As some of you may know, 2bitoperation has been on some downtime the last 2 weeks whilst I moved my existence from Manchester to London. That has almost been completed. I just wanted to apologise for anyone who had to wait a while for any queries or feedback that were submitted to get a response.
I am slowly working through the backlog of queries as best I can. I’d like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.
Our newest theme is now available to purchase! A wood-textured theme - it features built-in jQuery, FancyZoom support for Photo Albums, a sliding ExtraContainer to use ExtraContent, built-in Google or RapidSearch support and a selection of gorgeous headers. It has some cool features, such as a lightbox effect search box and the ExtraContent can be open or closed with a cool sliding effect.
Our two most recent Stacks have just been updated with some new features and fixes.
News Ticker Stack We have released a maintenance update to the News Ticker Stack. It now has the option to control the vertical alignment of the text in relation to your bullet image.
Cycler Stack We’ve added some new features to our Cycler Stack.
Navigation buttons so users can see previous and next images
Option to pause slideshow when mouse is hovering over it
Option to disable transition time, making it a manual slideshow
Option to have either fast or slow transition animations
Please be aware that the Randomise option has been removed from Cycler to make way for the navigation buttons.
The updates are now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
We’ve just released a quick update to the News Ticker Stack. It now comes with a built-in option to enable jQuery if your site doesn’t have it, fixes an issue with certain accented characters and has a new bullet image feature. You can now set your own custom image (should you wish to) to be the headline bullet image instead of relying on the default Star icon. This has now been removed.
The update is now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
We’ve just updated the Ember Stacks. There are no drastic changes, but they’re now even easier to use.
Chose to display photo description or information.
Ember Collections now even easier to use, just enter your username and Collections name, no RSS feed needed.
Both Stacks are packaged together for $1.
Just like our recently updates Stacks, we’ve also updated the stack with a brand new Installer. Once downloaded, just double-click the installer and it will automatically install or update the stack for you.
The update is now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
Our ever popular Flickr Stack, Flickr Modern has now been updated. The main difference is that it’s now actually 2 Stacks, Flickr Modern and FM Photostream. The reason for this is that we’ve been able to being Set support back.
As you may know, Flickr changed their slideshow a while back which then broke our Stack. We were quick to bring it back, but we had to remove Set support. We are now pleased to say that Set support is back!
We had to split the Stack in to two so that we could keep the existing functionality. Flickr Modern now supports Sets only. For those who still want to display your entire Photostream, FM Photostream is on hand to do that.
Although it’s two Stacks, we’re treating it as one and will continue to charge just $1 for it.
Just like our recently updates Stacks, we’ve also updated the stack with a brand new Installer. Once downloaded, just double-click the installer and it will automatically install or update the stack for you.
The update is now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
If you are using a free version of the stack or have yet to purchase the Stack - all our stacks are just $1 each.
News Ticker, a jQuery powered one-line news ticker for RSS feeds, similar to sites such as BBC and Apple.com. It supports up to 10 headlnes from your own RSS feed and has various options to set the animation time, font size and more.
It’s the same Stack that we use when you visit our home page (and it was originally created for that exact reason!).
The updates are coming thick and fast here at 2bitoperation, and Gerty is the latest that’s been updated.
We’ve enhanced the theme’s search ability so that no theme editing is required. Instead, thanks to the power of ExtraContent, the new version of the theme comes bundled with snippets for either a Google or RapidSearch box.
Simply install the new theme and snippets, and then drag’n’drop the desired search snippet.
To update, simply use the link provided in your original email invoice. It will automatically download the newest version.
A minor update to Bokeh is now available to download. This update resolves an issue where the layout would not render correctly when used with RapidCart.
To update, simply use the link provided in your original email invoice. It will automatically download the newest version.
We’ve just released a small update to the MobileMe Photos Stack. As well as adding some new features, there have also been some improvements...
New Features
Show or hide date
Show or hide all photo info
Improvements
Load times faster thanks to latest Yahoo! Javascript libraries
Some under-the-hood enhancements
We’ve also updated the stack with a brand new Installer. Once downloaded, just double-click the installer and it will automatically install or update the stack for you.
