Just when I thought I was out...

Last week I made some changes to Web Helper Browser, and it felt good. As a user of the software, I was happy to have removed some little irritations, and as a developer I felt a little prouder to call it my own.

I expected that to be it, and to move back onto my regular work this week...

Then I played a delightful new Flash game, Bugs by Ferry Halim. You might remember that one of the things I fixed last week was an issue with Flash background music continuing to play after the window was closed. I hopped around happily in the game for a few minutes, then I closed my browser window. As you can probably tell, the music kept playing.

At first I thought maybe I was running the wrong version, or that there was some kind of error, but everything seemed okay. Thinking I'd just messed up, I tried one of the games I'd been "using" in my "tests" last week, Pixel Field, but I found that it still closed down perfectly. A bit more experimentation with a few more Flash games (a tough afternoon!), showed two clear camps, about half closed, the rest left music playing in the background. Clearly, Web Helper Browser had pulled me back in.

I'm hoping to have this sorted this week and post up a new version of the software, either that or I'll pull out the rest of my hair trying. I'm also taking this opportunity to clean up a lot of work I did earlier in the year for saving images, adding several beta options.

Micro ISV Digest

A summary of the weeks launches, updates and announcements, with a few interesting blog links in case you missed them.

Product Updates or Launches

• A minor update to Case Detective, a Fogbugz analysis system that just launched recently.
• Google have added Onsite Advertiser to the Adsense system. When you visit a site and see an Adsense block, you will see an "Advertise on this site" link, so now you can put your ads where you want them to be. Courtesy of Baruch at Micro ISV Planet.
• Another week, another update to LookLater, judging by the feedback on the JoS forums, this is really coming along. It's great to watch how a lot of early feedback can accelerate the evolution of a service.
• I updated our Web Helper Browser software for the first (and second) time in months.
• BugNinja launched two free programs, School Frame a US schools stats lookup service, and Home Budget (link is about halfway down the page) a free tool to help people stay debt free.
• DBDesc v1.2 was released.

Blog Posts and Articles

• SvN linked to a nice Fast Company article on The Beauty of Simplicity.
• Ian Landsman's recent blog tip, the Wall Street Programmer, gives as good an argument for starting out on your own as I've ever heard in What are the hours? Sure, as a Micro ISV you'll still work long hard hours, but you'll choose to, and you'll feel like you're doing it for the right reason.
• Another blog worth reading is Founder Frustrations, dedicated to the kind of issues we read about every week on the JoS forums.
• A long, but interesting and informative post from Neville Franks about the history and future of Surfulator.
• Over on Particle Tree, Ryan Campbell has a list of other launches and betas he's keeping track of.
• David St Lawrence has been blogging a series called Don't give up your day job. To Ian Jones, who's doing just that this week, welcome aboard and best of luck!
• J of NGEdit has a nice post about trying to focus his efforts... I can really identify.

From the forums and anything else

With the US offline for Thanksgiving, it's not too surprising that many parts of the web were decidedly quiet for most of last week. There were still a few things that caught my eye.

• Diggdot.us, aggregates content from del.icio.us, slashdot and digg.
• A discussion of the usefulness or not of Affiliate programs on the JoS forums.
• What do you do when someone gives you an idea, but you know they aren't going to contribute much to an overall partnership? Partner or not.

Like Buses

You wait months for a software update and two come along at the same time...

I've released another minor update to Web Helper Browser. Following Wednesday's post, a brave and kindly reader downloaded the software and gave us some good feedback. I've now updated the software to support the Ctrl+L shortcut for activating the address bar, and added a new help file.

I also found my own bug yesterday when playing Pixel Field, it seems that if you were playing a flash game that had some background music, sometimes the music continued even after the browser window was closed. I seem to have fixed that too.

Another Web Helper Browser Tip

Following on from my spotlighting of the often overlooked automation feature in Web Helper Browser yesterday, I wanted to explain another use for the same feature.

