Sebb

Lately i have been working on some research and production of a new application for my webdesk.

It Orcurred to me (Well i actually already knew this) that the only thing my desktop was good for at the moment was easy accessible media.

Therefore i have thought up a new concept, that the desktop should be able to function as a online web-tool as well. The first step on this road it seems to me is to have a decent Code-editor.

The editor i am working on is in many ways a blatent ripoff of Mozilla’s Bespin, but i believe that when i chain it together with other applications on the webdesk, such as ftp, svn, etc, that it will turn the desktop into a powerfull tool quite possibly moving a large part of my workspace online.

The editor it self is based on the html canvas element, meaning everything has to be coded from scratch, and i do mean EVERYTHING, typing, arrowkey-navigation, delete/backspace, enter, etc, and on top of that i will add code highligting, and a number of shortcut keys to help productivety.

Since code highligting is a big deal, i will look into adobting the syntax for making it from other software to make a smooth transisition where the highligtning needed will be avaiable from day one, since it will not have to be createt from scratch.

As for performance it actually performs quite well so far, and Bespin has proven that this method is a viable way of creating a editor in terms of perfomance.

Also i have done number of updates to the desktop improving securety, but there still much work to be done, i will write about it in a lator blog post.

okay, i had one of those evening yestoday where i didnt encounter any “takes for ever to fix bugs” and i got a few things done, here’s what the webdesk now features:

application icons, i have been wanting to do this for a while, relating a image with a application in the taskbar aswell as the window header makes the desktop feel more complete, and makes it a bit more intuative

Fixed the upload, i finaly fixed the upload function so it doesent bug out when you upload something

Iphone support, this was already implemented, but i decided the iphone interface needed a overhaul, so i changed the interface a great deal to better fit a small touch interface, this implementation should work for android aswell but i havent tested(dont have a android -.- ). Also i edited the image application for iphone to better use the screen, windows now have a “fullscreen” mode that makes better use of the screenspace, and then i discovered to my delight today that the youtube application actually works on my iphone.

The project is actually getting somewhere where i can start to go a bit more into detail because most critical functionaleti is implemented mmm gotte love that fealing of satisfaction i get when i play around with my desktop, not to mention that it has gotten much more fun to code in/for.

I will problably work a bit more on the webdesk tonight(if i dont get caught up in playing tekken ).

Okay so i uploaded a more recent version of the desktop, and it works great…except for the permission errors, but il fix them when i get home from work today, and then figure out where to go from there.

Here is a list of changes:

• Bigger icons. The icons where simply to small
• filesurfaces. The main code that handles files in folders etc has been considerable improvd in this version making them more extensible and with faster loading times.
• widget’s there now is a widget view avaiable by pressing ctrl+q, there’s no widgets there at the moment i will add some demo widgets soon.
• cleaned the code up and extended the std object making applications and extensions easier
• simple youtube application added, add a link to a youtube movie and save a list of them for later watching, it still in alfa tho, and not much functionality added yet
• new image displayer, all images are now displayed in flash with fullscreen functionality, minislides, autoslide etc.
• create file, by rightclicking file surface background and selecting “create file”
• rename file, by rightcliking file and selecting “rename”

List of known bugs:

• sometimes rightclick menu disapears, still working om reprodusing error
• all shortcuts currently show as youtube icons
• windows becomes draggable by dragginf on their content after having dragged the window in it’s handlebar
• permission error’s on production server
• the user is not logged out of notifed if session ends, the desktop simply bugs out denying directory listings etc

There problaly more bugs but these are those i can think up right now.

Following here is a draft of upcoming features:

• arrange file files in folder by name, creation date etc
• rightclick file and download it to desktop
• move files around the desktop to costum positions, with or without grid support
• rss feed application and widget
• tag support
• search for files, by tag, name, type etc
• simple excel like application that reads/creates csv files(Comma sepperated values)
• improvement’s to rich text editor
• simple text editor, similar to fx notepad on windows.
• ftp folders/application, hook up to a ftp to extend diskspace or simply use a webdesk util to edit a file there

i have more idea’s for thing’s that i will add, but for now these seems like the essentials, im thinking of implementing other applications for developement use like some kinda  implemetation of a SVN client or a ssh terminal  if it isnt too time consuming to create.

Also having seen google is creating a canvas based texteditor for code editing, im gonne research into if i can implement it to the desktop, im also gonne create a easy way to put the system in and out of developement mode… and then at some point write som docs as to how you can write applications and extensions.

But the latter things here not on the list is far off in time, base functionalety need’s to be proper established before i can/will go any deeper into the possibilities of the webdesk.

Okay so i did not upload the new version this sunday as promised , oh well, i had some problems with a part of the way i have redesigned the folderhandling, but finaly got it fixed, il look over the project when i get off from work, there’s still some work to do on the folder redesign, mainly regarding icon infomartion such as tags etc.ing

but browsing folder in genneral has been increased tremindesly by the changes i have done, making it a less painfull experience.

I havent been doing many updates to sebbdesk as of late, not any viewable online anyway, i expect to put up a new version online tomorrow sunday.

This new version is major upgrade in both performance and usabillety more features/applications has been added/edited such as a new youtube application that lets you save a list of favorite youtube videos and play them directly on you desktop.

The image gallery features flex/flash wich means image quallety is better, features like auto slide and a bottombar displaying images have been added, it still needs work, but compared to the javascript one it is much better, the javascript version is still planned to be used on certain mobile devices such as Iphone.

At the moment the link to the java-script desktop is inaccessible, this is due to a some fundamental security stuff lacking  regarding file/user management, me having been more busy getting a working base system up than caring about than preventing unwanted access to files so far xD,  but this is soon to be corrected.

Another thing i am currently working on is a interface library for the configs(a simple json file) meant to serve as data holding files for the executable java-script files, thus easing some of the work creating configurable applications for the system,

webdesk config development preview

The colors are a bit funky, rest at ease that when im done they will not bombard your cornea’s with those funky color’s .

After resolving these issues, which i count on having fixed within the next few day’s(depending on how much i work at it),  i expect i’l be adding some config’s to the already existing  application’s and probably spend some time browser optimizing(have only tested lightly in other browser’s than Firefox so far), and working out the UI looks a bit.

And then to some real work again!

The systems needs better session management, i terms of who’s online, and having messages send back and fourth from the server and client in real time, And i mean to bring it.

For none flash supported platforms i’l set something simple up the queries the server at a set interval,

but for flash supported platforms i’m gonna attempt to set up a socket server through flash/php(yes i know php is not best suited for this, but it’s temporary until i decide on how to best do it without having to learn a new language…if possible), to manage connections, and send messages to client’s.

Also potentially this flash will serve as a proxy to do cross domain queries  for things like getting a RSS feed, or other data from other domains, this of course protected through a allowed/disallowed list prompting the user when cross domain access to a unknown site is being attempted.

That’s the scope of my plans for the project for now, more will come as i go i expect, considering the scope of the project there’s bound to be a few thing i haven’t thought of yet.