Good morning, universe. This morning I had the pleasure of reading dozens of support emails on my Pre. This, of course, was the result of another unannounced change to the Digg API (which powers Digloo). With my wedding in less than 2 days, I can’t imagine the damage this would have caused my reputation if the error had occurred while I was on my honeymoon. I really, really hope Digg realizes that there are people who use the JSON responses of their API and when they make these seemingly small changes it can affect hundreds of users.
The good news is that you all get Digloo 1.4 earlier than planned. I have had version 1.4 finished for a few weeks, actually. I was only waiting to release the update after my honeymoon to make sure nothing went terribly wrong with the release while I was out. Well, something has already gone TERRIBLY wrong, so now’s the only time. I did not have a separate copy of 1.3.3 to add this bugfix to, so I had to put it into 1.4 and release it. I bet you’re wondering what Digloo 1.4 contains. Well first of all, it works. The “short_url” bug (which crippled the app) has been fixed. Jeff Hodsdon at Digg was quick enough to reply this morning with the information I needed. So we can give them that much.
New features in Digloo 1.4:
User profiles
Recently Dugg Stories
Comment History
Favorites
Submission History
Friends
Twitter Sharing
Uses the Twitter API and OAuth to post.
Compose a blank tweet via the App Menu on the main “Stories” scene
Facebook sharing
Requires the latest version of the Facebook app
Opens the Facebook app and seeds the status to it.
Direct API posting coming in the future
Visual changes
New splash screen
New icons throughout the app
Restyled the Post Comment, Preferences, and About Pages
New menu on the main “Stories” scene
Image links (png, jpg, gif) now open in the ImageView widget.
Fullscreen
Landscape support
Multi-touch zoom
New gesture area functionality
Double-tap the gesture area from anywhere within the app to return to the home scene
Topics button now includes all sub topics
Bugfixes
Fixed the paralyzing “short_url” bug that came up last night as a result of an unannounced change to Digg’s API (thanks to everyone who emailed me and posted on Twitter about the bug. I probably wouldn’t have noticed for a while)
Fixed rounded corners bug on main user avatar
Changing landscape mode no longer requires application restart
Fixed some errors in the built-in browser
Improved OAuth support
To-do (Digloo 1.4.1)
Add “More” button to user profile page (to load more than 10 or 20 items)
Replace Palm spinner with a custom one
Update checking
Metrix installation
I’ve submitted the update to Palm and emailed @adora so hopefully they will be nice enough to rush this out because no one’s app is working right now (and I have a wedding to prepare for).
Digg was awesome today and made an unannounced API change that broke the interactive portions of Digloo (Digging/Burying items, posting comments). I updated the code and I’m hoping Palm will get the update posted ASAP.
I’ll keep everyone posted! Thanks for the support emails giving me the heads up.
Update: version 1.3.2 is now available to download. Big thanks to @adora for rushing the application approval through!
Update #2: @JerseyJesus noticed that the error still happens when you try Digging a story from within the in-app browser. This is an oversight on my part and I’ll submit version 1.3.3 right away. Thanks, Jesus!
Greetings fellow Diglooites! (Might have to come up with a new name for fans of this app). This morning, Digloo 1.3 was submitted to Palm! Here’s what you can expect in this release:
Ability to post comments and replies to articles
Fixed the bug where embedded YouTube videos would not play in the YouTube player if in-app browsing was enabled.
Made some small visual tweaks – media (news, images, videos) sections are now better labeled and should be less confusing
I don’t normally do this, but here’s whats currently in development for 1.4 and beyond:
Direct sharing to Twitter and Facebook
User profile / history viewing
Friends lists
Better image support
Related stories
Look forward to a fun and Diggtastic summer! Thanks all! 1.3 should be available by the end of the week!
Digloo 1.2 launched today! Go ahead and update it to see all of the new features! Unfortunately, there are a couple of little quirks.
If you view a YouTube video and you have in-app browsing enabled, the YouTube mobile page will show but the video will not play. This can be fixed by tapping the options menu on the lower-right and choosing “View in Browser.” This will load a blank card followed by the YouTube app. This will be fixed in the next update later this week.
If you are viewing sub replies (replies to another reply), sometimes swiping back will load a different set of previous replies, instead of the correct previous replies. Sounds confusing but this will also be fixed.
Occasionally the Dugg ribbon does not show up.
Anyway, I’ll get an update out for these bugs tonight! Enjoy the update and thanks for your support!
Above is the new demo video for Digloo 1.2 (the only other video demo that was out there was from version 0.6 two months ago). I didn’t really detail all of the new features in the video so here’s the official changelog:
Landscape support. Just turn the app sideways or upside down and continue reading! There is a preference to disable this.
In-app story browsing: tapping the story’s title will open it in a built-in browser rather than a new card. There is a new preference to disable this if you’d like.
Gesture area now supported for navigating pages: This worked before webOS 1.4 was released, and now it’s back again. Swipe forward or backward on the gesture area to change pages
The replies panel now takes up much more of the screen (90% to be exact) so it’s easier to view replies. There is also a new close button on the replies panel.
If you view the replies to another reply, you can swipe back and view the original reply thread. Previously the panel would close.
Tapping a story on the main stories list now offers better visual feedback
Story list items now render better and use less screen space on average
Various bug fixes
New icon (for better visibility in App Catalog as a Digg app)
Anyway, the update has been submitted to Palm and should be available any day now!
