Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Tue, 05/06/2008 - 00:58 — ancestor
This version is compatible with Firefox 3.0 beta 5 and the latest nightlies (Firefox 3.0pre). Please let me know what you think about the changes and report any bugs you find.
Download Brief 1.2 beta 2 (English only)
What's new in beta2:
New features and improvements:
- The custom style system was redesigned. Until now you had to provide a complete CSS file as a replacement for the default style, even if you wanted to make a simple change. From now on you can add rules on top of the default style and there is a simple built-in editor available in the Options window. It should make things a whole lot easier for the users.
- Options window was reorganized.
- An often-requested feed-specific setting not to mark changed items as unread.
- The feed-specific setting to "Store no more than __ latest items of each feed" has been removed. The global option is still available. See this topic for background.
- When searching, matched words highlighted in the feed content.
- Automatic updates of development versions - when the next beta is out, Brief will be upgraded automatically.
- Network security dialogs, for example warnings about invalid certificates, are suppressed to avoid annoying the user whenever updating fails. This also includes authentication prompts, so if you subscribe to authenticated feeds, you can flip a hidden preference to restore the old behavior: extensions.brief.update.suppressSecurityDialogs.
- When an item has no title, the URL is shown as the title.
Fixed bugs:
- OPML importing was significantly improved. Brief handles more kinds of files and deals with errors better (thanks to DG for providing samples of various problematic OMPL files).
- Fixed a couple of nasty regressions from the previous beta.
The rest of the changes since Brief 1.1:
New features and improvements:
- Starred entries are also added to bookmarks.
- Smoother checking feeds for updates, uses less CPU and doesn't lock up Firefox.
- Searching is a lot faster, matches only full words, and provides Google-like syntax, for example you can type: Mozilla OR "Firefox extension" -tabs.
- Spinbuttons (these tiny arrows) were added to textboxes in options for entering numbers.
- The way how item selection works was altered a little bit. Now you can use keyboard navigation without turning on the blue selection outline. You can press Space or K to scroll to the next item and Backspace or J to scroll the previous one, but the outline won't appear. You can toggle the selection outline separately by pressing Tab or Q - just like before.
- You can hold Ctrl when clicking "Mark all items as read" button to mark only the current page.
- When a web page is displayed, clicking the currently selected feed in the sidebar restores the feed view.
- The progress bar and the stop button are shown when checking feeds for updates in the background, instead of only when the user manually initiated it.
- J/K and Alt+J/Alt+K shortcuts were swapped to match what seems to be the common layout among most other applications.
- Visual improvements to the the feed view.
- Option to "Enable managing items using keyboard" in the options window (it used to be accessible only using the Tab keyboard shortcut).
- Option to "Sort oldest items first in unread view".
- Keyboard shortcut to open Brief: Ctrl + Shift + A.
Fixed bugs:
- When only unread items are displayed, after opening an item's web page and then going back, marking items as read doesn't work anymore
- Ctrl+Tab (shortcut for switching tabs) toggles item selection outline. It shouldn't.
- In headlines view, when unfolding an item taller than the window height, the scroll position lines up with the bottom of the item instead of the top
- Sometimes when mass-updating feeds some of them are skipped.
- The feed view flickers when refreshed.
- Favicons in the list of feeds sometimes get mixed up.
- Contents of items are now a displayed like any other normal elements in web pages, which fixes various things that didn't with the special way Brief used to serve the contents. This includes tooltips (floating titles of elements), Firefox extensions that interact with contents of web pages, and potentially some other stuff.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Everything works great, even 2column.css w/ "Starred" items...
Thanks Ancestor!
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Congratulations for this extension, very nice job!
This is my fav extension, but don't works for me on FF3b5! Already choose the correct folder, but i can't see the feeds list. Please fix this new release!
Sorry for the bad english, im from Brazil
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
When first started after installation, Brief displays "Page Not Found" error.
OPML export still appears to be broken (no file is ever created)
I also have some mixed feelings about the new styling system. First of all, the new version replaced my customized look to Brief's default without asking me what I may think about it. Another issue is that by replacing custom CSS file with a built-in editor, sharing custom styles got trickier. Now the user needs to: download the file, unzip it, open it in a third party editor, copy the entire contents, paste them into Brief and (optionally) save his custom changes in a separate file in case he doesn't like the new theme and wants to switch back. That makes the whole process of trying various themes a bit cumbersome.
