Test post, including italics and bold text.

A massive improvement has just been made to Slate! I’ve found a new way to convert the html content of a post into a format the app can read.

It’s so much faster, actually supports things like bold and italics, lists appear how you’d expect them to, and also doesn’t mess around with extra line breaks!

The speed increase is what about shocked me though, because the old method took about the same time it took to request the actual data from the Micro blog api. It was only ever a temporary solution, but this works near instantly.

Just a quick video showing the current state of Slate:

cl.ly/sAXB

I’ve just added replying to posts!

(Next build should be sent out tonight)

New bonsai! 🌳

New bonsai! 🌳 #Bonsai

I finally watched Avengers: Infinity War this morning. It was an incredible film nearly all the time, but the ending was a pure disappointment for me.

Swift Tip: Counting Enum Cases in Swift 4.2 – Chris Hannah

Swift Tip: Hiding Extra Separators on a UITableView blog.chrishannah.me/hiding-ex…

Regarding my ramblings yesterday about starting a new blog for swift development tips, I’ve decided I will host it on my main blog.

However, it is a separate category, that is excluded from the main feeds. There’s still a link in the navigation bar though.

The first post is super simple, and the actual tip is 1 line of code. It’s how to hide extra separators on a UITableView.

I may try and work out a schedule for regular posts, but it may just be slightly sporadic. It’s not going to be full of big tutorials though, I’d rather just share small tips for now.

I want to start writing more Swift tutorials/tips/things, so don’t be surprised if I create a new blog soon!

I just need to figure out the best place for it.

🚂 #ObscuraApp #ShotoniPhone

Bloomberg:

The software maker has agreed to acquire GitHub, the code-repository company popular with many software developers, and could announce the deal as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

I don’t like the sound of this.

I am 100% certain I will be installing the iOS 12 betas to all of my devices immediately after launch.

Without any hesitation.

There was some editorial artwork for Xcode leaked by Guilherme Rambo, so of course Matt Birchler created high-quality wallpaper versions.

birchtree.me/blog/appl…

In preparation for possible improvements to notifications in iOS 12, I’ve turned on notifications for all of the apps on my phone. That includes, banners, sounds, icon count, etc. I expect I’ll be deleting a few apps soon.

After playing (and completing) the demo of Factorio last night, I ended up purchasing the full game. I can truly see how addicting the game is, because I was on it for at least 3 hours straight, and it felt like 10 minutes.

• A working Xcode that doesn’t have SourceKit crashing every 15 minutes.
• Always on Apple Watch face.
• Declarative UI framework.
• Dark mode for iOS.
• Better Notification Center.
• Maybe some UI changes so that iOS isn’t exactly the same as always.
• Widgets on the home screen.

🐈 #Obscura

🐶💤 #Obscura

Snow Leopard

A short update regarding my earlier piece on Apple blocking Steam’s Steam Link app.

Turns out I was correct in that the type of app has nothing to do with the rejection. Which is why the appeal to Apple about there already being other remote-desktop style apps, didn’t work.

However, Reuters wrote a great piece, including quotes from Valve. The major point is this:

Steam, however, also offers purchases within games distributed through its platform and also takes a cut of those purchases. Apple’s App Store guidelines ban such a store-within-a-store unless the purchases flow the Apple’s infrastructure and pay Apple’s cut.

That is why it was rejected.

It’s also the reason why you have a Kindle app on iOS, but have to go to the Amazon website to purchase books. Because they don’t want to share any revenue with Apple.

It may seem terrible that Apple demand a cut of all purchases made on their platform. But they are the ones supplying the platform, and the opportunity for developers to build apps for them.

At first glance, Apple rejecting Valve’s Steam Link seems like a bad idea.

However, I haven’t yet seen anyone with details about why it was rejected. I’ve seen “business conflicts” mentioned, however I can’t pay too much importance to any of the reports until I see at least the guideline that it didn’t follow.

If it does indeed break an app review rule, then you can’t really argue that it was rejected. But if, like many articles pointed out, there are other remote-desktop style apps already in the app store, and Steam Link is essentially just that, then these should receive the same treatment.

To counter that point, there is also the fact that we do not know the reason why it was rejected. Which means the reason could be nothing to do with the fact that it’s a remote-desktop app.

Also, approving and rejecting is a bit of a dick move. But more likely caused by human error.

Here’s a screenshot of me writing my last post in Slate 😜

I really wanted to add an image to the post, but I wanted more to write it using my own app.

I recently started working on one of the most important parts of Slate, composing and publishing posts.

It was maybe the only feature I actually planned out, and I have a whole section in Things dedicated to it. I already know what features I want to add before I can say it’s complete, but I think I will also release a beta version for this feature, as soon as the minimal tasks are completed.

At the moment, it’s quite basic in functionality. It accepts an optional title, and of course the list content. No replies, image uploading, etc.

The first step was, of course, to add the code to actually post something to Micro.blog. But since then I’ve just been working on the UI.

Again, that is quite simple. There’s a field with for the title, a much larger text field which is where I’m currently writing this post content, and also a character count in the bottom-right corner.

Before releasing a beta version of composing, there are just a few things I want to add:

• Markdown highlighting.
• Easy way to insert Markdown syntax, such as links, or italics.
• Replying to a post.
• Replying to a user straight from their profile.

After I’ve done that, another build will be released!

👨🏻‍💻

Just spent a bit more time working on the structure of the compose view. It’s all nice and modular, and I’m very much enjoying developing it!

Here’s a little preview: