Changes in 5.5.1 include:
You can download here.
YET ANOTHER BLOG POST FROM OMNI!
I know, the excitement is almost too much to bear. Let’s just all take a second before we head back over to that Caps Lock key…breathe…
OMG OMNIWEB IS ON SALE!!
(I am seriously going to sprain something, here.)
From today until the end of the month, OmniWeb is available for $9.95. That’s 20 bucks off the normal price, so if you’ve been using the app in demo mode but loving all those handy features, now is the perfect time to get a license key of your very own. Licensed users get to customize their start page, among many other benefits (such as earning our nearly-stalkerish level of wove, sweet wove).
We also have discounted pricing for OmniWeb family packs and educations licenses, so tell all your Alternative Web Browser friends, okay?
Welcome to the third, and for this week anyway, final installment of “You Ask, We Answer!”. Brought to you by Diet Coke and the letter Q.
(Q for Qwality!)
Ayjay asked, many Mac developers have moved away from the use of drawers (especially now that Apple has taken them away from Mail) but you guys still feature drawers-a-plenty. What do you like about drawers? Have you thought about any other ways of implementing the functionality that drawers give you?
Ooh, good question. I had to call in the troops for help on this one, since my opinions on drawers are mainly limited to the kind you put your socks in. Ken, our CEO, and Bill, our UI Lead, put their heads together to answer you:
‘We like drawers because they are a great place for content that belongs to the main window but doesn’t necessarily need to be there all the time. They’re great for “source lists”, from which you can choose what to view in the main window, like OmniGraffle’s canvases or OmniWeb’s tabs. Perhaps best of all, unlike a sidebar, you can show, hide, or resize a drawer all day long without affecting the dimensions or layout of the main content. And in Omni apps, you can move the drawer to whichever side of the window you prefer by Option-clicking the drawer button in the toolbar.
The problem with drawers, of course, is that the things just don’t look modern. While the rest of Mac OS X interface was getting the sleek plastic or metal treatment, drawers are still as pinstripey, space-wastey, and noisy as they were the day they were introduced. Unless we want to cobble together and maintain some sort of custom fake drawer ourselves (or—gasp!—Apple actually updates drawers’ appearance), we’re going to have to get away from drawers eventually.
In meetings for our new products, we’ve talked about how to deal with this problem, and we think we may have come up with a good hybrid of the useful drawer and the sleek sidebar. You may end up seeing the first incarnation of it in OmniFocus, if we can do it right.’
Spencer says, I have had no luck at all with storing OmniGraffle documents in Subverson. The icon seems to contain an illegal character or something.
Here’s the response from our OmniGraffle tech support/product manager NINJA EXTRAORDINAIRE:
‘This is likely due to OmniGraffle saving the files out as packages, which other file systems can have difficulty dealing with.
OmniGraffle will automatically save a file out to a package if an image or external graphic is present in the document; there is a hidden preference to avoid this behavior that can be enabled from the command line. To get OmniGraffle to always save as a “flat” file (which will have no problems on other filesystems), open up Terminal.app and paste this in:
defaults write com.omnigroup.OmniGraffle PrivateGraffleFlatFile 0
Afterwards, new documents should always save as a monolithic file, you may have to perform a “Save As” for existing documents to convert them.’
Man, I’m loving this whole ‘fob off the hard questions on other Omni employees’ gig. What else have you got, commenters? Bring. It. On! *spirit hands*
Matt wants to know, Do you guys plan on fixing RSS anytime soon? Its a sometimes it work, sometimes it doesn’t work symptom. Usually I have to relaunch OmniWeb to get it to recheck RSS feeds- it doesn’t do it by itself even though I have it set to recheck the feeds every hour.
Dang, this one’s less fun to answer. Turns out we’ve seen this issue and we’re able to reproduce it. It’s a bug that we’re hoping to fix in an upcoming release, after the 5.5.1 update. Sorry about that!
Conor asks, Can you tell me if OmniFocus will liason with OmniPlan so that you can plan projects in OmniPlan and then download your personal tasks into OmniFocus? Also, are there any plans to allow Wintel users to edit OmniPlan? I work in a mixed-platform office and, while I do most of the project planning on my mac, it would be nice to enable other employees to check off tasks, etc.
We would love for OmniFocus and OmniPlan to work together that way, but I think it’s safe to say that they won’t for OmniFocus 1.0. We’re trying to limit the scope to what we can actually get out the door in a (hopefully) reasonable amount of time, but it’s definitely on the plate for future consideration.
