Want to know what has changed since a previous version? This page lists those changes. You can alter the range of release notes to display if you wish.
The latest release of BlogAssist is version 2.4.1.
BlogAssist 2.4.1
(Release 1034): released 2015-01-02; requires macOS 10.7 or later; 64-bit; Yosemite-ready
Fixed some issues with the Substitutions preference page.
Updated for OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).
BlogAssist 2.4
(Release 1033): released 2012-09-06; requires macOS 10.7 or later; 64-bit; Mountain Lion-ready
Added a Substitutions preference page, that optionally replaces symbols and accented characters with the HTML entity equivalents. It can also be used to replace URLs, e.g. to strip off a base URL for your own domain, or change it to localhost (or anything else).
Updated all three BlogAssist modes to support the new substitution preferences.
Reimplemented the auto-launch preference to work with Mountain Lion and sandboxing.
Removed the quit confirmation preference.
Added a license button to the Preferences window, when unlicensed, to make it easier to buy the app. (Standard edition only)
Removed the in-app purchase options, since not compatible with 64-bit, and rarely used. (Standard edition only)
Fixed display of license entry date in the Licenses editor. (Standard edition only)
The standard edition of the app is now signed with a Developer ID to support Gatekeeper on Mountain Lion. (Standard edition only)
The app is now fully sandboxed, providing increased security.
BlogAssist now requires a 64-bit Mac and a minimum of OS X 10.7 (Lion).
Many other behind-the-scenes improvements made possible by dropping older OS versions, PowerPC and 32-bit support.
BlogAssist 2.3.1
(Release 1030): released 2012-02-19; requires macOS 10.5 or later; Universal Binary; Lion-ready
Minor bug fix.
BlogAssist 2.3
(Release 1029): released 2012-02-12; requires macOS 10.5 or later; Universal Binary; Lion-ready
Improved compatibility with Mac OS X 10.7.3.
Changed the +/- buttons in the Operations preferences to a modern square style.
Removed the license agreement window. The license agreement can be viewed online.
BlogAssist now requires a minimum of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).
Many other behind-the-scenes improvements made possible by dropping Tiger support.
Note: this version (and any 2.3.x bug fix releases) will be the last to support PowerPC (PPC) and Mac OS X 10.5. Subsequent releases will require an Intel-based Mac and Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.
BlogAssist 2.2.6
(Release 1028): released 2011-03-23; requires macOS 10.4 or later; Universal Binary; Snow Leopard-ready
Changes to be compatible with the Mac App Store.
BlogAssist Express for the App Store requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later, and omits the built-in update mechanism, since updates are done via the App Store.
BlogAssist 2.2.5
(Release 1027): released 2010-05-13; requires macOS 10.4 or later; Universal Binary; Snow Leopard-ready
Performance improvements for Snow Leopard.
Please note: the next non-bug-fix release will likely require Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) as a minimum OS. So this may be the last version that supports Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
BlogAssist 2.2.4
(Release 1026): released 2010-02-08; requires macOS 10.4 or later; Universal Binary; Snow Leopard-ready
Fixed an issue with looking up licenses in certain situations.
Now includes a 512x512 application icon.
BlogAssist 2.2.3
(Release 1025): released 2009-09-10; requires macOS 10.4 or later; Universal Binary; Snow Leopard-ready
Enhanced Snow Leopard compatibility.
BlogAssist 2.2.2
(Release 1024): released 2009-06-01; requires macOS 10.4 or later; Universal Binary; Leopard-ready
Pressing Enter in the Services window will now always work as an equivalent for the OK button, instead of inserting a new line in the active field (pressing Return will still do so, though).
No longer always adds itself to the Login Items on launch. Still does so on the first launch (when running from the Applications folder), as a convenience, but not after that. You can toggle the preference off or on as desired.
Fixed an issue that could prevent finding licenses in very rare circumstances.
Removed the old crash reporter, since it doesn't support Leopard crash logs.
