Archive for the ‘Software News’ Category

Update on ThunderBrowse 3.3

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

ThunderBrowse 3.3 is going to be the compatibility version that I mentioned in my last post. 3.3 doesn’t have anything too substantial (actually, that’s a lie but a lot of the things I wanted to add ended up getting scrapped because Thunderbird kept working against me).

But one of the biggest things that has changed is….

That’s right! If you couldn’t tell from that fairly obvious screenshot to the right, ThunderBrowse now has support for Spicebird. You’ll see this in version 3.3! Get ready!

In addition, here all the other things that I can remember that has changed (basically what I worked on today):

  • TB2 Tabs with Thunderbird 3 versions now work again. The issue stems to a problem with Mozilla removing the close button widget from the tabs element. This has been fixed.
  • Several code stalls have been repaired
  • Support for RESET form buttons
  • Improvements in form handling (specifically radio buttons and checkboxes)
  • Small style changes
  • A few fixes in external browser launching (this should fix any problems you had before [as it worked in my tests])
  • Fixed favicon issues with TB3Tabs
  • Several main window style issues
  • Settings window height has been increased so the buttons will still be visible when selecting different tab styles
  • Improvement of charset rendering (your mileage may vary here)
  • Argentinean Spanish Support (es-AR) by KNTRO
  • Spicebird support (it’s missing a few small things [specifically, the toolbar buttons and the bookmark menu placement is off])
  • Various loading Iimprovements (Pages load faster now)
  • More form event fixes (Specifically the enter key)
  • Javascript code loads correctly
  • ThunderBrowse uses less memory
  • Seriously, way faster page loading
  • Better expression checking
  • Removed unnecessary object conversions

There may or may not be more changes other than these, my repository history doesn’t go back far enough to check to see if there is anything else.

Thunderbird 3.1 Issues

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Yes, I am aware that there are issues with ThunderBrowse on Thunderbird version 3.1. I’m going to try to get them fixed tomorrow (or Sunday) and hopefully have a build/patch out by Monday if all goes well.

Just to let you all know. I would have it done tonight, but today has been a very long day. In addition, I’ll be looking into adding support for other clients. This may or may not make it into the patch. This patch will cover compatibility issues with Thunderbird 3.1.

Thanks for listening.

A long needed update

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

NOTE: Version 3.2.9 has been canceled. All code from this version has merged into Version 3.3.

Sorry that I haven’t updated this blog for awhile. Yes, I’m still alive (barely) and I’ve been really busy with school work, job applications, financial aid paperwork and so forth.

Because I’ve been so busy, my emails have been stockpiling up. A few of you are complaining about how ThunderBrowse doesn’t work in the newest Thunderbird (yet I’m currently using the newest Thunderbird and I am not having any problems [please screenshot it to me if you found a bug]).

I do know about the left click new tab issue. Fixing it is pretty complex and when I have the chance, I’ll try to sit down and fix it.

Now hold on, Imma gonna let this blog finish but let me make a couple of notes here:

  1. If you’ve been noticing problems in translations, please notify the translators at babelzilla.org forums (specifically this thread). I do not do translations myself.
  2. If you have been noticing problems in my grammar/spelling, thank you. I am a native English speaker and I tend to be very watchful of my spelling and/or grammar. Normally when I’m writing software documentation/string translations, it tends to be very late and I start making lots of mistakes.
  3. If you have donated in the last two months, I’m very sorry about not sending out thank you responses. As I’ve said, I’ve been very busy with work and have been unable to thank you for your kind donations.
  4. The new version of ThunderBrowse has been delayed for awhile. I apologize for this and I’ll try to get it out when I can.
  5. For those asking about NoScript support, do realize I am not the author of the NoScript extension. If you want NoScript support for Thunderbird, contact the developer and not me.
  6. Do not file bug reports asking for support. Mantis is not for support requests, it is for bug reports. I offer support at the email specified on the contact page.

That about wraps it up in terms of what’s going on. Hopefully this helps out those who are curious.

The status of TBZoom, TB Properties, and TBExtInt

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Your face when you saw this post.Heads up.

TBZoom will be fading out soon. With it, I will also be removing TB Properties. And before you grab onto your nearest email client to write to me, hear me out first.

Though don’t freak out when you hear me say “removed” in this post*, I mean it will no longer appear on the download page on ThunderBrowse.com. You can still download it here, but I offer no support for it.

TBZoom

TBZoom did a great job. It was supposed to allow the zoom manager from TB2 work for ThunderBrowse tabs, and it did so perfectly.

However, in 3.2.8, I added support for the TB3 zoom manager (in TB3 tabs). Because of this, TBZoom really isn’t needed as much as it was before. This doesn’t mean I’ll be removing it completely, it does mean that I will be removing it from update cycles. TBZoom will not be updated anymore because it doesn’t really need to be. It’s legacy software for Thunderbird 1.5-2.0.

TB Properties

* This one will completely die.

Now, with that aside, I will be stopping TB Properties support, remove it from AMO, delete its entry from the download page here and leave it only downloadable via the GS! Networks Project page. Why? Because MOST of the software on that page is BETA\ALPHA\EXPERIMENTAL.

I also don’t use TB Properties. And it’s more likely that if I’m not using it, I probably won’t be updating it. Several people have informed me that it broke their context menus on Thunderbird 3 when they tried to use it. Do note, that TB Properties is not supported for Thunderbird 3, and I take no responsibility for the fact some of you modified the code and the software stopped working. TB Properties had a moderate run, but it’s really just a sloppy hack.

TBExtInt

In addition, I will not be supporting TBExtInt. You might have realized this already. I’m going to make this official by saying that TBExtInt will not be further developed. It too was a rush job and does not reflect the quality of software that I normally strive for. It was an experiment and it’s results were mixed. I wished for better but I didn’t get what I thought I would.

In the end, TBExtInt became more of a burden than a solution. I learned a bit from it, I’m glad I didn’t spend a lot of work on it.

TB Noscript

A side note on Noscript, as I mentioned when I first wrote it, I won’t be continuing it. It was for fun to play around with some settings. By no means did I mean to make it a legitimate product. It was a small side project. As such, I was surprised when a lot of people downloaded it. I really wish that the real NoScript worked in Thunderbird, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Announcing 3.2.8

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

3.2.7 was quite a version!

It works great, however there are a couple of bugs that need to be resolved. These bugs are currently known in 3.2.7; if you do not see your problem in this list, that means I don’t know about it and you need to send a message to support@thunderbrowse.com. Do not file bug reports on the following issues.

These are the issues currently known:

  1. The setting “Left click opens new tabs” does not work. It is FIXED in 3.2.8. We didn’t change your settings, it’s just some new code wasn’t able to read links when this option was enabled.
  2. Emails don’t display. One person mentioned this (but provided no valid way for support to contact them). IF YOU HAVE THIS PROBLEM, please contact support with your problem.
  3. POST requests and META redirects do not work. This is FIXED in 3.2.8.
  4. Options are stretched. This is a bug with Thunderbird 2 rendering more than one <description> element. I’m trying to work out a solution, but because this bug is a Gecko rendering fault it might take awhile to find a solution. This is FIXED in 3.2.8.

I want to get these bugs completely fixed before I release 3.2.8. Expect to see it soon. Other than that, 3.2.7 has no known severe bugs.