OmniWeb 5.7 Sneaky Peeks now available.
 

Hi All,

We turned sneaky peeks back on for OmniWeb 5.7. This is going to be a smaller release and there isn't much new from 5.6 right now but it is running a newer version of WebKit so if you're having site troubles you might give this a try.

[URL="http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/download/sneakypeek/"]http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/download/sneakypeek/[/URL]

(or just check for updates in the OmniWeb menu if you've used sneaky peeks in the past.)

Thanks!

FWIW, "This copy of OmniWeb is up-to-date"

That's what I get checking for updates in 5.6. Pretty sure I've used sneaky peeks before ;)

[QUOTE=Forrest;24007]FWIW, "This copy of OmniWeb is up-to-date"

That's what I get checking for updates in 5.6. Pretty sure I've used sneaky peeks before ;)[/QUOTE]

I too got an up-to-date message. Then the dialog box froze Omniweb and I had to force quit :(

Sorry guys, we're working out the kinks in our osu stuff still. In the meantime you can use the link above.

Update: Unfortunately you will need to manually download a 5.7 sneaky peek to get things working correctly. Once you do so, newer releases will begin appearing for you.

If you are not interested in running betas or sneaky peeks sit tight and you will be properly informed of the final release for 5.7.

Thanks!

5.7 looks more stable than 5.6

Yeah, new icons. Looks great :D

As mentioned, the new icons look really good. Thanks for the update on them.

I don't know... am I the only one who thinks the new icons look sort of washed-out?

hmm undecided on the new icons. they seem a bit smaller than i would expect..

The new icons have a serious contrast problem - there's very little difference between active/inactive states.

Additionally, they look like they were made for an app 10 years ago. Wouldn't something closer to Safari's current buttons fit into 10.5 better? I realize there are an enormous number of 10.4 users out there (probably far more than 10.5, at the moment) but that's the past at this point. Shouldn't OW be moving forward with more metallic-looking buttons?

If this is just something transitional between 5.7 and (the fabled) 6.0, that seems okay. My concern is that these will linger far past the point where they should. They just aren't slick - they look faded and dated. Not really what you want a first perception of OW to be. I mean, seriously....This is the best damn browser on any platform, as far as I'm concerned (and I've used the absolute hell out of them all.) Why shouldn't it look the part, too?

With this new much to dark icon bar many icons in many applications look awkward in Leopard. It's not easy, but I clearly don't want to see metal buttons like in Safari in every App from now on.

The pro icons with their white, desatured appearance are fine, but I agree that the color icons look a little bit oversimplified.

[QUOTE=Schlaefer;24148] It's not easy, but I clearly don't want to see metal buttons like in Safari in every App from now on.[/QUOTE]

I agree. I don't really like those metal buttons in safari too much.

The new OW icons are quite nice, IMO. However, it you're going to have a "home" button, [b]please make the browser have a "true" home page[/b] which is not the same thing as a start page.

In other words, I might want new windows to open blank, but I still want Google as my "home" page...

[QUOTE=dmz;24137]I don't know... am I the only one who thinks the new icons look sort of washed-out?[/QUOTE]

I like the graphite version of the buttons, to me they look unobtrusive and professional. But I would agree with you that the colored icons look washed-out, as you said.

I'm looking at the graphite buttons... contrast is an issue. I also have to look more closely at the buttons to see what they are. Before I could tell by color as well as shape.

FWIW, the Leopard folder icons are horrible. I bet they change. On my 2.33 MBP, I can't even tell what some of them are with my face over the keyboard.

At the moment, I really dislike them, but I'm going to give them a while to see if they grow on me. They just feel like no other app on OS X - which may have been the intention (and isn't a bad thing), but they don't sit right for me at all.

i dislike the new icons. i am still using 10.4 (and will be for a while, because leopard won't install on my iBook G3 600 MHz).
i can't really imagine how they look in 10.5, but they seem just too simple. they look somehow XP-like.

I'm liking the new icons. They're different, but different can be good. If OW wants to stand out, it's ok to have different icons.

One thing I can guarantee -- there's going to be no way to please everyone.

