Electric Butterfly Blog

iPhone Insights: The Curious Case of Rolando

2009-06-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Twitter and the various iPhone-related web sites (such as TouchArcade's Forums) have been buzzing non-stop the last few days about Ngmoco's weekend announcement to remove Rolando 1 from the App Store to "make room" for the new Rolando 2 on July 1. Rolando 2 features all new levels and game play, so its not being offered as a free update for existing Rolando 1 users. Rolando 2 is being marketed as a brand new, separate product. For those still interested in playing Rolando 1, Ngmoco encouraged people to buy a copy of it before it disappears. Ngmoco had stated that they would continue to provide support for Rolando 1, so nothing would change for existing users, only new sales would be discontinued after July 1.

Due to the public uproar that ensued, Ngmoco announced yesterday that they've reversed their decision and plan to keep Rolando 1 in the App Store, but for the sake of exploring new business models, let's take a moment to dive a little deeper into Ngmoco's original experiment.

Rolando 1's retirement announcement left many fans scratching their heads, wondering why the removal. From a business perspective, it makes perfect sense for several reasons. For one, the announcement not only escalates Rolando 1 sales (get it before its gone), but it also heavily promotes the forthcoming release of Rolando 2. And two, if Rolando 2 is released with a higher price tag than Rolando 1, then the fear is that users will simply gravitate toward the cheaper original game. Unfortunately, based on the impulse buy nature of the current App Store architecture, price is often the key factor in app sales. Many angry fans asked Ngmoco to rethink their decision and keep Rolando 1 in the App Store with a reduced price of 99 cents, but honestly, that just makes the issue worse. At 99 cents, new sales from Rolando 1 would probably cannablize much of Rolando 2's potential sales.

The development of a sophisticated new game is a serious investment of time and money, so Ngmoco's focus on Rolando 2 sales is understandable. I can't blame them for wanting to have a successful new product launch -- its what all commercial developers strive for. They didn't want the sales of Rolando 2 being diluted by the original Rolando 1, since that could possibly negatively impact the future chart position of the new Rolando 2. And any iPhone developer knows that getting into the App Store's top sales charts equals valuable exposure, increased sales, and extended product longevity.

When placed in a business perspective, Ngmoco's move seems completely justifiable. So why were so many Rolando fans upset?

Even though CD-based console video games are frequently taken out of print (often replaced with new editions), that's a scenario that has been happening for decades now, so consumers are familiar with this physical product cycle. But users tend to view digital distribution as a totally different animal. Since there's no cost of goods or physical shipping, why would a game be discontinued? If the publisher is still in business and the related platform/device is still active, then their games should continue to be available for as long as there is a demand for them. Right? Well, if you're a user of that game, you'd probably high-five your friends with a "Hell, yes!", but I'm not sure the answer is that simple.

We've all come to love the App Store for being a reliable digital distribution system -- our little mobile safety net in the sky for re-downloading apps directly to our iPhones and iPod touches if we're away from our computer's backup iTunes Library. But we have to remember that the App Store is merely that: a storefront. We can't assume or expect all publishers to use the same business model, especially on a platform that's still so young. The App Store has only been open for one year and yet its already overflowing with more than 50,000 apps. Its getting so difficult for new apps to shine in such a crowded marketplace that developers are forced to try new marketing and sales strategies in the hopes of finding a big enough audience. Because without sufficient sales to support development, the future of those apps die.

The real issue here is a psychological one -- no one likes having something they treasure being taken away from them (even if a simple iTunes backup would prevent that problem). And Ngmoco's tactic is a relatively new one for the App Store ecosystem, so it seemed to have caught users off-guard.

While Ngmoco did change their minds and will keep Rolando 1 in the App Store, I will admit that I was genuinely curious to see how their original plan would have played out, but now we'll never know (at least not until another publisher tries it). Obviously, the folks at Ngmoco weighed the potential ill will of their existing customers against the sales strategy of Rolando 2... and maintaining happy loyal customers won out in the end.

Hopefully, Ngmoco's kind gesture will be rewarded with a boost in Rolando 2 sales.

Ngmoco's initial plan to retire Rolando 1 could have ultimately proven to be a successful sales experiment. But Ngmoco has just put a smile back on a lot of faces with the return of Rolando 1, and that's never a bad thing, especially when many of their existing customers will probably buy more of their iPhone games in the future.

iPhone Insights by Dave Wooldridge

iPhone Insights: Subscribe to Free RSS Feed or Email News

2009-06-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

As we mentioned previously, iPhone Insights will be a new series of blog posts that discusses interesting iPhone app business news and marketing strategies. If you're a professional iPhone developer or hope to someday publish your own iPhone apps in Apple's App Store, then you won't want to miss these forthcoming iPhone Insights blog posts.

