I released Feeder 1.5 earlier. While this is not as big a release as 1.4 and 1.3 before it, it does include a number of useful new features and improvements, particularly for video podcasters. Just about every part of the app has been tweaked in some way though, so I’ll highlight the main changes here. The Release Notes tell the full story.

User Interface

Firstly, the user interface has been updated for 10.5 Leopard, and because Feeder’s minimum system requirements are now for 10.4 and later, gets some new controls such as date pickers and token fields for things like iTunes keywords.

Feeder has worked fine on Leopard since the big cat’s release, but Leopard’s darker theme almost eradicated the subtle borders on some toolbar icons and the increased contrast made some of the colours appear too saturated. Also, the sidebar gets Leopard gradient and colours, and turns grey when the main window is inactive. These are minor changes but make a big difference.

Podcasting

Feeder’s podcasting support has been improved in particular for video podcasters. Video podcasts can now have thumbnails via Yahoo’s Media RSS extension. These thumbnails are used for video search results and application such as Miro (formerly Democracy Player).

Using the Media RSS extensions is as straightforward as checking “Use Media Extensions” in the Extensions section of the Info drawer (below the iTunes extensions, if you’re using them). That will show the Media Thumbnail field in the editor, where you can drag an image file to upload or specify the URL of an image that is already online.

Finally for video podcasters, this version improves performance when reading and tagging MP4 files, including those used for iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, etc.

Publishing

Another change useful for any podcaster is that Feeder now has the ability to redirect uploaded enclosure URLs through a site. This is useful for podcast sites concerned with statistics such as Blubrry. You can find the settings for this in the Enclosures section under Settings in the Info drawer.

Feeder’s publishing is now improved to (finally!) support password-less SFTP. This can be enabled by clicking the Options button in the Servers window for an SFTP server. It also allows the creation of additional servers for enclosures and images during publishing setup.

Sparkle

Last but not least, Sparkle appcasting support has been improved. It is now possible for Feeder to automatically generate MD5 sums and DSA signatures for enclosure files. The settings for these can be found in the Sparkle section under Extensions in the Info drawer. Finally, Feeder’s AppleScript has been improved and now includes the ability to edit Sparkle attributes.

Summary

Most Feeder releases have an overall theme and in this case it’s mostly about video podcasting, but also about further refining it in its current form. Feeder is a pretty mature product now and actually celebrates its 3rd birthday tomorrow. I have plenty of ideas and plans for Feeder for the next year, so stay tuned!

Occasionally I am asked to explain the difference between groups and folders in Together. I might be able to boil this down for the FAQ, but here is a full explanation.

Together has two ways of collecting files together, groups and folders. In a nutshell, folders work the same as in the Finder, while groups work like iTunes playlists.

Groups were introduced in version 1.0 to support the point of Together, in that you do not need to file items into folders because they always appear in your library. Folders were added to version 2.0 because sometimes the folder structure is important to the files being stored and because some people were accustomed to that way of working.

Folders

Folders in Together work exactly like folders in the Finder, and that’s exactly what they are. A file can only exist in one folder at a time, adding a file to that folder moves it there and removing a file from a folder moves it to Together’s Trash and removes it from Together’s library and any groups or smart groups. Removing the folder moves the folder and its entire contents to the Trash.

Groups

Groups work like iTunes playlists and are very different to folders. Groups cannot be arranged hierarchically. A file can appear in more than one group at a time. Adding a file to a group adds a reference to that file, and removing a file from a group or removing the group itself doesn’t change anything else. Groups will always keep track of files, no matter where they are stored.

Using Groups and Folders

How you want to use these is up to you. Folders, as mentioned, are good when you want or need to organize files hierarchically, while groups allow you to create loose collections and removes the limitation of only being able to see a file in a single place. You can’t mix groups and folders in a hierarchy because they’re pretty incompatible in terms of what is stored where.

Groups are ideal for research, where you can collect a number of documents from different locations into once place, without moving the files from their original locations. Once you’re finished with the group, you can just remove it without removing any of the files it contains.

Any developer will tell you that no application can remain simple for very long. This is good as further development of the application through ideas and requests means that the application can grow with a receptive audience. The difficult part is determining how.

Some applications suffer this problem more than others. The most dangerous aspect of this for a developer is to introduce something that becomes a problem, and in the worst case, a millstone around their neck. It’s not easy to remove features, even if they are problematic. Likewise, insufficiently implemented features will generate more work in support requests than they took to add in the first place. The key to keeping this manageable is to work within the scope of the application.

