- How often does NewsTicker update it’s headlines?
- Requirements
- Shareware Notice
- Registering NewsTicker
- Version History
What does NewsTicker do?
NewsTicker is a utility for displaying the headlines from different web sites. It puts up a floating window where the headlines scroll by. Double-clicking a headline will open your browser to show the full story.
It can also track web pages, showing when they have changed.
NewsTicker uses a built-in parsing engine, which describes the format of web pages, and “teaches” NewsTicker which parts of the incoming HTML page are the headlines.
Since the format of web pages may change, NewsTicker sometimes displays more information than you might want (or even less than what you expect), but it’s still much better than having to launch your browser every time you want the news headlines...
Currently, the limit is 32 Tracked Web Sites, and a total of no more than 100 headlines.
NOTE: At this time, NewsTicker does not support HTML frames. this means web pages that are comprised by including or referring to other web pages are not parsed for headlines.
Where can I find the latest versions?
The latest versions of NewsTicker can usually be found either at <http://www.pitango.com/roov/newsticker/> or at Info-Mac and it's mirror sites. One of the best of these is <http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html>.
Using NewsTicker
The first time you run NewsTicker, you will be presented with the Preferences dialog (which you can later access from the Edit menu, or by holding down the Control key while clicking on the Ticker window).
The Preferences dialog has three panels, which control different aspects of NewsTicker:
1. Miscellaneous
2. Tracked Web Sites
3. Ticker Appearance
Move the cursor over an item in the Preferences dialog to get an explanation for that item.
If your network uses an HTTP Proxy Server, be sure to configure the HTTP Proxy section of the Miscellaneous panel.
Apart from that, there is no setup you must do, though you may wish to change the appearance of the Ticker window (in the Ticker Appearance panel) or the names of tracked sites (in the Tracked Web Sites panel).
You may also want to add new sites to the Tracked Site List.
For that you’ll have to first read the attached “NewsTicker Site Format” document, and even then you may have to contact me for help…
Note: In most cases, for most sites in which the headline of interest is an HTML link, the Site Format can be (<A HREF).
How often does NewsTicker update it’s headlines?
If the “Circulate Sites” checkbox is not checked, NewsTicker will check for new headlines every 20 minutes.
If the checkbox is checked (and NewsTicker is circualting sites), each site gets 20 seconds for each of the headlines retrieved from that site.
Requirements
• Mac OS 7.5.1 or better.
• Open Transport 1.1 or better.
• For headline launching, Internet Config 2.x or the Internet Control Panel (available with Mac OS 8.5 or better) are required.
Shareware Notice
Use NewsTicker for no longer than 14 days, then please register it or trash it.
Read the attached “NewsTicker Registration” document for information on how to register.
If you register NewsTicker and email me with “I Use NewsTicker” in the subject of the email, I’ll inform you of new versions of NewsTicker.
Please email me bugs, compatibility problems or suggestions.
Registering NewsTicker entitles you to receive new versions for free, up to and including the next full version.
Registering NewsTicker
You can register NewsTicker either by using the attached Register application or online at:
<http://order.kagi.com/?Q64>
For more details you may read the attached document: “NewsTicker Registration”
Credits
• Donald Brown, who’s code got me started (and then some) on this project, but didn’t want to share the glory.
• Eyal Arie, as always a motivating force.
• Lev Knopov, always an invaluable source of information and funny comments.
• Uri Weinheber, the source of good looking icons! (as well as sound design advice).
• Dair Grant, for his CContextualMenu class.
• John Montbriand, for his “strlst” code.
• Michael F. Kamprath, for his “Movable Modal” module.
• Ari Shapiro, for being a driving force.
Version History
18 March, 1999: Version 1.6
• Version 1.6 released.
10 March, 1999: Version 1.6b4
• Keyboard shortcuts were blocked by mistake. Sorry. Now fixed.
9 March, 1999: Version 1.6b3
• When the maximum number of headlines was reached in one site, no more sites would load. Typically, this would happen with CNN™. (Thanks, Jack Holleran for the bug report.)
• The much awaited keyboard shortcuts are here, but with no UI yet:
- Use Command+Control+Escape to toggle the visibility of the NewsTicker window.
- Use Command+Control+Right Arrow to load the next site immediately.
25 February, 1999: Version 1.6b2
• Improved updating on Ticker window. (Thanks, David Collett, for the bug report.)
• Due to many requests, the Ticker font can now also be 9 points...
• The Ticker Appearance panel now has a checkbox which can turn on or off the underlining of headlines.
• The Tracked Site parameters dialog has two new items:
1. A checkbox to control whether to track the site. This is like double-clicking the site in the list (or selecting it and clicking T.
2. A field to enter the minimal number of words a link must have in order to be considered a headline. Previously, this was hard-coded to four words, meaning links with less than four words were invisible. This would reduce clutter, but sometimes filter out interesting headlines, so I've added control for this.
A sample site that now works (with the default settings) is:
You still have to set minimum number of words to 1.
• The NewsTicker window can now be anchored “In Current Position”, which let’s you select the exact place to anchor it. This basically removes the Title Bar from the Ticker Window.
• Fixed some bugs.
7 February, 1999: Version 1.6b1
• NewsTicker now supports a “Local” preferences file (one placed next to the NewsTicker application). This enables running more than one copy of NewsTicker on the same machine with different settings.