If you already subscribe to Electric Butterfly's Blog, RSS Feed, or Email Alerts at http://www.ebutterfly.com/, then you'll automatically receive iPhone Insights blog posts.

But if you're interested in receiving ONLY the iPhone Insights blog posts, we've set up special filtered options just for you!

Subscribe to iPhone Insights RSS Feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/iphoneinsights

Subscribe to iPhone Insights Email News:
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=iphoneinsights&loc=en_US

Of course, for all the latest iPhone Insights and Electric Butterfly news, you can also follow us on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/ebutterfly

Introducing iPhone Insights!

2009-06-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Electric Butterfly's Dave Wooldridge will be posting blog entries related to the business of iPhone development, including interesting iPhone app business news and marketing strategies. If you're a professional iPhone developer or hope to someday publish your own iPhone apps in Apple's App Store, then you won't want to miss these forthcoming iPhone Insights blog posts.

If you already subscribe to Electric Butterfly's Blog, RSS Feed, or Email Alerts, then you'll automatically receive Dave's iPhone Insights blog posts.

If you're an iPhone developer whose interested in reading ONLY the iPhone Insights blog posts, then stay tuned... we'll soon be announcing a special filtered RSS Feed and Email Alerts service for iPhone Insights.

Save 50% on the New Stimulus 4.5 for Mac OS X

2009-04-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

Major Update Includes a New Image Effects Editor and Enhanced Interface!

Electric Butterfly, Inc. proudly announces the release of Stimulus 4.5 for Mac OS X, the popular media browser that provides an easy way to manage and enjoy your personal collection of digital music, photos, and video clips.

We know times are tough, so to help you save money, we're offering our own Stimulus Plan! Save 50% off for a limited time only!

Tired of importing your media files into proprietary photo album and catalog formats? Tired of juggling between multiple applications just to enjoy your library of digital media files? Discouraged by the expensive prices of media management software? Stimulus is your solution! With support for 27 popular file formats, Stimulus works intuitively like a file browser, allowing you to select and view/play all of your favorite images, audio files, and video clips from where they reside on your hard drive. Rename, move, and delete files to organize your digital life. Play slideshows, add favorites to custom lists, adjust audio bass & treble settings, search, print, zoom, rotate, convert/save images, add image effects, and much more!

The new 4.5 version includes:

-- New Image Effects editor! Enhance your images with 12 cool effects such as Blur, Sharpen, Brightness, Contrast, Color Levels, and more!

-- Image editing is never done to the original file, so all editing and export saves are non-destructive.

-- Images can now be exported in various file formats such as JPEG, PNG, PICT, TIFF, and more!

-- Refined several UI elements, plus dozens of minor bug fixes and improvements.

Additional Product Information:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/stimulus/

Free Demo Download Available:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/stimulus/downloads.php

Pricing:
For a limited time only, purchase a single user license for only $9.95 US -- that's 50% off (regularly $19.95). Stimulus 4.5 is a free update for all registered Stimulus customers.

HelpLogic 1.6 is Now Available!

2009-04-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

Electric Butterfly, Inc. proudly announces the immediate availability of HelpLogic 1.6, the award-winning help authoring solution for Mac OS X developers.

Easily create help systems for your software and web sites from a single source! HelpLogic's innovative design removes the development headaches usually associated with help authoring, providing an ideal solution for Mac software developers, web site designers, and documentation writers. Save time with the integrated Workshop, Visual TOC Builder, HTML Editor, and Link Manager to quickly generate Web-based Help, Apple Help, Microsoft HTML Help, UniHelp, and PDF.

This new 1.6 version includes several new enhancements, minor bug fixes, and an improved HTML Editor with lots of cool new features! This recommended update is a free upgrade for all existing HelpLogic customers. And if you're not yet a customer, download the free trial of HelpLogic and take it for a test drive! A single user license of HelpLogic (Mac OS X Edition) is only $99.00 US.

Download Now:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

Save 50% on the New WSL-Amazon 2.1 for REALbasic

2009-03-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Electric Butterfly, Inc. proudly announces the release of WSL-Amazon 2.1, the award-winning, cross-platform REALbasic class library for accessing Amazon Web Services. Version 2.1 provides several new methods and properties, as well as compatibility with REALbasic 2008 and 2009 releases.

In celebration of WSL-Amazon's 5 year anniversary, save 50% off the new 2.1 version! For a limited time only, the Component License is only $25.00 US (regularly $49.00) and the Source Code License is only $149.00 US (regularly $299.00).

Easily Integrate Amazon Web Services into Your REALbasic Applications! This HTTPSocket subclass wraps the Amazon Web Services ECS 4.0 API into an easy-to-use library of 38 powerful methods and 167 properties with support for their US, UK, German, French, Canadian, and Japanese Amazon stores. Includes extensive search and information retrieval capabilities, plus the ability to create, update and checkout Amazon shopping carts -- all from within your REALbasic applications! This class library also comes with the project source code for a fully-functional Amazon-powered application, which you can reuse in your own REALbasic projects!

Even though REALbasic supports XML and SOAP, the extensive API of Amazon Web Services can seem daunting and extremely time-consuming to implement. WSL-Amazon changes all that with optimized, object-oriented REALbasic classes that wrap this large API into time-saving methods and properties. No knowledge of XML or SOAP is needed! WSL-Amazon provides an easy-to-use REALbasic framework for easily accessing Amazon Web Services.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE DEMO:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/wslamazon.php

LICENSING OPTIONS:

COMPONENT LICENSE -- ON SALE: $25.00 (US)
Purchase a single seat license to download the encrypted WSL-Amazon classes. The Component License includes (1) Single Incident Support Plan and allows you to use the encrypted WSL-Amazon classes in your compiled REALbasic applications Royalty-Free! Buy Online:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/wslamazon.php

SOURCE CODE LICENSE -- ON SALE $149.00 (US)
Purchase a single seat license to download the full source code of the WSL-Amazon classes. Having access to the source code will allow you to customize the existing features to best suit your specific application needs. The Source Code License includes (1) Single Incident Support Plan Plan and allows you to use the WSL-Amazon classes in your compiled REALbasic applications Royalty-Free! Buy Online:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/wslamazon.php

REQUIREMENTS:
-- REALbasic 2006r3 or higher.
-- An Amazon Access Key ID.
-- Compatible with Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux.

New Direction for HelpLogic

2009-02-21T15:18:00.000-08:00

HelpLogic (Mac OS X Edition) is by far our best-selling software product. While we've sold hundreds of HelpLogic licenses to Mac users world-wide, unfortunately the Windows version has not fared as well. For example, we only sold 4 licenses for the HelpLogic (Windows Edition) in 2008. And even in earlier years, the Mac version was outselling the Windows version by a huge margin of 70 to 1.

When we originally released the first HelpLogic 1.0 on Mac OS X, we had no intention at that time to develop HelpLogic for Windows, since the Windows market was already saturated with dozens of established help authoring tools (such as RoboHelp, Doc-To-Help, Help & Manual, etc.) But after many requests from Windows developers, we eventually decided to take the plunge into the Windows help authoring market. Unfortunately, the gamble did not pay off. The consistently poor sales of HelpLogic (Windows Edition) has not only made it challenging to justify the continued development of the Windows version, but in this current global recession, it is also taking valuable resources and time away from developing our flagship product, HelpLogic (Mac OS X Edition).

With this in mind, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue HelpLogic (Windows Edition). In the coming weeks, we'll be releasing the new HelpLogic 1.6 for both Mac OS X and Windows, but that will be the last major version released for Windows. Later this year, HelpLogic 2.0 will only be released on Mac OS X.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR WINDOWS CUSTOMERS?

The forthcoming HelpLogic 1.6 will be the last major version released for Windows, which includes several enhancements and bug fixes. While we will not be selling any new licenses for HelpLogic (Windows Edition), we will continue to provide customer support and assistance for our existing Windows customers. Since all HelpLogic licenses are cross-platform, we encourage you to make the free switch to HelpLogic (Mac OS X Edition). You can use your Windows HelpLogic serial number to unlock/register the Mac version of HelpLogic!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR MAC CUSTOMERS?

With our focus now dedicated to HelpLogic (Mac OS X Edition), our Mac users will benefit from more frequent updates, as well as the addition of more Mac-centric interface elements and tighter integration with Mac OS X technologies in future HelpLogic releases.

We greatly value all of our customers, so if you have any questions or feedback about this new direction, please do not hesitate to contact us at Customer Support.

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

UniHelp 4.0 for REALbasic is Now Available

2008-11-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

Electric Butterfly announces the immediate availability of UniHelp 4.0, a major new version of the award-winning help system for REALbasic. UniHelp provides an easy-to-use, feature-rich solution for REALbasic developers who want to add online help to their cross-platform applications (Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux).

Product Information and Download:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/unihelp.php

A free update for all registered UniHelp customers, Version 4.0 includes the following new features and enhancements:

-- New refined user interface!
-- New History list menu.
-- New optional Print feature.
-- New Text Size buttons for adjusting the UI text size.
-- New TOC Collapse & Expand buttons.
-- New navigation Up & Down arrow buttons.
-- New Full Text Searches option.
-- New Highlighted Search Matches option.
-- Optimized error handling and improved performance.

Licensing Options:

FREEWARE VERSION -- FREE!
You may use the encrypted UniHelp classes in your NON-COMMERCIAL and FREEWARE compiled REALbasic applications Royalty-Free. The Freeware version does NOT include support of any kind.

COMPONENT LICENSE -- only $49.00 (US)
You may use the encrypted UniHelp classes in your COMMERCIAL and SHAREWARE compiled REALbasic applications Royalty-Free. This license includes one (1) Single Incident Support Plan and access to a special UniHelp Edition of HelpLogic for quickly creating UniHelp compatible help pages.

SOURCE CODE LICENSE -- only $399.00 (US)
For the first time ever, we're offering a Source Code License for UniHelp, one of the most popular components in the REALbasic community since 2001. If you've ever wanted to learn how to parse XML, search XML via XQL/XPath, enhance HTMLViewer functionality, maintain a browser history, and much more, then seeing how its all implemented in UniHelp's source code will prove to a be great reference! Having source code access will also allow you to customize UniHelp on a much deeper level for your specific needs within your REALbasic applications (Royalty-Free). For a limited time, purchase a UniHelp Source Code License and receive a FREE license to the FULL EDITION of HelpLogic (a $99 value).

UniHelp Customers:
If you already own a UniHelp Component License and wish to upgrade to a Source Code License, please inquire about our special upgrade pricing!
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/support.php

HelpLogic Users:
For those customers who use HelpLogic to generate your UniHelp pages, we'll be releasing a new HelpLogic version next week that includes publishing support for the new UniHelp 4.0 features.

New UniHelp 4 Sneak Peek!

2008-10-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

We've been hard at work on the latest versions of UniHelp for REALbasic and our cross-platform help authoring tool, HelpLogic. In anticipation of the soon to be released UniHelp 4 and HelpLogic 1.5.2, we wanted to give you a quick sneak preview of some of UniHelp 4's new features and newly refined interface.

If you're reading this post in an email or RSS reader that doesn't support images, you can view the sneak preview UniHelp 4 screenshot online at: http://www.ebutterfly.com/images/screens/unihelp4_sneak.jpg

What's New in UniHelp 4:
-- New optional Print feature.
-- New History list for jumping to previously viewed topics.
-- New Up/Down Arrow buttons for quickly moving through the TOC.
-- New Expand/Collapse buttons for greater control over the TOC.
-- New Text Size buttons for easily adjusting the UI font size.
-- New refined UI design.
-- Optimized codebase, enhanced performance, and minor bug fixes.

Even though this is a major new version, UniHelp 4 will be a free upgrade for all licensed UniHelp customers. For those customers who use HelpLogic to generate your UniHelp pages, the forthcoming HelpLogic 1.5.2 will include support for the latest UniHelp 4 features.

New Site Redesign for ebutterfly.com

2008-10-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

We finally found time in our busy development schedule to give our own Electric Butterfly web site a complete facelift, something we've been wanting to do for quite awhile now. The entire site was redesigned from the ground up with more efficient, modern HTML/CSS code. We hope you like the new look! As always, we welcome your feedback on the new design.

This new web site facelift is actually a prelude to some exciting things we have planned...

First up, we'll soon be releasing new versions of HelpLogic and Stimulus, along with some updates for some of our developer components.

Then in early 2009, we'll be unveiling some brand new online resources, which will be published on our www.ebutterfly.com site. It's too early to reveal any details now, but if you want to be notified when these new online resources are launched, then simply sign up for our free Email News or RSS News Feed.

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

UniHelp 3.3 for REALbasic is Now Available

2008-09-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Electric Butterfly announces the immediate availability of UniHelp 3.3, the award-winning help system for REALbasic. UniHelp provides an easy-to-use, feature-rich solution for REALbasic developers who want to add online help to their cross-platform applications (Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux).

Product Information and Download:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/unihelp.php

A free update for all registered UniHelp customers, Version 3.3 includes the following new features and enhancements:

[New] - You now have the option to perform Full Text Searches within UniHelp. In the UniHelpEngine.Constructor, if you set UseFullTextSearch=True, then UniHelp searches will search the TOC and the full text content of your help pages. If you set UseFullTextSearch=False, then UniHelp searches will only search the TOC Topic Names, Keywords and Description in the TOC XML.

