Syrinx started out fairly simple, with only the most basic functionality to make it useful to me in day-to-day usage. In fact that’s all it started out as was something I would use everyday. Then I decided to share it. Since the 1.0 release I have added some really great customization and functionality. A lot of these enhancements came from user suggestions and others from my ever growing list of ideas. With the last release I feel Syrinx has really pulled ahead of other Twitter apps in terms of functionality.
Unfortunately this great functionality is being dragged down by the slow moving time interface. What seemed like a great idea at the time, using NSCollectionView, has really started limiting what can be done, and how well it works. As many users have experienced once a large number of tweets is displayed in Syrinx, scrolling starts to slow down. Searching becomes painful and the great new Show Conversations feature takes way too long.
With all this in mind I’ve put a temporary halt on the next feature release I was planning to dedicate some time to making Syrinx’s timeline faster and more efficient. I’ve got some ideas that I’m testing out and though it may mean losing some of the slick animations that NSCollectionView provided, I don’t think they’ll be missed if there is a suitable speedup.
Syrinx 1.3 has been released! Now with a Friends window that offers searching, following and unfollowing of friends. Also, use the new Conversations feature to see a thread of replies right within Syrinx.
New features include:
- Friends – View all the people you follow in the new Friends window.
- Follow/Unfollow – Use the new Friends window to unfollow current friends and start following new ones.
- Conversations – View conversations right in Syrinx, easily follow a thread of replies.
- UI Enhancements – Lots of small visual tweaks.
And version 1.3 contains the following bug fixes:
- Fixed a crash if a user had no tweets.
- Show Current Status menu item text is now correct.
- Scroll to Newest tweet preference now works correctly.
- Duplicate messages after unpausing is fixed.
- Preferences window no longer hides when Syrinx is inactive.
- Improved system date format.
- Replies now specify the correct replied to tweet.
I’ve been working away on the latest version of Syrinx, and I’ve added some valuable content. Humorously I’ve given this next version (1.3) the codename: “Conversations with Friends”. That should give everyone an idea what’s coming up. I’ve been running this version for the past few days and it seems pretty solid. Unfortunately I am holding back the release as I’m on vacation this coming week and I don’t want to have a new release going out without me here to make sure all goes well for the users.
Along with the new version of Syrinx, I’ve been updating the website. It will now have feature overviews to help people get the most out of what Syrinx is capable of. This is especially important as I build up the feature set, new users will be able to spin up more quickly. And I’m building an FAQ section to address the questions I’ve been receiving through email.
Lastly, it appears Twitter has been having issues with their APIs lately, from missing tweets to just not responding at all. Hopefully they will continue to get these issues ironed out in a timely manner.
