Open Beta: LiveClick 0.4.0.0
Because the next version of LiveClick contains several significant changes, I’m asking our bravest users to beta test it before I release it to the general public. Be warned that you may encounter unexpected problems with this beta. If you accept this challenge, remember to leave me feedback (positive, negative, or even neutral) in the comments. I can’t fix problems without people telling me about them. The new additions to LiveClick 0.4.0.0 include the toolbar button, optimized checking, and parent folder styling.
Download v0.4.0.0 Beta 2 (Firefox 3.5 - 4.0b6)
Fully localized in 0.4.0.0: en-US
0.4.0.0 Changelog:
+ Added LiveClick toolbar button for one-click checking [Details…]
* Checking for new items is less aggressive and uses fewer resources
+ Option to disable checking for new items on Firefox startup [Details…]
+ Option to disable checking for new items automatically
+ Option to suspend automatic checking until browser restart
* Automatic checking is suspended while in Private Browsing
+ Option to clear Live Bookmarks history when clearing browsing history
+ Option to style parent folders like livemarks [Details…]
+ Option to set global max Live Bookmark items per menu [Details…]
+ Option to set custom max items per Live Bookmark
* Counter more accurately accounts for hidden items
* Hide custom Live Bookmark settings by default
* Predefined choices available for custom interval times
* Interval between automatic checks is more precise
* Feed states are no longer stored in database
* States of proxied feed items (e.g. FeedBurner) more accurately managed
* Status items (e.g. failed, loading) position properly and always styled
* Item previews are fetched with feed and stored in database
* Improved multiple window handling
Known issues:
- Live Bookmarks with favicons show up as history and persist across sessions
- “Open All in Tabs” does not recognize Live Bookmark locations
- [Ext] Xmarks wants to sync when Live Bookmark item titles, positions change
General notes:
* Add the new toolbar button by clicking View > Toolbars > Customize… and dragging the LiveClick icon to any spot on your navigation or bookmarks toolbar.
* Don’t expect miraculous improvement from the new checker if you’re checking Live Bookmarks for the first time in a few hours. The improved performance occurs on subsequent checks, when your feeds are less likely to have new items.
* I expect to run multiple betas for LiveClick 0.4.0.0, so check this thread for the latest build. You can also subscribe to this thread’s comments feed.
Beta 1 notes:
* Localized in en-us only. Strings are still subject to change.
* The throbber icon/animation is not yet finalized. More on that soon.
Beta 2 notes:
* FIXED Cannot drag and drop livemarks, folders on bookmarks toolbar (Fx4.0+)
* FIXED Clicking on chevron does nothing (Fx4.0+)
* FIXED No feed button context menu
* FIXED Feed button context menu background transparent (Fx4.0+)
* ADDED LiveClick toolbar button icon reflects suspend state
* CHANGED LiveClick toolbar button throbber (still a work in progress)
* FIXED Newly created Live Bookmarks do not style, have no counter
* FIXED Some Live Bookmarks not updating automatically without an initial manual check
* FIXED Custom update intervals not always calculated correctly
* FIXED Missing, deleted feeds fail without updating internal counters
* FIXED Malformed feeds fail without updating internal counters
* FIXED Live Bookmarks history not updated on exit
* FIXED Settings menu background in LiveClick’s Options dialog transparent (Fx4.0+)
* FIXED LiveClick commands duplicated with [Ext] Menu Icons Plus
* Localized in en-us only, though strings are frozen and off to BabelZilla soon
* Compatible with Firefox 4.0 up to and including Fx4.0b6. LiveClick does not officially support the nightlies, but as of the 20100907 build, Beta 2 seems to work fine if you disable Firefox’s compatibility check.
Posted on May 19 2010 at 12:45 PM
Next entry: Designing the Toolbar Button Icons
Previous entry: LiveClick 0.3.8.0
Great new features!
I’m finding that new (orange) items are not greying out immediately after viewing the tooltip preview as they have in previous versions, they only grey out after I’ve moved away from the feed.
Also, is it possible to replace folder icons with custom favicons?
Posted by jimbo81 on 05/20 at 09:20 AM
0.4.0.0 beta Bug: You can no longer get a context menu for right clicking the RSS icon on sites that offer a feed Firefox recognizes.