Let's say you find yourself at the start of some online documentation, faced the prospect of clicking an endless number of "Next" links and saving each page. If you were using Web Helper Browser, you could just right click on the first "Next" link, and select the "Follow Links Like this" option. The browser will keep opening new pages, saving or printing as it goes, until it gets to a page where it can't find an appropriate link to follow. The same goes if the "Next" link is actually an image, except the option is now "Follow Images Like this".

I've used this in the past to save a user guide or emails, or to create an instant slideshow and save myself having to click through each page (in that case I just told the browser to not do anything with each page, just follow the links, as I didn't want to save or print them).

R & R

It's been a while since I posted something fun here on my blog, and with the US off celebrating thanksgiving, the web seems quiet enough for a bit of a break.

Presenting Pixel Field (requires Flash, runs in a browser window, has sound- just in case you're reading at work!). This is one of those great games that is much easier to play than it is to explain. I'll just say you have to click where you want to go, and you have to make the little objects that orbit your ship touch the blue zones. The challenge is in anticipating the inertia, and in using the least amount of moves. Courtesy of Jay is Games.

The Most Overlooked

The single most overlooked feature in Web Helper Browser is probably the browser automation options. This is probably largely due to me calling it browser automation, and tucking it away in the tools menu... I'm not really sure how I expected anyone to find it there and figure out what it does. What it actually does, is let you tell the browser which links you want it to follow and what you want it to do on each page, then leave it to get on with it.

In the latest update, to make it very slightly easier, I added some right mouse menu options that take you straight to it. Let's say that for some crazy reason, you wanted to save all of my recent posts to a Web Helper project. If you select the links and right click the mouse, you now see a Follow Links option.



When you click it, the automation form will open, pre-populated with the selected links, so you just have to choose what you want the browser to do (in this case it would be Save Page to Web Helper, but you could choose Save to Files or Print). When you click Start the browser will start working it's way through the links, saving each one as it goes. I've found it to be pretty useful from time to time, maybe you will too.

You can also Save a screenshot of each page, but that would probably only be useful if you had to produce some documentation for a web system. In those cases, you can supply the list of links for the browser to follow in an XML file, you don't have to be able to select them on a single page.

Web Helper Browser Download - (free copies?)

The Forgotten continued

Following on from yesterday's post, I've uploaded a new version of Web Helper Browser, bringing the live version into line with the version I've been using (and taking the opportunity to add a couple of little tweaks which I needed).

You can read about the changes in my post on our News and Announcements blog, or download it here. It felt quite good taking another at the product, almost like visiting an old friend.

If you've never tried it, or have no idea what it does, it's a general purpose tool for saving web pages or web fragments. You can also use it to store links and notes. It works as a stand alone browser (which was probably a mistake- people get attached to their browsers), but it can also be used alongside your regular browser just by dragging and dropping the content you want to save onto our floating "Capture" window. It comes with a 90 day trial, but it's also free for now (I like to think of it as a back-to-beta scenario!). There's a basic tour on the site, where most of the core features are covered.

Stay tuned for some blog entries about easily overlooked features.

The Forgotten

Since I handed over the coding responsibilities to my partner, I've kind of ignored Web Helper Browser here on my blog.

Even though I've said it still needs a lot of work, I do still use it on a daily basis, either as my primary browser, or just to save web fragments and pages. While Neil grapples with my code and tries to plan the next generation of the product, I've decided to a) release a minor version upgrade to bring the live version into line with the one I've been using, and b) spotlight some features here in blog posts. Stay tuned.

Micro ISV Digest

There always seems to be so much going on, I’m never sure if I’m keeping up. This, as much for my own peace of mind as anything else, is my round-up of the week.

From the Big Guys

• Inside the Googlebot: Sitemaps will let you see what Google thinks of your site, view search hit and result stats, and communicate with the crawler to improve accuracy.
• Google Launched Analytics. A free web site analysis service, there’s a lot of sympathy floating around for all those guys out there who’ve been giving us all great web stats services.
• All your base: Google also launched Base, a classifieds service. GMart anyone?