My two applications are oceans apart in this respect. Both have grown in ways I could never have imagined, but none more than Feeder. It started as a fairly straightforward RSS reader, but then became involved in the anything-but-simple world of podcasting. Now it’s an RSS editor, an audio / video file tagger and FTP client all wrapped up in one package.

And yet, on the surface, Feeder hasn’t changed much at all. Someone who bought the 1.0 version for creating a standard RSS feed won’t feel like the app has become something different or unsuitable. The features have integrated seamlessly because they are right for the application. There are many requested features that didn’t make the cut, and I’m satisfied that those decisions proved correct over time.

Together’s potential scope is much broader than Feeder’s to the point that I am still implementing features I thought of four years ago. On seeing the app, people have many ideas about what it should do or be. In the two months since Together’s 2.0 release I have done little more than answer emails and during that time have collected over 100 valid feature requests, filtered through what I see as the scope of the application.

Together’s scope is no different to version 1.0 and that is to store, organize, preview and search files as elegantly and efficiently as possible. In time, the scope might expand without detracting from the fundamental nature of the application, but for now, with strong demand for features that will likely take years to fully realise, there is far too much to be done. Of course, these features cannot be added all at once. People expect regular updates, so each release will prioritise the most needed requests.

Interest in Together has been so great as to be overwhelming. Even with all the work put into the 2.0 version, the potential for the application is huge and some people will be happier with its progress than others. Thankfully, there are lots of options out there, so there should be something for everyone. Obviously, I can’t keep sprinting on the support treadmill, so I’ve set up the forums and placed much more emphasis on the FAQs to try and bring the situation back under control.

As I mentioned when I announced the application, version 2.0 sets the platform from which the app will grow over the next few years. Some things are going to take time, but the future for Together looks very promising, not least thanks to everyone who has supported and contributed to Together and KIT so far. The 2.x series is shaping up to be very exciting indeed.

This is a slightly more obscure tip, but since I’ve been asked it a couple of times I thought it was worth posting.

If you work with source code, you may have seen the Quick Look plugin, QLColorCode. Together provides rudimentary editing of source code files, but with no syntax coloring. This means you will see Together’s built-in editor rather than a Quick Look preview when viewing source code files.

There is a way around this though, and that’s to disable Together’s source code editor. Right now you can’t do this in the app, you have to set a hidden preference in Terminal. First, quit Together, then enter the following line in Terminal:

defaults write com.reinvented.Together TRExcludedPlugIns -array-add com.reinvented.TRSourceCodePlugIn

The next time you launch Together, you should see source code files as Quick Look previews from the QLColorCode plugin.

To enable the Source Code plugin again, quit Together and use this command in Terminal:

defaults delete com.reinvented.Together TRExcludedPlugIns

Happy New Year! 2007 was a great year for Reinvented Software, but in trying to sum it up, I’ve decided that it was a bit like a sandwich. You can see the top and bottom, while the meat is mostly hidden in the middle. The highlights:

• January: Released Feeder 1.4.
• February: Released KIT 1.3.
• March: Started Together 2.0 in earnest, while Feeder and KIT were getting great reviews.
• April: Announced the Übercaster+Feeder Bundle with Pleasant Software.
• May: KIT on MacUpdate Promo.
• June: Attended WWDC 2007 (photos).
• July – October: Continued on Together, reworking things to use the new Leopard UI. Also worked on Leopard compatibility for Feeder and KIT.
• November: Released Together 2.0.
• December: Give Good Food to Your Mac and MacSanta Promotions.

The year ended insanely busy for me as Together’s launch was more successful than I’d anticipated, but that’s no bad thing. Thankfully though, things quietened down over the holidays, so I could take some time out, work on Together 2.0.4 (released earlier today) and, since I got so many requests for this, set up a support forum, which I’m launching today. There hadn’t been any call for this until Together 2.0, so I’m hoping it’ll be useful.

There are three sections: the “Frequently Asked Questions” section has links to the existing FAQs, “Support” is for support questions or reporting problems, and “Feedback” covers things like feature requests and other general discussion concerning the two applications.

Support is still available via email on the Support pages along with the form to automatically send out lost codes, and of course I will continue to write about the apps on this blog.

Thanks to everyone who helped make 2007 such a great year for me. The year ahead also looks to be a busy one too and who knows what’s around the corner with Macworld Expo in a couple of weeks’ time.