I caught this message from the Error Console:
Error: nFeed is not defined
Source File: chrome://liveclick/content/browser-overlay.js
Line: 845
Posted by Ngamer01 on 05/20 at 01:43 PM
Awesome, I can use Minefield again. Thanks! One thing I’ve noticed is that when I exit Firefox/Minefield, new items aren’t being marked as unread like I’ve set them to be. Just a slight annoyance, but it’s much better that I have Liveclick on trunk once more.
Posted by Ibrahim on 05/21 at 02:45 PM
Another bug, though I’m not sure how I triggered it. This bug causes LiveClick 0.4.0.0 beta’s automatic checks to work even in Private Browsing mode.
From the Error Console:
Error: PlacesUtils is not defined
Source File: chrome://liveclick/content/liveclick.js
Line: 1494
Posted by Ngamer01 on 05/21 at 10:33 PM
New button working well.
But changed site locations reset randomly and do not retain with the beta.
Firefox 3.6.4build4
Xmarks 3.6.7
LiveClick 0.4.0.0 Beta1
Posted by Gargoyl on 05/22 at 09:03 AM
cyruz: If you mean the custom startup time, no, that’s not in LiveClick just yet.
jimbo81: I’m unable to reproduce this problem. After I view a preview tooltip, the item styles properly for me. What version of Firefox are you using? Also, LiveClick probably won’t include the ability to customize folder icons with favicons. They’re not as discoverable as livemark favicons. I believe you can edit your userChrome.css to do this on a folder by folder basis, though.
Ngamer01: The feed button context menu bug will be fixed in Beta 2. If you encounter your second problem again (“PlacesUtils is not defined”), let me know. I’ve seen it every now and then, but can’t explain or reproduce it.
Ibrahim: That will be fixed in Beta 2. In fact, the underlying problem is severe enough that I’m going to release Beta 2 much sooner than I originally intended.
Gargoyl: I can confirm this and believe it’s a problem with Xmarks. I’m looking for a fix.
Thank you all for your feedback! Your help is much appreciated!
Posted by protejohnny on 05/22 at 02:33 PM
I think I may have a lead on the “PlacesUtils is not defined” bug.
It’s either:
1) Going into Private Browsing mode at the exact moment LiveClick kicks off an automatic check for new items.
or…
2) The bug triggers after opening several windows and then closing them to the only remaining window.
Though I’m not 100% sure on either of these being the exact cause.
Posted by Ngamer01 on 05/22 at 07:59 PM
I should say that its not just new orange items - for me, most items are not greying out until I move away from the feed. I’m using ff 3.6.3.
Also, I’m occasionally finding feeds not refreshing. For example, this morning I noticed that there were no new items overnight for a Guardian newspaper feed, which was strange, so I manually refreshed it and only then did I receive all the new items. Happened with BBC feed yesterday too.
Posted by jimbo81 on 05/23 at 06:13 AM
I installed this beta in the hopes of it fixing my current problem with LiveClick, but no dice. Still not getting any Growl notifications for alerts like I used to. Any ideas?
Posted by Rizaria on 05/23 at 10:12 AM
Ngamer01: I suspect the problem has something to do with multiple windows open, but I’ll definitely check that Private Browsing tip.
jimbo81: Your problems may be connected, and I might actually know why that is now. I’ll let you know when I figure this out.
Rizaria: What was the last version of LiveClick that worked with Growl?
Posted by protejohnny on 05/23 at 12:27 PM
None of the options seem to be working for me; using FF 3.6.3. Most I don’t really need, but being able to mark read items as invisible is important to me. Any ideas on what I need to do?
Thx.,
J
Posted by jake on 05/23 at 02:36 PM
I believe I had no problems until about a month, month and a half ago. Although I don’t think it was an update to LiveClick that caused the issue, as I have downgraded it to test that as well. I believe I downgraded to 0.3.5.0, one that I had never had problems with to my knowledge but no luck.
I’ve tackled this as a Growl problem, a Firefox problem and as a LiveClick problem. Got no leads on any of them. Shame, as it’s definitely my favourite extension.
