Jitbit's list of the most frequently used online development tools:
Javascript compressor - a great tool to compress and obfuscate your Javascript code. Produces 2-10 times smaller scripts, speeding up your web-applications significantly. Highly recommended.
Google translate - yep. Both ASP.NET forum and helpdesk software are multilingual, so adding a simple label or a button to these products becomes a headache... Or - would become a headache, if there was no Google. Great tool. We even designed an internal utility that translates an ASP.NET resource file to a number of specified languages via Google-translate. We even consider releasing it to the public under some open-source license.
VirusTotal - a nice place to check your files for antivirus false-alarms. You never know when some paranoid antivirus will mark your program as a threat... For example, old versions of our Macro Recorder were accessing the registry using "ntdll.dll" and a number of anti-viruses have marked that as a suspicious behaviour. Always check your releases there.
IconFinder - not exactly a tool, but a great resource for UI-development. Hundreds of icons for your applications, both free and commercial.
AjaxLoad - a great online tool to create an animated "loading" icon for your Ajax-applications.
Online Development Tools That I Use Jan 30, 2010
Lessons Learned from Game Development Jan 25, 2010
A Russian friend of mine speaks of three lessons he got from game development, that are of use for any startup. Now some of this may sound rough, but it still makes some sense:
via habr
1. Know whom to please. The most responsive part of the audience, as a rule, are ordinary, not very educated people. They have a big need to fulfill themselves in this world. These people are the ones that write the most positive and the most negative reviews, delivering the most emotional passionate feedback. Commenting someone else's work is their way to assert themselves.
Pleasing these people is not enough, of course. But they are the main source of information for the higher-level audience. If you're not pleasing the first ones, the second ones will never know you exist.
2. Be ready for bad reception. Be ready to be praised. But be aware that next time the same very people may throw rotten tomatoes at you, saying that "your previous attempt was better". This is psychology - we all tend to think that "it was better in the past - the trees were taller and the grass was greener". And your sequel may actually suck.
3. Never stop. A lot of people will say that your idea is worthless. No one needs your product. Get used to this. The one who tries - succeeds only from time to time. But the one who does not - never succeeds.
via habr
RealBasic first impression
About a year ago in an article called "why we still use VB6 for some projects" I was complaining about the absence of a rapid development tool for Windows that would replace VB6. Even being an experienced C++ guy, I still miss the tool that would be simple as C#.NET, but would produce native code executables (instead of the .NET-Framework based managed ones).
I was looking at RealBasic for a long time and this weekend we finally found some time to experiment with it. Well, it's a great tool, I must say. Even though you can't just "migrate" your existing VB6 code to the new syntax (the "VB6 Migration Assistant" offered by Real Software doesn't really help - you still need to edit almost every method in your code), RealBasic is neat, simple and powerful... In spite of all the minor bugs, like not remembering the IDE's window-position, its a great tool. And the killer features are:
1) It's cross-platform (creates Windows/MacOS/Linux code)
2) It has all those things VB6 missed (like "real OOP" features - polymorphism, inheritance etc.)
But it has one major flaw that kills all the "pros":
The editor does not show all the code.
To edit a function you have to navigate to "application X - class Y - method ZZ". And you can see only one class method at a time. Here's what it looks like (click the image for the full-size screenshot):
Even the method declaration - is a dialog box with multiple fields.
Now, I totally understand that it's a matter of habit. All the other code editors I use ("MS Visual Studio" for C#, ASP.NET and C++, "Delphi", "C++ Builder" not to mention the exotic ones I tried, like "wxDev-C++") have "through" code editors, showing all the code at once. And I totally understand that this can even be an advantage - like someone said on the RealBasic forums - it makes you think more "object-oriented" and "structured". Now, this may be true... But still...
Not being able to see all the code is the biggest disadvantage for RealBasic. And you know why? Because you're not able to copy-paste your code-snippets, you're not able to share your code-snippets on the Internet.
