I am proud to announce my company was hired to create Mac version of LiveChat operator software. The application just entered alpha-phase and today closed tests were started. I hope too that the new refreshing LiveChat icon (on the right) designed by me will be the cherry on the project’s pie.

LiveChat provides innovative web based customer support solutions including live web statistics and live customer chat. The company has great potential and impressive customer base, so you may be interested to follow their Twitter feed too here.

Checkout new L&F from just released alpha and tell me what do you think:

Now I am heading seaside to get some rest, because upcoming September will be busy for sure.

I should say it first – mostly Polish gossips, in Polish language. But anyway Kozaczek.pl is another nanoANT’s piece of craft (mind the spelling). After one week of its premier it topped 2nd in Polish AppStore. We had greater expectations, but some iPhone users here in Poland are really great bigots. I have seen many comments accusing some iPhone news editors that they have put a little news about this app, because this app ill befits there. Come on!

Anyway doing this app was a great fun and I believe using it is a great fun too, especially as an alternative to those grave TV news everyday. Checkout official release news here.

DrawIt was created and is maintained by its author Pieter Omvlee. While doing initial design of this application Pieter asked for help French designer Laurent Baumann (working now for Apple). Pieter’s skills and Laurent’s talent joint together created something extraordinary, the great UI of DrawIt made from scratch to give you an ability to quickly create web/bitmap designs with vector tools and stack of effects. I will not get into details here, as you can find few good articles about DrawIt over the Internet, but I will rather describe little experiment of mine I have made today and try to answer the question if DrawIt can be good Photoshop replacement for icon and web design.

Since lately I was forced to use Photoshop, I decided to give DrawIt a try and recreate one of outstanding Photoshop tutorial icons using DrawIt. My choice went for Basic House Icon from PSDTuts+ site. You can see the result of my work above and you can download the DrawIt source file here.

First of all DrawIt is non-destructive vector based program. Which means you can always revise any step and decision you have made during design process. The idea is based on shapes and effects applied onto them, something you could find in Macromedia Fireworks, Freehand (RiP) or Adobe Photoshop‘s layer’s effects.

Photoshop Layer With Effects

As seen on many Photoshop icon design tutorials, the starting point is a path filled with some gradient or simply filled with black color.  Then most of the folks apply effects created out of the path’s filling. The effects panel used all over again unfortunately is buried in Layers panel and requires extra interaction to pop it up.

In my opinion this really makes me wonder what made Photoshop to be considered better than Macromedia Fireworks or Illustrator for icon design when you are working constantly applying effect, closing and opening Effects window which is simply uncomfortable.

DrawIt Effect Stack

Here in DrawIt it is much easier to set effects for particular shape. First of all you are working only shapes, so you can always touch and redefine the shape’s shape using vector tools, while Photoshop it takes a bit more to redefine layer’s path, also when you did some manual touch to the layer then redefining its path will kill your modifications.

Also DrawIt effects may be applied in random user’s defined order. You can also double same effect, disable and reenable them on fly.

Photoshop’s touch to the image

There’s one thing that you can do in Photoshop but you can’t in vector based programs. It is some human touch to the color or shade using tools like burn, dodge. Such a “touch” can sometimes drastically improve  overall effect. Unfortunately this is impossible simply using DrawIt, as everything is an object here, so dodging particular area of an object is simply impossible.

Nevertheless there is always alternative ways to achieve same effect as you would get using hand drawing Photoshop tools in DrawIt. You just need “think vector”. Sometimes experimenting with various settings can result with amazing overall look of an object.

DrawIt’s perfection killed by some flaws

Unfortunately some minor but longstanding bugs are flies in the DrawIt’s ointment. Undo/redo is the basic thing you expect to work well in any program. It does work well in Photoshop, TextMate, iWork, but NOT in DrawIt, that tends to forget some actions in its undo chain, which makes unpleasant surprise when playing with effects.

Another thing that makes you suffer it a way you change colors of gradients and other various objects, sometimes you need to click few times to make DrawIt change the color of selected property. Again, color panel tends to forget what it was attached to, especially when you change switch objects Color panel is still on screen but attached to nothing.

Resizing objects can be very painful too. First, changing objects height makes it change its vertical position, this isn’t right! Second, trying to resize the document with all objects usually leads to misplacement of those objects.

Finally vector (shape) editing mode deserves more polish, as sometimes you may get crazy if you want to delete several points (no way to drag/select few points), or if you move the point out of the canvas you cannot control it anymore its handle disappears (clipped by canvas rectangle), while you expect shape’s vector handles should be visible outside of the canvas too.