The update is now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
If you are using a free version of the stack or have yet to purchase the Stack - all our stacks are just $1 each.
We’re extremely pleased to announce that as of now, you don’t have to have a Paypal account to purchase our Themes or Stacks - we now accept all major credit and debit cards without visiting Paypal! We’ve been able to accept credit/debit cards for customers without a Paypal account before, but now you can provide all the information upon checkout instead of visiting Paypal first.
Paypal is still and will always remain as a payment option (and our preferred one).
We’ve just update the Last.fm Stack with some new features...
Track name font size
Show or hide music note icon
Show or hide profile link
Stack’s update interval reduced from 60 minutes to 10 minutes
Just like the Tumblr Stack, we’ve also updated the stack with a brand new Installer. Once downloaded, just double-click the installer and it will automatically install or update the stack for you.
The update is now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
If you are using a free version of the stack or have yet to purchase the Stack - all our stacks are just $1 each.
We’ve just released a update to the Tumblr Stack that adds the following features...
Set post title font size
Show or hide post titles
Enable or disable post background colour
Show or hide post date
We’ve also updated the stack with a brand new Installer. Once downloaded, just double-click the installer and it will automatically install or update the stack for you.
The update is now available for download. For existing customers, just follow the download link within your original email invoice and the download will run automatically.
If you are using a free version of the stack or have yet to purchase the Stack - all our stacks are just $1 each.
Our extremely popular theme, Live, has just been updated. It now features full ExtraContent support for the middle column and greater control over the blog and tweet widgets. These are now completely optional and don’t require changing any of the theme’s files - just use the newly included snippets.
To update, simply use the link provided in your original email invoice. It will automatically download the newest version.
Further information can be found at the theme’s page.
As previously announced, we have updated our 2bitoperation Mailing List. It is opt-in, and you can unsubscribe at any time. By subscribing, you will receive email notifications whenever a new version of a theme, stack or news and updates are released. The Mailing List will only send out new posts from this blog. Purchases from now on includes a link to subscribe with your invoice. Users can manage their subscription at any time.
Our Premium Stacks service has now gone live. All Stacks are now priced at $1 each, and include lifetime updates and support. Stacks that were downloaded previously for free are now no longer available, and support for them will also cease. Support and updates will only be available for customers who have now purchased the Stacks.
Thanks to the whole RapidWeaver community for their understanding and we have some great updates to some of our Stacks coming very soon!
As we announced just over 10 days ago, we will shortly be charging for Stacks. This will allow us to re-focus on providing more frequent updates.
We will begin charging for Stacks tomorrow (23rd April 2010) at 12pm GMT. Once the transition is complete, we will then begin work on developing and delivering updates. We won’t be updating any Stacks immediately but we will be laying the groundwork for it.
Stack purchases will work in the same way as Theme purchases and can be purchased along side them.
Along side Premium Stacks, we will also be completing our theme/stack updates service. As we have previously mentioned, we are wanting email communications with our customers to be opt-in. As there are many ways for us to announce updates, many customers no longer wish to receive email notifications. To automate and monitor this, when purchasing, you will be asked if you wish to receive updates via email or provide you with alternative ways of being kept up to date.
Just a quick post on how 2bitoperation theme owners are notified about new theme updates.
Previously, we would send an update to the registered email address used during checkout to let customers know of an update. This email would contain a unique download link for the theme. We’re changing the email format slightly and removing the download link. Customers will simply need to refer to their original 2bitoperation invoice to download the theme. (If you lose/delete the original invoice, you can always contact us and we can re-send it through to you).
This change is partly due to our move to Cartloom, and also to address concerns regarding mailing lists. As we begin to update customers via email, we want to make sure any such contact is opt-in. We don’t think it’s fair to have to ask to opt-out of something.
With the release of Bokeh, we have decided to move our payment processor to Cartloom. These guys rock and the features provided made it an easy decision.
You will find the shopping cart neatly tucked out of the way and appearing on every page, so you can make any changes at any time you’re on the site.
Bokeh is here! Our latest RapidWeaver theme is now available for just $4.99 for a very limited time. Check out the theme’s features and view screenshots and the demo site.
After a (very) brief removal, the Flickr Modern stack is now available.
What happened? Flickr made a change to how one of their slideshows work. Our stack contained the slideshow in an iFrame - similar to the iFrame page feature in RapidWeaver. Flickr added some code that would allow the slideshow to detect if it was framed and would automatically break out and go full screen. This meant that after the change, any users with the Flickr Modern stack would not get the full benefit (and hide any content on screen).
Is it fixed? Yes, sort of. I have re-released the stack using Flickr’s preferred embed code, however it means that it’s currently limited to a single user’s photostream. Displaying group pools or specific tags isn’t a feature that is yet available. I am working on writing new stacks that will provide these features. These will almost certainly be seperate stacks.
A note about the update to Flickr Modern - I have been working on it very quickly so it’s currently back to Beta, it seems to be working with no problems but it has not had as much testing as I’d like. As the foundation of the stack hasn’t changed, I don’t forsee any problems, though please contact us if you do find an issue.
Due to a change in how the official Flickr slideshow works, the Flickr Modern stack will no longer function correctly. I am currently working to see if a fix is available. In the meantime, I highly recomend changing to one of our alternative Flickr stacks. A post will be up as soon as there is an update.
You may have noticed that 2bitoperation is looking a little different. We’ve shaved off a few hundred pixels and sleeked down the site to make it easier to navigate and browse through. Hope you all like the update!
2bitoperation now has a newsletter! You can subscribe by visiting the home or contact page and entering your email in the form at the bottom. Whenever this blog is updated, you’ll receive an email notification with the latest news.
Don’t forget, you can also follow @2bitoperation on Twitter.
Now that we are firmly into the new year, I wanted to quickly discuss our plans for 2010.
You may have noticed that in 2009, we released loads of excellent stacks and 3 extremely popular themes for RapidWeaver. Over the last few months, it’s been a little quiet. Firstly, I’d like to say that 2010 will be a much busier year.
Some of you may not know, 2bitoperation is something I run purely in my spare time, in addition to a full-time job. As my day job isn’t web design related, it means any work I do for 2bitoperation is second to my day job - that has to be my priority. Couple that with a recent health issue, and 2bitoperation hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves.
This is all going to change. There are some changes on the horizon that are for the better, and will mean that I will be able to focus more on creating even more quality themes, as well as expanding into other areas (such as Tumblr) for designs.
As always, stay tuned to our blog and Twitter feeds.
We’ve just released a maintenance update for Harmony that addresses an issue with list rendering. All users who have purchased Harmony should receive an update via email in the next few hours.
Harmony has been updated and is now available! It has some new features such as an iTunes 9 layout, more options for customisation including being able to hide the search box and other enhacements. Check out the changelog for more information or visit the theme page.
Way back when, almost 3 years ago now - we introduced an affiliate scheme whereby anyone could register and any sales generated through their website would provide the affiliate with a percentage of the sale price.
The affiliate program went dormant over 18 months ago and no affiliate sales have been or are being generated due the programs end.
I am planning to reintroduce this program in the coming weeks. In order to do that, one of the steps I have to take is to remove any existing affiliate registrations so that the program can be restarted. There were a very large number of invalid or spam email addresses in the program.
During the removal process, I (mistakenly) thought I would be presented with an option to include some information. This was not the case so some of you have just received a blank email with the words 'Affiliate removed'. My apologies for this.
Rest assured, anyone will be able to register (or re-register) for the affiliate program. We will let you know as soon as this is live.
Live has just been updated and we've added a few cool new options, the most popular of which is the option to hide the middle column and generate a 2 column layout instead of 3. This is a very popular request and we're very happy to be able to provide the option. There are a few minor updates and new features, all of which can be read about in the changelog, or in the theme page.
Existing customers will receive an email with the update theme. Please remove the old theme before installing the new one.
Update: We found a small error in the theme shortly after publishing it. We've updated the theme which is already online. If you downloaded the theme in the last few hours, please re-download using the same link in the email to make sure you get the up-to-date version. Apologies for the inconvenience.
At long last, an update to Gerty with some new features is now available! It also has a few little under-the-hood fixes. For a full list of what's new, check out the Changelog.
As usual, existing customers will receive an email with new download information in the next few hours. If you don't receive it, let us know.
To install, simply remove the old theme and double-click this one to install.
After much work, I am pleased to announce that Revvy, our unofficial webapp for watching Revision3 shows such as Diggnation, has been updated and revamped. It features the familiar layout it has had previously, but it now has a new look.
Other features include the return of episode descriptions and full Webclip icon support so you can add your favourite shows to your homescreen and it'll display the show's image instead of the Revvy icon.
Check out the Screencast below that we've uploaded to Youtube to demonstrate Revvy,.
We'd love to see how all of you have used one of our themes for your site. Email or send us a tweet (@2bitoperation) your website and we'll share it on Twitter.
Along with theme releases and updates, we have introduced Changelogs for each theme so you can keep track of what has changed during each update. Visit each theme's page to check out the changelog for it.
Live has been updated and released with the additional feature of External Link Icons, similar to the Gerty theme. Existing customers will receive an email update shortly with a new download link. If you do not receive it, pleast contact us along with either your Paypal or E-Junkie transaction ID.
We've just updated Gerty. This update resolves an issue reported where the external link icon was not working correctly. We have also changed how the RapidSearch integration works. Instead of changing and removing code, we have simply provided 2 theme index.html files. Simply add your RapidSearch URL to one of the files and rename. Easy! For the full instructions, visit Gerty's FAQ.
We have also updated Gerty's demo site so it now shows RapidSearch in action by default.
All Gerty updates are sent to customers immediately via email.
Gerty is now available for purchase for just $4.99! Our latest theme boasts a lightweight feel to it, but packs some serious punch. It is bundled with jQuery and takes advantage of some seriously cool Javascript whilst preserving compatability with other 3rd party plugins.
You can get full information about Gerty, view screenshots and a demo - as well as purchase it over at the theme's page.
Presenting the Posterous Stack! Similar to the Tumblr Stack, you can now integrate your Posterous blog into RapidWeaver. It’s free to download and the Stack as well as a preview can be found here.
We’ve just released our new Tumblr Stack. It’s been completely re-written and provides more functionality and control, including date stamps! As usual, it’s free! Click here for more info.
Harmony has just been updated and sent out to those of you who have purchased it. It resolves an issue with consistency in the appearance of the search box across different browsers.
Please follow the instructions provided in the update.
If you follow us on Twitter, you may have noticed that we’ve started using short URLs at http://2bit.us.
I use Nambu as my main Twitter client on the Mac and love it. However, will all the talk of link-rot (what happens to short URLs if the service stops) and Tr.im closing and re-opening, I have decided to use our own custom short URL service for anything 2bitoperation related. I have no plans to open it up to the public (sorry) though we recommend the great service Thurly by fellow RapidWeaver developer Adam Shiver of Elixir Graphics fame. He’s even made a great plug-in for Safari.
In order to maintain performance, Yahoo! Pipes powered Stacks such as JSFlickr and Ember can display a maximum of 20 images. Apologies for any inconvenience though this is a limitation imposed by Yahoo! to preserve performance.
The finishing touches to the updated Ember Stack have been added and it’s now available. Share your Ember images on your website with our handy stack plug-in.
Harmony is now available to purchase! It’s a gorgeous theme and at an extremely low price of $3.99! View the theme information here and take a look at the preview site.
The guys over at Realmac have done a tremendous job with LittleSnapper 1.5 and their new cloud service Ember, the replacement for QuickSnapper.
This does mean our QS Stack will no longer function. We are working on an update which will be in test as soon as Ember is fully operational. (As of this moment, Ember is still displaying the Interface Issues banner).
I’ve just posted up a new screencast for Live for those of you needing more information on how to change the Blog and Twitter information for the theme. You can find the screencast here (QuickTime format ~3mb).
Live has just been updated to include Fixed Width options as well as the ability to disable text shadows. The Fixed Width options allow you to specify 900/960/1000px options.
If you have already purchased Live, you will receive an automated email with a new download link in the next few hours.
All these stacks have had minor updates to include the ability to hide the Yahoo! Pipes badge (which these Stacks are powered with) at the bottom of the stack. Visit the Stacks page to download them.
