Tails 0.3.7

I’ve finally gotten tired of telling folks that this and that will be fixed in the next release, and have finally gotten Tails to the point of a 0.3.7 release. Here’s are the highlights this new release:

• I created a test harness so that I can run Tails through the tests from the microformats repository. I’ve only gotten hCard and hCalendar tested, and they don’t all pass (some do to inconsistencies in the tests, others because they require some extensive rework of the parser which will come later), but the hCard parsing and hCalendar parsing is now better than ever, and the export functions produce results very comparable to Brian Suda’s X2V stylesheet.
• Exporting to vCard has been greatly improved. Partly through verifying my parser against the tests, but also because Tails will now generate a file with the vCard valid .vcf extension. This will required a update of the vCard Tails Script.
• Exporting to iCal is now supported with the iCal Tails Script.
• A number of minor parsing tweaks were made to produce better results.

Download Tails 0.3.7 here.

I’m glad to finally get this release out, as I have some UI changes I’m looking to forward to putting into the next release. Keep an eye out for it, I hope to get that out shortly.

I hope everyone is having a happy new year!

Tails Update 0.3.6

It looks like the code for the notification box in Firefox 2.0 has changed — this update fixes that problem. The notification box will still work if you’re still on Firefox 1.x. Thanks to Jeremy for pointing this out.

Get the update here.

Tails Update v0.3.5

I’ve been holding on this release of my Tails Extension for a while now and finally got my butt in gear to get this out. Here is what’s new:

• Added geo microformat support. Not very pretty, as it just shows the coordinates, but if you update this Tails script you’ll be able to map these geo coordinates to Google.
• Added support for more hCard attributes. Honorific suffix/prefix, organization name/unit – it should be all there now.
• Fixed bug where your IM URL will show as your primary over a normal URL in an hCard. This can easily occur if you used hCard creator to create your hCard.
• Updated icon to a cleaner one, and updated the extension to show a custom extension logo instead of the generic Firefox one. Thanks to Dmitry Baranovskiy for providing the graphics.
• Updated hCalendar to display more dates properly. Date only or time only values should now display correctly.
• Made some small fixes in hopes to correct some problems reported by users.

As before, this release will be available initially as a manual update, I’ll be updating the auto-update mechanism a few days later if all goes well.

Tails Update 3.4

In addition to fixing a bug with uninstalling Tails Scripts (thanks to Cédric for finding this), I’ve also added a details view for viewing all the fields of a microformat (just click on the bolded object label in the object list).

To get this update, you’ll have go to the Tails home page and manually download it. I’m holding off the automatic update until I have had more time to play with it. Please post any issues by commenting to this post or on the Tails home page, or by creating an issue on the Tails project page hosted by Google Code.

In addition to this update, I’ve also added a Tails script to search for inbound links to blog entries via Technorati and a script to check a blog entry or bookmark for popularity using Socialmeter.

Here’s a screenshot of the object details view:

Tails Release 0.3.2

What’s in this release:

• Fixed a bug which caused multiple tabs to be closed when the Tab Mix Plus extension is installed (thanks to onemen at the TMP forums for helping me figure this out).
• Added support for the include microformat pattern, which is apparently being used at Yahoo! Tech.
• Added better ratings handling for hReviews.
• Added # of objects to the tab title.
• Added support for hResumes.
• Added an update URL to the extension, so the next release will be updatable via Firefox’s extension update mechanism.
• A few bug fixes that would be too boring to describe detail.

In addition to these changes, I’ve put the source code on Google Code, under the MIT License.

So what’s next for Tails? Here’s what I have left on my list:

• Make the overlay box resizeable.
• Display the relationship between parent/child microformats. Right now, I’m displaying all objects found on the page, even if the object is really a child of another (the hCard author of an hEntry blog post, for example). While this is good in some ways, I would like an intuitive way to display these relationships. I’m still trying to figure out what this is.
• Pull avatars from external sources, like from Gravatar and Who-R-You.
• I would also like to figure out a way to pull external data to complement the data in the microformats. The one method I have came up with so far is to use claimID to pull all the links associated with that user, and display the data from the services that the user has links to. So for example, if the user has a link to his Flickr account, I could display that user’s most recent images. However, since claimID isn’t that widely used just yet, I would like to figure out another solution that would give me the most bang for my buck.

Anyway, enjoy. And send me your feedback.

Update: You can get the extension here.

Tails 0.3.1 Update

Changes in this update:

• Added tabs to separate the different microformats.
• Added support for hAtom microformats.
• Some slight UI tweaks (horizontal scrollbar is now gone).

In addition, I also added a page documenting the Tails Script creation, and added a Tails script for del.icio.us and digg. Enjoy.

Tails 0.3 Released

The subject says it all, you can download it here.

Next thing on my list is to be able to seperate the different microformats into tabs. I’m also starting to add hAtom support, and documenting the API.

Resurrecting Tails

After careful thought and some inspiration, I’ve decided to bring my original Tails Extension out of retirement. It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, since Robert has done such a great job with the Tails Export Extension and I didn’t want to duplicate his effort, but in order to execute my vision of what I wanted to do, I practically had to rebuild Tails (and Flocktails) from the ground up.

So what exactly has changed? Both the Firefox and Flock extensions has now been consolidated into one. I was planning to just continue on with the Flock line, but since I still spend most of my time using Firefox, I felt it was necessary to have it work with both. Also, the parser has been rewritten to easily support future microformats as well fixed some performance problems that I’ve encountered when switching tabs. For the UI, I’ve moved the main view from Firefox’s sidebar and Flock’s topbar to an overlay approach over the browser content area (pictured below). Finally, I added some extensibility to the extension, which is the part of Tails I’m most excited about – I’ll talk more about this when I release the plugin.
I’m expecting to have the extension ready in the a few days, here’s a preview of what it will look like:

I’m very excited with the results, this update will make the extension more useful whereas before it was merely something that was just cool. What remains to be done is some final testing and a little documentation of how to use the extension. I also need to figure out an adequate license for the extension, so any feedback on this would be appreciated.

My Microformats Extension

In an effort to further understand and explore the potential usefulness of microformats, I’ve been spending some time creating a Firefox extension that will indicate when a website contains microformats.

Its pretty basic so far (with only support for hCard and hCalendar), but I’m pretty happy with the results. Developing a Firefox extension is a real PITA, but very rewarding when you see the results in action.

Tails Firefox extension