Then I remembered that I shut down before I did one of those important things. I powered up again and got it done. It only took a minute because booting is painless & fast, so I could quickly do just one more thing.

That’s the part I’d never do with my work machine. Undergo the 5 minute long boot process to capture a thought or complete a 90 second task.

How much do “I’d never do that with my work machine” items cost us?

Time to change my work machine so that it supports my work and getting one more thing done, instead of discouraging it.

I don’t know any of the designers/developers, but thought it was interesting enough to look into. Maybe you’ll want one or know someone who wants to order a few as holiday gifts. Take a look quick, as funding closes September 8, 2011.

My preferences
Code Viewer 2 is my current favorite for viewing code and I’ve used it (via svn) with both Beanstalk and Github. Code Viewer 2 doesn’t currently have direct support for git, but works using svn against either of those hosts and supports syntax highlight for popular code types (eg, HTML, JavaScript, XML and more). That I like alot. However, compared to all the others it is a little more finicky when connecting to a repository. I do like that it supports both iPhone and iPad making good use of the larger screen.

I generally prefer the universal apps (Code Viewer 2, Source Code, Magic Bean) and the iPad app (GitHub Viewer). The GitHub Viewer, Unfuddle app and Beanstalk apps are easiest to setup. The Unfuddle app seems more suited to monitor the repository and tracking /managing issues. I can’t speak to “Magic Bean” as much since I didn’t buy that one, but I do like that it is for both iPhone and iPad.

The full list of git and svn apps I evaluated

Code Viewer 2 [iPad & iPhone, App Store currently $5.99] – Checkout to browser/view with syntax highlighting for many file types. Not for editing.

Source Code [iPad & iPhone, App Store currently $1.99] – Slightly easier to connect to repo, no syntax highlighting

GitHub Viewer Lite [iPad only, App Store currently free] – Nice for browsing and seeing who is active with a repository.

GitHub Viewer [iPad only, App Store currently $0.99] - Nice for browsing and seeing who is active with a repository.

Unfuddle [iPhone only, App Store currently free] – Check/manage repo & issues on-the-go.

Magic Bean [iPad & iPhone, App Store currently $2.99] – For browsing and checking status, Works on both iPhone and iPad. Not fully evaluated.

Habichuelas Lite [iPhone only, App Store currently free] – Nice for browsing and seeing who is active with a repository.

Habichuelas [iPhone only, App Store currently $2.99] - Nice for browsing and seeing who is active with a repository. Not fully evaluated.

Found any others of interest? Please comment.

I’ll admit that I’m finding it nearly a necessity to start with the git command line so that I better understand the underlying concepts. Sometimes the best way to learn a technology is to dig a few holes and struggle back out. Likewise, it seems like there are some edge cases and corners with version control systems that require the command line (and StackOverflow.com and Google and nerves of steel). Meanwhile, I’m tracking a few tools for the Mac to increase my productivity with git for routine things.

My Favorites
The most promising apps for me are SourceTree and Tower (naturally the most expensive ones too). Tower has some nicer overall polish, but SourceTree has a views I like better and seems to regularly improve with use (and across releases).

I’m on Day 6 of a  30 day trial of Tower and like that it supports git and svn, integrates with many other client tools (e.g., with Coda, Kaleidoscope TextMate, etc.) and is super easy to configure for either GitHub or Beanstalk back-end repositories. With SourceTree, I’m understanding git better and seeing things more clearly, but missing some of the polish back-end integration seen in Tower.

Git Client Apps for Mac OS X
Here’s a run down of some options and links for those on the Mac App Store. There is a good response by Mason on StackOverflow that runs down pros and cons of a few of these tools. I too didn’t care much for the cross-platform-y compromises of SmartGit, but some may like it. Here what I consider some Mac OS X contenders:

• GitX [Free - under GPL v2 License]
  Project started in 2008, nice history/log view that you can use interactively, good video demos .
• Sprout [Mac App Store $28.99 during 15% off sale on now]
  Single window view supports multiple git repositories
• Gitbox [Mac App Store $39.99]
  Single window view supports multiple git repositories. Developer web site offers download of Free trial version that supports up to 3 repositories.
• Gitti [currently beta is free]
  Some nice hints and warnings. Still beta, but looks promising.
• SourceTree [Mac App Store $59.99]
  Very powerful views- File status shows you at a glance what has been changed or not (or is missing), Log view is a wonderful way to show branches, commits, who did the commit and highlight the file diffs. Cloning from remote works with ssh URL or http/https. Developer web site offers download of Free 21-day trial version.
• Tower [developer site $59]
  Really nice integration with both GitHub and Beanstalk. Easily create local repository or a new repository hosted on Beanstalk or GitHub. Cloning from remote works with ssh URL or http/https. App icon in dock shows badge with number of changed files in active repository. Developer web site offers download of Free 30-day trial version that works with up to 3 repositories concurrently.

