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Sandvox 2.5.5/2.5.6
A couple of days ago, we released Sandvox 2.5.5 (quickly followed by an almost-identical 2.5.6 for direct download only). As usual it's a free update for all Sandvox 2 customers, available from the Mac App Store or directly in-app, depending on where you bought it from originally. There's quite an assortment of bug fixes included; see the release notes for full details.
But that's not all! Because you're awesome, we snuck a few tiny features/improvements in too:
Faster adding of download links
Want to create a link to a file that you haven't yet added to the site? We've added a quick shortcut in the Link Inspector to add a file and link to it in one go.
Smarter Host Setup
We've recently been working with Sam Deane to deliver some rather brilliant improvements to Sandvox's Host Setup Assistant. Most of those are a little way off shipping, but a couple have trickled through for version 2.5.5 and 2.5.6:
When running through the Host Setup Assistant, Sandvox detects if your host requires the use of a particular character encoding and automatically applies it (before, the app would prompt you asking to set the encoding manually). Of course you can still adjust the encoding manually if desired/needed.
A handful of customers we've come across are publishing websites that are entirely password-protected. If that protection is already turned on while testing the host setup, the new version will neatly prompt you for the site's password if needed.
Neater Photo Grids
Building a collection of photos of varying proportions? We've added a new option in the Photo Grid's Inspector to control how thumbnails appear. Select "Scale to Fill" and they'll all be the same shape by cropping the thumbnails as needed.
Sandvox 2.5
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Sandvox 2.5 is here today!
Yes, indeed, quite the special occasion. So what's new?
Lion
With the release of Mac OS X Lion, Apple gave us developers an exciting new set of features to adopt:
If it suits you, Sandvox can run as a full-screen app for distraction-free writing; just click the little full-screen button at the top-right of the window.
While working, there's no need for the “Save” command any more; Lion takes care of all that for you. You can quit at any time and the next time you launch, Sandvox will pop back up exactly as you left it. Furthermore it's easy to look over the past revisions of your site from the built-in versions browser.
Note that as part of our move to adopt these new features, Sandvox 2.5 now requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or later. Don't worry if you're still on Leopard (10.5), we'll continue to support you, with Sandvox 2.2.5 out shortly for a variety of bug fixes.
Slide Show
This is a feature we hope you'll find some great uses for! As an alternative to a photo grid, the slide show is a nice easy way to cycle through a collection of photos. We've provided a variety of transition effects, along with control over various other details. I think the demo above rather speaks for itself!
Sharing
Let's say you've just a published an update to your website. What do you want to do next? Why, tell the world of course! So we added a sheet at the end of publishing, making it easy for you to share the news using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or good ol' email.
And don't forget, we're at Macworld|iWorld this week, showing off 2.5, so come stop by if you get a chance.
Come visit Karelia at Macworld|iWorld!
Karelia Software will have a small booth at the upcoming Macworld|iWorld exposition in San Francisco, next week: January 26-28, 2012.
Come visit! We will be at booth 228-027, against the left wall at Moscone West, in the OSX Zone, the hippest part of the expo floor!
Not to pre-announce anything, but we just might have a new version of Sandvox to demonstrate to passers-by….
Sandvox 2.2.1
As promised, Sandvox 2.2.1 restores Delicious List compatibility with Delicious.com. Of course it also contains a variety of bug fixes. On top of that, I thought I'd take the time to note one little security enhancement we've slipped in:
When publishing using SFTP, each server has its own host key. Each time you connect to such a server, your Mac stores a copy of that key. Then, when you reconnect, your copy of the host key can be compared against the server's. If they're different it could be because someone is maliciously trying to get you to connect to a different server! It could also be that your hosting provider has needed to do some maintenance which caused the key to change.
So, as of Sandvox 2.2.1, if this happens you'll be greeted with something like:
Whereupon you should contact your hosting provider to make sure the change was caused by them, before accepting the new host key.
For details on the bug fixes in this update, see the full release notes.
Delicious.com
Recently, Delicious.com has moved to new ownership, and as a consequence, our Delicious List object has stopped working. We've just figured out how to get it working again, but for the meantime please accept our apologies. The new 2.2.1 update, which we hope to get released as soon as it's approved by the Mac App Store folks, should get things back in shape again.
