Existing users, 
User Name Strider72
Member Since 2002-09-25
Total number of Feedback Posts: 127
Total number of comments: 54
Last 10 Feedback Posts by Strider72 [ Search for All ]
Poedit 1.3.9.1 (Mac OS X)
Excellent program with minor limitations 
I program plugins for WordPress (open-source blog software), and Poedit is an excellent program for making my plugins "translation friendly". It's main purpose appears to be to allow you to open .po files and add translated strings for each text string therein. It is excellently suited for this job, and flawlessly (and automatically) creates the necessary .mo files. It will also create .pot files from the source files, but this feature is strangely hidden. For instance, the program will not even open a .pot file dropped on to it, even though they are functionally identical to .po files (a .pot file is simply a template for a .po file). Similarly, the Open dialog is targeted specifically at .po files, and doesn't recognize .pot files unless you switch it to "all files *.*") I think my biggest irritation is that there is no ability to edit the entries directly. I can add and edit a translation of a string, but not, for example, _delete_ one. When working with WordPress there are inevitable some strings that are already covered in the main program's .mo file, and thus not needed in my plugin's translation ("Options Saved" and so forth). I would love to just pick one and hit "delete" but instead I have to open the file in a separate text editor, track down the entry manually, and delete it there. There are a handful of other minor un-Mac-like annoyances, such as the fact that command-w does not close the current window. This is minor stuff and easily fixed. As for opening.pot files, I simply set Poedit as the default program for those files, and thus can just double-click them. It would also be nice if this program added a couple niceties such as the ability to HTML encode/decode strings automatically, but again, these are minor quibbles. Overall this is an excellent little program that accomplishes a fairly obscure task quite well. [alert admin]
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Wednesday, January 02 2008 @ 07:21 AM PST
EraseCMPlugIn 1.3.2 (Mac OS X)
I would love to have this, but the download link is not working. Can anybody tell me where to find it? [alert admin]
Monday, September 10 2007 @ 09:18 PM PDT
ImageTagger 1.0.4 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)
I am not the developer, but since this has apparently been abandoned, I have made it available for download at my site:
Please note I cannot support the app or provide bug fixes, as I do not have the source code. I'm just trying to do a favor to the community.
Monday, May 07 2007 @ 09:31 AM PDT
Yep 1.5.1 (Mac OS X)
This is an outstanding update -- I'm surprised how much I like the idea of mixing "managed" documents with those that are simply on my hard drive. The change in philosophy in this version fixes many of the limitation of earlier versions. The biggest criticism I can give about 1.5.1 is that the update is quite jarring -- it's almost guaranteed to alarm anybody who runs the program for the first time. The programmers would be strongly advised to change the program so that it defaults to the "managed documents" iTunes-like method of earlier versions, and asks users if they would like to also track other folders. It's a great feature, and should be pointed out to users, but I have to say it scared the hell out of me when it spontaneously started importing hundreds of PDFs from all over my hard drive. Was it moving all this into the Yep folder? What the hell was happening??? ACK! Stop!!!! I almost force-quit the program, not realizing that the change would be easily undo-able in Preferences. That, however, is easily remedied, and after that initial confusion, the new program is simply outstanding. I have it set up to track my Documents folder and Desktop. Time will tell if the "too many methods" aspect might become confusing, as we can now use tags, organize in folders, AND organize in iTunes-like playlists. You can use the three in combination, however, which could be quite powerful. For example, I can go into folder view, select just the Yep folder, and then flip back to the tag cloud and use it just with the group of files I selected in folder view. Nice. The "use path elements as tags" feature is also interesting. Basically, the program can auto-assign tags based on the folders in the path of a particular file. So if I have a folder in my documents folder called "receipts", they will all automatically show up under a tag "receipts" in Yep. This feature can be turned on or off if you don't use it, OR you can choose to stifle just certain path tags. Again, _very_ well thought out, and very powerful. It's unusual to find shareware in which the user interface is as well thought-0out as with Yep. They really designed this thing, with a minimum of "gee wiz" flash (like the clumsy but beautiful "Delicious Monster") and a real eye towards ease of use, flexibility, and power. A very nice effort. [alert admin]
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Saturday, March 31 2007 @ 09:35 AM PDT
1Passwd 2.3.7 (Mac OS X)
