ObjectBar lives!
Beta 1.99G released
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
ObjectBar lives! ObjectBar 1.99G is now available for Object Desktop users. One of Stardock's most ambitious long-term projects of all time is nearly complete. It's been close for a long while but it has had to evolve with the marketplace.
So what is ObjectBar? ObjectBar is truly a one-of-a-kind program that lets people create their own sidebar/wharfs/finders/docks/bars/whatever. There are plenty of "side bars" out there as well as other programs that lets you have some sort of dock, but what makes ObjectBar special is that it lets you create any kind of bar you want. Want to make a Finder-like bar ala MacOS? ObjectBar can do it. Want something that resembles something from OS/2? BeOS? Gnome? KDE? ObjectBar can do it. ObjectBar can even do the kinds of things that Microsoft is hoping to do with its Windows Sidebar in Vista. ObjectBar even supports putting widgets and gadgets onto it as a native part of the bar.
ObjectBar 2 has been in beta long time. A lot of that has been due to having to increase its feature set as programs from Google, Microsoft, and elsewhere have come onto the scene. Development has continued even if beta releases were less frequent. A lot of underlying technology had to be developed in order to make this sort of thing work. For example, with ObjectBar 2, you can actually develop your own custom bars and then export them as programs for others to use! An actual .EXE!
ObjectBar 2 is also the basis of ControlCenter 2. If you have Object Desktop, ControlCenter 2 beta should be available to try out. ControlCenter 2 is a particular ObjectBar creation that was exported. The difference between an exported bar and ObjectBar itself is the simplicity of configuration.
As you might expect, ObjectBar is a lot more complex than a "specialized" program would be. This was a problem that has existed since ObjectBar 1 -- power users loved ObjectBar but casual users were intimidated. But with the ability to export your creations as programs that have their own simplified configuration UI, that problem seems to be solved. Power Users can continue to use ObjectBar and casual users can use ControlCenter or some other exported creation. They all use the same skins.
ObjectBar 2 can be set to automatically make use of whatever WindowBlinds skin you are using. It also has its own skin library.
Here's a summary of what's in in 1.99G:
- Lots of cosmetic fixes. Example: Arrow bitmaps will show up on skins that don't have them (such as on submenus).
- Can drag and drop URLs from web pages onto bars to create short-cuts.
- Can drag and drop nearly anything onto a bar and have it create an object.
- Enhanced plugin support for RSS readers, CPU meters, memory meters, drive meters, etc.
- Bunch of new skinning options
- TONS of other things which can be found here.
As the change log indicates, development on ObjectBar hasn't slowed down. It's just been a matter of getting the pieces together to make something public.
If all goes well on this version, it'll become a release candidate and then a final 2.0. Let us know what you think. We're way beyond the "wishlist" stage though. As many reading this probably agree, it's time for 2.0 to be released. So wishlist stuff can go into 2.x. Stability, bugs, etc. are things we're looking to resolve at this stage.
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Reply #3 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:55 PM
Reply #4 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 4:04 PM
Reply #5 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 4:19 PM
Reply #6 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 4:35 PM
Reply #7 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 6:47 PM
It did work properly with one of the skins that came with the download, so you believe that the problem may have been the older downloaded skin rather than the program itself?
Reply #8 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 7:05 PM
| As for unloading it, without a taskbar or Object Bar, there was no way to unload it. |
You can always run Task Manager and kill the process. Piece of cake.
Reply #9 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 9:25 PM
Reply #10 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 9:39 PM
Reply #12 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 2:50 AM
| while preparing a new build of RightClick |
Only one question : When ?
Reply #13 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 5:56 AM
I had StrokeIt set up to issue a F11 keypress when doing an "up" gesture, and this then made the bar show up since it was set up to show up (below the mouse cursor) on an F11 keypress.
In the prior release the bar hid again after losing the focus, but now I can't use this approach anymore.
As a workaround I docked the bar to the top border and told it to hide automatically, which is kind of neat and I think I like this a bit more than before, but nevertheless I won't be able to let it show up at the cursor position anymore (if I preferred to).
Reply #14 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 6:37 AM
Reply #15 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 11:30 AM
This statement worries me somewhat. You don't release something just because it's time (though this thing is really behind), you do it because its ready. Unfortunatly, object bar isn't there yet. The theme editor still needs a LOT of work, we've been pointing this out for a long time on the forums. This isn't a 'wishlist' issue, this is a major problem.
From a business sense, its been so long since object bar has had a major update, you need to almost treat this like a brand new release. The current state of this will literally cause you NOT to be able to get new users as they'll immediatly be turned off by that theme editor. I can use it, I've had a lot of practice, though 1.65 was much easier.
I'll be posting full thoughts on this beta on the forums when I'm done examining this release, but I just had to protest this thought that it's time for a release once you stabilize what you currently have. This is literally stardock's best productivity app, it needs the attention it deserves to really take off this next release.
Reply #16 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 11:55 AM
Reply #17 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 3:14 PM
Just FYI: I'm using XP-Pro (german version)
Reply #18 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 4:58 PM
| This statement worries me somewhat. You don't release something just because it's time (though this thing is really behind), you do it because its ready. Unfortunatly, object bar isn't there yet. The theme editor still needs a LOT of work, we've been pointing this out for a long time on the forums. This isn't a 'wishlist' issue, this is a major problem. |
Other than bug fixes, this is going to be 2.0. The theme editor is supposed to be very basic, real skinners will update the actual files underneath. WindowBlinds doesn't come with a theme editor, neither do most programs. It's just there to act as a basic thing.
Wanting a new feature is a wishlist - by definition. People have been waiting for 2.0 a long time and a built in skin editor is a feature is not central to what ObjectBar does.
Reply #19 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 5:59 PM
Reply #20 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 6:35 PM
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Reply #1 Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:32 PM
-Jeff Bargmann (ObjectBar Developer)