Posted by Rizaria on 05/23 at 10:41 PM
Downgraded LiveClick to version 0.3.5.0 which works fine, and have disabled Update Check so as not to be caught out again. (Obviously last time I downgraded LiveClick I didn’t then make it compatible with Firefox 3.6.3. Remembered to this time, worked fine. Have tried upgrading to the next version of LiveClick and problem clicks right back in. So I’ll stick with 0.3.5.0)
Posted by Rizaria on 05/25 at 10:31 PM
There is some logic-inconsistencies in Live Click that (maybe it’s actually a feature) I find rather as a bug:
- folder styles apply only to parent folders
- some entries (“Open unreaded tabs” for example) apply to all livemark ancestors.
- “reload live Bookmarks” appears on all folders
..imho this should be sorted and apply to either parent or all ancestor folders. At least “reload live Bookmarks” should be gone from all posible folders.
Speaking of would like to have features:
would it be hard to display number of unread items also on parent folder (sum of unread from all livemarks)?
Posted by Kulmegil on 05/26 at 06:07 AM
Hi, there is a incompatibility between LiveClick 0.4.0.0 Beta and Menu Items Plus 1.8: Every left click on a Live bookmark will duplicate the ‘open “link”’ and ‘Mark all Items as Unread’ menu items. Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/LaKyx.png
According to the author of Menu Items Plus it’s not his extension’s fault, at least he came to that comclusion when there was a similar problem with Stylish, whose author agreed: http://forum.userstyles.org/comments.php?DiscussionID=17933&page=1#Item_0
I can confirm that the buggy behaviour in LiveClick is exactly the same as the (now fixed) behaviour in Stylish. Also disabling Menu Items Plus results in the problem disappearing.
Posted by Stefan on 05/26 at 03:09 PM
I noticed that Liveclick didn’t seem to check for new entries on Firefox startup. I had to click the button to make it start checking (regular check interval is 1 minute). That’s the impression I got. I disabled ‘check on startup’ and enabled it again. Will keep an eye on how it behaves from now on. It would’ve been reported by now I imagine, so maybe it’s me and maybe doing this helped. Will keep an eye on it.
Posted by cyruz on 05/26 at 03:14 PM
Seemingly it has been working yesterday but I can confirm that LiveClick did not start checking for updated bookmarks until I clicked the button. Now it does check in the set interval. Firefox 3.6.3, LiveClick 0.4.0.0b1 .
Posted by cyruz on 05/28 at 07:00 AM
Can someone explain where the read/unread status data is stored? I’m looking to sync multiple computers using Dropbox.
Thanks
Posted by quixin on 06/03 at 03:16 PM
For some reason now LiveClick 0.4.0.0 beta 1 gets stuck in an endless update check. I’m not sure how this is caused, but the update check just keeps going and going and never stops!
I have LiveClick to not check for new items on Firefox start and to only check for new items every 15 minutes.
The Error Console doesn’t list any errors.
Posted by Ngamer01 on 06/05 at 10:48 AM
I have come across a visual bug. This morning I opened Firefox for the first time and installed a new addon. Used the Firefox restart button to finish installing it. After that I uninstalled a few others so all in all I restarted Firefox 3 or 4 times. When liveclick then notified me of new items, one of the live bookmarks’ menu looked like this: http://www.imagebam.com/image/fef94783436219/ (I’ve cut the image off where the other items are listed, for simplicity’s sake).
It basically replicated the liveclick menu as often as I restarted Firefox with the restart button. Another menu looked the same, only had 3 entries of the liveclick menu items in total though. A regular restart (closing FF, then reopening it) fixed this issue. First time this has happened and I thought I’d report it. (:
Posted by cyruz on 06/06 at 03:26 AM
It appears it’s just an addon incompatibility with an addon called ‘organize statusbar’. Not a big deal, sorry for the trouble.
Posted by cyruz on 06/06 at 04:32 AM
I can now confirm that the aforementioned incompatibility is actually with Menu Icons Plus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8266/ . I started using that when CuteMenus 2 started displaying less and less icons.
Anyway, with almost every refresh, a new set of liveclick menu entries appear, as shown in the screenshot. Would be great if this could be fixed somehow, not a big deal if it’s not possible for now. Hope this helps.
Posted by cyruz on 06/08 at 10:04 AM
Installed it, but I won’t have time to check it during everyday browsing until tomorrow. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes though.
The custom timers for checks are not included in this beta, correct?
Posted by cyruz on 05/19 at 03:19 PM