[New] - You now have the option to show Highlighted Search Matches in the displayed help pages within UniHelp's search engine. In the UniHelpEngine.Constructor, if you set ShowSearchHighlights=True (and UseFullTextSearch=True), then search matches will be highlighted in search-related help pages. If UseFullTextSearch=False, then ShowSearchHighlights is ignored.

[New] - Line controls were removed from the UniHelp Viewer interface to ensure compatibility with future REALbasic releases (which will deprecate the Line control in 2009).

[New] - References to TemporaryFolder were replaced with SpecialFolder.Temporary to ensure compatibility with future REALbasic releases.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For those customers who use HelpLogic to generate your UniHelp pages, we'll be releasing a new HelpLogic update very soon that includes publishing support for the new UniHelp 3.3 features.

UniHelp 3.2 for REALbasic is Now Available

2008-05-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

Electric Butterfly announces the immediate availability of UniHelp 3.2, the award-winning help system for REALbasic. UniHelp provides an easy-to-use, feature-rich solution for REALbasic developers who want to add online help to their cross-platform applications (Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux).

A free update for all registered UniHelp customers, Version 3.2 provides improved compatibility with REALbasic 2008r2.

Product Information and Download:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/unihelp.php

UniHelp 3.1 for REALbasic is Now Available

2008-05-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Electric Butterfly announces the immediate availability of UniHelp 3.1, the award-winning help system for REALbasic. UniHelp provides an easy-to-use, feature-rich solution for REALbasic developers who want to add online help to their cross-platform applications. A free update for all registered UniHelp customers, Version 3.1 includes several enhancements and bug fixes, providing improved support for the latest REALbasic 2008 releases.

Apple Help Viewer, Microsoft HTML Help, WinHelp.... Why waste precious development time designing and compiling a different Help system for each platform when you can easily use UniHelp for all of them? NO additional plugins or classes needed. Just drag the respective UniHelp components folder into your REALbasic project, create your HTML help pages and customize your configuration settings with the UniHelp Edition of HelpLogic, and that's it -- instant online help for your compiled REALbasic applications that works on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux.

Key Features:
-- Now Supports Most HTML Tags and CSS Styles!
-- Utilizes REALbasic's HTMLViewer Control for displaying HTML help pages.
-- Supports URL Links, Relative Links, and Email Links.
-- Supports Images, Video and Audio.
-- Hierarchical Listbox Displays Help Table of Contents.
-- Built-in Search Engine and Keyword-based Index.
-- Supports Context-Sensitive Help Searches.
-- Customizable Icons, Title Bar, Start Page, Table of Contents, Font Sizes, Window Positioning, etc.
-- GUI Support for English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Japanese.
-- Small Footprint: Since Your Help Pages are External, only the UniHelp Classes are Compiled with Your REALbasic Application.
-- Supports Help Pages placed in either an External Help Folder or a REALbasic Virtual Volume.
-- Familiar Help-style Interface with Back, Forward, and Home buttons.
-- Run REALbasic Methods from within your HTML help pages by clicking on HTML-based "UHScript" hyperlinks.
-- Built-in Keyboard Shortcuts for closing the UniHelp window (Command-W on Mac or Control-W on Microsoft Windows).
-- Built-in Error Handling.
-- Easy to Use and Royalty-Free!

"UniHelp" and "Electric Butterfly" are never mentioned anywhere on the UniHelp interface, providing you with a full-featured generic Help solution -- your software customers will think you built it yourself!

What's New in UniHelp 3.1:

[Fix] - A workaround solution for a long-standing REALbasic HTMLViewer Mac bug (Verified REAL Feedback Report: pfquijwi). Since this REALbasic Mac bug causes the HTMLViewer to display either a blank page or incorrectly rendered HTML when the control is resized via code before the window is shown/loaded, UniHelp's custom window resizing feature has been completely reworked to avoid this bug. As a small side effect to this solution, end-users will see the UniHelp window quickly resize itself after it is initially displayed.

[Opt] - To workaround a Windows bug in REALbasic2008r2's built-in XML classes, UniHelp now utilizes a different method to list the topics within a Chapter when that Chapter is expanded in the TOC.

[Opt] - To ensure compatibility with future versions of REALbasic, UniHelpEngine's constructor method has been renamed "Constructor".

[Chg] - Several properties have now been removed from the UniHelpEngine class since they were deprecated back in Version 3.0, such as SerialNumber, SizeH1, SizeH2, SizeH3, SizeNormal, SizeSmall.