Prices increased slightly (get at the old price via the Dejal Store for a short time!).
Now requires a minimum of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
BlogAssist 2.2.1
(Release 1023): released 2008-11-19; requires macOS 10.3.9 or later; Universal Binary; Leopard-ready
Removed commas as a separator for repeating lists, to avoid problems with commas in paragraphs, and added bullet and vertical bar as alternatives (in addition to return, linefeed, and tab).
Fixed a bug that required a click before the output of the Services window would appear in the destination document.
Fixed an issue with the Preferences window, where edits might not be saved when quitting with the window still open (specifically when an edit is still active).
Updated the built-in Kagi purchasing tool to the latest version, which fixes some issues with Leopard.
BlogAssist 2.2
(Release 1022): released 2008-05-28; requires macOS 10.3.9 or later; Universal Binary; Leopard-ready
Added a much-requested feature: the ability to have repeating formatting. For example, you can now create an ordered or unordered list simply by using a list of items as your source value, and similarly with multiple HTML paragraphs via multiple paragraphs of text. The list items can be delimited by Return or LF characters, tabs, or commas. It automatically strips off any existing list markers: it recognizes a dash, asterisk or bullet, or any short first word ending in a punctuation character. What's more, you can have lists in either the Value1 or Value2 fields (in the floating and Services windows); it will repeat the block for the number of items in the longer list, using the last (or only) item in the other field for any shortfall. So text like "1. This is an item, 2. Another item, (3) A third item" becomes properly formatted HTML.
The Paragraph, Unordered List, and Ordered List operations are automatically upgraded to use the new repeating block mechanism. You can easily add it to any other operations where it seems useful.
Added a new List of Links operation, that outputs an unordered list containing web links, using the new repeating feature. Use a list of labels in Value1 (e.g. "Simon, Time Out, Caboodle"), and a list of corresponding URLs in Value2 (e.g. "http://www.dejal.com/simon/, http://www.dejal.com/timeout/, http://www.dejal.com/caboodle/").
Added an Insert Variable drop-down menu to the Operations Preferences. This allows easily inserting variables and begin/end repeating block markers in the selected operation text.
The Operations Preferences table now used dynamic row heights, so multi-line operations are fully visible.
Improved the floating BlogAssist window to avoid using unnecessary processor time when drawing the web preview.
Fixed a cosmetic bug with the Check for Updates feature when using a general release and wanting only general releases, and a beta release is available.
Updated the built-in Kagi purchasing tool to the latest version, which fixes some issues with Leopard.
Updated the French and German localizations.
BlogAssist 2.1.2
(Release 1020): released 2007-12-03; requires macOS 10.3.9 or later; Universal Binary; Leopard-ready
Enhanced the URLs for the Help menu to better support localization.
Updated the built-in Kagi purchasing tool to the latest version, which fixes some issues with Leopard.
Switched the distribution method to ZIP archives instead of disk images, as it's simpler for everyone. Feedback welcome!
BlogAssist 2.1.1
(Release 1019): released 2007-06-27; requires macOS 10.3.9 or later; Universal Binary
Added improved exception logging, to help with diagnosing any future issues.
Fixed an error that a few people experienced when checking for updates.
Some optimizations in the BlogAssist Assistant window.
Minor tweaks for Leopard (10.5) compatibility.
BlogAssist 2.1
(Release 1018): released 2007-02-05; requires macOS 10.3.9 or later; Universal Binary
Added a Services ▸ BlogAssist menu command (in all applications that support the Services menu), with the key equivalent ⌘< (typed as ⌘⇧,) as another convenient way of using BlogAssist. ⌘< is easy to remember, as the start of a HTML tag. Simply select some text, hit ⌘< and choose the operation, hit OK, and the selected text will be replaced with the marked-up text. Or just ⌘< and Return if using the same operation. No copying and pasting required. Note that the Services menu item will only show up in applications launched after installing BlogAssist; relaunch running apps to enable it.