Does your icon-designer use Windows XP or Mac OS X ? -.-

I've lived with them for a few days now, and I'm sorry to say, I like them even less.

My feedback:
- They don't follow any style or convention on OS X. If you think "What would Panic do?" it certainly wouldn't be this.
- The detail within them is very pale and indistinct. The History, Downloads and Page Info in particular
- I do like the 'bigger/smaller' text icons as they don't have the above 2 issues, shame I never have these in my toolbar.
- Back/Next/Reload & Stop are at least easy to see what they are at a glance, as the have a strong outline, that also echoes the previous icons
- A lot of the icons ('Find on Page' in particular) look clumsy and a little childish.

Please Omnigroup, rethink this approach.

I'm assuming the bookmarks bar is something that's going to be white until 6.0? Is there not a way to get that to take on a darker shade when on Leopard?

And count me in against the new icons.

[QUOTE=Jon Hicks;24439]Please Omnigroup, rethink this approach.[/QUOTE]

+1

These icons make the SneakyPeeks really look like an Alpha release. Just like they're placeholders for the real ones to come in the finished version.

I don't know, I don't have such huge problems with the new icons and I'm a typographer and designer...

I think there's enough contrast and they match the Leopard look better than these awful coloured fisherprice icons we had before.

[QUOTE=arglborps;24472]I don't know, I don't have such huge problems with the new icons and I'm a typographer and designer...

I think there's enough contrast and they match the Leopard look better than these awful coloured fisherprice icons we had before.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Yes, they're different from other apps. Is that good? It's up to Omni. I also find them an improvement from what we had. Are they the best thing ever? Probably not. But they're a work in progress and an improvement.

Perhaps one should look at Shiira. I think its icons are attractive and easy to tell apart at a glance. Shiira 2.0 is quite an attractie browser, visually anyway, IMHO. I think the Omni designers could do worse than emulate aspects of Shiira. The icons are function and attractive, the top tabs are prettier than safari or firefox. The overall look is very similar to OW 5, but a bit more modern.

Adding a new feature to OW is something the vast majority can agree with, so long as it doesn't break an existing one. Icons are a different story because they appeal to pure opinion, and that makes it difficult because opinions can differ from one person to the next. Add to that that many people don't like change and Omni's designers have an interesting project on their hands with these new icons.

Having tried to get used to them for several days, I really don't like the new icons (pastel colours? Blech). But what I find more perplexing than the hideous colour choice is that they aren't very suited to resolution independence, which is an odd decision given that this is a feature that should be developed for now rather than after it has been activated in the OS.

P.S. My [B]decrease font size[/B] icon is appearing as though it is permanently pressed - I assume it isn't meant to look that way, but is anyone else seeing this?

[img]http://homepage.mac.com/jtyzack/.Pictures/screenshots/OWnewfontsizeicons.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=owuser;24502] Icons are a different story because they appeal to pure opinion.[/QUOTE]

You don't know much about design and typography, do you? There are objective criteria to judge design as well.

If you like it is a different matter, but like = good, don't like it = bad just doesn't work, because what would we do with all the uncultivated people that have no taste whatsoever? wait... they're on Windows anyway ;-)

[QUOTE=arglborps;24532]You don't know much about design and typography, do you? There are objective criteria to judge design as well.

If you like it is a different matter, but like = good, don't like it = bad just doesn't work, because what would we do with all the uncultivated people that have no taste whatsoever? wait... they're on Windows anyway ;-)[/QUOTE]

I was speaking as an end user who made the assumption that whatever the Omni Group releases, they would have made sure the icons followed good design criteria. I didn't think that was something that needed to be specified.

[QUOTE=JKT;24503]P.S. My [B]decrease font size[/B] icon is appearing as though it is permanently pressed - I assume it isn't meant to look that way, but is anyone else seeing this?

[img]http://homepage.mac.com/jtyzack/.Pictures/screenshots/OWnewfontsizeicons.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]

I'm not seeing that problem, but the new font increase/decrease buttons are way too small compared to the other buttons. In "small size" they are very difficult to hit. Let's get all the icons to be the same relative size please.

