Download Per Se 1.0.2b2

The Beta 2 update includes a few stylistic changes and some under the hood improvements. Importantly, it resolves an issue with the Sparkle autoupdate that prevents in-app updating from working. This means you’ll need to install the 1.0.2 beta 2 update manually.

The more apparent changes include:

• An improved styles bar, less obtrusive and with an iWork like color picker
• Preference for opening the journal to the last selected entry
• Re-organization of the Edit and Format menu to model other writing applications
• Select multiple tags to see all the associated entries

The main goal of the 1.0.2 version remains improvement to Per Se’s printing and export capabilities. Along the way we’ll continue to see smaller changes to the interface and unseen improvements to the underlying code.

Enjoy, and happy journaling!

It’s been seemingly quiet here the last couple months. I’ve been involved in some side projects, and I’ve also been preparing to open source Journler. I announced at the beginning of the year that I would be releasing the complete Journler source code as I updated the application for Mac OS 10.6 and 10.7 compatibility. That process is taking a decent bit of time, and rather than postponing the source code release any longer I decided to go ahead and make good on the promise.

Over the last couple of days I’ve pushed the complete Journler source code to github. All of the main Journler code as well as code from the three Sprouted frameworks on which Journler depends is available. This is live code; it is the code as it appears in the 2.6 updates. As I release additional beta updates, the github repository will reflect the underlying changes.

See the code at github/philipdow.

The Journler repositories include Journler itself, SproutedAVI, SproutedInterface and SproutedUtilities. You’ll notice there are additional repositories, and I imagine the number will increase as I improve the Journler code and likely release some of the code out of Per Se as well.

In the meantime, I’ll be hopping to with the Per Se updates once again and will see about getting the next 1.0.1 beta out in a week or two.

Download Per Se 1.0.2b1

This beta features some minor improvements to the UI and, importantly, the addition of auto-update support. Yay! Auto-update is enabled by default, but you can disable it in the preferences and manually check for updates instead. When an update is available, you’ll be prompted to download and install it. Courtesy the awesome Sparkle framework.

In general there are three areas of focus for the 1.0.2 beta. I’ll be doing some under the hood tidying up to improve the code without affecting the application’s performance. Ye old refactoring.

I’ll also be tying together still disperate elements of the user interface. I consider the Molé theme to be Per Se’s primary interface right now, and I’ll be making an effort to en-theme other parts of the app to match the look and feel of it.

Finally I’ll be improving the export and printing capabilities, which is an oft requested and eminently useful feature. More format options, date ranges, whole journal — that sort of thing.

No timeline on when 1.0.2 will be released, but as usual there should be a steady stream of beta updates that from now on will be automatically available to you.

~Phil

I’ve received a number of inquires recently about a Sprouted newsletter. Quite a few are from Journler users interested in updates about future products, with a number from Per Se folks as well who’d like to keep up with promotions and other offerings.

Over the past couple of days I put together I mailing list at the Sprouted homepage. I’ve added a Newsletter section to the site with a simple email signup form. The plan is to send out a periodic newsletter with information about offers, promotions and updates. This is an opt-in only newsletter and the emails will be kept to a minimum, probably a couple every month if that.

I’m delighted to say that the Newsletter is ready for registration, and I’d like to invite interested folks to sign up.

Sign up for the Sprouted Newsletter

In the meantime, as always, happy journaling!

~Phil

For 24 hours Per Se will be 50% off and available for $9.95 instead of of the usual $19.95. The sale begins and ends Wednesday, August 3rd. You’ll find additional details for the promotion at the Per Se Bits du Jour page, which will go active on the 3rd.

Although I am working in tandem with Bits du Jour for the promotion, all purchases are made here at Sprouted using the normal payment mechanism, so you don’t need to worry about giving your financial information to another company. In fact, Sprouted never sees your financial info either. PayPal handles every detail of the transaction. I prefer it that way.

I’m relying primarily on word of mouth for the sale. If you or someone you know has been waiting to pick up Per Se, holding off for that additional feature or extra something, now is a great time to go ahead and make the move. The discounted purchase guarantees the same license as a regular purchase, and there will be no sudden upgrade payment. You can pick up the license now and when the upgrade you were hoping for comes along you’ll be able to download it without extra cost.