As for Wintel users…well, we likely won’t ever have a cross-platform version of OmniPlan, but you can use OmniPlan to export to .mpx, .mpp, and MSPDI .xml for sharing with Microsoft Project and other project management applications. You can also export to a .csv file for import into Excel, and if people just need to see the data, not update it, you can export the Gantt, outline or both into several different image formats (PDF, PNG, TIFF, JPEG). And! You can export to html – either a single table of tasks, or a mini-website with a Gantt chart, tables, and calendar files that can be imported into iCal, Outlook or other calendaring apps.
Thanks for all your questions, folks, and if I didn’t get to yours this week, my apologies. Please stay tuned for an Exciting Announcement (note: your excitement may vary) about OmniWeb I will be posting later today. Same blog time, same blog channel.
Oh crap, you mean you’re actually going to ask, like, real questions? Well FINE. Make me work, why don’t you.
(Note: if you need technical support on any of our apps, it’s best to send it to our support team using Send Feedback.. under the Help menu in your software. I may not get to *everyone’s* question this week.)
Richard asks, How can I get OmniWeb to open up RSS links in Vienna, my preferred RSS reader?
We have a current OmniWeb bug described as:
“Request: Allow news icon to send RSS feed subscriptions to outside program/external viewer [newsfeed default]“
This should be implemented in 5.5.2, an update that should be available soon (I’m not sure exactly when, but not too long from now).
Matthew has some Omni software on his laptop, and now that his employer has provided him with a PowerMac, he wants to know how to use those same apps via network licensing.
There is a lengthy explanation of our different licensing types here, but in a nutshell, you’ll just need to install your Omni application of choice on your Power Mac (grab the download from our website), then use the same license you’ve been using on your laptop. You cannot, however, run two copies of the licensed software using one license at the same time – otherwise, both of your computers will explode.
(Okay, they won’t technically “explode”, but it would violate our licensing policy and that would mean that somewhere, a kitten would cry. Won’t you please, please think of the kittens?)
Edward would like to know, Are there any “secret” ways to get OmniWeb to run quicker?
Down at the lower righthand corner of the screen, there is a very, very small button that’s labeled “TURBO”. Click it, and –
Okay, I’m making that up. I wish I had some kind of cool answer like that, but unfortunately there’s no simple response to that question. There are too many variables to consider, like when you’re experiencing the issue (I assume you mean that the browser is running too slow at times?), what else you have going on, etc. You are running 5.5, right? If so, I suggest using the Send Feedback…option to tell us more about this so we can look into it, or email us.
BZ asked a LOT of questions, JEEZ. I’ll answer two of them for now: When is OmniFocus coming out and who do I have to kill to be on the beta?
To be 100% honest, we don’t know when OmniFocus is coming out. There is a team working full time on developing this product, but it’s just too early to make predictions. We all really want to get it in your hands as soon as possible, though. As for the beta, when the time comes we’ll be asking for volunteers. If you want to get your name in the hat now, subscribe to this list and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as it’s Beta Time (like Hammer Time, except with slimmer pants).
Stack said, Tell us a little bit about OmniFocus. [...] The GTD system gives you breathing room to be implemented in a few different ways, but aside from interface stuff I don’t really see how your product can distinguish itself from its competitors in the market. How will OmniFocus be different?
I can’t make any commitments yet on specific features that will be included in OmniFocus (I know, I’m all “ask us anything!” and then I give you, “errr…except that”). We’re still defining how features will work; figuring out implementation and UI, and creating crazy mockups using OmniGraffle (oh, OmniGraffle, is there anything you can’t do?).
I will say that the “interface stuff” – how the software looks, the way that it works, the experience you have when using it – is exactly what can distinguish one app from another and make all the difference in its value. If OmniFocus ends up being a joy to use, if it seamlessly integrates into your workflow, if it stays out of your way but provides you with what you need, then we’ll have accomplished some of our biggest goals.
Our friend Corentin (who has done countless French localizations for us, merci!) asks, in part, What’s planned for OmniWeb 5.6? When will a beta be out the door?
We are planning for 5.6 to be a WebKit update. As for timing, we have to get through 5.5.1 (currently in beta), then 5.5.2, then revisit the WebKit situation so…in short, we’re not sure when 5.6 will be available, but it shouldn’t be too long of a wait. *knock wood*
Daniel says, I’m playing through Oni at the moment, and I’ve found a few bugs. If I report them, do they have a chance of ever being fixed?
