A quick status update...

Yes, I am still hard at work. There are some recent changes that come along with the official release of Safari 4.0 and the WebKit that comes along with it that I have had to take into account.

There has also been some requests for source code. Right now, login/logout code is not complete for the Social Networking portion so I have been using personal credentials that I coded in for testing purposes. When I have that portion complete and can remove my credentials from the code, I will post a source package.

I will try to do this as soon as time allows. If you would like to join the project, please let us know in the forums.

As I continue development on Demeter 2, I am getting the site ready to realize its full potential. First off, there is a new bug tracking system in place at http://www.hurrikenux.com/bugs/ which is powered by Mantis. This more-powerful system should better help me to track issues and enhancements. I’m still mulling over whether or not this should be public or private. In addition, there will be a new forum powered by phpBB3 in the next couple of days. This will result in users having to re-register, for which I apologize. There were a lot of spam-bot users created, and SMF just doesn’t give me the flexibility I would like for the site forum. I hope the benefit will outweigh the inconvenience. Lastly, Demeter’s website will be updated to reflect the upcoming 2.0. This will be a lot of work, but I hope that I will get everything set up in a professional manner that is beneficial for all users. Check back throughout the week as I get everything online. For now the old forum is active, but it will be replaced before Friday of this week. Keep that in mind before posting and thank you for your support.

It is with mixed emotions that I announce the release of Demeter 1.5 Beta 3, which will be the final beta. There are many reasons for this, including issues with old sources and the reemergence of the Shiira developer. I recommend Shiira 2.x to anyone who wishes to continue to use browsers based on this code set. I have release a built binary as well as the source, although I recommend anyone interested in using the source to contact the Shiira developer for updated 2.x sources. The Page Dock is disabled in this release due to it causing a crash, this was fixed by the Shiira developer in his recent releases. I recommend switching to tab mode if you wish to continue using Demeter 1.5 Beta.

I am pleased to announce that I have been coding away on Demeter 2. I realize how much I set myself back in trying to move to a new code set instead sticking with the 1.x code set - or moving to something of my own. I hope to have news of Demeter 2’s release up very soon. The news will be located at http://www.hurrikenux.com/Demeter when it is available.

Here are the download links:
Binary
http://www.hurrikenux.com/Testing/Demeter15beta3.dmg
Source
http://www.hurrikenux.com/Testing/Demeter15_Src.zip

The final beta release will be upcoming along with some news. I hope to have it up in the next week. I thank everyone for your patience.

Yes, thats right - I am finally back in action. My family and I are finally situated and I should be able to get back to work on past projects. I’ve actually given some time to work on Demeter and I am currently trying to fix problems caused by the upcoming Safari 4. This will also help to backtrace the terrible problem of the browser crashing when closing a tab while it is still loading flash objects. Flash under the Safari 4 WebKit crash Demeter entirely. This is due to the many, many hacks the Shiira devs used to add special functionality to Shiira 2 (most of which is now officially supported by WebKit on its own). Pulling all this out and leaving any function may be a tall order as a lot of the standard features of Shiira (Demeter) are built around having to use these hacks. This is why development has stalled - do I continue to work with code that will almost have to be completely rewritten, or do I start fresh with my own code from the ground up? I have a lot of ideas for where I would like Demeter to go, maybe now is the time for a fresh start. Post your comments in the forum and let me know what you think.

As I continue to fix bugs (or at least try), I would like to give everyone a reminder that you can track progress using The Demeter Bug Tracker. I will be using this reliably again, as I understand it has been a long while since an update. The next update will most likely be bugfixes only. It will be necessary to fix problems with the base code of Shiira 2.0 before I can add the things I would like to make Demeter its own.

Unfortunately, tracking down and fixing an immense amount of bugs has been harder than I originally thought. This is why a release has not happened yet, and why you have not heard much from me since starting back working. Some of these bugs have been fixed, such as the garbled Shelf. Others, such as drag-able tabs and losing bookmarks when dragging/dropping between folders in the Shelf, have been harder to track down and rectify. In some instances, a complete re-write of the code is needed to fix issues. Please bear with me as I try and chop through these issues.