Apart from that, great update. Thank you for this:
My life just got a lot easier. :D
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Fantastic, makes a huge difference to my Firefox3 experience! V.pleased to
have this extension back! Thank you.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
[quote][b]DekoBastos wrote:[/b]
[i]Congratulations for this extension, very nice job!
This is my fav extension, but don't works for me on FF3b5! Already choose the correct folder, but i can't see the feeds list. Please fix this new release![/i][/quote]
Are you sure the folder you're having Brief check has Live Bookmarks? Brief cannot read ordinary bookmarks. Brief can only read Live Bookmarks. If you are sure you're doing things properly, then please check the Error Console (under Tools) while viewing Brief. See if any Brief error messages appear. Be sure to post what your Firefox version is (it's in About Mozilla Firefox under Help).
[quote][b]ingwar wrote:[/b]
[i]I also have some mixed feelings about the new styling system.[/i][/quote]
Same. I like the idea, but you still need to see the default stylesheet to know the basics of what you can change or add-on to along with the problems you described. So in a way, custom styles has REGRESSED.
[code]chrome://brief/skin/feedview.css
You can always get the latest default stylesheet here. It's regularly updated with each new Brief version.[/code]
EDIT - Hmm... ancestor, is there anyway you can bring back the old custom stylesheet system and provide options to toggle between the old and new systems (even if the options are simple about:config options)? So those who just need simple tweaks can use Brief's in-house editor and advanced users can still have Brief read off external stylesheets?
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
@DekoBastos
Ooops, that's a bug in this beta. It only occurs if you install it on a fresh profile. It doesn't happen if you upgrade from an earlier version of Brief. So if you want, you can still make things work. You'd need to delete brief.sqlite from the profile directory, install an older version (for example 1.2 beta 1) and then install the latest beta.
@ingwar
It works for me. Any errors in the console?
@ingwar, @ngamer01
See this topic for more details, I hope it clears things up. Let's discuss it there.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
ancestor, there's a regression bug in Brief 1.2b2.
It's Brief's Status context menu. "Update Feeds Now" doesn't work.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9b5) Gecko/2008032620 Firefox/3.0b5
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Thanks. *sigh*
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Thank You Ancestor, everything is working now!
This is so far the best way for reading rss feeds. congrat
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
No, no errors. I just click on the export button, choose file name and directory, click Save and... Nothing happens. I have this problem since 1.2 alphas. It all worked in stable 1.1.
Edit: I just updated my Firefox 3 from latest beta to latest nightly and were able to export my feeds successfully. Also some feeds that weren't updating since installation of Brief's first 1.2 alpha started to work.
Edit: And another update. If you have one of the newest Firefox 3 builds (more recent than the latest beta) and want to export your feeds, please don't. In my case the export erased all my subscriptions while producing bogus file (it contained entire bookmark tree but the feeds) . Now I don't think that Brief is guilty as I saw my bookmarks reorganized after the export with some new magic folders, like Recently Visited, created, so my assumption is that it is (mostly) FF's fault. Anyway... I just wanted to warn everyone.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Just upgraded to beta, now I can no longer mark an entire folder as read, only individual feeds. Marking an entire folder of feeds as "Read" does nothing.
Windows XP/FF3B5/brief 1.2b2
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Originally Posted on 5/8/08:
http://brief.mozdev.org/drupal/node/176
Already been posted. See my reply there.
5/9/08 EDIT:
ancestor, I triggered a flood of this one error --
Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Node was not found" code: "8" nsresult: "0x80530008 (NS_ERROR_DOM_NOT_FOUND_ERR)" location: "chrome://brief/content/bindings.xml Line: 297"]
How did I do this? By Double clicking the "Mark item as red" button rapidly.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Great catch! I've seen this error before but I couldn't fix it because I couldn't figure out how to reproduce it.
ancestor,
creator of Brief
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Triggered a new error in Brief, but Adobe Flash may be at fault with this one.
[url=https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=429903]It's been reported at Mozilla's Bugzilla that Flash tends to hang Firefox and certain add-ons at times.[/url] While experiencing a hang, I tried to close/reopen Brief repeatedly and somehow generated two Brief tabs opening instead of one.
Error Console's report:
Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIObserverService.removeObserver]" nsresult: "0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://brief/content/brief.js :: unload :: line 127" data: no]
My Flash version is 9.0 r124.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
This beta isn't compatible with Firefox 3.0 RC1!
Needs an update...
