One of my favourite things to see about an app is how it's evolved from it's 1.0 to what you see now. This is a collection of screenshots and quick notes about how Locations made it from 2006 to today.
WiLMa
The Wireless Location Manager (Circa 2006)
WiLMa was my first Mac app. I'd had the idea for it when I was working at a computer shop in 2005, toting my iBook G4 back and forth to work. Inevitably I'd leave a DVD playing or something and have to hit the mute key quickly. I also used a different ISP at home than we did at work, and the SMTP dialog from Mail.app was really starting to annoy me. At some point, I picked up a copy of "Cocoa for Dummies" from the local bookstore and promptly failed to work my way through it.
Fastforward about a year. I was back in University, starting my Computer Science degree and trying to figure out what I was going to do for the summer. I'd been working on a fun sideproject during the semester (that's another story), but it wasn't really going to make me any money. By this point my iBook had died but I'd bought a 12" Powerbook G4 and after a week of scratching my head about what to build I decided that I still needed a location manager.
It took me just over three months to get the 1.0 ready. I remember spending almost every day in July certain that I was going to release it the next day, just as soon as I worked out the last bug. Eventually, in August 2006 I released WiLMa to the world. WiLMa went on to recieve several point upgrades, until version 1.3.
New actions, and for that matter all actions, in this version were:
- Opening and closing applications
- Changing the desktop background
- Switching your printer
- Changing your SMTP servers
- Changing the system volume
Soon, I ditched the tab-per-action idea, because it was severely limiting the number of actions that could be added.
By the last version of WiLMa, I'd added:
- Changing your iChat status
- Changing your Network Location
- Changing your screensaver
Locations
Lite and Pro (Circa 2007)
With the release of Leopard fast approaching, I decided to modernize WiLMa. The app got a complete rewrite, and became a preference pane and helper app, rather than something that sat in your dock. Actions were written as a set of plugins, which in hindsight added unnecesary complexity.
I was using NetNewsWire heavily when I made this release, and decided to butt the source list right up to the window border. Though I'm fond of this look in other apps, and Locations 1.0 shipped with it, I eventually decided that it wasn't right for Locations.
Since Locations was now a preference pane, the settings had to be folded in as another tab instead of a separate preferences window.
Along with the rewrite, I changed the name to Locations. WiLMa was hard to type, annoying to read, and didn't reflect what the app did. That being said, there are still references to WiLMa in the Locations source code, and I occasionally still find myself talking about what features she has.
Locations was split into two versions, pro and lite. The lite version was greeted poorly, since all the really useful actions were in pro, so eventually I just dropped lite and only offered a time limited trial. I never thought that I'd get more cranky email for giving away something than charging for it.
This version of Locations added:
- Changing the Apple Mail fetch rate
- Changing your Timezone
- Connecting to Servers
- Enabling or disabling Airport
- Enabling or disabling Bluetooth
- Unlocking your Keychain
- Opening URLs
- Playing iTunes Playlists
- Requiring a password on wake
- Executing Applescripts and Automator workflows
Locations 2
The Design Stabilizes (Circa 2009)
The design really came together in Locations 2. I kept the helper app and prefpane idea, but folded the awkward plugin architecture into the prefpane. That allowed me to send the settings tab the way of the dinosaur, since it was mostly for managing the plugins you had installed.
The source list and buttons get new positioning which bring them in line with a standard preference pane. Other things that had been bothering me, like using standard graphics for the "+" and "-" images, and getting the visual balance just right were finally solved.
Version 2 was mostly about making Locations feel as if it was something that shipped with your machine, not something you had to install.
This version of Locations added:
- Changing your Adium status
- Changing your screen brightness
- Checking for new podcasts in iTunes
- Running a Terminal command
- Starting a Time Machine backup
Locations 3
The Here & Now (Circa 2011)
On the surface, not much has changed in Locations 3. In order to get the app into the Mac App Store, I put it back into it's own application, but I kept the configuration application and helper app idea.
Other than that, the only visual change is that the "+" and "-" buttons are now slightly taller, as they're actually segmented controls. This is to allow the menu when you click "+" in the triggers tab.
Version 3 finally uses Core Location, allowing you to trigger a location by physical proximity, in addition to specific networks. This works fine in my testing, but I'll admit that I'm a little nervous to see how it works for everyone.
This version of Locations adds:
- Changing your default mail application
- Changing your default web browser
- Hiding applications
- Enabling or disabling your firewall
- Turning Time Machine on and off
Where will Locations go from here? I don't know for sure. I've got a list of actions I'd still like to implement, though in some cases there are technical hurdles to overcome. If you've got requests for actions or any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.
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