RSS Aggregator Forums

[Andy Henderson]

Version 2.7 provides the following improvements over version 2.6:

• The Aggregator automatically switches the font used in most displays to Segoe UI - the primary Vista font - if it detects it is running under Vista.
  
• The first time you run the Aggregator under Vista it will offer to switch the alert styles to a profile specially designed for use with Vista. You can see examples of the alerts here. The Aggregator gives you options to:
  • apply the profile
  • see samples of the new alerts
  • keep alerts as they are
  • defer the decision to later.
  If you decide to apply the new profile, you can use the options window to tune the supplied styles to your preference.
• You can now specify that alerts should appear indented from the edge of the screen rather than be shown flush with it.
• Alerts shown under Vista appear with a resizable border. You can drag them out of the way if you want to.
• You can opt to not show the resizable border when using Vista if you prefer the existing border style.
• When using the options window to change colours, you can now use the full palette of colours available on your PC.
• We relaxed the validity tests in the Aggregator so that - although it is required by the specification - the Aggregator processes feeds that are missing the channel's 'link' element.
• You can use new fields in the Aggregator's general settings (click Tools, Options from the main window) to set a download time period. The Aggregator will start downloads only between the times you specify. The default setting is 'No time limit'.
• The downloads summary has been updated so it shows you the time a download is due to start if it is being held back only by your specified time interval.
• Refreshing the download screen now takes significantly less time than before.
• When you right-click a channel in the tree view, the Aggregator provides an option that immediately updates the feed. This option no longer implements measures to minimise data transfer. That's so the Aggregator can recognise when some feed problems have been corrected. For example, a wireless hotspot returning a log in screen in response to a feed request will cause the red 'Stop' flag to appear; previously this error indication could persist until the feed changed. You can now clear this kind of error using the 'Update now' option. You don't have to do this, however. The 'Stop' flag will disappear automatically the next time the feed is updated.
• If you decided not to use the Aggregator's internal (Internet Explorer) browser in previous versions, you sacrificed the ability to automatically track items as you read them. Automatic tracking is now implemented for both browser options.
• We have made cosmetic changes to some of the menus shown when right-clicking channels and items to make them easier to understand.
• We fixed an obscure bug that can cause the Aggregator to crash when closing the Main window.
• This version corrects a bug that caused the Aggregator to crash when you went to the settings window having logged on without a user id to Windows 95 or 98.
• We have also modified the way the Aggregator interacts with the Subscription utility to reduce the risk of a programming loop.

If you downloaded the beta version of this release, it is still worth downloading the full version because it contains some subsequent enhancements and the help text matches the screen changes.

You can download the new version from www.SeeITA.com/RSSA/SimpleI.shtml