The outlines around the new toolbar icons are an improvement, but I find (with the graphite appearance) that all of the buttons appear "grayed out" and I can only tell which ones are actually unavailable by scanning the entire toolbar to find one that actually *is* grayed out, and compare. The ones that are not meant to look grayed out should all have *some* bit of graphite color in them.

But the fact that they don't disappear entirely into the toolbar background is a step forward.

[QUOTE=Handycam;24150]The new OW icons are quite nice, IMO. However, it you're going to have a "home" button, [b]please make the browser have a "true" home page[/b] which is not the same thing as a start page.

In other words, I might want new windows to open blank, but I still want Google as my "home" page...[/QUOTE]

There's a simple workaround for this that I've been using for some time: Go to your standard workspace, load your desired homepage and take a snapshot. Set your startpage to blank. Given that you quit OW using your standard workspace, it will always open with your homepage, and new windows/tabs will be blank. Other than not being obvious, this method doesn't have any disadvantages compared to a "real" home page. (Apart from the point that it would be good to have the possibility to define a standard workspace that will [i]always[/i] be opened on startup, no matter what the workspace was when OW was closed.)

That said, my 5ct about the icons: To my eyes they represent a very strange mixture of understatement (which I like) and childishness (which just doesn't fit that professional browser). Of course, I will get used to them if they won't change, and to me, sheer optics are not the slightest of a reason to abandon an otherwise great product. But still, could look more professional. ;-)

I can't rule on the new icons one way or another. I can say that I like the new profile. The new icons are smaller. At least, "small icons" give me a more compact toolbar.

One thing is for sure. It is wonderful to see that OG is taking our requests seriously and finally tacking the aesthetics of this lovely browser.

I am not sure I like the icons, either. Then again, perhaps the entire GUI is getting a makeover. So, users, please, reserve judgment until the job is done.

Payam

I am not a designer, just a normaler user and I love these new icons. they look great with the "dark" 10.5 windowskin.

if you don't like them, just change the buttons in the resources folder. there are a lot of themes for omniweb out there (at least one or two ;))

I think it's nice to have an unique look, rather then a dumb copy of safari.

Changing resources within the OmniWeb package is highly impractical when you are installing a new sneakypeek virtually every day ;)

[QUOTE=JKT;24630]Changing resources within the OmniWeb package is highly impractical when you are installing a new sneakypeek virtually every day ;)[/QUOTE]

I was doing it, believe it or not. I had all jon's resources in a folder. Select all, copy, open the contents>resources> paste. I eventually made a shell script to do this in one click.

Fortunately, I like the new icons so I can finally stop doing this.

Of course, you can live with the beta icons and when 5.7 comes out, paste in whatever you like (or make your own).

Is anyone else getting this? I have passwords saved for certain websites and while it does save them, every time I revisit the site, I get the save password dialog box again. The login and password appear without entry so it is saved but the box still pops up every time. It's annoying.

[QUOTE=ghostdog75;24728]Is anyone else getting this? I have passwords saved for certain websites and while it does save them, every time I revisit the site, I get the save password dialog box again. The login and password appear without entry so it is saved but the box still pops up every time. It's annoying.[/QUOTE]
Hello, try opening up Keychain Access (found in your Applications > Utilities folder) and search for the site in question. select the appropriate key for this site and delete it.

Now go back into OmniWeb and re-save your login and password. Hopefully that will solve the problem you're encountering.

I can't say that I'm very fond of the new icons; while they look very nice, they are indeed too washed out. However, what I find even more disturbing is the favourites bar, which is way too bright for the dark unified look of applications running in Leopard. Would it be possible to make it look darker in Leopard?

About the new icons ...
 

[QUOTE=Jon Hicks;24168]At the moment, I really dislike them, but I'm going to give them a while to see if they grow on me. They just feel like no other app on OS X - which may have been the intention (and isn't a bad thing), but they don't sit right for me at all.[/QUOTE]

I second this.

Tiggar

The newer versions of Webkit now renders USAToday correctly allowing users to login and add comments. Any chance we'll see that implemented into OW soon?