Overall this program is a great concept: the ability to save all your web logins in the Apple Keychain is great -- something I have longed for in Firefox. The interface is pretty good, though in the app itself there are some oddities (such as changing the appearance of the buttons used in browsers -- you have to uninstall/reinstall the browser-specific buttons for it to take effect). Most of he browser buttons for Firefox are hard to distinguish when using small buttons on the toolbar -- the art needs work in this regard. As for functionality once it's set up, the menu is nicely done, though it would be nice if I didn't have to use the submenu every time to retrieve a login. I understand the need in case there are multiple logins on a page, but do we also need it when there is only one login? I think the Palm application is notable in intent, but _terrible_ in execution. That thing should be considereed an early beta at best. It crashes regularly, locking up the Palm in the process. It's awkward to install and just plain silly when it comes to keeping it updated. (No syncing -- rather you need to open the main OS X program and export a Palm file, and then manually install that file on your Palm.) Perhaps the developer would be better off working with a third-party and make this program link up with something like SplashID for Palm? To the developer I would say: Please do continue pursuing the Palm aspect of this, as that was one of the big things that drw my notice. That being said, your Palm app needs a lot of work, and marketing it as a feature of the program currently puts the quality of your other coding into question. Call it a "beta feature" or something for now. Again, syncing with SplashID or the like may be the better way to go. Overall, four and a half stars for the OS X program and Firefox plugin, minus one for the as-yet poor Palm app. I will certainly keep an eye on this! [alert admin]
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Thursday, March 08 2007 @ 12:52 PM PST
RCWebColorPicker 1.0 (Mac OS X)
It doea what it says on the tin. You have the option to limit the colors to "web safe" or not. Pretty straightforward. Though I'm not sure how much need there is anymore for the web safe palate anymore, if you need it for some reason, this color picker does the job nicely. There's one small issue with installation taht might confuse many people: The plugin shows up as a folder -- the author needs to set it up properly as a "package" so that the folder appears in Finder as a single file. However, dropping that folder into the colorpickers directory works just fine. [alert admin]
Sunday, February 04 2007 @ 06:32 PM PST
Moneydance 2007 (Mac OS X)
The new 2007 release has a rather serious (but easily worked-around) bug. In several screens, interface elements are distorted or entirely missing, making those screens unuseable. The workaround is to go into the preferences and change the "Look and Feel" setting to something _other_ than "Mac OS X". (I recommend setting it to "Metal".) The only problem there is that the Preferences screen is one of those that is messed up, so changing the setting is a bit tricky.... The pulldown menu you want is there, but invisible until you click on it. Click around the lower half of the screen and you will reveal several popup menus. The one you want is about 1/4 of the way from the bottom of the preferences screen. Good luck. Beyond this hopefully-soon-fixed bug, the programs works well. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 3 of 3 users found this helpful
Friday, January 26 2007 @ 02:02 PM PST
Apple iChat AV 3.1.8 (Mac OS X)
Can anybody explain why updating a Certificate in a chat program requires a reboot? I always thought part of the value of OS X is that apps aren't tied deeply into the OS, which increases stability. Having to reboot to update a small part of iChat suggests deeper ties into the OS than such a trivial program should have to have. It's always irritating when Apple breaks its own rules. [alert admin]
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Friday, January 05 2007 @ 11:21 AM PST
LocationChanger 1.0 (Mac OS X)
Great concept, GUI very limited 
The main idea of this program is excellent, and something I have been wishing for with OS X for quite a while. What we have here is an interesting start, but a bit too rough around the edges for everyday use. First off, I wish it could changesettings without starting up all the programs involved. As soon as it kicks in, iTunes, iChat, Mail, etc. all run. The GUI is a good start, but also needs some refinement. A simple drop-down menu of various settings files would be much preferable to the confusing type-in box. If I type in the name of an existing settings file, it fetches the computer's _current_ settings (starting up iTunes... etc...). Huh??? Documentation is virtually nonexistent, sadly. This would probably be a lot more useful with some how-tos attached. Worse, is that there are some things this program implements that I cannot seem to turn off, and they are screwing up my computer. Somehow the settings file I set up is set to turn on Privoxy, and I have to go manually turn it off every time. I blanked out the Privoxy field in the GUI, but it still changes this every time -- how do I turn this off? So this is a good, but very rough, start. I would like to see this further developed, but for the time being, I'm not sure if it's worth dealing with the issues. BTW, if you're trying to get Growl to work: try this in the Growl Notify field: /usr/local/bin/growlnotify [alert admin]