If you know someone who might enjoy Per Se pass the word around! Hopefully we’ll be able to put a fun application into a bunch of hands at a fantastic price.

~Phil

In addition, I know that some individuals are already using Dropbox to sync their Per Se journals between Macs.

I was wondering if folks out there in userland might be able to offer their opinions and experience with Dropbox, if they’re already using it to sync Per Se or if they’ve used it for other reasons. If you’d like to contribute to this discussion, which will influence the final design of any iOS/Mac Per Se syncing, feel free to leave a post on the blog or email me from the contacts page.

~Phil

Download Per Se v1.0.1

The update includes a number of changes under the hood and a great new look. Among the most significant are:

• Mac OS Lion compatibility
• Improved stability and other important fixes
• Password protection
• Improved user interface
• Last edited and word count tracking
• Additional preferences and shortcuts for paging through the journal

Per Se v1.0.1 is for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard and Mac OS 10.7 Lion. The update is free for all currently registered users.

Download Per Se v1.0.1 Beta 8

Beta 8 fixes a couple of small issues I wanted to hit up before the final release. Importantly, I’ve fixed two issues associated with the hidden windowless journaling preference. The first concerns encryption and the second concerns closing the journal and unsaved changes.

The most significant change address discontinuous selection and word counting. As you select text in an entry the word count is updated to reflect the selection. My original implementation prevented multiple, discontinuous selections, which you can accomplish by holding down the command key as you select text elsewhere in the entry.

The fix re-enables these multiple selections and also updates the character and word count to consider each selection and not just the first. It’s pretty neat to watch the text stats accurately update as you select text all over your entry.

But that’s it! Definitely let me know if you come across something, because we are releasing this week!

~Phil

Download Per Se v1.0.1 Beta 7

Beta 7 addresses three Lion bugs of which I am aware:

1. Calendar not showing dated entries immediately when shown
2. Focus ring weirdness when fading action panels in and out
3. Disappearing insert caret on entries with 2+ pages

For the most part these were simple fixes. Per Se should now work on Lion as it does on Snow Leopard.

I’d like to ask all users to keep an eye out for unexpected behavior when working with entries longer than two pages. This concerns the third issue in the list above. The fix for this Lion bug required that I change literally three lines of code. But the changes are significant.

Previously, when an entry contained more than two pages, any of the pages not currently visible were temporarily removed from what is called the “view hierarchy.” They were completely off screen. Now, the pages remain in place but are simply hidden. They are still on screen but the system has been told not to show their contents.

Testing on my end indicates this is an ideal solution, but do keep an eye out for any weird behavior, specifically, journal pages seeming to pile up on top of each other. It shouldn’t happen. If it does, let me know.

There are a few other small changes, some UI consistency changes, improved memory management in the background, and I have a couple of small fixes left to implement. Otherwise, I consider Per Se v1.0.1 ready for release! This version is is pretty much what the final release will look like.

If you run into problems with anything, let me know, ’cause we are getting there!

~Phil

I quite like it. Per Se can often feel crowded, and it is precisely the window frame that causes this, those four lines, that extra colored in box that always surrounds the otherwise lovely notebook. Per Se is much more comfortable without it.

Eventually I will incorporate windowless journaling directly into the application. There is some additional UI work to do before then, and I really need to lock down the 1.0.1 update in the meantime. But I’ve included it as a hidden preference so that users can explore it now.

To activate windowless journaling, quite Per Se and launch the Terminal. Type “defaults write com.sprouted.PerSe CHWindowlessJournal 1” without the quotes and press return. You can turn it back off by replacing the 1 with a 0. Start up Per Se.

You shouldn’t run into any problems with windowless journaling, but you might encounter inconsistencies and other annoyances. For example, hiding and showing the styles bar will screw up the journal’s shadow, as will changing the journal’s theme, and the bar otherwise seems to float precipitously in the aether. It doesn’t look good with the Parchment theme, and it is certainly odd with Snow. But if you’re using Molé and you’re not often changing, showing and hiding things, you might give it a try and find you enjoy it. I do!

Note that you can move the journal around by grabbing the background in the margins.

~Phil