Our Flickr Stack has been updated and is now called Flickr Classic. This is to differentiate it from our newest Flickr Stack called Flickr Modern. It is similarly featured to Flickr Classic, but provides fullscreen support and uses Flickr’s sleeker Slideshow player. It’s available now from the Goodies page.
I have spoken to a few people over at the Realmac Forums and there appears to be an issue with the MobileMe Stack and Internet Explorer 7. I am still working on finding out what is causing the issue, however it is most likely theme related. As the Stack works correctly in other browsers and in IE when using an alternative theme, I hope to have a fix soon.
I believe this issue affects any Yahoo! Pipe Stack as it seems to be something discussed on the Internet before.
Just updated the site so downloads are working correctly. There was an issue with the last update which has now been resolved. Apologies for anyone who was unable to download.
We’ve come across a strange bug that can crop up when using a few of our Stacks. With any stacks that require text information to be intered (such as our Flickr Stacks requiring tags) and the field is left blank, the placeholder for that bit of code appears. From what we can see, this may or may not be a bug with our Stacks.
We’re working on trying to find out what is causing the issue. If you find that the Stack is not working as you’d expect - check the Inspector HUD. Flickr users, for now you will need to enter a tag I’m afraid.
As soon as a solution is available, we will let you know.
Tumblr Stack 1.2.1 has just been released. It has a couple of bug fixes with regards to list bullet types and a fixes a bug where images would not center despite the option being selected.
Our ever popular Tumblr Stack has just been updated with new styling features and better control over your Tumblelog without worrying about CSS. You can check out all the new stuff and download from the Tumblr Stack page.
MobileMe Stack Stack has been completely overhauled and now features the same style slideshow as the QuickSnapper stack. It now also features high-resolution images so you can create even larger stacks to show off your photos.
QuickSnapperStack and Snippet Stack and Snippet have been updated with the ability to control the height of the generated slideshow. This is necessary to allow large slideshows to be created. The Stack/Snippet’s backend has also been updated so that it now loads the QuickSnapper medium image instead of the original high-resolution one. This dramatically decreases the slideshow’s load time and makes it much quicker to cache the images.
You can download the latest versions from their respective Stacks page. Please make sure to remove the old stack before updating.
For anyone using the Last.fm stack, there is now an updated version available. Currently, the Last.fm stack uses feed2js to power the stack. We now have a local version of feed2js on our own server and have updated the Last.fm stack accordingly.
To install the stack, just re-download it and place it in the Stacks folder. You don’t need to recreate your stacks, just re-publish the page.
Just a general update to the site - there is now a search box just to the right of the website if you ever get lost and need to find something quickly.
Update: A few people have emailed in asking how the search box works. It’s powered by the excellent RapidSearch RapidWeaver plugin by Josh Lockhart ($15). The plugin allows the use of Google site search. Once used, a simply HTML form is created for the search box.
For Safari users, you’ll see a familiar OS X style search box with the ability to remember previous searches. Here’s the code from our search box that provides this ability...
Due to the steady increase of traffic over the last few months, I have re-enabled commenting on blog posts again. Feel free to speak your mind about any of the blog posts here.
We’ve jumped on the bandwagon with Stacks, an awesome plugin that brings a combination of drag’n’drop and a fluid layout to RapidWeaver. We’ve created a bunch of new stacks that are totally free to use. They include...
Revvy - our popular Revision3 webapp for iPhone and iPod Touch is now at version 2. It’s had a massive overhaul, and now looks and feels even better! Check it out for yourself or have a look at these screenshots...
You may have noticed we haven’t released any new Stacks for a while now. The reason for this is because I’ve always wanted to make Stacks free, they have had to take a back seat to other committments such as Themes. Our Stacks have been such an amazing success that they have been downloaded a great many more times than I ever thought.
We are at a crossroads with Stacks and have a choice - either suspend future development for the time being, or charge for them. Here’s why...
As some of you know, we recently moved from E-Junkie to Cartloom as our payment provider. We have always had an amazing relationship and have nothing but praise for E-Junkie, but the features and options offered by Cartloom are seen as a better fit for us.
For customers who purchased a theme from us via E-Junkie will soon receive an email with an updated link for you to receive theme updates as and when we release them. Please keep this email safe as you may require it to download any updates.
