With big steps towards the official release: DesktopShelves 0.6.3 beta now available
It has been a while since the last DesktopShelves update. The new version comes with a lot of improvements and is a big step towards the first official release.
Before I get into the details about what is new in this version, let me first say a big Thank You! to everybody who submitted their feedback so far. So many people have contributed their ideas and suggestions. You're awesome!
Here's what's new:
Shelves are now always active
From this version on you can always hover over files and folders on your shelves, drag & drop items, no matter if the shelves are in the background or in the foreground. There is no need anymore for pressing the hotkey to activate the shelves before you can access the items on a shelf although you can still use the hotkey to have the shelves float above all other open windows. That's useful if you quickly want to open something on a shelf when you can't see your desktop.
This change is yet another step towards making the shelves "behave" like real shelves. Below is a screenshot that shows a selected item on a shelf that is in the background.
Shelf names are always visible by default
Another noticeable change: the shelf name (i.e. the name of the folder being displayed as a shelf) is now always visible. This makes it easy to tell you shelves apart. If you prefer to not show the shelf names while the shelves are in the background, you can configure this in the preferences window.
Refreshing a shelf when folder contents change
There's now a new context menu entry for each shelf that lets you refresh the shelf contents. This is useful if you add or remove files of a shelf folder directly in Finder. This is only a temporary feature until the official release which will detect changes automatically.
Release discount
Speaking of the official release: if you like DesktopShelves so far and you are considering to buy a license (once available), you can save a few $s by signing up to the Pre-Release Discount Mailing list here. Everybody on that list will receive an email with a discount coupon to buy DesktopShelves for $10 instead of $15 as soon as the official version of DesktopShelves is ready for purchase.
Full list of changes
- New: Shelves are now always active, even when in background (thanks Mark, Regina, Reberhar).
- New: You can now add new shelves directly from the status menu icon in the menubar (thanks Regina).
- New: Added option to manually refresh shelf contents from shelf context menu (thanks Japh; eventually this will happen automatically).
- New: Now shelf names are always visible by default when in foreground and in background (can be configured in preferences)
- Improved: When moving the shelf, the currently selected item on the shelf is minimized.
- Improved: Shelf highlight color now uses the system color for highlighted controls.
- Improved: It is no longer possible to open the Desktop itself as shelf (thanks ignatz).
- Fixed: Addressed scenario where selected item could be covered partially by another shelf.
How to I update DesktopShelves?
- Right/control click on any shelf to open the shelf context menu
- Select Check for Updates...
Huge Usability Improvements in DesktopShelves 0.6.2
Big changes in this new version of DesktopShelves! You won't see them from just looking at your shelves, but you will notice right away once you try to drop a file from your desktop on a shelf. All the "dead" space around the shelves (the semi-transparent area visible when you click above the shelf) is gone! It is hard to describe with words, below is a video to demonstrate the change.
Here the full list of changes in version 0.6.2 beta:
- New: Realistic shelves: shelves now only intercept mouse clicks on visible areas (removed the "dead" space above shelf board that wouldn't let you click on Finder icons)
- New: Play sound when moving a file to a shelf fails
- Improved: Name of selected file/folder is now always visible (thanks Terry and Reberhar)
- Improved: The button in the "Open Folder as Shelf" dialog is now labeled "Open as Shelf" for more clarity
- Fixed: Removed file/folder would reappear as white icon after changing shelf size
- Fixed: Now shows info message when shelf source folder was renamed/moved/deleted
How do I update?
- Bring the shelves to the front (with the control+minus hotkey or from the status menu icon) Right/control click on the shelf to open the shelf context menu
- Select Check for Updates...
As always, comments and feature requests are highly welcome!
DesktopShelves Version 0.6.1 Beta Released
A new version of DesktopShelves is available. The biggest change is in how to add new shelves. As it turns out, the old way of adding a new shelf (creating a new, empty shelf and dropping a folder on it) was too confusing for people. The problem was that the action of dropping a folder on a shelf had two different meanings: for an empty shelf it would display the contents of that folder otherwise it would move the folder into the folder previously dropped on the shelf. Hard to explain, hard to figure out without reading a manual -- hence it had to change.
With the new version, you can add a new shelf by selecting the folder to display as a shelf using the familiar File-Open Dialog. Big Thank You! to Tod for the inspiration for a new tagline:
Display any folder as a shelf on your Mac's Desktop.
Let me know what you think of the new tagline!
Here the complete list of changes.
- New: New shelves are now added by selecting an existing folder via the standard File-Open dialog
- New: Added status icon to menubar
- Improved: Adjusted shelf window level to "floating window"
- Fixed: Show error dialog when moving file on a shelf that is on a different volume
- Fixed: Shelves now properly displayed behind icons on desktop when sending shelf to background