Availability and Licensing Options:

Product Information and Download:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/rb/unihelp.php

FREEWARE VERSION -- FREE!
You may use the encrypted UniHelp classes in your NON-COMMERCIAL and FREEWARE compiled REALbasic applications Royalty-Free. The Freeware version does NOT include support of any kind.

PRO UNIHELP LICENSE -- only $49.00 (US)
You may use the encrypted UniHelp classes in your COMMERCIAL and SHAREWARE compiled REALbasic applications Royalty-Free. Licensed UniHelp customers receive access to a special UniHelp Edition of HelpLogic for quickly creating UniHelp compatible help pages. This license includes one (1) Single Incident Support Plan.

SINGLE INCIDENT SUPPORT PLAN -- only $39.00 (US)
Under this plan, Electric Butterfly will assist a support customer with a single UniHelp related issue, reviewing the customer's code to help troubleshoot/resolve the reported issue. If you want help with more than one issue, then purchase a Single Incident Support Plan for each issue.

UniHelp was Made with REALbasic and Requires REALbasic 2006r3 or higher.

New UniHelp Version Coming Soon!

2008-05-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Since the current UniHelp 3 component utilizes REALbasic's built-in HTMLViewer control, it suffers from a long-standing Mac WebKit bug that, as of RB2008r2, is still not fixed. For those developers not familiar with this Mac-only issue (verified bug report "pfquijwi" in REAL's old Feedback System), in a nutshell:

When compiling with REALbasic 2006r4 and higher for Mac OS X, a Mac-only WebKit issue sometimes occurs where the HTMLViewer control occasionally displays a blank screen or incorrect rendering of HTML when the HTMLViewer has been resized via code. While this issue appeared random and inconsistent in the RB2007 releases, it appears to have gotten worse with the latest RB2008 releases, happening more often than not.

With this being the case, to our dismay, the current UniHelp 3 had become almost unusable in RB2008r2 on Mac OS X. Knowing that the WebKit bug in HTMLViewer is directly related to resizing the control via code, it was decided that in order to restore reliability to UniHelp, the only current workaround to this issue is to remove the ability to custom resize the UniHelp Viewer window via code. The end-user would still be able to resize the window manually, but the application developer would no longer be able to resize the UniHelp Viewer window via code with predefined settings. Instead, the UniHelp Viewer window will alway initially open at the default 700 pixels wide by 400 pixels tall. We feel this is a very small sacrifice to make in exchange for properly displayed HTML help pages in the HTMLViewer control.

We plan to release UniHelp 3.1 in the next few days. This new 3.1 release (which will be a free udpate for all registered UniHelp customers) will include this HTMLViewer workaround fix, as well as other enhancements for improved compatibility with RB2008r2.

NEWS UPDATE - MAY 20, 2008:
Good News! We figured out a workaround solution to that REALbasic HTMLViewer Mac bug without having to sacrifice the custom window resizing feature! Since that bug only happens when the HTMLViewer control is resized via code before the window is shown/loaded, UniHelp's custom window resizing feature has been completely reworked to avoid this bug. The only minor side effect to this solution is that end-users will see the UniHelp window quickly resize itself after it is initially displayed.

HelpLogic 1.5 Beta 1 for Windows XP/Vista is Now Available

2008-03-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

The long awaited beta release of HelpLogic 1.5b1 for Windows XP and Vista is finally here! This new beta includes all of the great new features found in the current 1.5 version for Mac OS X, except for the new PDF publishing engine, which is still in development for Windows. The new Windows-based PDF publishing engine will be unveiled in a subsequent beta release. For a complete list of what's new in this first beta, check out the official Release Notes.

Download HelpLogic 1.5b1 for Windows:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/

Free upgrade for all HelpLogic 1.0 customers! Enjoy!

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

New HelpLogic 1.5.1 for Mac OS X

2008-03-31T15:13:00.000-07:00

There's a new minor update available for Mac OS X users. The new HelpLogic 1.5.1 features a lot of time-saving enhancements and bug fixes, and is a recommended update for all of our Mac customers.

Download HelpLogic 1.5.1 for Mac OS X:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

HelpLogic 1.5b1 for Windows Available March 31, 2008

2008-03-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

The long awaited beta release of HelpLogic 1.5b1 for Windows XP and Vista will finally be available for download on March 31, 2008. What can you expect in this first beta? Basically, it will contain ALL of the great new features and enhancements found in the current 1.5 version for Mac OS X, except for the new PDF publishing engine, which is still in development for Windows. The new Windows-based PDF publishing engine will be unveiled in a subsequent beta release. Check out the Windows Vista screenshot of 1.5b1.