(I use this to have one copy track stocks, another copy to track news. Maybe in the future a third copy could track email...)
2 February, 1999: Version 1.6a1
• Fixed some “special characters” bugs.
• Fixed a bug which causes NewsTicker to incorrectly identify situations in which there was no communication channel available.
• Faster site switching using a sub menu of the contextual menu which enables switching between all tracked sites.
• If there is no network connection available, NewsTicker will not launch the modem.
• Improved handling of misbehaved HTML tags.
• The NewsTicker window has more anchoring options.
• Using the T keyboard combination when in the Tracked Sites panel of the Preferences dialog toggles the tracking state of all currently-selected sites (those being tracked will not be tracked and vice-versa).
• Improved HTTP support resulting in better handling of various sites.
2 December, 1998: Version 1.5
• Some bug fixes with removing and reordering of list items.
• Improved responsiveness when NewsTicker is in the background, for the PowerPC version of NewsTicker.
19 November, 1998: Version 1.5b4
• Fixed bug which causes NewsTicker never to track the last site in the list. (Thanks, Domi Miyamoto.)
• Removed the Internet Config 2.0 folder from the NewsTicker package, as it’s no more required.
• New Finder Icons. You might have to use some utility for rebuilding your Desktop file in order to enjoy the new icons.
• Sites can now be removed in groups (shift-select all sites, then click the Remove button).
• Sites can be reordered by drag & dropping.
• The Miscellaneous panel of the Preferences dialog now has a new check-box: “Don’t Float Ticker Window”. When this option is checked, the Ticker window will not float above all other window and applications.
When this option is unchecked, the Ticker window will float above all other windows (as it did until this version). By default, this box is unchecked.
• Added a file containing more interesting sites.
This file (named “More Interesting Sites”) can be imported into NewsTicker from the Tracked Web Sites panel of the Preferences dialog, by clicking the Import… button.
12 November, 1998: Version 1.5b3
• Improved look of Preference dialog.
• Fixed color mixup in Ticker Appearance panel in Preferences dialog.
• Online, Context Sensitive help for the Preferences dialog.
• Changed status indication of tracked sites from “folded newspaper” icon to “on/off” icons.
8 November, 1998: Version 1.5b2
• The Preferences dialog has been significantly enhanced. Check it out.
• Headlines can be scrolled by dragging them.
• Added a “Reload Headlines” option to the contextual menu.
• Added a “Load Next Site” option to the contextual menu. When the “Circulate Sites” option is selected in the Preferences, this option will immediately start loading the next site.
• Added a “Find…” option to the File menu. Enter part of the headline you’re looking for, and if such a headline exists, it’ll be scrolled into view.
• The “Preferences” menu item has been moved from the “File” menu to the “Edit” menu. It is still accessible from the contextual menu.
• Command+E is now a keyboard shortcut to the Preferences dialog.
• Fixed some bugs.
• This version still lacks the following:
- Balloon Help for the new options.
17 September, 1998: Version 1.1
• Fixed some backward compatibility issues with old Preferences files. (Thanks, Leon Miller)
• When anchoring the NewsTicker window it retains the left/right coordinates of the window.
13 September, 1998: Version 1.1b4
• Fixed some compatibility issues with Mac OS 8.5
• Added the “Circulate Sites” check-box to the Tracked Sites preferences panel
• The Page Up/Down and Arrow keys now navigate the Tracked Sites list.
• NewsTicker for 68K machines has been added
• Improved Ticker window font ascent/descent/leading issues
• Only one copy of NewsTicker can run on each machine, and NewsTicker verifies this.
• When in the Tracked Sites panel, the Command+T keyboard combination toggles the tracking status of the selected site.
• First publication of the NewsTicker Site Format document. Please send in comments and suggestions as to the style of the document.
3 September, 1998: Version 1.1b3
• The NewsTicker window shows the Contextual Menu cursor when the control key is down and the mouse is within the window.
• Fixed a bug in updating preferences from the 1.0.1 version (Thanks, David Collett)
2 September, 1998: Version 1.1b2
• The NewsTicker contextual menu now provides access to the Preferences dialog.
• Made parsing language much stronger (though you can’t see this... NewsTicker managed to parse every site thrown at it)
For most sites, the format is usually defined by “(<A)” (without the parentheses.)
• Hot Corner would continue toggling visibility for as long as mouse remained there - it now doesn’t toggle again until the mouse is moved out and then back in the Hot Corner.
• Fixed a problem in deleting sites from the middle of the Tracked Sites list.
• Greatly improved the User Experience of the Preferences dialog.
• Added an option to enable the Command-Q combination.
• Added shortcuts to accessing the Internet Config settings which affect NewsTicker behavior (Preferences -> Internet Config).
• Added a field in the Tracked Site edit dialog (Preferences -> Tracked Sites List -> Add/Edit) for defining the limit on the number of headers to gather from each site.
This number is limited by the total number of headlines NewsTicker can bring, which is currently 100.
24 August, 1998: Version 1.0.1
• Fixed some annoying problems, like the dependency on Internet Config (though NewsTicker still works much better with Internet Config 2.0 installed) and PowerManagerLib.
• Some System 7 problems fixed.
• When loading, displays “Loading <Site Name>” instead of “Loading <Site Address>”
August, 1998: Version 1.0 - Initial Public Offering
