Upcoming changes to Searchy

2011-03-03 - Chad Edge

Searchy hasn't seen much in updates for some months now. A few people have left reviews in the AppStore (from Canada and Germany, specifically) that showcased a couple things I may not have thought about:
- How Searchy might not be able to produce results from an SSL (https) Web page
- How Searchy is branded as a "browser plugin" and not a "full-scale application.

First, let me address the https/SSL issue: I've run a few test domains across Searchy (both iPad and iPhone versions) and have been able to produce results without issue. Perhaps the comment about failing with https/SSL was posted before my more recent updates, where I moved the Searchy/Lighting engine into the application bundle (loading external resources might have been problematic in earlier versions).
Searchy operates with a subset of Lightning (a framework I've been building for some time that helps me process http results). Lighting parses an HTML file and injects the code I need to scrape a Web page (it also has the hooks for the color dressing, with CSS shadows, etc).
Earlier versions may have not used Lightning correctly, and the code hooks may not have been injected into an https/SSL page as the WebView might reject "foreign" content not resolving from the same URL.
All of this has been fixed in the more recent versions, and I would invite anyone that has experienced problems to get in touch with me. Sample URL's, screenshots or other attachments would be greatly helpful.
Also, I'm more than happy to offer a refund to anyone that has experienced such problems.

Second, the "browser plugin" issue gets under my skin. Beyond bookmarklets and external-url to application links, there's no such thing as a "browser plugin" on iOS.
Searchy is a standalone browser, much like others in the AppStore - except my searching methods produce much better rendered results. I don't use a simple JavaScript yellow highlight, instead I try to mimic the rendering of a desktop browser experience when producing search results.
There's not much I can do to change the opinion of application purchasers, except alter the description to show that iOS "browser plugins" don't exist.

What's in the pipeline?
The updates to Searchy have been slow in development as I have focused more on a new news reading and mashup application that fully leverages Lightning. I'm hoping as the development of my new project progresses I can roll in some of the advancemens into Searchy. Here are a few things that might make their way into Searchy:
- Multiple tabs with background loading
- Offline mode, including reloading previous searches while offline
- Faster rendering under iOS 4.3 (I'm going to attempt to leverage Mobile Safari's new rendering engine)
- Rotation mode for both iPad and iPhone (currently, iPhone is portrait only)
As far as when these changes will be implemented, I can't be sure - it all depends on how successful the new project goes.

Why Searchy was not in the AppStore for awhile

2011-01-26 - Chad Edge

It has taken weeks to get a response out of Apple, but it appears that my developer paid applications contract needed renewing, which explains why my Searchy (both for iPhone and iPad) have been unavailable for purchase in the past few weeks.

Apple has responded to my inquiries stating that once my contracts are renewed the applications will return to the AppStore.
I appreciate your patience if you have been attempting to purchase my apps. Your patience will be rewarded with many updates, soon to appear!

5 free licenses to Searchy for iPhone

2010-08-16 - Chad Edge

I am giving away 5 free copies of Searchy for iPhone in order to be a nice guy.
Send me a message on Twitter (@chadedge) to get a copy!

In response to some bugs

2010-06-11 - Chad Edge

It's come to my attention that the latest update to Searchy for iPhone contains some pretty ugly bugs. Here's a list of what's a bug and what's a preference that I might change:

1. When attempting to send a support request (using the 'e-mail support' button), the "TO" e-mail field is not prefilled, therefore it's damn-near impossible to send a support requet!
2. The history view for previous searches does not allow for a user to re-run a previous search. If you touch on the previous search entry nothing happens.
3. While not a bug, the menu button on the bottom of the screen may get in the way of 'bottom of the page' links, keeping a user from touching on links that appear under the menu bar.
4. While I like having the support topics in a table list now, I'm not impressed with the row dressing. The background row gradient is a tad ugly in my opinion.

With those bugs and 'features' in mind, I'm quickly pushing out an update. It will take up to seven days for Apple to approve the update, but it is being submitted today.

I apologize to the users that have had a hard time with this update. I am proud of the speed improvements and the interface changes, but those improvements prove worthless if the application doesn't work as advertised.
I appreciate the users that have brought the problems to my attention - I understand it's been difficult to communicate the errors when the in-app support feature has been broken.

Update: On June 11, 2010 I submitted an update to the Apple appStore review team. The update is in-review and should be published shortly.

Searchy for iPad price increase

2010-06-02 - Chad Edge

Now that Searchy for iPad has gained enough early-adopters, I have increased the price (actually, just removed the promotional price) to $1.99 where it will stay.

I'd like to thank all of you that downloaded Searchy for the iPad (or iPhone); you've helped me gain more understanding of the features you want in a mobile browser, and based on your feedback I'm going to continue my hard work to bring those features further.

Searchy 2 for iPhone has been launched

2010-05-10 - Chad Edge

After a weekend review, the Searchy 2 for iPhone has been launched. This new version is a 100% rewrite of the first Searchy app, with a new highlighting engine, speed improvements, minimal interface, and a few other nifty additions.

Searchy 2 is a free upgrade for existing owners of Searchy for iPhone/iPod Touch, and only $0.99 for new users.

I recommend that everyone upgrade to the latest version as I'll be adding a tabbed interface (someday, sigh, it's a tough addition) as well as other speed and help navigation improvements.

As always, I welcome your feedback, bug reports, requests, etc. I'm very proud of Searchy, and would love to read what you have to say about my application.

Searchy 2 for iPhone Imminent!

2010-05-04 - Chad Edge

You read that right - Searchy 2 for the iPhone is nearly complete! The newest version of the best (in my humble opinion) iPhone browser search-tools is a 100% rewrite, with a new interface, improved speed, and all the great highlighting features of our big brother, Searchy for iPad (more on that in a moment).

Here's a short preview video to whet your whistle:

Searchy for iPad Imminent!

2010-04-25 - Chad Edge

You read that right - Searchy for the iPad is imminent! I'll be releaseing Searchy 1.5 (iPad only update) in the next few days. Once the update has been approved by Apple, I'll post a link to the iTunes App Store from right here.

What's new with Searchy? Here's a short list of features, some exclusive to the iPad, and some that will roll out to the next iPhone update.

1. The name has finally been "uppercased" to Searchy. No more colon, no more lowercase.
2. The history feature has been greatly improved - re-run past searches with ease, reload Web sites lightning quick.
3. The highlighting of search results is better than anything else I've found on both the iPad or the iPhone - much closer to a desktop experience.
4. Speaking of highlighting, you can now customize the color of your highlights with four color choices!
5. Support documentation has been built-in.
6. Unlike another browser for the iPhone/iPad, when you navigate around a Web page, your search results don't disappear! This works in all four orientations, too!
7. Flurry analytics has been removed per a user request. Searchy never tracked what you browsed/searched for reporting, but paranoia remains a valid enough reason to remove the usage statistics software.

What about price, you ask? Well, for the first 100 downloads, the price will be $0.99 - just like the iPhone version. After that, the price will increase to $1.99. The increase in price will allow me to further develop the multi-page browsing (as well as further test the ability to search across multiple tabs at the same time!).

All that said, get your download finger ready!

Searchy for iPad?

2010-03-25 - Chad Edge

With the iPad launching soon, we here at Searchy thought it best to update you early-adopters with our plans.

If we can complete the development of Searchy by Saturday, March 27th at 5pm we can get our app setup for approval (or sigh, denial) in the AppStore. We'd love to have Searchy launched and available for purchase on launch day, but if not we'll keep you informed.

So, what's so special about Searchy for iPad? Well, in short the iPad Safari is a "dream" to use (puns!), but we feel that Searchy can add the much-needed search-in-page that some users will require.
If you're a developer, designer, or other long-page searcher (we know we are!), then having to scroll to find the specific text you need - even on a beautiful screen - can be a pain. Searchy will assist you by highlighting your search results, jumping to the position, and even keeping a history of the searches you entered for later use.

Beyond that, we're not gonna talk about what's coming up in Searchy for iPad - partly because we can't, and partly because with the requirement of all 4 axis being coded we have a few hiccups to overcome. No need to overpromise on what we may have a hard time delivering.

Searchy 1.x (the next greatest version)

2010-02-04 - Chad Edge

The list of tasks and features for searchy: 1.x is well near complete:

1. A more robust history system - searches and url's are now in their own lists!
2. Faster page loading - about 20% faster (faster than most other browsers!)
3. Customizations (highlight color, load last url on relaunch, default URL)
4. Landscape orientation
5. Multiple pages/browser tabs running at the same time
6. Faster moving windows (the modals)
7. Rewritten 100%, using multiple xib's and better controllers
8. Flurry analytics

The landscape orientation may not make it into the next release, but I'll reconsider if I get enough feedback.
I'm hoping for a late February launch-date for the update, which of course will be free to current users.

Working on the updates

2010-01-17 - Chad Edge

I'm already working on updates for searchy: as well as an entire rewrite for a future version.
Some of the enhancements I'm toying around with are as follows:

1. Multiple pages/browser tabs running at the same time.
2. A more robust history system.
3. Faster page loading.
4. Customizations (like which startup page is loaded, the highlight color and style).
5. Landscape orientation.

If you're on the fence about purchasing searchy:, don't wait for these updates. I'm still swamped with other projects, and I'd rather you have the ability to get your work done using searchy: than wait around for enhancements. searchy: does a damn fine job at locating information in Web pages, so it's production-ready in my mind.