For a git UI client, I may end-up sticking with GitX for a while though, because it is free. If I can justify the expense, I’ll likely go with SourceTree or Tower, depending on CFO approval and/or any pricing specials. My next post will address git and svn viewers on iOS for the iPhone and iPad.

The first projects to be migrated are:

• Pastelets on Github – which I started long ago and posted about here, here, here and originally here.
• fyi-bookmarklets on Github- which I created this month and posted about here and here.

Github and git are a great tool set. Github goes far beyond being “just” a remote repository and I really like what I was able to do for the “fyi” project with Github Project Pages.

Sidebar- Beanstalk has a free trial account that provide 1 private repository for svn or git. There is a good Wikipedia Comparison of Revision Control Software if you want to compare git, Mercurial, svn, etc. I used Beanstalk with Xcode 3 and svn for the duration of the UW iPhone Certificate Program and it worked very well.

With Github you can get unlimited free public repositories for free. Both Github and Beanstalk offer SSL with the free accounts. Since Xcode 4 has built-in support for git, you may want to compare account plans for Beanstalk, Github and Unfuddle git hosting. That said, I’m going to primarily use Github, but will hang on to my Beanstalk and Unfuddle accounts.

In a few days I’ll post a quick run down of what I’ve learned about git tools for Mac OS X and iOS.

This is a follow-up to an earlier post on the fyi Bookmarklet. This version is optimized for iOS, and the iPad specifically. It makes it very easy to share a snippet of a web page and the URL by email.

Compared to the built-in iOS Mobile Safari action “Mail Link to this Page,” the fyiPad Bookmarklet adds the capability to automatically insert selected text from the page, without having to paste anything.

Unlike the Firefox fyi Bookmarklet, this bookmarklet can not be triggered by typing  a keyword. The install is slightly different because of Mobile Safari restrictions on adding javascript: bookmarks (bookmarklets).

Install:

Use Mobile Safari to visit the fyiPad setup page and follow the instructions on that page to save and edit the bookmark. You will likely want to rename the bookmark. On my iPad the bookmark is named “fyi” just like on my desktop Firefox browser. It is saved in the “Bookmarks Bar” folder.

Tip: For greater convenience on iPad, use the “Settings” app to choose “Safari” settings and set “Always Show Bookmarks Bar” to ON. Usage:

Activate the “fyiPad” bookmarklet by using the bookmark menu, or by tapping the bookmark in your Bookmark Bar.

This opens a new email with the page title in the email subject. The email body contains the page title and URL. If any text on the page is selected, then the selected text is also included in the body.

Requirements:

• iOS 3.2.1 or higher and Mobile Safari

Version History:

Version 1.0 (April 6, 2011) newer versions available on Github

Known Issues:

Tested on iPad with iOS 4.3.1. Likely to work on iPhone.

No way to activate by typing a keyword. No way to pre-populate the new email with a recipient address.

License:

MIT

Source:

Source on Github

Please use comments here or Github to report bugs or provide feedback. Thanks.

I wrote a simple bookmarklet to make it very easy to share a snippet of a web page and the URL by email (see Install and Usage below). I was inspired by Mike Chamber’s “fyi” Firefox ubiquity command which has served me well for years.

The “fyi” command (and now the bookmarklet) is a very handy way to select some text on a web page and fire off an email quoting part of the page and including the URL– with minimal typing and no copy-and-paste work. As Mike put it in 2008:

I wrote the command because I am often finding myself forwarding URLs to friends and co-workers. This is normally much more tedious than it needs to be, involving the following steps:

1. Copy the URL from the browser
2. Switch to mail client
3. Create new Email
4. Paste URL into the email body
5. Switch back to the browser
6. Copy the post title
7. Switch back to email
8. Paste the title as the subject
9. Switch back to the browser
10. Copy a snippet from the page
11. Switch back to the email
12. Paste in the snippet
13. Enter the TO email address
14. Finally send the email

Phew…

 

Well, no more. By using the [ubiquity] “fyi” command, you can quickly and easily forward information about a page to anyone.