This is just to let everyone know that I am back, and happily married ! I will be working on Demeter more now, and hope to have an update out mid-August. I will post here soon with more news.

You! Thank you for your patience as I face a very busy July. I hope to have Demeter 1.5 beta 3 out sometime in early August (or sooner if time permits). Until then, please keep the feedback on beta 2 coming.

This week you may see less of me as I switch to a brand-spanking new Intel mac.

I will also be out of town every once in a while through the month of July as I visit family. Releasing Demeter 1.5 is of the utmost priority for me and rest assured that I will do my best to get it released ASAP. Your feedback has been appreciated and I appreciate your continued feedback throughout this beta process.

Many Thanks
~K

Catch it at the Demeter page at http://www.hurrikenux.com/Demeter.

The announcement commences:

I have been hard at work on the next iteration of Demeter. The next version will be 1.5 and will be based on the Shiira 2.x sources. A beta will be released this evening for testing to give everyone an idea what is in store for this new version. Demeter 1.x will see a minor update to add 10.3.9 support back in, fix some bugs, and give a stable final release. Portions of the new Demeter site will debut tonight, along with the download link to the beta. The forum will be restructured to account for Demeter 1.5 and 1.x.

This release will be BETA for now meaning that it will be subject to bugs. Some things that were problems in Shiira 2.x are fixed, some still remain. This will give an opportunity to collect all of these issues in one place and get them fixed. The forum will also have a suggestion area where you can give your own input on what you would like to see in Demeter 1.5.

Everything should be live by 7:00 PM EDT (Miami Time Zone)

Tomorrow an announcement is coming on the current state of Demeter. Check this page as well as the forums tomorrow as well. The update should be up about 1pm EDT (Miami Time Zone).

I will be making some announcements shortly to announce the current development status and what you can expect in future releases. I hope to have this news up this weekend, but I'll have to see if I can get some things wrapped up first.

Safari 3.1 is out now, get it through Software Update. Even if you use Demeter instead of Safari, the update not only updates Safari but also WebKit - the core on which Safari, Demeter, OmniWeb, Shiira, etc. render web pages. Rendering improvements in Safari should also hold true in Demeter. So go get that update!

Fixed the Preference bug again (yes, it came back) along with the RSS bug, script bug, and more. Check the forum for details.

Yes, as indicated on the MacUpdate page, 1.0.8 has been released. It is important to note that this officially ends support for Panther. Please select "Skip this Update" on the Update window if you are using 10.3.9. Enjoy!

I believe myself to be a modest individual, but as time is growing thin for me to keep up the work on Demeter and other future projects, I have heeded some suggestions and added a Donate button to the main page and the Demeter page.

I thank everyone for their support!

The 1.0.8 build crashes more often now with several fixes I've made - pretty much only under Leopard and not under Tiger. Now, it appears, some fixes have caused a step backwards to be taken. I'll release as soon as this is ready, but I cannot rush something if it just isn't ready. My apologies for continuously having this bad news.

Unfortunately, the next release has been delayed by some bugs that appeared to have been fixed. If anyone wants to volunteer with programming help, please hit the Contact link.

Demeter will see an update this weekend. It will officially end support for 10.3.9.

A working stable 10.3.9 version will be posted on the main page. Shiira 1.2.3 will also work for 10.3.9. Feature completion and bug fixing would not have been efficiently possible in keeping 10.3.9 support.

I am just checking in to let everyone know that I am still alive and working hard on the next release of Demeter. Rest assured that features will be completed and bugs fixed. Stay tuned...

Happy Holidays Everyone! (Yes, its belated as I have been out of town)

...and for the news.
Support for 10.3.9 will end after the upcoming Demeter 1.0.9. This means some issues for Tiger and Leopard users will still remain until 1.1, but I hope to have these releases out very soon. 1.0.9 will concentrate on finishing many incomplete features.

As I continue work on the next release of Demeter, I am finding that it may be necessary to end support for 10.3.9 - at least for future versions. Several things were broken by WebKit 3, and changing them to work with it will break support for WebKit 2 and earlier. The other option would be to add version-selecting code and have the new methods only load if WebKit 3 is found. 10.3.9 support cripples what I can do with Demeter in the future. I wonder how many out there are still using Panther... (cue your run to the forums)