And this is what RealSoftware should really consider - if you expect a platform to become popular among the developers, it should be easy for these devs to blog about the platform, discuss it, make the buzz and, of course, share code - post some samples and snippets on the forums and Q&A-websites like StackOverflow.com.
With the current editor even sharing the code with the guy in the same room becomes a pain! I can't just take a code-snippet and paste it into my app - I have to do it method by method. This is a real pain. And an example of how an internal product architecture affects user experience in a negative way.
P.S. Our Macro Recorder tool also has a built-in "visual editor" that shows a dialog box for every command you want to add to your macro. But still, the tool offers plain text clipboard compatibility - you can select some plain text in Notepad, press Ctrl+V in the Macro Recorder window and it will add the copied commands.
I was looking at RealBasic for a long time and this weekend we finally found some time to experiment with it. Well, it's a great tool, I must say. Even though you can't just "migrate" your existing VB6 code to the new syntax (the "VB6 Migration Assistant" offered by Real Software doesn't really help - you still need to edit almost every method in your code), RealBasic is neat, simple and powerful... In spite of all the minor bugs, like not remembering the IDE's window-position, its a great tool. And the killer features are:
1) It's cross-platform (creates Windows/MacOS/Linux code)
2) It has all those things VB6 missed (like "real OOP" features - polymorphism, inheritance etc.)
But it has one major flaw that kills all the "pros":
The editor does not show all the code.
To edit a function you have to navigate to "application X - class Y - method ZZ". And you can see only one class method at a time. Here's what it looks like (click the image for the full-size screenshot):
Even the method declaration - is a dialog box with multiple fields.
Now, I totally understand that it's a matter of habit. All the other code editors I use ("MS Visual Studio" for C#, ASP.NET and C++, "Delphi", "C++ Builder" not to mention the exotic ones I tried, like "wxDev-C++") have "through" code editors, showing all the code at once. And I totally understand that this can even be an advantage - like someone said on the RealBasic forums - it makes you think more "object-oriented" and "structured". Now, this may be true... But still...
Not being able to see all the code is the biggest disadvantage for RealBasic. And you know why? Because you're not able to copy-paste your code-snippets, you're not able to share your code-snippets on the Internet.
And this is what RealSoftware should really consider - if you expect a platform to become popular among the developers, it should be easy for these devs to blog about the platform, discuss it, make the buzz and, of course, share code - post some samples and snippets on the forums and Q&A-websites like StackOverflow.com.
With the current editor even sharing the code with the guy in the same room becomes a pain! I can't just take a code-snippet and paste it into my app - I have to do it method by method. This is a real pain. And an example of how an internal product architecture affects user experience in a negative way.
P.S. Our Macro Recorder tool also has a built-in "visual editor" that shows a dialog box for every command you want to add to your macro. But still, the tool offers plain text clipboard compatibility - you can select some plain text in Notepad, press Ctrl+V in the Macro Recorder window and it will add the copied commands.
Free Macro Recorder For Bloggers Jan 20, 2010
We're introducing a special deal: free Macro Recorder license for a blog review. If you are a blogger or a webmaster willing to get a free copy of the mouse recorder:
- Download the evaluation copy of Macro Recorder
- Post a review
- Let us know by sending an email to "info@jitbit.com" with a link to your review
- Get a free personal license + 1 year of free upgrades.
- It does not have to be a positive review. You are more than welcome to point out weaknesses or suggest features to the macro recorder. "I'm reviewing this crap just to get a license" is also fine.
- Your blog should be indexed by Google, should be more than 6 months old and should be "alive" (have some posts in the last 2-3 months)
- Your review should include a "dofollow" link to http://www.jitbit.com/macro-recorder/
- Content must be original
- We retain the right to refuse, in case your blog is a "spam blog" and has no value for readers.