Is it worth a price?

DrawIt is absolutely worth its price and I would glad pay for it again if those few annoying bugs were removed. The author is a very kind nice young fellow willing to listen for the new ideas for his project. One of such ideas is slicing functionality that is probably a result IM chat I did with the author while ago.

However peeking recently into author’s blog it seems he is more focused on his other applications – too bad, but that’s life – you are working on something that gives you best revenue, which may be not DrawIt in this case.

What about Photoshop? In my opinion it is definitely NOT worth a price if you want just an icon design software. I really regret all competing software producers such as Corel, ACD, Xara dropped support for Mac OS X, leaving us in hands of Adobe. Thank God there is DrawIt (and maybe Vectordesigner ;P).

This is the official method, and since SDK 4 does NOT come with 3.x headers, the only method to make your app run on 3.x. But it is not so simple, because now in your Xcode you are using iOS 4 API. So how do you know you are not using classes or methods that do not exist in 3.x and putting them into your code will crash your app on 3.x device? You don’t!

Unfortunately Xcode will warn you about deprecated API, but will NOT warn you about API that does not exist on your deployment target. I buy you a beer if you can find such warning option in Xcode project configuration.

This would be acceptable if you could test your application on iPhone 3.x OS Simulator, but there is no any in SDK 4 (neither as an option), hence you can’t absolutely tell your app won’t gonna blow on iPhone OS 3.x if you upgraded your TESTING devices to iOS 4.

I have spent a while trying to figure our what was Apple’s engineers official statement about that on devforums. And they say if you want to test 3.x compatibility you need get a device with iPhone OS 3.x. Huh? So I shall buy an new iPhone expecting it won’t have iOS 4 on board, because there is no (legal) way to downgrade existing device to 3.x.

Trying to find out a more reasonable way I have ended up with installing an OLD SDK 3.2 on /Developer-3.2. Finally tested my application… but fiddling with SDK 4 was not over. (NOTE: Obviously this method isn’t really free as you gonna lost 4GB for old SDK installation and 2.5GB for download, but it far less expensive than getting a new old 3.x device.)

Still there are few gotchas with this method

And here is one of them. If you happen to use iOS4 API in your code, Apple says that your shall check functions (and class) pointers against nil.

One of the new classes introduced by iOS4 API is UITapGestureRecognizer. I happened to know that because 3.x SDK complained about unknown UITapGestureRecognizer class. So I tried in my code:

UITapGestureRecognizer *singleTap = [[UITapGestureRecognizerClass alloc]
    initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleSingleTap:)];
if( singleTap != nil ) {
    // do something, we shall be there only on iOS4

Should be enough to be compatible with 3.x device compiling on SDK 4, since UITapGestureRecognizer is introduced by iOS4 API I expected that on 3.x it will be nil so singleTap will be nil too! (BTW. It won’t compile with SDK 3.x I have just installed ;P)

I have sent my app to beta tester with 3.x device, that replied the app is still crashing. So my reasoning about nil was NOT true. Okay, fine, let’s try with:

Class TapGestureRecognizerClass = NSClassFromString(@"UITapGestureRecognizer");
if( TapGestureRecognizerClass != nil ) {
    // do something, we shall be there only on iOS4

Again crashes on 3.x device.

I have lost one day on communication with beta tester and scratching my head. You know why? Because UITapGestureRecognizer actually do EXIST in iPhone OS 3.x but it is NOT in the public API. Moreover it misses some methods that do exist in iOS 4 API, so finally I ended up with something like this:

Class TapGestureRecognizerClass = NSClassFromString(@"UITapGestureRecognizer");
if( TapGestureRecognizerClass != nil ) {
    UITapGestureRecognizer *singleTap = [[TapGestureRecognizerClass alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleSingleTap:)];
    if( singleTap != nil ) {
        if( [singleTap respondsToSelector:@selector(setNumberOfTapsRequired:)] ) {
            [singleTap setNumberOfTapsRequired:1];
        }
        // .. and checking other selectors

And this was my WORKING method to be compatible with 3.x and using some of iOS 4 API. Crazy enough?

If you have one, check out http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/ on it.

Do you like my iPad stand? It is a table easel, paid 25zł (about $10) and it is far more flexible and sexy than all those overpriced dedicated stands. By the way, iPad screen seems to be more blueish than MacBook’s. Both are led backlit, so I wonder why?

