Release Date Changed

To allow more time for localization to happen, the release date for Clippings 2.0 has changed. The plan is to have it released within the first two weeks of July.

Localization with Babelzilla

A fellow who did the Russian localization of Clippings 1.2.1 pointed me to Babelzilla for translating Mozilla application extensions. I checked it out and wondered why I didn't know about this sooner. This is great - a whole community of translators eager and ready to localize submitted extensions! It sure beats waiting until somebody grabs the offical release of a Firefox or Thunderbird (or other Mozilla app) extension, localizes it and then submits it - a process that could take days if not weeks after the official release.

With Clippings 2.0 ready to go (only one minor fix was needed), I registered on to Babelzilla and uploaded the XPI file. It'll be interesting to see the community effort involved in the translations that will be made available, not to mention how long it'll take. With Clippings being made available in a number of different languages, it will truly benefit people the world over.

Clippings 2.0 Release Candidate 1

This release candidate is now available for download. Barring any last-minute showstopper bugs, this release should resemble the final 2.0 release. Download link:

Clippings 2.0 RC 1 (62 KB; English-US; compatible with Firefox 1.5-1.5.0.x and Thunderbird 1.5-1.5.0.x)

As this is not the final 2.0 release, no automatic updating will occur if you already have Clippings 1.x or any previous development snapshot release installed. You must uninstall the old version of Clippings first in Extension Manager before installing this release.

Summary of New Features

• Now works with Mozilla Thunderbird! Clippings can be created from both the message view and the message compose windows by dragging selected text into the Clippings icon on the Thunderbird status bar. Clippings can also be inserted into the body of an email message in the message compose window using the context menu.
• Folders and subfolders to organize your clippings. You can choose which folder to place a new clipping in, create new folders (or delete folders you no longer need), and move or copy clippings into folders in Clippings Manager.
• Automatic back up of Clippings data. Back up files are stored in a ".clipbak" folder in your Firefox user profile folder.
• Automatic recovery of corrupted Clippings data. Clippings can now detect corruption of the data source file (clipdat2.rdf) and restore it from backup files.
• Export Clippings as HTML for printing or display in a Web browser.
  
• Export as Clippings 1.x format, for backwards compatibility with Clippings 1.x series.
• Clippings Manager window dimensions now remembered between sessions.
• Numerous bug fixes.

Compatibility with Firefox 1.0.x Discontinued

Due to problems with getting many of the new features to work with Firefox 1.0.x and Thunderbird 1.0.x, Clippings now requires Firefox 1.5 or newer and Thunderbird 1.5 or newer. Users who have not yet upgraded to the latest versions of Firefox and Thunderbird should do so.

What's Next?

Clippings 2.0 is scheduled to be released at the end of June. If you discover any bugs, please file them in Bugzilla. Be sure to do a search first to see if the issue hasn't been reported yet. Thanks for trying out Clippings!

Clippings Data Loss Problems, and Open Source

One of the bug fixes that is in the 1.99.6 development snapshot release (see previous post) includes removing control characters (ASCII codes 0 - 31 and 127, excluding 10 and 13 to permit line breaks) in clippings entries before they are added to the RDF data source in which Clippings are stored (CVS diff).

This should hopefully reduce, if not eliminate, the annoying data loss problems that have been reported by many users. Based on communication with the author of another Firefox extension - ScrapBook, which has a "notes" feature which is similar in scope to Clippings - garbage control characters in RDF string literals seems to be the culprit of many RDF data source corruption problems.

A tenet of open source is being able to share (or, in this case, obtain) source code and ideas like this with (or from) others without being constrained or barred by patents, non-disclosure agreements, or just the selfish desire to withhold knowledge, discoveries and wisdom in the interest of beating the competition and maximizing profits.

But it's not just developers helping each other out. End users can also help out in development efforts by reporting bugs and assisting in troubleshooting difficult problems. I am grateful for a few Clippings users who took the time and effort to assist in troubleshooting the data loss problems, getting back to me by email on my questions and them offering a few constructive suggestions of their own. This can only serve to make Clippings a better, stronger product for everyone.

I resent those few users out there leaving behind slanderous, sensational and meaningless comments like "worthless," "not ready for prime time!" and "needs more work" on the feedback page for Clippings on addons.mozilla.org. These are the same users who do not offer any details - like Firefox version, which OS they're using, whether Firefox crashed when their Clippings data was lost, and so on - that could help in pinpointing the cause. Comments by such users do nothing to help improve Clippings, and it's interesting that so much time and effort is expended in telling the world that "Clippings sucks." These users will not be missed.

Clippings 1.99.6 Released

This release fixes some bugs present in 1.99.5, which was released on 27 May 2006 (just a week ago!), and introduces integration with Mozilla Thunderbird.

If you already have Clippings 1.x or any previous development snapshot release installed, you must uninstall it first before installing this release.

Download link: http://downloads.mozdev.org/clippings/devel/clippings-1.99.6-en-US.xpi (62 KB; English-US; compatible with Firefox 1.5 - 1.5.0.x and Thunderbird 1.5-1.5.0.x)
All development snapshots to date can be found here: http://downloads.mozdev.org/clippings/devel/

Much effort has been made at finding and fixing bugs; however, this release is still rough around the edges, and ordinary users not comfortable trying out new software should stay with the current stable release, or wait until Clippings 2.0 is out.

What's New

• Now works with Mozilla Thunderbird! Clippings can be created from both the message view and the message compose windows by dragging selected text into the Clippings icon on the Thunderbird status bar. Clippings can also be inserted into the body of an email message in the message compose window, using the context menu.
• Bug fix: Clippings Manager item count remains as 1 when all items have been deleted.
• Bug fix: Imported folders do not show up in Clippings menu.

Compatibility with Firefox 1.0.x Discontinued

Due to problems with getting many of the new features to work with Firefox 1.0.x and Thunderbird 1.0.x, Clippings now requires Firefox 1.5 or newer and Thunderbird 1.5 or newer. Users who have not yet upgraded to the latest versions of Firefox and Thunderbird should do so.

Known Issues

• Folders do not appear on Clippings menu after they are created from Clippings Manager unless a new window is opened (regression).
  

Reporting Bugs

Please follow the usual process for bug reporting. Thanks for trying out Clippings.