Microsoft recommends upgrading from IE6 and IE7 Jan 18, 2010
Microsoft has finally recommended its customers to stop using IE6 and IE7. At last.
According to W3C statistics, the IE6 + IE7 share is still around 22%. And the actual number is even bigger I believe. Cause a typical IE-user never visits the W3C-website.
According to W3C statistics, the IE6 + IE7 share is still around 22%. And the actual number is even bigger I believe. Cause a typical IE-user never visits the W3C-website.
Jitbit Helpdesk goes ASP.NET 3.5 Jan 14, 2010
Several things stopped us from switching to ASP.NET 3.5:
1) Possible low penetration. Yes, we still have users who ask if our web based helpdesk software is compatible with MS SQL 2000 or even MS SQL 7.
2) Joel's rule - "never move to a new framework just because it's a new framework".
Now, when 3.5 has been here for a while, with even a Service Pack released, and when MS has almost shipped Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.NET 4.0, the reason #1 makes no sense anymore. And the new features of 3.5 - for instance, AJAX-scripting and LINQ - are beneficial for both our end users and the development team. This eliminates reason #2.
Please welcome - the latest version of Jitbit's web-based help-desk is based on ASP.NET 3.5.
1) Possible low penetration. Yes, we still have users who ask if our web based helpdesk software is compatible with MS SQL 2000 or even MS SQL 7.
2) Joel's rule - "never move to a new framework just because it's a new framework".
Now, when 3.5 has been here for a while, with even a Service Pack released, and when MS has almost shipped Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.NET 4.0, the reason #1 makes no sense anymore. And the new features of 3.5 - for instance, AJAX-scripting and LINQ - are beneficial for both our end users and the development team. This eliminates reason #2.
Please welcome - the latest version of Jitbit's web-based help-desk is based on ASP.NET 3.5.
SpamAssasin bug Jan 12, 2010
Apparently, SpamAssasin has a bug, that adds 3.4 spam-score to all emails dated 2010. So if you use SpamAssasin to filter spam, please follow the directions on their front-page to address the issue.
We were considering Spamassasin for our Hosted Help desk. I guess we have to think it over.
We were considering Spamassasin for our Hosted Help desk. I guess we have to think it over.
Adding Tweetmeme's "Retweet" button to Blogger.com
Today I finally got round to adding a "Retweet" button from tweetmeme.com to this blog. Which I strongly recommend to anyone, by the way.
Our blog is blogspot-powered, which makes things a bit complicated. After spending some time googling for a solution, I finally gave up and came up with my own.
So, to add a tweetmeme's "retweet" button to your blog at blogger.com follow these steps:
Unfortunately, I found no way to add this button to the blog feed. Anyone knows a way of doing this?
Our blog is blogspot-powered, which makes things a bit complicated. After spending some time googling for a solution, I finally gave up and came up with my own.
So, to add a tweetmeme's "retweet" button to your blog at blogger.com follow these steps:
- Do not use the Blogger's built-in "Tweetmeme" gadget. It adds the button to the blog's sidebar which makes it impossible to retweet individual posts from the blog's homepage.
- Log in to your Blogger account.
- Navigate to your blog's "Layout" page.
- Click "Edit HTML".
- Check the "Expand Widget Templates" box.
- Locate this text:
<div class='post-header-line-1'/>
- Add this code right after it:
<div style='float:right;margin-left:10px'><script type='text/javascript'>
tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>';tweetmeme_source = 'USERNAME';
</script>
<script src='http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js' type='text/javascript'> </script></div> - Replace "USERNAME" with your Twitter-name in the code above
Unfortunately, I found no way to add this button to the blog feed. Anyone knows a way of doing this?
New version of WYSIWYG BBCode Editor Jan 7, 2010
Our little freebie - WYSIWYG BBCode editor - has been updated to version 1.4 which fixes some Javascript errors. Grab it if you need it. If you don't - forgive us for this totally useless article.
Get it here
Get it here