I have just learned that AppStore is amazing phenomenon. It is quite impossible to predict impact of an application before it gets released. Some “silly” apps stay on top for weeks, while some real gems are quickly forgotten. So it is worth to test even most crazy wicked ideas against iPhone users putting them into life as AppStore app.

It is high time to release own application iPhone after spending a while doing apps for companies. So I decided to make something useful for myself what others can appreciate too.

Here are my very own apps:

• Strefa a Wirtualna Polska Strefa MP3 streaming audio client. Strefa MP3 is a portal containing over 100’000 songs of amateur and professional polish artists, every day brings tens of new songs. IMHO that is much better than commercial radio stations serving all those boring pieces we already heard before thousand times.
• Wezwij Taxi a polish taxi catalog and taximeter in one app. Now this program has one purpose: keep updated database of taxis for major cities of Poland. But in the future, I think this app can turn into some kind of one button taxi call, using your GPS position without a need to call or name your position to the operator. Useful for those traveling to unfamiliar cities.

Update: Strefa is already available at AppStore, Wezwij Taxi waits for fixes and resubmit.

1. It uses now click menu instead of keystroke “System Events” command, because in some cases when you had this script assigned to shortcut that used Ctrl or Shift modifiers, those modifiers were sent together with Cmd to “Terminal” producing invalid behavior.
2. It waits 0.5 second when window is busy just in case Terminal.app was not running and it is just loading the shell which makes it busy for short while too. Fixes incorrect behavior of opening extra tab when Terminal.app was not running.

If you ever wondered how to open specified path in new tab of Terminal.app or reuse current one if it is not busy (running a command), here’s a script you may use:

tell application "Terminal"

    activate

    set windowCount to (count of the windows)

    -- Terminal may be just launched loading the shell, wait a bit
    if windowCount is greater than 0 and first window is busy then
        delay 0.5
    end

    -- Still busy / no windows? open new tab
    if windowCount is greater than 0 and first window is busy or windowCount is 0 then
        tell application "System Events" to tell process "Terminal"
            click first menu item of first menu of second menu item of first menu of third menu bar item of first menu bar
        end tell
    end if

    do script "cd #{e_as(e_sh(dir))}" in first window

end tell

Where #{e_as(e_sh(dir))} is your desired folder. This is modified chunk of TextMate‘s command script found at Mark Eli Kalderon’s Blog. Thanks Mark!

Note: Mark’s TextMate command script does not open anything when Terminal.app has no windows or it is not running.

A story with happy ending

Since a while I am a happy Mac OS X user, would be happiest one… if only I could write my mails easily…

Even I find myself often talk too much I am neither a perfect speaker nor writer. So something commonly called “spell checker” is an invaluable tool in my daily work, especially when sending bunch mails per day. Short after my transition to Mac I was very excited finding out that spell checking is built into the system. Unfortunately as a spelling mistake prone Pole speaking usually English at work and Polish privately I realized that having no Polish spell checker makes my doom.

cocoAspell goes first

In late 2007 browsing trough various forums I discovered cocoAspell, an extra spell checker service for OSX using aspell dictionaries. It was working pretty well, if only it was not crashing. cocoaSpell was not also fastest software I ever seen. Additionally I noticed everything I tried I was unable to perform successful switch to other language while already working in Mail.app, so it had to be restarted after every switch. That was terrible annoyance.

Anyway I was blaming cocoAspell, for not being updated for a long while.

Meeting CheckSpell

In early 2008 the very first version of CheckSpell was released, with all its glory going to Marcin Dalecki (the author) for addressing all the drawbacks of cocaSpell such as performance, stability and flexibility and all the joy to ex-cocoaSpell users. After the first release I was working a bit with Marcin to fix some minor glitches of CheckSpell. Hitting 1.3 we have realised that Mail.app (and other apps) language switching problem is something that lays in the system framework and we cannot do anything about without Apple‘s help. Soon the others confirmed the problem.

Being a patient reporter

I rushed to Apple’s Mac OS X feedback page, filling the report. Bang, .. “thank you for your report”. Great! What now? Argh, what I should expect. I was looking on 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4 passing by. And the bug was still there.

Being not discouraged, I kept trying to nail down the problem. It led me to Foundation framework of Mac OS X stubbornly calling wrong spell server.

Let me introduce you the bug

AppleSpell.service NSSpellServer is registered with registerLanguage:byVendor: for “en“, “fr” .. etc. languages and “Apple” vendor.
CheckSpell.service NSSpellServer is registered for exclusively other languages as “pl“, “cs“, “lt“, “lv“, “sk” … with “Apple” vendor (“Apple” is used here to avoid having vendor name in the list, however I checked for the bug using different vendor name “Check“, and it occurs as well).