Well…probably not. That’s what I’m told, anyway. We did the game port many, many moons ago and no longer have anything to do with Oni, which is now owned by Take 2 Interactive. You could contact them with your bug info and request an update, but it doesn’t sound very likely that it will happen. Sorry, I wish I had a more helpful answer.
WHEW. That’s all for now, folks, I’ll try and answer more tomorrow. Oh, and for the record, we have one cat. Her name is Lotus. She’s kind of mangy and makes horrible yowling sounds, but she is loved nonetheless.
Changes in 5.5.1 beta 1 include:
You can download here
Maybe you already know about OmniWeb’s shortcut feature, by which you can type something like google RPS in the location field to go straight to the Google search results for RPS. You can set up more shortcuts by putting your cursor in a search field at any site and clicking the little magnifying glass that appears at the bottom of the window.
One such keyword that comes with OmniWeb is *; it appends www. and .com to what you type. So if you type worldrps it takes you to www.worldrps.com. That’s handy, but I wanted it to do something even smarter. I changed that shortcut’s URL to this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%@&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky
Now when I enter anything that’s not a URL, I end up at Google’s best match for what I typed. This is super-handy when I know the site I want to visit, but I can’t remember the URL. Like, who can remember that the Subversion manual is at svnbook.red-bean.com? Well, now I just type subversion book in the location field and bam, I’m there.
Of course, this shortcut works best when you know there is a single definitive site about the thing you’re looking for. Give it a try today.
It seems like a very, very long time ago that we were mired in planning sessions for OmniWeb 5. By “we” I mean “people much smarter than myself”, of course, although I do take credit for the never-implemented Wholesome History Populator feature (replace your day of youtube surfing and WoW geekfests with the browsing history of your choice! Pre-loaded contents include “Honey I Was Thinking Of You”, several hours worth of Amazon-combing for that perfect birthday gift; “Just Doing Some Market Research”, a trail of crumbs leading through a variety of industry topics to impress your boss; and, in worse-case scenarios, “What’s This Funny Rash”, a thorough search of WebMD that virtually guarantees the subject of how much time you spend online will never be questioned).
But anyway, back then we put a lot of effort into building new features for OmniWeb. It was an exciting time for the OmniWeb development process as things like workspaces and graphical tabs and shortcuts started emerging from the alpha-soup and we all started using them. A huge amount of work later, OmniWeb 5 shipped: ta da!
Then, after a while, we had to catch up with WebKit. We had to get OmniWeb’s compatibility and performance back up to par, we needed a Universal release, we needed some fixes. And so for many months now, the OmniWeb dev team has been chipping away at the non-fun stuff; not cool features or eye-popping UI, but the complicated headachey stuff under the hood that makes a web browser, you know, work.
(”Stuff”. Niiice. Once again my less-than-viselike grip on the technical aspects of our work has failed us all.)
We realize that in order for OmniWeb to stay in your Dock, we have to continue innovating. We need to do what we’re best at: developing useful, fun features that work the way you want them to. Upcoming versions of OmniWeb need to kick ass and take names, basically. And that’s what we want to do.
However, in the meantime, I don’t want to lose sight of a huge accomplishment by our Web team: OmniWeb 5.5 is out. The final release, after months of hard work and persistent beta testers (for whom we are insanely grateful) and an espresso machine that has broken about fifty-three times from overuse.
If you haven’t used OmniWeb in a while, I recommend trying 5.5 out. This version doesn’t provide you with many citrus-scented whistles and bells, but it’s faster. It’s better. It’s performance is vastly improved, and hey, it still has all the unique stuff that 5.0 was touted for.
A big congratulations to the OmniWeb team, and now we can start turning our attention to the next versions of OmniWeb. Yes, there will be some small fixer-upper 5.5x releases, but then? Features, by god. Honestly, I don’t know if the coffee machine can handle it.
Yesterday we released a new beta of OmniDazzle 1.0.1, and today we released new betas of OmniPlan 1.0, OmniOutliner 3.6.1, and OmniWeb 5.5. So if you’re a user of any of these products, you might want to check out the latest versions! There are links to all of these at www.omnigroup.com, or you can go directly to the beta of your choice using one of these links:
Enjoy!
• Now a Universal binary
• Based off a slightly customized version of WebKit.*
• Supports user defined style sheets
• Gets whites whiter, plumps when you cook it
* Greatly improved website compatibility, speed and stability. Many rendering and compatibility issues users have been experiencing should now be addressed.
Go forth and download, OmniWeb fans!