asLJ Release Notes

notes for 0.7.1-beta

Released 07/03/2012

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (This is beta software—while asLJ has undergone years of testing, it may contain bugs with unpredictable results, and is provided as-is. Use with caution and at your own risk.)

NEW:

preference setting for the font family and size used to display the entry body while editing
preference setting to have word count display in pop-up sheet (as in previous versions) or in the status bar
fixed exception when posting to a moderated community
fixed exception when loading empty entries
fixed exception when word-counting empty or very short entries
improved reporting of errors communicating with the remote server

NOTE: With the possible exception of critical fixes, this is the last version that will support OS X 10.5 Leopard. Future versions will require at least OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. For details, see The State of asLJ.

notes for 0.7.0-beta

Released 07/16/2011

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (This is beta software—while asLJ has undergone years of testing, it may contain bugs with unpredictable results, and is provided as-is. Use with caution and at your own risk.)

NEW:

new icon
entry body fills more of the window
nearly all interactions with the server are asynchronous, with status reported in the bar at the bottom of the screen
all the entry options that are in the "drawer" attached to the entry window are now also available as floating pallets that can be docked to the edge of the screen, docked together, collapsed, etc.
the past entry calendar is now a separate window, not attached to a particular past entry window
the window title of new entries changes from "untitled" to the subject line, once there is one
both delete keys will now remove a tag from the list of tags when composing a new entry
in the entry body, shift+tab moves the focus back to the subject line
the cache of known moods for each server has been removed from the preferences file and put into its own cache file
userpics are now cached as individual files inside the application's cache folder
Scribbld has been changed from .net to .com
numerous bugfixes

notes for 0.6.3-beta

Released 08/21/2010

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (This is beta software—while it has undergone months of testing, it may contain bugs with unpredictable results, and is provided as-is. Use with caution and at your own risk.)

NEW:

fixed bug that caused exceptions when the selected account has a friend or is a member of a community for which the username is entirely numeric

notes for 0.6.2-beta

Released 08/13/2010

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (This is beta software—while it has undergone months of testing, it may contain bugs with unpredictable results, and is provided as-is. Use with caution and at your own risk.)

NEW:

fixed entry preview
fixed bad behavior on attempting to detect music playing in iTunes when nothing is playing
fixed bug where days were improperly clickable in the past entries calendar
fixed bug related to loading a saved entry draft with no account set
numerous other bugfixes

notes for 0.6.1-beta

Released 04/01/2010

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (This is beta software—while it has undergone months of testing, it may contain bugs with unpredictable results, and is provided as-is. Use with caution and at your own risk.)

NEW:

Added "Send Feedback..." item to the "asLJ" menu and added crash reporting (at the next launch after crashing, asLJ gives you the option to send a crash report)
Fixed a crashing bug related to loading a saved entry and immediately closing the window
Added a striped progress bar to the past entry calendar preview panel to show when it is actively loading an entry
Fixed bug where the preview of an entry being edited ignored the preformatted option
Fixed bug where the escape key did not always close the past entry calendar sheet
Fixed bug where the userpic chooser was not always enabled when editing a past entry
Removed unnecessary logging

notes for 0.6-beta

Released 03/21/2010

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (This is beta software—while it has undergone months of testing, it may contain bugs with unpredictable results, and is provided as-is. Use with caution and at your own risk.)

NEW:

Changed the bold and italics format commands to use <strong> and <em> tags, respectively.
Format commands now maintain the text selection or place the cursor inside the tag(s) when there is no existing text selection.
The moods drop-down list and the tags drop-down list are now resizable, initially set to 10 items, and the resized length is saved from session to session.
The friend-group selection area of the "Security" panel in the drawer is only displayed when "Custom..." is selected as the security type.
When browsing past entries, the preview panel that can be displayed now automatically logs in the account being browsed so that you can preview private/locked entries; this login does not affect any other web browsers and is not saved in any way.
The size and position of the entry window is now saved.
New entries saved with "Auto" checked under "Date and Time" will load with "Auto" checked.
Added "My Friends" and "My Communities" submenus in the "Format" menu—with an account selected, these provide lists of friends and communities to simplify inserting lj-user/lj-comm tags.
Added "Word Count" command (in the Edit menu).
The asynchronous loading of userpics is now uses a maximum of 20 threads. (This means slightly slower but less resource-hungry first-time loading of userpics for accounts with lots and lots of userpics, but no significant difference in load times once the userpics are cached.)
Loading of previously-used tags is now done asynchronously in the background to shorten the time between selecting an account and being able to compose an entry.
asLJ is now a "signed" application bundle, so this upgrade should be the last time for a while that you'll have to click "Always Allow" on those keychain access dialogs.
asLJ is now a 32-/64-bit universal binary.
Fixed issue on 10.6/Snow Leopard where the floating userpic preview was blank.
Fixed error when loading a saved entry that did not have an account selected.
Fixed behavior when selecting "(Select an Account)" from the account selector in the toolbar to more cleanly deselect any account.

notes for 0.5.2-alpha

Released 10/17/2009

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (this is alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

Added formatting commands in the Format menu—Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Blockquote, Link, Image, Username, and Community. All commands insert appropriate HTML into the entry, attempting to surround selected text. A Format Toolbar, which can be hidden/shown from the Format menu, provides buttons for the formatting commands.
The userpics as shown in the toolbar popup menu are now sized consistently.
Added support for the sites Asks, BootieJournal, Ivanovo, OpenWeblog, and Kraslan.

notes for 0.5.1-alpha

Released 09/11/2009

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (this is alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

resolved issue with numeric tags preventing the tag drop-down and the userpic menu from being created properly in the new entry window.

notes for 0.5.0-alpha

Released 08/28/2009

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (this is alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

Rewritten from the ground up—faster and with a cleaner interface
document-based interface
collapsable sections in the entry properties drawer
account, journal/community, and userpic selection in the toolbar
rewritten preferences window with more options
asynchronous loading and caching of userpics
past entries now works for other journals to which your account has access (e.g. communities)
multiple tags (comma-separated) can be entered in the tags entry field
added location field
added comment settings
added preformatted option
preview past entries from the calendar list (uses WebKit, so viewing non-public entries is tied to logging in with Safari)
customizable format for iTunes music detection
saving and loading of drafts
simplified cross-posting with crosspost button and account checklist
reduced application size

notes for 0.4a alpha

Released 05/01/2009

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (this is alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

Full Unicode support (LJ protocol version 1)
completely-rewritten server-communication code, noticeably faster on average
mood and tag combo boxes are longer (show more items)

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window

notes for 0.3a.6 alpha

Released 04/20/2009

Current users can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

[Note that there was never a version 0.3a.5 released.]

DOWNLOAD (this is alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

Added Dreamwidth to the list of possible servers (asLJ is only regularly tested with LiveJournal and InsaneJournal; other servers may not work—please let me know if you try another server, whether you were successful, and if there was an error message)
changed the way the popup list of servers is constructed so that adventurous power users might be able to add servers themselves, should any more new servers appear.
replaced "About" dialog box with proper Cocoa About box

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window
Unicode support is incomplete—it is likely that you can post entries with special Unicode characters to your own journal, but not communities, and you can't edit entries containing special Unicode characters.

notes for 0.3a.4 alpha

Released 02/11/2009

enabled various additional servers (only regularly tested with LiveJournal and InsaneJournal; other servers may not work—please let me know if you try another server, whether you were successful, and if there was an error message)
new setting in preferences: "Default Account" allows selection of an account to log into by default when asLJ is started (can be set to and defaults to "None")
new setting in preferences allows you to replace the full server names (e.g. "www.livejournal.com") with more readable names (e.g. "LiveJournal") or even shorter names (e.g. "LJ") in the account list
window opens in correct size/position instead of opening, then resizing/moving
fixed verbose logging so it actually logs something when set
rearranged the entry security setting controls