So... am I the only one who noticed something about the latest sneakypeek's build number? :)

[QUOTE=ata;25824]So... am I the only one who noticed something about the latest sneakypeek's build number? :)[/QUOTE]
No ... I'm sure you and I are not ...

[QUOTE=ata;25824]So... am I the only one who noticed something about the latest sneakypeek's build number? :)[/QUOTE]

I don't get it...

95014... the zip code of a certain city...

When Ata first posted it, the current sneakypeek was 94949 ...

I guess Ata, you were nearly right, perhaps I'm the only one who noticed it along with you.

:)

Mark

Ooops just seen your post ... god knows what that certain city was ... :)

I was more interested in the Palindromic number (I'm a Brit living in China!)

[QUOTE=xiamenese;26000]I was more interested in the Palindromic number (I'm a Brit living in China!)[/QUOTE]

If that's all you were talking about, that is exceptionally boring!

[QUOTE=Stormchild;26156]If that's all you were talking about, that is exceptionally boring![/QUOTE]
Thank you for that, but China is a land of persistent numerology, so living here, one tends to notice numbers and sequences of numbers and thereby their significances within this culture.
Mark

OK I was wondering if the OW app icon was going to be updated... somehow I feel like it is kind of dated and doesn't fit with the new leopard look

It will get an update, but not for 5.7 you'll have to wait a little longer for that one, sorry :)

Fantastic... been waiting what... 2 years at least what's another two more....

BTW Troy I was surprised that you all were working this late then I remembered you are three hours behind us east cost OW Lovers.

[QUOTE=xiamenese;26166]Thank you for that, but China is a land of persistent numerology, so living here, one tends to notice numbers and sequences of numbers and thereby their significances within this culture.
Mark[/QUOTE]

Indeed, at least the build was not 91414! Not a palindromic number but certainly inauspicious.

[QUOTE=daiyi666@yahoo.com;26387]Indeed, at least the build was not 91414! Not a palindromic number but certainly inauspicious.[/QUOTE]
On the other hand, if you are into numerology, from a Judaeo-Christian point of view, 666 is hardly auspicious either!

;-)

Mark

Is it just me or did the latest sneaky peek break the Licensing? My copy keeps saying no licences are available. if i delete and re-enter one then its fine until i open a new window, then it reverts to saying its unlicensed again.

Revs: update to the latest alpha and if you do continue to see issues, please send us some mail at [email]omniweb5@omnigroup.com[/email] and we'll look into it. Same for anyone else having issues, please send feedback to let us know.

Thanks!

Long time fan, first time caller. I don't really mind the new icons, though the graphite buttons could stand to look a little more different in their enabled/disabled states.

[QUOTE=Frankenstein;24754]However, what I find even more disturbing is the favourites bar, which is way too bright for the dark unified look of applications running in Leopard. Would it be possible to make it look darker in Leopard?[/QUOTE]

I agree with this—the bright favorites bar stands out and doesn't fit in with other apps very well. In addition, although the folder icons are meant to look like those Apple uses now, the color doesn't match exactly. Somehow I notice it and it bothers me; I don't claim it's [i]rational[/i].

I might also recommend a dark status bar.

Gmail does not stop loading
 

Under the new interface, Gmail does not stop loading. Though the page appears complete, the status indicator spins incessantly. This does not occur in Safari 3.

[QUOTE=xiamenese;26406]On the other hand, if you are into numerology, from a Judaeo-Christian point of view, 666 is hardly auspicious either!

;-)

Mark[/QUOTE]

Precisely why I selected it! No wonder no netizens dare to flame me on these boards. I have great fire power at my disposal.

Now charging for sneaky peeks?
 

The latest update for Sneaky Peeks says "$14.95" next to it. Do we now have to pay to get the latest version of Sneaky Peeks 5.7? What's up with that? I love OmniWeb, but now after two major revisions the Netflix issue is still there when rating movies. I would gladly pay for a new version that fixed that problem, but I'm not going to pay for an alpha of a new version that doesn't.