Unfortunately, ubiquity is now an inactive project of Mozilla Labs.

Fortunately, Mozilla Firefox Custom Keywords allow you to easily make bookmarks or bookmarklets that can act like a command with a dynamic parameter. If a bookmark has a keyword, you can type that keyword in the Location Bar (address bar) and Firefox opens the bookmark. Even better, you can type string of text after the keyword and that string is passed to the bookmark. Just edit your bookmark putting a %s where you want the string to be substituted. Asa Dotzler and Daniel Wang explain it well on the Firefox Custom Keywords page. So well, in fact, that I was able to whip up a work-alike bookmarklet in a few minutes (and then spend last night tuning it and drafting this post).

Install:

First, bookmark this fyi link in Firefox. To bookmark a link you can right-click on it and “Bookmark this Link” or drag the link to your bookmark bar.

Second, add fyi as a keyword property of the new bookmark. To add a keyword, use the “Bookmarks” menu to select the “Show All Bookmarks” menu item. In the resulting “Library” window, navigate to the new bookmark and highlight it. If necessary, us the control beneath the property labels to expand the property panel to reveal the field for “Keyword”. Finally, enter the keyword fyi.

Close the “Library” to save your changes.

Usage:

fyi [to_email]

Activate the “fyi” bookmarklet by using the bookmark menu, or by clicking the bookmark in your bookmark bar, or (ideally) move the cursor into the Location Bar and type:

fyi

and hit enter. This opens the default email program and creates a new email with the page title in the email subject. The email body contains the page title and URL. If any text on the page is selected, then the selected text is also included in the body.

If typed, the command optionally takes 1 argument, that includes one or more email addresses, separated by semicolons. The email address(es) will be put in the TO field of the new email.

Requirements:

• Firefox 3.0 or higher

Version History:

Version 1.0 (April 6, 2011) more recent versions on Github

Known Issues:

Tested with Firefox 4.0 on Mac OS X 10.6 and Win XP. May or may not work with Chrome, IE or Safari. A version optimized for iOS Mobile Safari is also available.

License:

MIT

Source:

Source on Github

Use comments to report bugs or provide feedback. Thanks.

Here is a table I’ve I made of the various sizes needed for iPhone, iPad, Universal iOS, AIR 2.5 for desktop and AIR for Android. Hopefully this will be helpful for others, too.

HTML5 Manifest Generator for TextMate

To install the bundle- just download, unzip, and double-click. TextMate will open and install the bundle as “Mobilemind” with a command, “Generate Manifest”. Usage is as you would expect in TextMate. Feel free to move it to a more appropriate bundle grouping, like say HTML.

HTML5 Manifest Generator A ‘Shebang’ menu Filter for TextWrangler

To install the Shebang (Shell) menu item- first download, then unzip the shell script. Finally, move the script file into the directory:

~/Library/Application Support/TextWrangler/Unix Support/Unix Filters

Then make sure the script is executable by doing the following in Terminal:

chmod 755 "$HOME/Library/Application Support/TextWrangler/Unix Support/Unix Filters/Manifest Generator"

Then to use it the first time TextWrangler:

• Open the HTML file that you want to use as the basis for generating a manifest
• In TextWrangler, hold down the Cmd key while you use the “!#” (Shebang) menu to select the sub-menu “Unix Filters” and choose ‘Manifest Generator‘.
• In the dialog box set the “Filter Options” as follows; Output STDERR to: New Window Output STDOUT: Windows used for STDERR
• Then click the button “Run” to execute the filter command.

The options should “stick” for next time you run the Filter.

If you want to use it as a raw shell command, I’d recommend copying the file “Manifest Generator” to “manifest-gen” and putting the copy in the directory “/usr/local/bin“. That will save you typing lots of quotes and/or long paths.

Generates a default HTML5 ‘cache manifest’ file from HTML input.

The manifest includes items referenced by HTML tags with attributes for href, longdesc, and src. The items are sorted with duplicates removed.

The manifest excludes items that specify a protocol scheme, i.e. non-relative URLs.

To install the plugin- just download, unzip, and double-click. Coda will open and install the plugin.

HTML5 Manifest Generator

To use, open an HTML file and use the Coda Plugins menu to select Manifest Generator. The command will open a new document with a sample manifest. Remember to save the file and add the manifest attribute to the <html> tag of the main HTML file. See Mark Pilgrim’s excellent book for details.

Given sufficient interest I can also make the bare command/shell script of the command available for download. It works on a named file or you can pipe in standard input.