plugins were affected too, like 1Password (auto form filling & password generator, a constant companion to many Mac users).
What would be the response? Would we see the expected "We don't support browsers while in Beta"? Not so in this case. A matter of hours, and a little article was produced be Agile Web Solutions on how to get 1Password to accept being used by Safari 4 (a simple plist edit), and in less than 48hrs an update could be downloaded with a permanent fix. These solutions were made public through the use of Twitter very quickly. RealmacSoftware, not far behind, were quickly at work on fixes for RapidWeaver. RapidWeaver uses the WebKit system extensively for previewing sites during building. This meant some internal code changes. The first available fix was again a matter of just a few days. LittleSnapper seemed to work straight out of the box. This is just a quick look at 2 particularly 'on the ball' developers, and more responded too.
What a different response to a normal Beta release! We have to say we find Safari 4 Beta to be at least as stable as Safari 3.2.1, and perhaps this also was part of the reason for such a good reception and a phenomenal take up. It also seems to reduce the system resources required while increasing speed of rendering. For those of us doing web development, there are also awesome tools to help troubleshoot websites including some Javascript debugging. All without any extra plugins required. We even noticed there are significant improvements in the Windows version, running well even on some old machines we tried it on.
Does this set a different standard for Beta release, or is it just a one off? Time will tell. we haven't seen a response quite like it.
WebKarnage
Been a long while, but we need to put a few thoughts to you about Beta browsers and developers/users responses to them. This was all brought into a new focus when, just a couple of weeks ago, Apple released the Public Beta of Safari 4.
Wow, what a browser, but what an even more amazing response to it! Let us try and put some perspective onto this, which we think shows how unique the response to this Safari Beta has been.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta has been with us for a while, and has some users, but not really a noticeable amount from the view of the world of development and support, and with Microsoft's track record of changing things dramatically after the release of a Beta, who could possibly afford to put work in to support it, only to have to redo that work in the near future? All developers were turning out the standard response of "We don't support browsers while in Beta". And why wouldn't they. Standard practice we all say, then....
Apple release the Public Beta of Safari 4! The Mac world in particular goes rampant on it, getting Safari 4 reaching over 1 percent of active browsing in a matter of days! In todays market, that is an unheard of response to a Beta, and this isn't just a 'normal' beta from the Mac perspective either. Safari 4 Beta replaces some core parts of the system, namely the WebKit system used by not just Safari, but apps like RapidWeaver (web authoring), DEVONnote (information gathering + browsing), LittleSnapper (screen and web shots with library and browser) and more besides. Other browser plugins were affected too, like 1Password (auto form filling & password generator, a constant companion to many Mac users).
What would be the response? Would we see the expected "We don't support browsers while in Beta"? Not so in this case. A matter of hours, and a little article was produced be Agile Web Solutions on how to get 1Password to accept being used by Safari 4 (a simple plist edit), and in less than 48hrs an update could be downloaded with a permanent fix. These solutions were made public through the use of Twitter very quickly. RealmacSoftware, not far behind, were quickly at work on fixes for RapidWeaver. RapidWeaver uses the WebKit system extensively for previewing sites during building. This meant some internal code changes. The first available fix was again a matter of just a few days. LittleSnapper seemed to work straight out of the box. This is just a quick look at 2 particularly 'on the ball' developers, and more responded too.
What a different response to a normal Beta release! We have to say we find Safari 4 Beta to be at least as stable as Safari 3.2.1, and perhaps this also was part of the reason for such a good reception and a phenomenal take up. It also seems to reduce the system resources required while increasing speed of rendering. For those of us doing web development, there are also awesome tools to help troubleshoot websites including some Javascript debugging. All without any extra plugins required. We even noticed there are significant improvements in the Windows version, running well even on some old machines we tried it on.
Does this set a different standard for Beta release, or is it just a one off? Time will tell. we haven't seen a response quite like it.
WebKarnage
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More Forums...
Fri, Jul 11 2008 12:11
| RapidWeaver, news, Robbie White, Plasma Pro
| Permalink
Hi all,
Times are mad and busy! We have been trying to help out a great RapidWeaver Theme developer Robbie White on his new Forum HERE. His themes have some of the most unique ideas going around, but as life appears to have dealt Robbie a few curved balls recently, a bit of help was well deserved, and several of us from the RapidWeaver Forum have been popping in to check if there are any questions to answer! Not may yet, but it's all good. You can see Plasma Pro in action on WebKarnage.co.uk, as I try out some of the killer features!
We have a few ideas to work with, and there will be a new tutorial inside the next 10 days or so, and more inside the next month. The first tutorial will focus on simple HTML and CSS for use in RapidWeaver's Styled Text page type. Gradually learning a few bits of this can hugely change what you can do, and help you realize what options are open to you.