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Pedro, ancestor is working on the next update. No idea when it'll be ready though.
If you seriously need a compatibility bump, you have four ways:
1) Wait for ancestor's next update.
2) Manually bump the maxVersion in Brief's install.rdf file. You will have to repackage Brief into an .xpi or .jar file and reinstall your manually bumped Brief. You'll find Brief's extension files in the extensions folder of your current profile. You should back up your profile folder before messing with any of the contents inside.
3) Use the Add-on called Nightly Tester Tools (provided it too is compatible) to force Brief's compatibility.
4) Disable Firefox's compatibility checker. (*- Will also activate other disabled incompatible add-ons at the same time, so use at your own risk.)
EDIT - I've did a manual bump for Brief (1.2b2) and it's working just fine in FF3 RC 1 (Windows XP).
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available/problems with rc1
Brief seems to run VERY slowly for me under rc1. I went back to 3.0b5 and it runs fine. Any suggestions on how to diagnose?
--dan
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available/problems with rc1
Dan, what's your OS and Firefox version? And does anything Brief related show in the Error Console while you're using it in RC 1?
I verify manually bumping Brief 1.2b2 is working with Firefox 3 RC1 on Windows XP. I still hang from time to time, but start up time has improved and I don't hang as severely anymore. I imagine with Adobe's next Flash Player update (after FF 3 goes gold), things should be back to normal performance wise in Brief.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available/problems with rc1
osx, powerpc (ibook g4). As i said,this problem showed up with rc1 (downloaded last night). nothing showed up in the error console, but it literally took about a minute each to delete update screen (with LOTS of disk activity) when I marked something as read. Going back to 3.0b5 has normal behavior (marking something as read has almost instananeous update performance).
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available/problems with rc1
If you're willing to give RC 1 another try, try disabling all add-ons and plugins but Brief or installing Brief on a clean profile (no other add-ons and plugins).
If Brief is still slow, then ancestor will have to make an updated Brief version for Mac. If Brief isn't slow, then it's conflicting with one of your other add-ons/plugins in your main profile.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available/problems with rc1
obviously the right debugging that I should be doing. I'm slammed until Tuesday, but should be able to get to it then.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Hi! I am a German. Ich hope my English is not too bad.
First, I would like you to thank for the program. It is best that I know.
I have noticed an error:
Some websites use umlauts in the title. These are errors arrest.
Maybe you can solve the problem. That would be very nice.
Here is a link of the page:
http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/Aktuelle-Nachrichten/de
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
@oldenburg72
Do you mean umlauts in titles of feed items, like this one?
I am afraid it's an error on the website's part, these entities aren't properly encoded. If you want this fixed, you'll have to contact the website's owner.
ancestor,
creator of Brief
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
Thank you for the quick response to my message. Yes, it will see the error. I had already thought it out.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
I did a manual dump for FF3 RC1 but this Beta does not seem to work. If I select the folder where my feeds are, Brief just does not do anything. The folders 'Unread', 'Starred' and 'Trash' appear but no feeds are in the sidebar.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
I validate 1.2b2 working with Windows, but one Mac user says it's not working. I also have no clue of manual bumps of 1.2b2 on Linux's FF 3 RC1 work.
What's your OS, Firefox version, and what does the Error Console say about Brief? Have you tried Brief on a clean profile with some RSS feeds added to test it?
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
@MonztA
Did you do a fresh install of Brief? If so, you may be a victim of the same bug as DekoBastos. See his post on the first page of this topic and my reply therein for more details.
ancestor,
creator of Brief
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
So, this is a new profile on osx (I exported my feed list from my old profile and imported into a clean profile). I can't find out if the bug I originally saw happens, because NO content appears on the page, even though it shows 355 unread items (I can send a screen grab, but I'm not sure how to upload it here).
--dan
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
dan, clear out brief.sqlite from your profile folder, install Brief 1.2b1 or an earlier version of Brief on it (manually bump it first since you're on RC 1), and then update Brief to version 1.2b2 (manually bump it first). Then run the test with Brief while checking the Error Console for any error messages.
ancestor has said that there's a bug where fresh, brand-new installs of Brief will not work in 1.2b2. But updating from a previous Brief version still works.
Re: Brief 1.2 beta 2 available
same behavior, lots of errors like:
Security Error: Content at file:///Users/danaronson/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/... may not load or link to chrome://brief/skin/feedview-common.css.
on the console