Other Product News and Announcements

• Ben at BRK Studio has launched a site for his upcoming new product isvManage, previously Project MicroISV. It’s a portal product which integrates with payment processors and provides licensing and support information to you and your customers.
• CaseDetective for FogBugz was released by Ian M. Jones. Congratulations Ian, and great logo...
• Doug Martin released a beta version of LookLater. It looks like it could become a really cool system, and all the great ideas and feedback from the forums must be a big help.
• Fog Creek Copilot now has a monthly subscription option alongside the day tickets. I think that’s great news, and I’m sure that I’ll now be giving it a try the next time the need arises.

From the Blogs

• BugNinja is preparing for acquisition or funding, and has some tips if you’re thinking of doing the same.
• Happy hundred to the Big Picture Guy: I’ve started unofficially measuring how busy I am by the count of unread Big Picture Small Office posts waiting for me. It’s easily one of the best blogs around, and I hope his identity remains a secret long enough for another hundred.
• Dennis Forbes has been following Riya, the Facial Recognition technology, and lamenting the possibility of Ad Sponsored Windows.
• The font of the moment? Jason Fried of 37Signals points out the prevalence of the VAG Rounded font in new web logos. Be sure to take a look at the new reviews site, Riffs.
• Bandwagon Jumping: I announced last week that I was joining the Rails bandwagon, although only as an exercise in curiosity and personal development. Since then, Codesnipers head-honcho KC is also taking a look, while Ian Landsman has decided to take the AJAX plunge in the next version of his helpdesk software, HelpSpot.

In the Forums

• What do you do it when it all gets too much and you just can’t code anymore?
• We often hear from some poor soul about how their partner is freeloading or taking them for a ride, so it’s interesting to hear from the problem partner for a change.
• After the anti-climax of the Brilliant Photo ebay auction, the sale of PDACorp.com might fill a little of the void.

Sound bites

“I have a philosophy on commitment: bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.”
Big Picture Guy
“If you want your site to be found, make a site that people will want to find.”
A Shareware Life
“Just give yourself a 10 day deadline, and just launch it… with almost no features.”
Derek Sivers of CD Baby

If I missed anything important, let me know.

The Death of Comments

Another blog becomes comment-free... Signal vs Noise, the 37 Signals blog will no longer feature commentable posts. This must have been a difficult decision, they get so much traffic over there, with their posts regularly getting well over 100 comments. But, I understand the sentiment, would I like to blog if every post I made brought me a squall of negativity... probably not. From a cold marketing position, I could say that it doesn't matter what's in the comments, at least it's traffic on my site and they might click some ads, but I doubt that would work for me. I'm too human, all that fighting and negativity would bum me out.

Sticking with the 37 Signals theme, WorkHappy linked to an interview with Jason Fried, where he talks about his less is better philosophy.

I also forgot to link to my Codesnipers post this week, which I guess I could say is related, in which I started talking about how I've been trying out Ruby on Rails. I don't have much background in web development, and I doubt that I'll be using Rails in a serious application anytime soon, but I've heard so much about it that I had to give it a try.

Save Kathy

Kathy Sierra, of Creating Passionate Users, wants your help... she's looking for Chicken Soup links, comments, posts, as she recouperates. If you have anything funny, heartwarming or silly to spare, follow the link.

On the other hand, if you don't have anything to add, given the popularity of the blog and the zeal of it's readers, the post is probably destined to become a great place to go if you ever need to find something to cheer yourself up.

The Kid stays in the picture

Completely off-topic, but I had to share. I saw this movie on TV last night, without hype, expectation or preparation (isn't that always the best way). It's a fantastic story, beautifully told with old photographs, magazine clippings and movie clips. Robert Evans, movie producer and one-time head of Paramount studios, narrates the story of his life in Hollywood, the glorious rise and inevitable fall, love and loss... all the good stuff!

I'd never even heard of Robert Evans, but his story touches some of the best and most successful movies from the 60s and 70s, so if you have any interest in that period I'm sure you'll enjoy it. In a weird way it reminded me of Forrest Gump, it's like the story of an entire era in Hollywood, but it's all told from the point of view of this one guy, who seems to be involved in everything.