Hi, we only charge for major new versions (5.0, 6.0, etc). 5.7 is a point release and these are always free.

Just to say that OmniWeb 5.7 SneakyPeek is a "Grand Cru"!
Thanks to Omni crew.

I find the very latest builds more and more crashy than before ...

Wow. I must say that the latest SP, 97021, is finally competitive with the combination of Safari+Safaristand. Speed, features, they all seem to be finally there.

What features were added as of 97021? I didnt notice any.

I often wonder about the virtue of selling licenses that last for a 'release' - such as from 5 to 6... Wouldn't it make more sense for your license to last '10-points'? For example, I've only just purchased my license (5.6 but I've got the 5.7 pre-release); in effect, I've purchased 3 'releases' (5.7 to 5.9) if I waited to release 6.0, my license would be valid right up to 6.9 - that's 10 'point' releases.

There's an incentive 'not' to buy. However, if my license carried me from 5.6 through to 6.5 (or whatever) it wouldn't matter to me when I shelled out, but Omni would get my money sooner...

However, on the subject of 5.6 to 5.7, I can't see any difference. Is there a list of revisions?

Many thanks - brilliant product!

[QUOTE=hardcoreUFO;31091]What features were added as of 97021? I didnt notice any.[/QUOTE]

Many of the sneakypeeks don't have new features, just bug fixes or other minor changes. If the release notes don't say anything, then you probably won't notice anything.

[QUOTE=hogscape;31231]I often wonder about the virtue of selling licenses that last for a 'release' - such as from 5 to 6... Wouldn't it make more sense for your license to last '10-points'? For example, I've only just purchased my license (5.6 but I've got the 5.7 pre-release); in effect, I've purchased 3 'releases' (5.7 to 5.9) if I waited to release 6.0, my license would be valid right up to 6.9 - that's 10 'point' releases.

There's an incentive 'not' to buy. However, if my license carried me from 5.6 through to 6.5 (or whatever) it wouldn't matter to me when I shelled out, but Omni would get my money sooner...

However, on the subject of 5.6 to 5.7, I can't see any difference. Is there a list of revisions?

Many thanks - brilliant product![/QUOTE]

There wasn't a 5.2, 5.3 or 5.4. Revision numbers are typically created based on the amount of changes between each. Plus you don't have any idea how long it will be until the next major revision comes out. I know some software companies have major releases every 10 months. That's really annoying. Some do it every 18, but it's been much longer for OW since version 5.

Also, until about a year ago OW was $30. So let's say that was halfway until the next release, then one still gets his money's worth.

OW 5.7 (SP1) seems very solid and stable. Really like the new icons. Thanks!

[QUOTE=GCG;31308]OW 5.7 (SP1) seems very solid and stable. Really like the new icons. Thanks![/QUOTE]

I agree RE stability, but the icons are terrible and the overall look is so ... Tiger-ish; it looks very out of place on a Leopard machine. The UI needs a major revamp, as does search. In addition, there are a number of outstanding little bugs, particularly in RSS support. Hopefully as it approaches beta, many of these will be resolved, as I'd love to adopt OW full-time. Until then, I'm on Safari pretty much full-time.

[QUOTE=hardcoreUFO;31315]I agree RE stability, but the icons are terrible and the overall look is so ... Tiger-ish; it looks very out of place on a Leopard machine. The UI needs a major revamp, as does search. In addition, there are a number of outstanding little bugs, particularly in RSS support. Hopefully as it approaches beta, many of these will be resolved, as I'd love to adopt OW full-time.[/QUOTE]

I agree with everything said here.

[QUOTE=hardcoreUFO;31315]I agree RE stability, but the icons are terrible and the overall look is so ... Tiger-ish; it looks very out of place on a Leopard machine. The UI needs a major revamp, as does search. In addition, there are a number of outstanding little bugs, particularly in RSS support. Hopefully as it approaches beta, many of these will be resolved, as I'd love to adopt OW full-time. Until then, I'm on Safari pretty much full-time.[/QUOTE]

While even with the problems I use OW full-time, I agree - the UI is in utterly dire need of an overhaul. It looks and feels very old, and the new icons are simply terrible.