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window

notes for 0.3a.3 alpha

Released 02/06/2009

If you already have 0.1a.3 or newer, you can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (this is alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

fixes bug that broke past entry viewing/editing

NEW (from 0.3a.2):

support for posting "music" field and getting currently playing song from iTunes
undo now works in the entry text field
confirmation dialog when clearing an entry that hasn't been posted
apple+return will post and so "Post" button is glowing-blue
position and size of window and drawer state (open/closed) are remembered

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on DeadJournal)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window

notes for 0.3a.2 alpha

Released 02/06/2009

support for posting "music" field and getting currently playing song from iTunes
undo now works in the entry text field
confirmation dialog when clearing an entry that hasn't been posted
apple+return will post and so "Post" button is glowing-blue
position and size of window and drawer state (open/closed) are remembered

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on DeadJournal)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window

notes for 0.3a.1 alpha

Released 01/28/2009

fixed error(s) that came up when adding a new account
disabled Blurty, as their XML-RPC seems to be broken
tested logging in and posting on GJ; past entries may not work (expect GJ to be removed when they finally go down for good)

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on DeadJournal)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window

notes for 0.3a alpha

Released 01/27/2009

can view, edit, and delete past entries
can post to communities, etc.
preferences panel, including auto-update settings
moods and previously-used tags are now sorted alphabetically
moods are now cached, so a little less traffic with the server
userpics are now loaded directly from the server rather than being temporarily downloaded to disk
the interface is a bit more responsive and cleaned up a bit

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, Blurty, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on GJ, Blurty, or DJ)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
userpics (the actual images) don't load consistently in the past entry editing window

notes for 0.2a pre-release alpha

Released 01/21/2009

If you already have 0.1a.3 or newer, you can use the "Check for Updates..." menu item under the "asLJ" menu to get this update.

DOWNLOAD (this is pre-release alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

completely-rewritten keychain bits (this should mean fewer annoying keychain allow/deny boxes; also, account editing and deleting should now work)
slightly faster logging-in upon selection of an account

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, Blurty, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on GJ, Blurty, or DJ)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time)
error messages are strange or nonexistent.
it's kinda slow
it doesn't cache your userpics or the moods, so it does a lot of communicating with the server
mood list and previously-used tags lists are unsorted
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries
can only post to primary journal

notes for 0.1a.4 pre-release alpha

Released 01/13/2009

DOWNLOAD (this is pre-release alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

fixes error when attempting to post an entry with no tags
reformatted client version string sent to the LJ server

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, Blurty, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on GJ, Blurty, or DJ)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time); there are probably lots of keychain scripting warning allow/deny dialogs that show up
"edit" button for editing accounts may not work properly
"delete" button for deleting accounts may not work properly [accounts can be deleted from your keychain using the "Keychain Access" application and looking for keys that contain "asLJ"]
error messages are strange or nonexistent.
it's kinda slow
it doesn't cache your userpics or the moods, so it does a lot of communicating with the server
mood list and previously-used tags lists are unsorted
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries

notes for 0.1a.3 pre-release alpha

Released 01/13/2009

DOWNLOAD (this is pre-release alpha software and probably has bugs. it is provided as-is—be careful and use it at your own risk.)

NEW:

automatic checking for updates with download/install (Sparkle framework, like lots of other good mac apps)
button to clear the post (draft?) now, checkbox to clear after posting
tags work

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

requires OS X 10.5
only supports LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, Blurty, DeadJournal, and InsaneJournal; only tested with LiveJournal and InsaneJournal so far (please let me know if you want it to work on others and/or if you try it on GJ, Blurty, or DJ)
passwords must be saved into the keychain (no way to require password to be entered every time); there are probably lots of keychain scripting warning allow/deny dialogs that show up
"edit" button for editing accounts may not work properly
"delete" button for deleting accounts may not work properly [accounts can be deleted from your keychain using the "Keychain Access" application and looking for keys that contain "asLJ"]
error messages are strange or nonexistent.
it's kinda slow
it doesn't cache your userpics or the moods, so it does a lot of communicating with the server
mood list and previously-used tags lists are unsorted
there's no means of saving/loading drafts or entries

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