Short but sweet this one, and I'll post back when a new Tutorial appears!
Love to all you weavers out there!
WebKarnage.
Times are mad and busy! We have been trying to help out a great RapidWeaver Theme developer Robbie White on his new Forum HERE. His themes have some of the most unique ideas going around, but as life appears to have dealt Robbie a few curved balls recently, a bit of help was well deserved, and several of us from the RapidWeaver Forum have been popping in to check if there are any questions to answer! Not may yet, but it's all good. You can see Plasma Pro in action on WebKarnage.co.uk, as I try out some of the killer features!
We have a few ideas to work with, and there will be a new tutorial inside the next 10 days or so, and more inside the next month. The first tutorial will focus on simple HTML and CSS for use in RapidWeaver's Styled Text page type. Gradually learning a few bits of this can hugely change what you can do, and help you realize what options are open to you.
Short but sweet this one, and I'll post back when a new Tutorial appears!
Love to all you weavers out there!
WebKarnage.
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New RapidWeaver forums and site..
Tue, Jun 3 2008 02:32
| RapidWeaver, Forum, new website
| Permalink
Wow, what a shock to the system! There I was, down in Cornwall visiting my mother with my family, and everything RapidWeaver went mad! The new site was up, 3 different Beta versions had come and gone, everyone was busy posting on the new forum, Apple had release 10.5.3 and all in 48hrs or so. Crazy stuff alright!
Unfortunately, my mum isn't an internet person despite the facts she has been using Macs for 6+ years, and is very good at designing leaflets etc. for my sisters business. So, I am left on dial-up, with all this to consider. My main Beta testing had been happening on my iMac, and I had my MacBook with me, and I wasn't prepared to risk anything when it comes to my clients websites, until my own are on the new system and running well.
For those of you not familiar with RapidWeaver, take a look at the new site HERE. I am very pleased with the new site and forum, although to keep the huge number of spam posts down, some functionality has had to be limited. Well worth it in the balance for me, as my 6 year old son like to see what I am up to often.
I have been developing a different look for my site at WebKarnage.co.uk since early May using RapidWeaver 4 Beta, and it will go to my more used .net address soon. I couldn't let you guys know about it much earlier, with Beta Club rules and everything. I love the new UI, and it saves time every use for me, making it worth money on it's own. Lots of subtle and very useful things have been included in the main program structure (new xml site file format, cruftless links, publishing to web.mac.com addresses, themes view, improved Add Link functions, and many more), but some seem to be very disappointed with the lack of changes in the included plugins (page types). This will all come with time, and I am glad that they give us this improved program now, rather than do all the page type updates as well and release this much later.
A big thanks from us to all at Realmac for their hard work, and let's sort out the Brighton RUG meeting soon!
WebKarnage.
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Kicking off the Madness...
Sun, May 18 2008 02:12
| weaving, RapidWeaver, music, websites, Derek Acorah
| Permalink
Alright, I give in, I'll try to write a blog a few times a week. Everyone else seems to be doing it, I just need to make sure it isn't full of rubbish!
My passions after the love for my family (hand round the bags..) are music and web weaving. I work on something to do with either one at least every day! Those of you familiar with the Realmac Forum will know of my mad postings on the subjects around RapidWeaver, my chosen weaving software. The rest of my work is music related, usually in the audio studio world, occasionally theatre and live work. Session playing, engineering, and even producing complete backing tracks! Great enjoyable work.
Some of you will know I can sometimes be seen at the shows of Derek Acorah in theatres around the UK, behind the sound desk. I have also engineered festivals, and other outdoor and indoor events.
But this blog will mainly be centered on my more recently added passion, weaving. I have been doing this for a few years, but have got far more serious recently. The technology we have available to us is astounding, I just feel it makes it easier than ever to loose touch with what makes an enjoyable, useable site. If we can't see what's going on inside 3 or 4 seconds, and we have done a search, we will return to the search to try somewhere else! People getting creative is fine, but too creative with the navigation in terms of where to find it and how to use it, and no-one will hang around long enough to learn it.
I recently got sent to site where clicking on 'About Us' took me to a page without a single word on it. I thought the site didn't like my favourite browser (Safari) so I tried FireFox. Nope. Just the same. Then I realised the subtle 'blobs' down the outside were links to different things about the company!!!! None of them gave me a clue as to where the webmaster had left their common sense though. Unbelievable.
I will go more into my feelings on this in the next few posts, and I would love some comments from all you guys on how you feel this does or doesn't work for you!
All the best,
WebKarnage.
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