Carmen's Headline Viewer
Version 0.8.5 History

• 0.8.5 - 6 Jul 99
  Added lots of features and fixed some bugs:
  
• Added new built-in providers:
  File Watcher
  Geek News
  Tin Toys
  Skinz.org - News
  Skinz.org - New Skins
  Ars Technica
  DesktopZ
  Floach.pimpin.net
  32 Bits Online
  Themes.org
  Cybertropix.com
  Cars Everything
  Be News
  BeOS Central
  Linux Apps
  Linux Today
  LiteStep 
  LSNews
  
• The executable is now named "CHV" instead of "SDV".
  
• Providers that export their headlines as a text file are now supported. There is a new "Is Text Format" flag 
  associated with each provider. There is also a text format spec. The format of this spec is as follows:
  
  nn,mm,f...
  nn 2-digit integer specifying number of ignored lines
  mm 2-digit integer specifying number of lines per story
  f... String of characters, one or more per line in the input file, matching a single story:
  U if the line is the URL
  R if the line is the URL, relative to the provider s URL
  T if the line is the Title
  A if the line is the Author
  X if the line is to be ignored
  E if the line is the Department
  O if the line is the Topic
  C if the line is the Comment Count
  S if the line is the Section
  D if the line is a date. The following character
  specifies the format:
  1 - "1999-06-29 01:59"
  2 - "June 26, 15:55"
  3 - "19990618093706"
  4 - "19990628"
  5 - "1999/06/27" or "6/14/99 9:52:40"
  6 - "1999-06-29"
  7 - "Mon Jun 14 09:22:52 EST 1999"
  8 - "Jul 5th, 09:33:47"
  
• The Provider List context menu now includes the "Copy Site URL" command.
  
• The Article List context menu now includes the "Copy Article URL" command.
  
• The Userland list is now loaded in a more expeditious fashion. Detailed information is requested from up to 32 providers  at a time, greatly speeding up the process. The progress bar grow from left to right as the requests are made and processed; it will then shrink back to zero during a 45 second timeout period while replies are handled.
  
• The provider details (Description, Link, and Title) in the latest Scripting News format (version 2.0b1) are now recognized.
  
• The RSS Maker list is now read in OCS 0.3 format (link). This format includes the provider details; they no longer must be
  fetched from the provider. Therefore, this list is loaded very quickly when the "Add RSSMaker Providers" button is
  pushed.
  
• The tooltip for each article is now set to the article's URL. This is a Setting that is on by default; you can turn it off
  if you want.
  
• Fixed the tab order in the Settings dialog.
  
• Fixed a bug where Deleting a provider would not clear out the Image URL on the Settings dialog.
  
• The background color for the story list is now set only on displays with more than 256 colors (it was ugly in 256 color mode).
  
• Assigned an icon to the Settings, About, and Add Confirmation dialogs.
  
• The "Show Buttons" option in the Settings dialog is now functional. It had always worked from the context menu. Note that you must use the context menu to change settings once you have hidden the buttons!
  
• Fixed a problem where certain defective RSS providers resulted in the message "Unknown XMLNS for RSS". These providers are now simply ignored - they have no stories.
  
• On a fresh install (with no saved settings) the main window is now centered on the screen.
  
• In the Settings dialog, pressing "New" now assigns a default provider name instead of leaving it empty.
  
•  The Escape key is now synonymous with the Cancel button in the Settings dialog.
  
• An incredible news provider, moreover.com, is now supported. They offer several hundred channels and with this release you can view them through Headline Viewer. This support is preliminary and not quite useful since they still need to work out a few bugs (the URLs they publish do not seem to last very long). If you find this interesting:
  
  1. Go to moreover.com and create an account (you just need to enter your email address and choose a password).
  2. Login and choose your channels.
  3. After you choose your channels. press the "publish to XML" button at the bottom of the page.
  4. Copy out the URL from this new page. Ignore the "jibberish" XML. You are almost there.
  5. Startup Headline Viewer and go to the Settings dialog.
  6. Press the New button to create a new provider.
  7. Enter a name, then Paste the copied URL into the Data URL field. Fill in the Description field if you want.

Now you are all set. You can create multiple accounts at Moreover, using distinct email addresses, and customize each one.

• This version expires 08/30/1999. It will still be usable after that date; it will just nag you to upgrade every couple of hours.