Posts tagged DashBuddy
DashBuddy
Bringing Your Dash to WP7
A brief video of the new DashBuddy 5 - showing a little of the new layout and photo posting.
On Tumblr and use a PC?
Would you use a Tumblr client on your computer?
I realised I’d stopped checking Twitter when my day job started getting close to its deadlines - checked this morning and a tweet to my app account has me wondering - should I really push this DashBuddy thing and make a regular PC version as well?
I’m thinking of something that could
- Popup a notification when there were new posts
- Allow you to write posts offline (allowing you to save them locally or publish them ready for when you’ve next got internet access)
- “Mini Mode” so you get a tiny window to scroll through your dash while just seeing summary details, and then clicking on a post to get the full version (I’m thinking when you want to see what’s new without everyone seeing what you’re looking at)
I’m already working on the Windows 8 Version - but the OS isn’t out for a while and even then a lot of people won’t upgrade etc.
I genuinely don’t know - would you use it if I made it, or would you rather just keep a browser window open?
I’d appreciate your thoughts.
Steven
Photoset Publishing in DashBuddy 5
The new screen I’ve just finished writing - allowing multiple pictures to be uploaded at once (albeit slowly because the time it takes to URL encode a large picture on a phone)
DashBuddy PhotoSet UI
Ever since I pushed the photoset functionality into DashBuddy, I’ve had a desire to re-think it. I haven’t enjoyed the way it was wired up. The two for me were that it didn’t give you a very good idea of how many photos there were - and that it was taking you away from the page to show you the images.
Here’s a quick look at a PhotoSet with the new DashBuddy5 dashboard view. Inline rendering of the smallest available image for each photo gives you an immediate summary of what’s available. Selecting the photo then changes the large image, so you can browse a photo set without having to move around the application.
For those who want a little bit more room for a photo, I’m looking at adding an option for click and hold to make the image full screen, if required.
The New Faces of DashBuddy
Initial screenshots of DashBuddy for WP7 - Version 5. Alongside the first screenshot of DashBuddy for Windows 8 - Version 1.
These two share a codebase and API - and I’m writing this one from scratch, my own OAuth provider, my own MVVM model, async built in as standard for easier cancellation of tasks, everything as close to the metal as possible in order to try and enhance the performance and manage the experience specifically for Tumblr users - rather than using 3rd party libraries that are forced to put in extra layers of abstraction in order to be of benefit to all developers.
This has already helped in a dramatic way, as the Windows 8 version uses new security features in Windows 8 in order to give DashBuddy permission to the app the same way any other website would, rather than using XAuth like I have to in WP7.
It’s slower development work as I’m progressing the functionality of both apps in parallel, and I’m really re-writing the entire thing in order to make sure each decision is the right one, but I hope to have it ready for June - as that would give me the opportunity to attend a Microsoft UK Lab, and try to make DashBuddy for Windows 8 available at launch!
Keep everything crossed and I’m sure I’ll post more as the project progresses.
Steven
Notice that little icon in the bottom-right corner?
Well if I’m having to re-write the back end of DashBuddy to try and make it fast enough on WP7 to post multiple images - I thought I might as well take what I’ve learnt on the phone and apply it to a Metro App.
Screenshot of my dash in Win8 coming as soon as I can!
“And now for a taste of things to come”
After real life, once again, got in the way - I’ve started looking at DashBuddy improvements for the next version. This is a simple screenshot showing the new theme that I’m working on after comments about the application being “ugly”. The idea is for those people who still prefer the traditional Metro feel - there will be an option in the app settings to switch the styling back to the way it was.
I’ve already improved rendering performance and made some headway into image downloading. The regular refreshing of the post lists and dashboard is going to be removed, so that they have to be refreshed - plus the ability to cancel a refresh will be added (icon change on the app bar at the bottom of the screen).
The main screen is undergoing a major overhaul no matter which theme you choose, making the visual side of things much more appearing; a hub-style main screen which will have sections for your dashboard, blog links, follower avatars and post options available to you.
I hope to be able to give you a proper “hub” screenshot of the new Theme very soon.
v3.12 Submitted
Just a quick note to let you know I’ve submitted another small update to DashBuddy. This one makes a tweak to the background task as I’ve noticed it’s been alerting even when you’ve checked your dashboard and it needed fixing.
The other change I’ve made is a new icon on the more details page for a post. This “share” icon allows you to share the link from a post to any of the social networks you’ve got set up on your phone (Facebook, twitter, Windows Live etc.)
Hope you like the update!
Steven
v3.11 Submitted
I’ve just submitted a small update to Microsoft for DashBuddy.
v3.11 fixes the background task to check for new posts, which wasn’t working since the last version - it also changes the note information on posts so that it matches with the Tumblr API. Tumblr changed the API after i noticed that reply notes weren’t being marked correctly in the text DashBuddy was receiving - this has now been fixed and an update has been submitted.
Steven
Failed Submission Because…what?
Email when I woke up - failed submission. All I did was remove China from the submitted country list!
Very concerning. The report notes read:
“The Developer must provide valid account information and specific login instructions to fully test the application.”
Huh? I can understand if this is a new app - totally understand - but I’m over a dozen updates in and not one of them has raised this before. They’ve logged in, tested and raised problems.
My concern is not the effort required in adding a new account to Tumblr, but the fact that this means they’re not testing my app in a consistent manner. If they were - the login details would be available to this guy immediately.
So I’m adding a new account, adding them to my submission, and updating the code so that the new reblog/change blog functionality is in the version that eventually gets applied.
The annoying thing is that this means more delay to the people using it.