Anyway, if you get the chance, check it out. Of course, now that I've given you the hype and expectation, I've probably ruined it for you....

It's back

Open Source Web Design... I linked to them a few weeks ago, but they've been offline ever since. As of the last day or so, they're back up and running. Congratulations, guys.

It's a really great resource, full of templates for all kinds of sites, all available for you to download and use. I'm going to start looking for a new blog template, I'll let you know how I get on.

Free Development

Microsoft have another gig or so of my hard disk, I've just downloaded Visual Studio Express 2005.

All of the Express editions are available for free until this time next year, so if you want to see what's changed or catch up, check them out. Amazingly, the free versions allow commercial distribution under the terms of their license... although they say they aren't optimised for serious development. I don't know everything that you can and can't do in the Express editions, but I do know that there's no source code control, so I don't think I would embark on any major projects with them. Even still, they are powerful tools to have free access to, and I'm sure plenty of people will be able to work around the limitations.

I'm looking forward to digging in to see what has changed. I downloaded one of the beta versions an age ago but then got sidelined (in fact I think I had installed it on my pre-flood PC) and didn't really follow the rest of the development.

Right now I'm just frustrated because I was told that I'd get a collection of benefits for registering, stock images, icons, ebooks etc... I registered everything, but whenever I try to go to the benefits portal I just get told I'm not participating in any beta programs. Ah well... I guess I'll take another look into it next time I have a free hour or so and see if I don't have better luck then.

To the Max!

A couple of posts from Seth Godin this week have been explaining the concept of the Local Max.

The first one, Understanding Local Max, explains that there's always another level, no matter where you are or how well you think you're doing. While that might sound depressing the way I've put it, Seth explains it in a much more inspirational tone. The other thing about the Local Max, is that to get from where you are to that higher level, you're going to have to go through some serious pain. The only slight criticism I had of the idea was that it ignores the possibility of going through all the extra pain and not coming back up at the other side...

The follow up post, How new marketing changes the local max, explains that these days you can take risks and try things for a fraction of the cost, so the pain might not be so bad after all.

I haven't really figured out what all of this means to me, seeing as I don't have any staff I can put to work on any new ideas, and seeing as I'm probably still some way off my local max, probably not that much. But anything that get's me thinking about strategy and direction is probably good.

Also from Seth's blog, I learned that there's a new batch of Change This manifestos. I haven't read any of the new ones yet, but I've found good stuff there in the past.

Tough Crowd?

I have to hand it to this guy, he's picked a tough market to try to sell to. The software is for unemployed people who want to find a job, so if you know anyone unemployed who might be willing to beta test software to help them find a job, send them his way. Hopefully he'll also be able to sell it to people who have a job but are looking for another.

If you have a tougher niche, I'd love to hear about it!

All work and no play

My post on Codesnipers for today is about how watching the movie The Shining reminded me of working from home.

Read: A Productivity Lesson from The Shining

If you've never seen the movie, or even if you have, you might like to see it re-enacted in 30 seconds by some bunnies.

My blog was been a little bare this last week, and my new Codesnipers effort hardly answers the call for more depth. I have been making a lot of progress with Oriador Rota lately, and when I haven't been working on that I've been feeling under-the-weather... hopefully I'll have more to write about this week.

Microsoft Live

Microsoft Live launched today, anyone else struck by the resemblance to Start.com?

Correcting Mistakes

In my latest Codesnipers post, Moving Forward, I started talking about the changes I've made here in the last month or so. It wasn't really in my mind when I started writing, but it was totally clear to me that the biggest change has been in my own motivation and attitude. It's amazing how much more I've been getting done since I've had a clear priority and a less stressful approach.

Bob Walsh wrote an nice piece yesterday about Stress and the Micro ISV; I've seen first hand exactly how important it is to keep a handle on it, and how damaging it can be if you don't. If you have any plans to start your own business, you should really be aware of the issue.

Also in the Codesnipers post, I explained why I think it was okay to launch my new product idea, Oriador Viewer, and why I don't think I'll end up burned out and unproductive.