I just submitted version 2.0.6 to the AppCatalog.
Maybe you ask where is 2.0.5, well that version was never released and was an internal development release that I only tested with two users that had issues with the DB. Thanks to the 2 guys for support and testing!
This release is a big change on how Headlines2 is handling saved articles internally. Generally unread articles are now deleted after 30 days, before unread articles were kept forever and this brought issues to the underlying webOS database with handling huge amount of data. Also the cleanup of read articles is now on a shorter period as before.
Especially the last one could lead to new unread articles that you already read on low-traffic feeds. But without that change the database gets to huge and this can lead to problems as described in the first paragraph. Of course the current handling can be adjusted and if you see a lot of new unread articles that you already have read in the past please inform me and I will try to find a more balanced value. For now it should be o.k. and I haven’t had any problems with internal test versions.
For articles that you want to keep in Headlines2 I implemented a new feature that let you mark articles in the list view and this way you can keep interesting articles in the app without being deleted during cleanup runs.
Here are the changes that made it in 2.0.6.
- [FIX] App should now work as expected when deleted and re-installed
- [CHG] GetPocket.com added (formerly known as Read It Later). If you used the service before you don’t need to do anything
- [FIX] The way articles are stored in the database has changed. Read articles are now deleted more often
- [ADD] Unread articles that are older than 30 days are now being deleted automatically
- [FIX] Articles older than 30 days are ignored when fetched from the feed, this changes the behavior of low-traffic feeds
- [ADD] Ability to mark (favorite) an article, this way an article will not be deleted automatically
I submitted this version today to HP so it should be available in the next few days.
Hi.
I have been using Headlines2 for few days, and i like it very much.
just few issues to mention:
- In offline mode pictures in feeds do not appear
- When opening some feeds, the default browser open up.since i am on the train, i have to close it manually.Any chance to put an option that stops the browser to open a link in the feed?
- In some cases the articles for a feed do not show up.i ned to restart HL2 to see them again.
Is it a behaviour you have noticed already?
thanks and regards.
Danilo
Danilo,
The app doesn’t cache images for offline viewing, the links it the articles are across the web and are only displayed when the get loaded, that’s only possible in online mode.
Is the behavior of randomly opening a browser window as soon as you open an article or only during scrolling in an article?
I had the issue with not showing items in the list one time, but it never happened again. I’ll try to reproduce it and I have a look in what’s going on there. Can you reproduce it and can describe the steps to do it so that it’s easier to find the bug?
Thanks,
René
Hi.
I have to admit i have been using your Headlines 2 and feedFeeder for the past 2 weeks, and i like both.
I prefer your way to visualize feeds (central windows with fonts etc) but i like the retention policy (how many days to keep the feeds) and the ability to delete feeds that FeedReader has.Feeds few days old are not useful anymore, and if i want to keep them i just “star” them.If you could implement these 2 features i would definitely use only your HL2.
I
About the black out of the feeds in HL2, i cannot pinpoint where the problem else, neither reproduce it.What i can say is that it happens too often.i will try to reproduce the steps that make it happening.
Caching pictures: i am not sure how it can be done, but it would be really cool having them offline.i guess one option would be to store them locally when online and “link2 them to the feed (maybe replacing the URL to the path where the picture is stored locally.
Let me know your thoughts. But i really appreciate the efforts you put in HL2.. it is really a great application.
Regards.
Danilo
Danilo,
to the feed deletion times, maybe I can implement some sort of setting via preferences, but the problem is that the webOS system database that stores the articles has some problems with large amounts of data, that was the reason why I implemented the deletion times. Two some users reported problems and both of them had 3000-5000 unread articles in Headlines2. Which is, to be honest, not the way a RSS Reader is designed for
For long storing articles, maybe have a look at Instapaper or Pocket (Read It Later), for small amounts you can of course use the “mark” option, but not if we’re talking about a few thousand articles, that’s not what it was designed for.
I’ve to look at FeedReader on how the App handles your mentioned ability to delete feeds and will let you know if I can implement something like this in Headlines2.
Hi and good day.
I have been using HL2 for a while now, and i still love the way it display feeds.. very cool.
On the improvements side:
did you have the chance to check the possibility to implement a retention policy (how many days to keep the feeds) in HL2?
About the offline pictures view, i still think it is a great feature to include in your app: did you have any more thoughts about its implementation?
thanks very much for your great work so far.
Danilo
Hi, development came a bit short in the summer. But since the winter is coming I can work more on my apps again. The retention policy is a good suggestion and I will check if I can implement it in a good way.Problem is that the internal webOS database the articles are stored in has some limitations and if you choose some settings that let the database grow to big the app stops working and you’ve no option to get it working again without uninstalling and a new install. This way you loose all your read states and of course feeds and so on.For the offline image viewer I thought a lot about it during the last months and I can’t find a good and reliable way to implement it, so this feature is on hold for now. Sorry for the bad news.