The CocoaBots

Hyperspaces 1.1: Disabling space transitions

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:49:00 +1000

I get a lot of requests asking if I know of a way to disable the built-in animated transition when switching spaces. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that there’s a magic setting you can flip, but I’ve just finished adding a new feature to Hyperspaces 1.1 that should make a few people smile.

So long as you use Hyperspaces to change spaces (and not the system hotkeys or system spaces overview), you can switch between spaces instantly in the new version. And yes, for those of you who have their eyes on the ball, this is the first step toward reintroducing things like this:

Custom transitions are one of the many things I have planned for Hyperspaces 2 — but more about that after you guys have version 1.1!

Why is Hyperspaces 1.1 taking so long?

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:26:00 +1000

Back in January, I posted a teaser of what’s coming in Hyperspaces 1.1 and threw it out there that I was aiming for a late March release. It’s the end of April now, and I haven’t posted a word since. I hope that by being open and honest about this that you will understand why things have taken a little longer than I’d talked about.

I don’t want to be one of those developers who goes silent for months at a time, leaving my users wondering what’s happening — so here’s what happened:

I’m not going to go into any real detail, but I’ve had three visits to the hospital in the last two months — only one of those was planned. I was sick enough to have set back my work on Hyperspaces a lot and while I’ve made some progress, version 1.1 still has some time left to cook in the oven. I’m back and working on Hyperspaces full time as of this week, so I should be able to show some good progress over the coming weeks.

To those of you that wished me a speedy recovery already — thank you — it made a big difference (hospitals are no fun at all!).

Macworld 2010 Indie Developer Spotlight

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:46:00 +1000

I’m a little tardy in posting this information, but The CocoaBots are participating in the Macworld 2010 Indie Developer Spotlight- this means you can get Hyperspaces for 20% off while Macworld is on!

You’d be silly not to take advantage and buy some of the other fantastic apps that are also participating — you can find a full list at Macworld’s site.

Update: the Indie Developer Spotlight is over for 2010 — thanks to everyone who bought a copy of Hyperspaces during the sale!

Hyperspaces 1.0.4 and the road to 1.1

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:36:00 +1000

Wow — what a month! 45,000 copies of Hyperspaces have been downloaded (that’s version 1.0.3 alone!), and from what I can tell, people love it. It has had great reviews on sites such as Smoking Apples and MacStories, and the feedback via Twitter has been really encouraging.

This post has a dual purpose:

To announce the release of Hyperspaces 1.0.4 and
To give a small preview of what’s coming in Hyperspaces 1.1.

Hyperspaces 1.0.4

This is primarily a bug fix release, but it’s a good one! There are lots of great fixes in here for users who are running Leopard — I know version 1.0.3 was a bit of a bumpy ride for you guys. Snow Leopard users should find that everything is a little smoother. The full release notes are available at the Hyperspaces release notes page, and you can download the new version by checking for updates within the app, or by downloading it directly.

What’s coming in Hyperspaces 1.1?

I’m not big on talking about features in upcoming releases — it generally leads to people getting too enthusiastic and wanting things before they are ready. On the flipside, it’s important to me that you guys know what you’re getting when you decide to buy a license.

Hyperspaces 1.1 is going to deliver some great new features and improve how you customize your spaces:

I speak your language

Localizing to different languages is a priority for version 1.1 — I’ve had lots of great offers to translate Hyperspaces to all sorts of languages I should take the time to learn.

Apply customizations across multiple spaces

You can now select more than one space at a time when you’re setting up your spaces. It works like the Finder — command-click will select individual spaces, shift-click will select the spaces in between whatever the previous and current selections are. This is worth the price of admission on it’s own — I often wanted to change the font I was using on my spaces and didn’t because it was just too much work. Now it’s as easy as pie!

Here’s a video showing the new behaviour in action:

Set customizations for every screen of every space

This has been the number one request since I first released a preview of Hyperspaces. Being able to set a different desktop image for every screen within each of your spaces means that you’re really only limited by how many desktop images you have. It works a lot like the system’s desktop picture preferences — a new window will pop up on each of your displays allowing you to setup your customisations. Here’s a quick video of that window:

“Ooer! When can I download it?”, you ask

There’s no release date yet. My goal is before the end of March, but I’m not committing to a date until I’m sure I can deliver. Everything you see in the videos above works as advertised, but things are bound to change — I’ll keep posting teasers to @thecocoabots on Twitter, so make sure you’re following if you want to stay up to date.

Engage the Hyperdrive, Wookie

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:32:00 +1000

Hello there, weary traveller — welcome to the only-just-furnished web house of The CocoaBots!

My name is Tony, and I’ll be your site captain for this flight. It won’t be a long read — 500 words or less, and clear browsing for the duration of this post.

Chances are that you’ve come here in search of or response to our first fully released app — Hyperspaces v1.0. Don’t let me get in your way, please download a copy from the shiny, starry page where it lives before you continue reading.

Got it? Great! It’s been a long time in the making, and I’m really excited to be finally releasing version 1.0. I really hope you find Hyperspaces useful & fun — it has made my Spaces a lot easier to mouse around!

But why do I want Hyperspaces, you say?

Hyperspaces gives you features that I think are integral to making virtual desktops useful. I’ve said before that Spaces is a great implementation of this age-old function, but it’s missing something really important: Context.

How many times have you found yourself working away in a bunch of different spaces, only to find yourself aimlessly flicking to find a lost window? I know it happens to me more often than I’d like — so Hyperspaces is my answer to that problem. It lets you give each space a name (and show that name in a bunch of different spots), and give each space a personality as well. Desktop pictures and colored tints make the experience feel more alive than the default Apple implementation. Core Animation helps to round it all out and make the transitions between each space fluid and smooth.

I’m working on Hyperspaces (and other unreleased CocoaBots apps) full time now, and I’m really proud of my first app. I’ve got some great features in development for the future, and plans that I am really, really excited about.

It’s a great time to be a Mac software company.