I want to personally thank our Windows customers for their generous patience. After seeing the new 1.5 released earlier this year for Mac OS X, I know many of you were anxious to get your hands on the Windows version. After several delays, I hope you will find the new 1.5 betas worth the wait. As always, your continued support is much appreciated and never taken for granted...

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

Updated HelpRunner 1.2 for REALbasic

2008-02-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

The open source HelpRunner module for REALbasic has been updated to version 1.2. This new version includes code contributed by Martin Honeywill, offering a more efficient way of loading a CHM's default page if a specific help page is not passed to the OpenWinCHM method.

Easily implement native support for Apple Help and Microsoft HTML Help in your REALbasic applications with this free REALbasic module. In your Mac OS X Bundle apps, HelpRunner provides easy-to-use methods for registering your Apple Help Book and opening your Apple Help Book in Mac OS X's native Help Viewer. In your Windows apps, HelpRunner provides easy-to-use methods for opening your CHM help file in Microsoft Windows' native HTML Help Viewer. Includes full source code, example project, and extensive PDF documentation.

FREE DOWNLOAD:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/opensource/

If you are interested in contributing code and development efforts to HelpRunner (such as code for implementing help on Linux), please contact Electric Butterfly via our web site.

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

If a television commercial airs on Super Bowl Sunday and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

2008-01-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

While we don't usually post blog entries about non-software news, I thought this was a particularly innovative campaign for a very good cause.

On Super Bowl Sunday, television viewers will be checking their volume controls when PepsiCo airs a 60-second commercial filmed in American Sign Language (ASL), with open-captioned text for the benefit of all viewers. Slated to air on the pre-game show on FOX, Pepsi's real mission is to bring awareness of the American deaf community to a wider audience.

The spot was created by and features PepsiCo employees who are members of EnAble, an employee network whose mission is to promote a more inclusive environment for people with disabilities.

With Super Bowl ad space being as expensive as it is, we highly commend PepsiCo's move to utilize their valuable on-air time with this very important message to reach what is undeniably one of the biggest global audiences in television. Don't miss this innovative commercial that will air during the pre-game Super Bowl show on FOX.

To watch a very special behind-the-scenes making of this innovative spot, please click the following link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cD7uLrjKpuY

Help spread the word for this great cause by sharing the special behind-the-scenes YouTube video link above with your friends and family. Thanks!

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

HelpLogic 1.5 Betas for Windows Coming Soon

2008-01-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

All of you Windows users out there, don't worry, you won't have to wait much longer. Now that the Mac OS X version is released, all of our development attention is now focused 100% on the Windows version of HelpLogic 1.5, so beta releases should be available very soon!

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

HelpLogic 1.5 is Now Available for Mac OS X

2008-01-23T15:15:00.000-08:00

After several months of public betas, the official release of HelpLogic 1.5 is now available for Mac OS X. This highly recommended update is a free upgrade for all existing HelpLogic customers. And if you're not yet a customer, download the free trial of HelpLogic and take it for a test drive!

Easily create help systems for your software and web sites from a single source! HelpLogic's award-winning design removes the development headaches usually associated with help authoring, providing an ideal solution for cross-platform software developers, web site designers, and documentation writers. Save time with the built-in Visual TOC Builder, Project Workshop, HTML Editor, and Link Manager to quickly generate Web-based Help, Apple Help, Microsoft HTML Help, UniHelp, and PDF.

For those of you who haven't been following our beta announcements, the new HelpLogic 1.5 includes more than 40 new features, enhancements, and bug fixes! Along with a much improved PDF publishing engine and redesigned interface, the new 1.5 is now a Universal Binary and Leopard compatible!

Download Now:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/

Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback on the previous Mac betas. For a complete list of what's new in this official 1.5 release, please read the
Release Notes at: http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/whatsnew.php

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

Updated HelpRunner 1.1 for REALbasic

2007-12-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Charles Yeomans, who generously contributed a more efficient, modern implementation for the OpenAppleHelp method, the free HelpRunner module has been updated to version 1.1. You can download it at:

http://www.ebutterfly.com/opensource/

HelpRunner is an open source module that enables REALbasic developers to easily implement native support for Apple Help (on Mac OS X) and Microsoft HTML Help (CHM on Windows) in REALbasic applications. The free download includes full source code, an example project, and extensive PDF documentation.

If you are interested in contributing code and development efforts to HelpRunner (such as code for implementing help on Linux), please contact Electric Butterfly via our web site.

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

New Open Source HelpRunner Module for REALbasic

2007-12-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

The new HelpRunner 1.0 is now available as a free open source module for REALbasic, enabling developers to easily implement native support for Apple Help (on Mac OS X) and Microsoft HTML Help (CHM on Windows) in REALbasic applications.

