Well, I’ve worked whole week and the new site is still not ready. I had forgotten how much work it is to design and theme web site. At the moment I have all basic graphics done. Also I’ve created new theme for WordPress and have selected all necessary plugins for it. Today I started to theme SMF (the forum). After that I’ll create themes for FlySpray (the todo list) and PmWiki. Hopefully all that is done within next week.

Have a nice weekend everyone .

This week I’ve been redesigning the layout for this site. I’ve done new graphics and done some planning on the features. I decided to take a bit of distance to CubicExplorer so I could see the big picture better when planning the roadmap for future versions. That’s why I started to work on the site. Also I need to upgrade all software for the sake of security. I have thought of coding a proper site (using CodeIgniter) with custom bug tracker and desktop software. However, that’s not the top priority at the moment, so I just thought to update everything instead.

I’m hoping to get everything done next week. There will be a wiki (PmWiki) for documents and roadmaps. If everything has gone as planned, this site will be offline next weekend for some time due to the upgrade.

Here’s the prototype for new graphics:

After quite a journey since last official release, here is 0.90 final. I know this release isn’t perfect and there are some known issues still in it, but I think it’s good enough to replace the 0.80 final. On this build I’ve fixed some bugs that I found from those missing bug reports. Also I added few new icons and updated couple old ones. As this is an official build, it will install itself by default into CubicExplorer folder and not in CubicExplorer_dev.

Next week I’ll create a roadmap for future releases and sort out the todo list. Also I’ll try to setup a wiki for documentation and other CE related stuff. 0.91 will be the next version milestone. It will have at least Dual view and an advanced settings editor.

Change Log

• Fixed View Style remembering bug.
• Fixed address bar popup bug.
• Fixed possible crash in Video Player.
• Fixed possible crash in File Search.
• Fixed possible crash when closing tabs.
• Updated few icons.
• Added new icons.

CubicExplorer 0.90 Final (0.90.0.1131)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.4MB)

Yet another RC. I think this will be the last one unless some major issue shows up. In this build I did a lot of small changes here and there, also many translation bugs were fixed. I drew few new tab icons and reorganized the about box. Also, CE is now officially licensed under MPL 1.1.

Change Log

• Fixed "Filters are not cleared when switching to different tab" bug.
• Fixed rename box alignment in Tile view style.
• Fixed inconsistency in "Show Extensions" for zip files.
• Fixed file size calculation bug.
• Fixed language change bug.
• Fixed many Unicode string bugs.
• Removed "minimizing bug fix" try.
• Made "dbl click on background" work properly on every view style.
• Updated About Dialog.
• Updated Japanese translation.
• Updated tab icons.
• Changed License.
• Focused image is now shown in QuickView when Ctrl+Click selecting files.
• "Duplicate Tab" action now opens new tab even when "Reuse opened tab" is enabled.
• Esc now closes options dialog.

CubicExplorer 0.90 RC 6 (0.90.0.1122)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.4MB)

No 0.90 final yet. Beginning of this week went in rebuilding my work system. I wiped the whole drive and started from scratch. Now there are two Windows XP’s and one Linux installed. I have everything up and running now so no more excuses next week .

Anyway, I did manage to do some work with CE later this week. I added an option to always sort folders first. It makes folders to stay top and not mix with files. Also there’s now a popup menu in Filters panel where you can find an option to clear filters when you navigate to different folder. Lastly, there is a change that tries to fix the self minimizing bug some of you are having in Vista. Let me know how it’s working and if there are problems with CE’s taskbar button or issues when moving, minimizing,restoring…etc. CE’s window.

Oh and, I drew new icons for Tab Add and Tab Close. Not sure how I feel in few days but at the moment I’m pretty happy on how they look:

Change Log

• Fixed item height bug in Folder and Bookmark panels.
• Fixed column size bug.
• Minimizing bug fix try.
• Removed "Remember Tabs" action.
• Made filters work even when Filters panel is hidden.
• Filters clear now on path change by default.
• Added popup menu option to clear filters on path change.
• Added option to always sort folders first.
• Added restrictions to file types that can be opened in text editor.
• Updated tab icons (only big ones).