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Wednesday, December 27 2006 @ 01:20 PM PST
Moneydance 2006r5 (Mac OS X)
Ridiculous errors -- can't trust it
This program looks nice, and the interface is well designed. I really want to love this program, but at the end of the day, I simply can't trust it to keep the numbers straight. I'll give a simple example: I've set up my mortgage. Principal, interest rate, no points. Two years later I'm wondering just how much principal I've paid, so I look in MoneyDance. The number Moneydance gives me for the remaining principal due seems low, so I crunch some numbers separately. WAY OFF. Turns out Moneydance is apparently applying the entire payment toward the principal -- as though I had a 0% mortgage. (As much as I would love that rate, it's not very likely!) This is a HUGE error and completely inexcusable for a supposedly mature accounting program. I use a program like this because I don't WANT to have to figure all this out manually, and sadly I clearly can not trust Moneydance to do these calculations. [alert admin]
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Monday, December 18 2006 @ 09:26 AM PST
Last 10 Comments by Strider72 [ Search for All ]
Poor support from Hamrick @ Vuescan
Mr. Hamrick -- If the last update he got with his purchase had a bug that made it unusable, I think it's entirely reasonable for him to expect the bug fix. He _had_ a working piece of software. You, the developer, introduced a bug that broke things. It happens -- nobody's crying foul over the existence of bugs; _but_ as you did legitimately introduce a bug, you should probably give him the one more update…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Tuesday, September 30 2008 @ 05:41 AM PDT
For Mac OS X, check out the free "Vine Server". Absolutely outstanding and _very_ easy to use. For a client I use the also excellent "Chicken of the VNC". (There is also a for-pay "Vine Client")
Original feedback item : Read More
Friday, March 28 2008 @ 10:43 AM PDT
Excellent program with minor limitations
"Similarly for your complain that POT files cannot be opened: they are not editable, so it's not ver useful to do it." What about when I want to update them if I am the original developer? I'm the one handing out the .pot file -- iwant to be able to update it when I update the App. As for removing strings -- I write plugins for open source web software (WordPress, using PHP). WordPress core…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Saturday, March 15 2008 @ 07:01 AM PDT
He releases minor updates because there's no reason to hold them back. Somebody out there is probably waiting for that improvement to the one or two scanners that he just fixed... or whatever it is. I don't download every update, but I do look at the Changes list and see if its something relating to me and the scanners (yes, plural) I use. Ino friend of Ed's -- in fact, in correspondence I found him to…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Thursday, July 05 2007 @ 08:02 PM PDT
overpriced for its target market, i.e. me
Yes .mac is a subscription, but think about it... next year there will be a new OS X out, and you will probably need to pay for SyncTogether again as an upgrade.... When it's pay for an upgrade or stop using it, that's de facto subscription itself. Then you have to figure the added hassle inherent in the assumption that this will inevitably not work as well as Apple's own software, (esp. reading the…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Sunday, June 17 2007 @ 06:53 AM PDT
"What more could you want?" Video. I'm just sayin' ;) Great program all around.
Original feedback item : Read More
Wednesday, May 09 2007 @ 11:18 AM PDT
Oops, sory - I think I got that wrong.
Flip4Mac used to charge $10 for this. After they made whatever deal with Microsoft, the player became free (and they offered a $10 discount on their "Pro" version to people who had paid already for the player -- a gentlemanly thing to do I suppose :-) ).
Original feedback item : Read More
Tuesday, May 08 2007 @ 10:57 AM PDT
Context-menu doesn't work with trackpads (again)
I've never had this problem, so it's not universal. I'm running on an 867Mhz G4 laptop.
Original feedback item : Read More
Wednesday, March 21 2007 @ 12:41 PM PDT
I can't stand that Safari's autofill doesn't take you to a domain, it takes you to some deeply buried page within the domain. In other words, if I type "ver", it doesn't pop up Versiontracker.com, which would make sense; it pops up versiontracker.com/whatever/deeply/buried/page/i/visited/sometime/last/week Useless compared to a popup menu that lets me pick one. I will agree with people who argue that Firefodx is slow compared to Safari, but that's _all_ Safari has going for it. (Okay,…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Wednesday, March 21 2007 @ 12:37 PM PDT
Just FYI, the colors are fully customizable. I use black on almost-white myself. So you don't have to do the green-on-black "retro" thing at all. The main point of this, which OpenOffice and such don't provide, is a distraction-free environment in which to write. No icons, no blinking clocks, just you and your words.
Original feedback item : Read More
Wednesday, February 21 2007 @ 06:32 AM PST