If there is something in the clipboard when invoking the Services menu command, it will be used as Value 2 for templates that use it. Especially useful for Web Link and such: copy the URL, select the text to use as the link label, hit ⌘< and choose the operation, then OK to insert the fully marked up link HTML.
Updated the Setup Assistant to describe the new Services menu item, and rearranged the text over three pages.
Swapped the value order for the default Web Link and Email Link operations, so it works better with the new Services feature.
Added support for new date and time variables: Date, Time, DateTime, YearFull, YearShort, MonthNum, MonthFull, MonthShort, DayShort, DayFull, DayOfYear, WeekdayFull, WeekdayShort, AMPM, Hour24, Hour12, Minute, Second, Millisecond, ZoneName and ZoneOffset.
Added a few new operations demonstrating the new date and time variables.
Added a confirmation sheet to the license editor page of the BlogAssist Assistant window, to avoid the common confusion of clicking Continue or Finish before Add when adding license details. (This was only an issue if entering the license details manually, instead of automatically via the clipboard or the built-in Kagi purchasing tool.)
Added improved exception logging, to help with diagnosing any future issues.
The Dejal logo has been professionally redesigned by Emily Pfeifer, so all places it occurred have been updated.
BlogAssist 2.0
(Release 1015): released 2006-07-17; requires macOS 10.3.9 or later; Universal Binary
Added a floating window as an optional alternative to using the clipboard and system menu. Simply drag text into one or both of the Value fields, choose an operation from a pop-up menu, and drag the resulting HTML out again. A preview of how the HTML will appear on a web page is also included. Contextual menus and an action menu can be used to copy and paste instead of dragging, if desired.
Added several more operations to the default set.
New default operations are now automatically appended to your operations list.
Added a welcome assistant window to guide first-time users in using the application.
Integrated the license agreement and options into the assistant.
Added About BlogAssist and BlogAssist Help features to the menu, to provide more information and handy access to the BlogAssist website, release notes, and more.
Added a Check for Updates... feature, allowing you to easily find out when a new version is released.
Added a Preferences window, that allows disabling the quit confirmation, and other options.
Added a General Preferences option to allow choosing between four menubar icons.
Moved the Edit Operations window into the new Preferences window and improved it.
Can now delete multiple operations at once.
The quit confirmation panel now appears in front of all other windows, even if the app isn't currently active.
Added a confirmation sheet for the Restore Defaults function in the Preferences window. The confirmation can be disabled or enabled via the General page.
Enhanced the preference to automatically start the app on login to remove any other references to the app, in case you launched BlogAssist when it was in a different location.
Replaced the application icon with one professionally designed by Emily Pfeifer.
BlogAssist is now shareware. People who previously donated for BlogAssist are automatically eligible for a free license.
Built as a Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel architectures.
BlogAssist 1.1.2
(Release 1004): released 2005-03-28; requires macOS 10.3 or later
Minor performance improvements.
BlogAssist 1.1.1
(Release 1003): released 2004-12-09; requires macOS 10.3 or later
Fixed a bug that caused the menu to stop working on subsequent automatic launches.
Fixed a problem where an old version wouldn't be removed from the Startup Items if it was in a different location.
Fixed some very minor memory leaks.
BlogAssist 1.1
(Release 1002): released 2004-11-01; requires macOS 10.3 or later
Added an editor window, that allows adding, altering or deleting operations in the menu.
Included a button in the editor window to go to the BlogAssist website.
Added a "Quit BlogAssist..." command; normally you'd leave it running so it remains in the menubar, but sometimes you might want to disable it.
Now allows replacing multiple occurrences of the placeholder string.
Now displays tooltips for each menu item, showing the expansion template.
Plus a number of behind-the-scenes improvements.
BlogAssist 1.0
(Release 1001): released 2003-10-01; requires macOS 10.3 or later