CubicExplorer 0.90 RC 5 (0.90.0.1113)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.4MB)

Another busy week behind. Most of this week has gone in building the new office. I installed laminate floor which took some time. Also I changed the desk setup to enable more work space. One day went in installing all monitors and computers. Every cable is now tied with zip ties and there’s not a single cable on the floor. It was a huge job to tie everything but well worth it. All and all, I’m very happy with the new office. Lot’s of work space and the floor is awesome. Man, I’ll need to replace those ugly CRT’s with some shiny new LCD panels:

Some progress on CE despite the office project. I added toolbar button for QuickView tab. Those who are updating CE, use the customizer to add that button. It’s under Navigation category. I also made it so that if you have a file selected and you press QuickView button (or Text Editor button), the selected file is opened. Same works in File Search (middle clicks work now too). As Tommy suggested, I’m calling this build 0.90 RC 4. Next week I’ll tweak the icons a bit and then we can release 0.90 final. It’s time to replace that old “stable” release.

Change Log

• Now Ctrl+F4 closes tabs also
• Added support for custom shell icon sizes.
• Updated French translation.
• Fixed bug in video players seek bar when watching long videos.
• Made video players seek bar more precise.
• Made GIF images open in QuickView.
• Files from File Search can now be opened in QuickView and Text Editor.
• Made Alt+Right Click to work in File Search.
• Text Editor action now opens selected file. If there’s no selection, an empty document is opened.
• Added QuickView action.

*UPDATE*
Version 0.90.0.1109 had a bug which made folders and bookmarks have lot of whitespace. It’s fix in 0.90.0.1111. Re-download if needed.

CubicExplorer 0.90 RC 4 (0.90.0.1111)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.4MB)

It’s been busy week. I’ve been fine tuning some of the time management techniques and done some preparations and planning for an office update, which is scheduled for this weekend. Basically I’m going to rebuild my office from scratch. Also I’ll reinstall Windows in my work system. Here’s few 3D designs (made with SketchUp and Kerkythea) of the new office layout:

About the new CE snapshot, I added QuickView tab. It works just like text editor tab does but for images and videos. Currently loading larger images can be a bit slow but I’ll optimize that next week. Also I’ll have to add an ability to zoom and scroll images. Controls to show next and previous images would be also nice. Middle click or Alt+Left click over image, video or audio opens the file in QuickView tab.

Change Log

• Added main menu popup action.
• Added main menu popup in status bar.
• Added visibility option for Main Menu.
• Added visibility option for tab bar.
• Added “Close tabs on left” and “Close tabs on right” actions.
• Added QuickView tab page.
• Added Korean translation.
• Changed shortcuts for panels to Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3…etc.

CubicExplorer 0.90.0.1105 (SVN Snapshot)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.4MB)

Nothing special to mention about last week. I was paralyzed by severe fatigue which made me sleep for 12-14 hours per day. So no progress last week. This week (week 10) there should be some progress and also a new snapshot on Friday.

On other notes, I’ve started to learn some new time management skills. It’s an ongoing process for this year. Mainly I’m using todo lists, spreadsheets and programs like ManicTime to track and plan my time usage. That hopefully will boost my productivity and also helps to keep future breakdowns away.

I’ve been using ManicTime for few weeks now and it’s really nice. It’s a freeware application for tracking your computer usage. I highly recommend it if you are interested on where your time goes while using computer.

ManicTime
http://www.manictime.com/

Just a short note this week. Haven’t had much time to work with CE this week nor last week. Next week should be better and there should be more progress. However, I did manage to add a right click popup menu for tabs. I still need to add lock and protect options there. Also rename and change color will come at some point.

Oh and, CE is not using UPX compression anymore.

CubicExplorer 0.90.0.1103 (SVN Snapshot)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.4MB)

Slowly moving ahead. There’s not much progress yet. I’ve been rebuilding the programming environment which crashed during my break. Also I’m getting used to few new routines to manage my time usage. In this weeks snapshot, there is one new option that makes CE work like WE in list view style (resize cells by largest file name). Also horizontal view styles (list and filmstrip) now snap to next column when scrolling. Other than that, there’s only some changes to make CE work with fresh code for some of the components used.

There are now compiling instructions and a separate development board on the forum for those who want to play around with CE.

CubicExplorer 0.90.0.1098 (SVN Snapshot)
Installer (2.1MB)
Zip (2.0MB)