Category: TopStyle

It’s been quite a while since the last release of TopStyle, so I’m pleased to announce that the first beta of TopStyle Pro 3.11 is now available to those who purchased version 3.x.

For details on downloading the beta and providing feedback, stop by:

http://www.bradsoft.com/topstyle/beta/

For information on changes in v3.11, please check out the release notes at:

http://www.bradsoft.com/download/readme/readme311b1.asp

I know a number of people are anxious for me to release the first TopStyle Pro 3.11 beta, so I wanted to let everyone know that it’s almost ready. I’ve been running a build of v3.11 here for a couple of weeks and it looks solid, so I expect to make the beta available early next week.

As I mentioned earlier, v3.11 is a bugfix release, so it won’t have any major new features. Just in case anyone’s curious about the changes, I’ve posted the current release notes.

TopStyle’s color picker is something I’m proud of – it packs a ton of functionality into a small, easy-to-use dialog, and it’s a tool many TopStyle customers have told me they really appreciate. Despite this, though, I realize that TopStyle’s color picker may not have everything you need – especially if you’re a graphic artist.

So, if you’re looking for a really powerful tool for selecting color schemes for your site, check out Color Schemer Studio from Color Schemer. I’ve been playing with the latest version of Color Schemer, and I’m really impressed with how it helps match colors and find harmonies, and also with how it teaches color theory to neophytes such as myself.

I recently shared email with Aaron Epstein, the developer of Color Schemer, and he agreed that our products compliment each other nicely. As a result, Aaron is now offering a 20% discount on Color Schemer Studio to anyone who reads this blog. [ More Info ]

Even though I’m posting more about FeedDemon lately, most of my work these days has been with the upcoming TopStyle Pro 3.11. Version 3.11 will focus on bug fixes rather than new features, and will be a free upgrade for existing 3.10 customers. I don’t have an expected release date at the moment, but it shouldn’t be more than a few weeks before a beta is available.

BTW, among the problems fixed already are these two bugs, which have been the most commonly reported ones:

• The file panel paints a “ghost” image when the screen resolution is above 1024×768 (only occurs on certain graphics cards)
• Access violation on Windows 98 when viewing files that have a corrupt (or missing) creation date

First off, many thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday’s post about TopStyle Lite. There are a lot of good ideas in these comments, one of which is the idea of renaming TopStyle Pro.

I’ve actually been thinking about renaming TopStyle Pro for quite a while, but given how many people know the name “TopStyle” I just never did it. The reason for the rename, of course, is that TopStyle is no longer just a style editor – it’s a full-blown xHTML editor with an emphasis on CSS.

Now, I don’t plan to ever change TopStyle’s focus on CSS. After all, the CSS tools are by far the biggest reason people use TopStyle. But its name just doesn’t reflect its feature set any more, and given the number of requests for even better HTML features, I’m wondering whether the next major release should coincide with a rename.

Comments?

Now that I’ve started working on TopStyle Pro 3.11, one of the big questions I’m asking myself is whether to continue TopStyle Lite. If you’re not familiar with TopStyle Lite, it’s an extremely scaled down version of TopStyle Pro (it’s basically Notepad for CSS) that I give away for free.

There are several reasons for my considering this, but here are the primary ones:

• TopStyle Lite was originally created for inclusion in HomeSite 4.5, thanks to a deal I had with Allaire. Basically, HomeSite customers benefited from improved CSS features, Allaire benefited from not having to code their own CSS tool, and I benefited from the obvious exposure. However, since that time Allaire has been purchased by Macromedia, and HomeSite’s future has been up in the air ever since. At this point, I get little benefit from having the Lite version bundled with HomeSite.
• I had similar deals with other HTML editors, but most of them no longer exist.
• Now that TopStyle Pro is a full-blown HTML editor, there’s little need for integration with third-party HTML editors anyway.
• Despite the fact the TopStyle Lite displays a great big message about the Pro version, I’m constantly hearing from people who think TopStyle Lite is TopStyle (I see similar messages in newsgroups, too).
• It’s obvious from support questions that the vast majority of those who use TopStyle Lite will never purchase the Pro version.

I realize many people won’t wish TopStyle Lite to disappear, but from a business standpoint it’s not making much sense anymore. Comments?

Newsgroup posts like this one make my day :)