I don't find the new icons so bad in Graphite on Leopard. Could use some work, but they're better than Mail, Safari and iCal. Too much wasted space in those, and they are too cluttered.

I'm finding myself drawn more and more to the proto theme on FF3B2....

[QUOTE=Floach;24142]The new icons have a serious contrast problem - there's very little difference between active/inactive states.

Additionally, they look like they were made for an app 10 years ago. Wouldn't something closer to Safari's current buttons fit into 10.5 better? I realize there are an enormous number of 10.4 users out there (probably far more than 10.5, at the moment) but that's the past at this point. Shouldn't OW be moving forward with more metallic-looking buttons?

If this is just something transitional between 5.7 and (the fabled) 6.0, that seems okay. My concern is that these will linger far past the point where they should. They just aren't slick - they look faded and dated. Not really what you want a first perception of OW to be. I mean, seriously....This is the best damn browser on any platform, as far as I'm concerned (and I've used the absolute hell out of them all.) Why shouldn't it look the part, too?[/QUOTE]

Your points are well made. I'm using OW with a themed version of OSX 10.4.11. I am using a dark theme that is similar to Leopard. Even though I find the 'new' icons in OW nice, I could easily go for SAF-styled metallic buttons.

At least we lost the "start" flag :-D

I really like the new icons. It was a long awaited thing. There is still one ugly icon, which I refuse to use - "Show Tabs". The design of that icon has nothing to do with any others. There is no unity. The AutoFill icon is much improved over the old one. If only AutoFill worked.

[QUOTE=adinb;31351]I'm finding myself drawn more and more to the proto theme on FF3B2....[/QUOTE]

While the FF3 B2 is way less buggy than FF2 and consumes way less memory, it's still bloated due to the architecture of the browser. If I had the equivalent of Firebug with OW, Firefox would only be used on my system for compatibility checks at that point.

Right now Firebug is an indispensable HTML/CSS debugger that I use since I develop web sites for a living. I can perform some lighter duty HTML debugging with the built in source viewer/editor which lets me change some things to see how they would look. The biggie if Firebug for me is being able to edit the CSS and seeing the changes realtime and the Firebug interface is super easy to use.

OW is blazingly fast on startup and provides every other need I require for my day to day work and browsing. I have over half a dozen addons for Safari 3 to do what OW does out of the box.

The only feature that I want to see in 5.7 is reliability! I'm tolerating half a dozen crashes a day to get vertical tabs and my patience is wearing thin.

Forget the new features, how about running for a week without crashing?

BTW, it's on a clean install of Leopard.

i've been using every SP for weeks and have only had 2 crashes. Not bad for an Alpha.

Are there plans to unify the bookmarks toolbar for the 5.x releases? Also, is it going to be possible to replace the 5.7 icons with 5.6 ones?

[QUOTE=danielandrews;32045]Are there plans to unify the bookmarks toolbar for the 5.x releases? Also, is it going to be possible to replace the 5.7 icons with 5.6 ones?[/QUOTE]

The Omniweb UI is an ongoing problem in the 5.7 sneaky peeks. This app, unlike its Omni-cousins, appears to be stuck in Tiger.

Fingers crossed. I honestly think the current icons are much better than the 5.7 ones, and that if we could get a unified bookmarks toolbar the app would be fine for the 5.x series.

They can then focus on whatever UI revamp in 6.0 they want.

But the 5.7 beta icons are just lacking. I certainly don't mean to offend whoever designed them - it's the colors, not the shapes. Those colors just don't match ... well, anything.

I just want the Netflix and Facebook bugs to get squashed.

Someday...

I have to agree with the general comments, the icons are not as good as I expected them to be, in fact I decided to stay with 5.6 until hopefully, the icons are fixed.

However, I do not think they have to look like Safari. We already have enough browsers trying to mimic that look. I mean it can still look like a Mac App without having to look like Safari.

Having that said I am content with 5.6 at the current moment, but I hope something is done about those icons, before 5.7 is finally released.