[Chealion]

An ehMac Gadget Advert.

Using Snapz Pro X and encoding in the Sorenson 3 Video Codec I have made a 2 MB video that details the new upcoming widget. It should be soon (when I get the time to do the about box, and fix a few cosmetic bugs).

I hope you enjoy, I've worked hard on this (the widget, and not long on the movie) although it has taken a long time. (An hour every few days doesn't do much for productivity.)

I'm pleased to announce:

The ehMac Control Movie!

Please post thoughts, suggestions, complaints, and anything else you can think of here.

EDIT: P.S. There is one new cool feature that has been added that wasn't showcased, can anyone guess? It's perfect for laptop users who aren't always connected to the 'net. No more breaking of the widget

P.P.S - I want feedback, positive or negative. Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't like. Just tell me something!

EDIT: Nov. 11 - Blasted contractions. It is spelt It's not Its

[ November 11, 2003, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Chealion ]

 

[gwillikers]

Nice work, looks pretty cool!

When do we get to try it out?

-Howie

 

[mmp]

My only problem is I can't find the instant graemlin for standing ovation...I can't wait to try it. Bravo! Bravo! The little movie is an awesome idea to!

 

[Moscool]

Chealion, this looks very cool... Is there a way to resize columns?

 

[Ohenri]

Whatever this is, it's a pretty fresh.

Is this some kind of ehMac Freeware?? I might be a touch lost here - widget?? Pls, someone bring me up to speed! Had a late night... not sure that I'm coherent right now.

H!

 

[Chealion]

gwilkers - Fingers crossed, Thursday. (I'm busy the next two nights.)

Moscool - Unfortunatly no, there is no way to resize anything. I was able to add a small resizing in the font, in you can choose between a slightly bigger and a slightly smaller font, but it doesn't make much of a difference unless you want the widget to look like crap. Which columns were you referring to specifically anyway?

Ohenri - Don't feel bad. This is ehMac class freeware!

Konfabulator was released by Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke earlier this year (February I think), and within a few days jfpoole had created a widget that would show the latest posts. It's exactly as if you were to open up a browser and point it to the ehMac.ca main page. By clicking on the topic title, the widget will open a new window in your default browser that will go to that specific topic. There is a preference that allows to go to the area the topic is in instead if you want to. (That was my first feature addition to the widget when I made a customized version).

Several others (I remember Heart, akaMarko, and there was one other) that made customized versions of the widget also, for the most part we change the UI to make it look prettier. Since then I've taken upon myself to keep the widget updated, so each time ehMax has changed what forums are on the front page, we've had to change some code to make the widget work again. I plan for a future release to figure out how to have the widget keep working when that happens, but I'm not there yet.

In this version, I added the ability to search ehMac from the widget (it defaults to all dates, and all forums however) and the ability to hide the widget into a much smaller size, for those who want their screen space. Also when you aren't connected to the internet, the new widget unlike the others won't break anymore. It will just state you can't connect to ehMac in place of showing the posts. (This works too whenever ehMac is down, like when the blackout occurred.)

 

[jmac]

Chealion,
That is really cool!
When i click on a particular post in the widget, am i redirected to the ehmac site to view the entire post? Can certain posts be bookmarked, so that when they have been replied to and the widget is minimized, it can flash or beep to annunciate that your topic has been replied to? ...just a few questions.

Konfabulator really adds to the uniqueness of the mac experience. One just can't duplicate this on a PC ... the active desktop would be similar, but the feel is just not the same... wonderful widget Chealion!

How many hours were invested into this?

 

[Chealion]

jmac - When you click on a post in the widget, it would be exactly like as if you were on the main page of ehMac and click the link that tells you the last post in that particular area. It takes you the latest post of that particular thread.

Can certain posts be bookmarked, so that when they have been replied to and the widget is minimized, it can flash or beep to annunciate that your topic has been replied to?

I love those ideas, but getting that work would be on heck of a job. Possible, but not something being doable anytime in the near future. It would require gathering different information, and some fancy coding to do. It would take a while to do, and since I don't know how to do Regular Expressions very well, at the moment it is impossible for myself.

Their are some Konfabulator rip offs available for the PC, but Konfabulator is currently being ported to the PC, and once that is released, the ehMac widget should run just fine on it since it doesn't require any UNIX underpinnings to do its work.

How many hours? Lots. I never kept track but I would guess no less then 50. (That's what I get for making an image, throwing it out and remaking it 7 seven times over all the time.)

 

[Heart]

That movie is the icing on the cake.

Those of you that enjoy this widget should be counted and head over to It's Award Time Again by Dr. G