VoodooPad 5.0 Released
Link: 2012.04.20 03:04 PM
I'm happy to announce that VoodooPad 5.0 has been released. It's been a long time coming, and if you're a VP fan I think you're really going to like it. VoodooPad for iOS has been updated to version 2.0 as well.
Here are some of my favorite new features:
Completely rewritten file format and sync support
With MobileMe WebDAV support about to disappear in a few months I had to completely rethink syncing for VoodooPad. The solution I came up with was to drop WebDAV support and redesign VP's file format so that it would survive 3rd party background syncing with apps like Dropbox and SugarSync. This wasn't an easy task and took up a big chunk of development. There was lots of code to change and lots of testing involved. But the end result is pretty awesome.
No more connecting to WebDAV servers and having to deal with authentication issues and strange HTTP errors. Now you can just put your VoodooPad 5 document in a Dropbox folder and VP will detect when pages have been updated. Kirstin and I even share multiple documents over Dropbox- and we can both be working on the same document at the same time. It's wonderful.
The iOS version of VoodooPad has also been updated to use this new file format as well as using Dropbox's API for syncing.
A side benefit to these changes is VP's file format is a bit more robust than previously as well. I also see it as a way of future proofing VP- if Google decides next week to introduce a Dropbox competitor, VoodooPad will probably work fine with it. Or if a new SCM like Git or Mercurial shows up tomorrow that you want to stuff VP into, it should "just work".
Improved PDF export and new ePub exporting
PDF export is a lot faster and links now work between pages. You can also export your document as an ePub file as well. This is great if you already use VoodooPad for writing books or documentation.
We've also added support to VoodooPad to create a hierarchal collection of pages which you can reference when exporting as PDF or ePub. Unsurprisingly it's called the Collections palette. In the past getting the pages in VoodooPad to come out in a certain order was always a pain- but with collections it's a piece of cake.
Scriptlet for Web, ePub, and PDF export
I'll admit that it's pretty darn geeky- but I love it. You can now write fancy JSP/PHP like tags (using JavaScript) in your pages that will be run when you export your document. As very simple example looks like this:
The current year is: <%= new Date().getFullYear() %>
I call them "half baked pages". You can generate static websites out of VoodooPad now, but you can still add dynamic elements to it.
This topic deserves its own post, so I'll just leave it at this for now.
A new To-dos palette, including official @todo support
Find all the instances of @todo: in your document. You can even configure it so that it searches for things like @fixme or any other tokens. This means that everyone who had custom scripts for doing this can now throw them away. The new palette is better and faster.
Markdown pages
This has been a feature request for a long time, but I was always skeptical of it. Now I love it.
You can make a new page (or set it as the default for a document) that does syntax highlighting for Markdown text. This is pretty awesome if you like to use Markdown in your documents. And when you export your document for the web, PDF, or ePub, it'll be rendered correctly for you. (You can even mix and match RTF and Markdown pages in the same document. VP will do the right thing). You can even put scriptlet tags in a Markdown page.
Completely rewritten event script system
Let's face it. The old model of "write you script in a page, go to the events palette, pick an event, pick a page to run on that event, oh and pick the right language while you are at it" kind of stinks. Instead, there are now specific pages in your document which when made, will auto fill required JavaScript methods for implementing events. It's super easy to do. Just make a page named VPDocumentEventScript, VPPageEventScript, or VPWebExportScript. The methods will then be created for you, and you just fill in the details.
Of course there's more which you can read all about.
How to purchase, system requirements, and all that jazz
VoodooPad is a $25 dollar upgrade from any previous version, as well as for a full purchase for a limited time. If you purchased VoodooPad directly from us on or after Jan 1, 2012 check your email- you've been sent a complementary upgrade registration number.
VoodooPad 5 requires 10.7 or later, and the iOS version requires iOS 5.1 or later.
If you have questions or run into problems- make sure to email support@flyingmeat.com.
Here are some of my favorite new features:
Completely rewritten file format and sync support
With MobileMe WebDAV support about to disappear in a few months I had to completely rethink syncing for VoodooPad. The solution I came up with was to drop WebDAV support and redesign VP's file format so that it would survive 3rd party background syncing with apps like Dropbox and SugarSync. This wasn't an easy task and took up a big chunk of development. There was lots of code to change and lots of testing involved. But the end result is pretty awesome.
No more connecting to WebDAV servers and having to deal with authentication issues and strange HTTP errors. Now you can just put your VoodooPad 5 document in a Dropbox folder and VP will detect when pages have been updated. Kirstin and I even share multiple documents over Dropbox- and we can both be working on the same document at the same time. It's wonderful.
The iOS version of VoodooPad has also been updated to use this new file format as well as using Dropbox's API for syncing.
A side benefit to these changes is VP's file format is a bit more robust than previously as well. I also see it as a way of future proofing VP- if Google decides next week to introduce a Dropbox competitor, VoodooPad will probably work fine with it. Or if a new SCM like Git or Mercurial shows up tomorrow that you want to stuff VP into, it should "just work".
Improved PDF export and new ePub exporting
PDF export is a lot faster and links now work between pages. You can also export your document as an ePub file as well. This is great if you already use VoodooPad for writing books or documentation.
We've also added support to VoodooPad to create a hierarchal collection of pages which you can reference when exporting as PDF or ePub. Unsurprisingly it's called the Collections palette. In the past getting the pages in VoodooPad to come out in a certain order was always a pain- but with collections it's a piece of cake.
Scriptlet for Web, ePub, and PDF export
I'll admit that it's pretty darn geeky- but I love it. You can now write fancy JSP/PHP like tags (using JavaScript) in your pages that will be run when you export your document. As very simple example looks like this:
The current year is: <%= new Date().getFullYear() %>
I call them "half baked pages". You can generate static websites out of VoodooPad now, but you can still add dynamic elements to it.
This topic deserves its own post, so I'll just leave it at this for now.
A new To-dos palette, including official @todo support
Find all the instances of @todo: in your document. You can even configure it so that it searches for things like @fixme or any other tokens. This means that everyone who had custom scripts for doing this can now throw them away. The new palette is better and faster.
Markdown pages
This has been a feature request for a long time, but I was always skeptical of it. Now I love it.
You can make a new page (or set it as the default for a document) that does syntax highlighting for Markdown text. This is pretty awesome if you like to use Markdown in your documents. And when you export your document for the web, PDF, or ePub, it'll be rendered correctly for you. (You can even mix and match RTF and Markdown pages in the same document. VP will do the right thing). You can even put scriptlet tags in a Markdown page.
Completely rewritten event script system
Let's face it. The old model of "write you script in a page, go to the events palette, pick an event, pick a page to run on that event, oh and pick the right language while you are at it" kind of stinks. Instead, there are now specific pages in your document which when made, will auto fill required JavaScript methods for implementing events. It's super easy to do. Just make a page named VPDocumentEventScript, VPPageEventScript, or VPWebExportScript. The methods will then be created for you, and you just fill in the details.
Of course there's more which you can read all about.
How to purchase, system requirements, and all that jazz
VoodooPad is a $25 dollar upgrade from any previous version, as well as for a full purchase for a limited time. If you purchased VoodooPad directly from us on or after Jan 1, 2012 check your email- you've been sent a complementary upgrade registration number.
VoodooPad 5 requires 10.7 or later, and the iOS version requires iOS 5.1 or later.
If you have questions or run into problems- make sure to email support@flyingmeat.com.