So it often happens that Foundation calls CheckSpell.service for “en” and vice-versa AppleSpell.service for “pl“! This happens by instance in Mail.app, when I first use English spell checking via AppleSpell.service, and switch to Polish (pl) via CheckSpell.service for my next mail, Foundation (NSSpellChecker) is getting crazy, and asking AppleSpell for “pl“, which results in totally wrong (empty) response. In order to get proper “pl” via CheckSpell.service I need to restart Mail.app, but then when I want to switch to English, once again I need to restart.

This problem hits all users using some extra spell checkers also CocoaSpell, so all eastern Europe, and all people using multiple languages at Mail.app.

But most important thing is that this problem is not related explicitly to Mail.app, which is just a reference. All applications using Foundation‘s spelling interface, such as Safari are affected. So yes, you need to restart your Safari closing all open windows and tabs if you want to switch spelling language when you type your blog or forum post.

How to reproduce it

Download and install CheckSpell.

The installer will create /Library/Services/CheckSpell.service which is spell server based on NSSpellServer Cocoa API.
Once it is installed you should see additional languages such as Polski or Cestina. Let’s try reproduce the bug with Polish<->English switching.

Try to open Mail.app and write new mail as below:

Here below is some Polish sentence.
Tutaj u góry jest tekst po angielsku.

Expected results

1st line should be valid only in English (AppleSpell) spelling language set, 2nd should be valid only in Polish (CheckSpell).

Actual results

Unfortunately when I start writing mail with English spelling, switching to Polish doesn’t really make 2nd line valid, I get absolutely no response from Polish spell checker (probably AppleSpell is getting called with “pl” instead of CheckSpell)

Once the mail is saved and Mail.app restarted, it starts fine with Polish, … until the switch back to English. Then CheckSpell is complaining that it is getting called with “en” language which it wasn’t registered for (AppleSpell should be called).

Note that..

When you do: “killall AppleSpell CheckSpell” prior running Mail.app, switching spelling languages works somehow fine! So the problem appears when AppleSpell & CheckSpell service processes are already running in the system. So the problem may not appear 1st time when you run Mail.app after installation of CheckSpell, please rerun it once both spelling service processes are running.

So the diagnosis is that once single application using Foundation.framework contacts the NSSpellServer that is already running, it will always use THIS one regardless of selected language and other NSSpellServer that may be proper.

Additionally all NSTextView based GUIs such as Mail.app miss revalidation. Every time you change the language in Spelling & Gramma window and you got Check spelling as you type ON the spelling is not revalidated with current language, you need to click Next many many times, or scroll your cursor trough whole document in order to make the spelling underline incorrect words in current language.
This is also the case when you open the saved mail in Mail.app, incorrect words are not underlined on open.

Catching up bit closer with Apple

I have subscribed to cocoa-dev mailing list and sent there the report. What was my (positive) surprise when I received a response from Apple‘s employee asking for some extra details and claiming they will have a look at this. Woah, I thought, you rock dudes!

After I send the guy few extra lines about my configuration etc. I started looking towards the response and hopefully the FIX itself. None of them arrived. I have resent some mails asking for the contact, … no reply. I have asked for feedback again on cocoa-dev, no reply. Even I saw the guy posting in other threads on the list.

Finally I filled bug 6206237 at bugreport.apple.com as some list member (but not an Apple’s employee) advised me.

Trying to believe I did something wrong…

Apple, you should respond “Bugger off!” at the very beginning – to all the bug reports I have sent, to all OSX users that use custom spell checker. It is 10.5.5 right now and we still need to live with this bug.

All this makes me understand that the Apple’s way is to stay quiet as the grave, if there is any problem regarding their products. But there is no conclusion there, all I can say I feel the pity that all my reports gone into the drain and OSX cannot be pushed closer to the perfection (even it could), making myself and many my fellow countrymans happier.

I encourage everybody to post comments below about their experiences with this problem. Hope someday this will hit the eye of Apple’s management.

Postscriptum

After having a sleep with the problem in my head, I tend to believe only way is to add English, French, etc. spelling checking into CheckSpell and manually disable AppleSpell.service. This should make the trick, even it is quite bad idea to touch /System/Library/Services.

You can help

If you have ADC account please fill a bug report at bugreport.apple.com and reference Problem ID 6206237. Unfortunately Apple does not let you see other problems than just yours.