In Mac OS X Bundle apps, HelpRunner provides easy-to-use methods for registering an Apple Help Book and opening an Apple Help Book in Mac OS X's native Help Viewer.

In Windows apps, HelpRunner provides easy-to-use methods for opening a CHM help file in Microsoft Windows' native HTML Help Viewer.

Much of the Declares code included in HelpRunner has been floating around the REALbasic mailing lists and forums in some form or another over the years, but left out of context and lacking documentation, the piecemeal code snippets often leave new developers bewildered and unsure of how to implement it in their own projects. HelpRunner alleviates that problem by wrapping all of those Declares into a convenient API of methods with easy step-by-step instructions. All code has been optimized and tested for use in this new module. Using HelpRunner, developers of all skill levels can now easily implement native help in their Mac OS X and Windows applications without any prior knowledge of Declares.

To give credit where credit is due, known online contributors of some of the Declares code snippets include Charles Yeomans, Thomas Reed, and Adam Ernst. Surely, there are countless other unknown authors whose expertise helped influence the development of HelpRunner, so please forgive us if your name was not mentioned. A big thanks to everyone in the REALbasic community.

FREE DOWNLOAD:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/opensource/

The download includes full source code, an example project, and extensive PDF documentation.

PLEASE NOTE: HelpRunner does NOT create help files for you. In order to use the HelpRunner module to implement support for Apple Help and Microsoft HTML Help in your REALbasic applications, you must already have your help files published in those help formats. Looking for a help authoring solution? Available for both Windows and Mac OS X, HelpLogic is an award-winning help authoring tool that is very easy to use and enables the quick creation of Apple Help and Microsoft HTML Help, as well as many other help formats. For more information or to download a free trial of HelpLogic, visit http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/

If you are interested in contributing code and development efforts to HelpRunner (such as code for implementing help on Linux), please contact Electric Butterfly via our web site.

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

HelpLogic 1.5 Beta 3 is Now Available for Mac OS X

2007-11-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

The new HelpLogic 1.5 Beta 3 is now available for Mac OS X. This highly recommended update is a free upgrade for all existing HelpLogic customers. And if you're not yet a customer, download the free trial of our award-winning help authoring solution and take it for a test drive!

Product Information and Download:
http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/

For those of you who haven't been following our beta announcements, the new HelpLogic 1.5 includes lots of bug fixes, enhancements, and great new features! Along with a much improved PDF publishing engine and redesigned interface, the new 1.5 is now a Universal Binary!

Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback on the previous Beta 2. Here's a quick peek at what's new in HelpLogic 1.5 Beta 3 (Mac OS X):

-- Improved compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

-- PDF Publisher: PDF pages now include a header at the top of every page, displaying the Document Title and Page Number.

-- PDF Publisher: Page Size and Page Margins PDF settings are now fully implemented and operational. Custom Page Margin configurations now work properly with no text distortion.

-- EHP Converter: Updated to version 1.1, with improved conversion of TOC data that contains unescaped ampersand characters.

-- And much, much more! For a complete list of what's new, please read the official Release Notes at: http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/whatsnew.php

And all of you WINDOWS USERS out there, don't worry -- we did not forget about you! Beta releases of HelpLogic 1.5 for Windows will be available soon after we finish up the Mac version.

During this beta period, we encourage your valuable feedback. On the Mac OS X edition, we're very close to wrapping up development on the official 1.5 release, so if you run into any showstopper bugs, be sure to report them ASAP: http://www.ebutterfly.com/helplogic/bugreport.php

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com

Dropping Windows Support for Stimulus

2007-11-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

Due to lack of sales/interest, we've decided to discontinue the Windows Edition of Stimulus. With Stimulus' long history as a Mac-only application, its recent introduction into the overly saturated Windows market of media browsers did not seem to make much of a dent. Porting Stimulus to Windows from its original Mac codebase was a relatively small investment of development time, so it was worth the gamble. But as with any smart technology business, we realize that our development energy is best spent on products and services that will help enhance the digital lifestyles of our loyal customers.

While Stimulus will no longer be available for Windows, the very popular Mac OS X Edition of Stimulus will definitely continue to be maintained and updated as an exclusive Mac OS X product. In fact, we have lots of exciting new features planned for the next Mac OS X version of Stimulus. Beyond providing improved Leopard support, the next version of Stimulus will feature tighter integration with Mac-specific technologies.

Best Regards,
Dave Wooldridge
Electric Butterfly, Inc.
http://www.ebutterfly.com