ANNOUNCE: Smuxi 0.8.10 "Tracy"

[Mirco Bauer <meebey debian org>]

As longingly awaited I am very happy to announce Smuxi 0.8.10 codenamed "Tracy".
During the development [8 bug reports][bugs] and [15 feature
requests][features] in [136 commits][commits] were worked on making this release
a major feature and minor bugfix release.

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.10 in action:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.10-main-window.png

Notable highlights in this release are:

### Integrated Spell Checking ###
Everyone knows the "how do you spell that word again?" situation and either you
don't care and send a possible typo or you go checking a dictionary which is
kind of annoying. The good news is: with this release you no longer need to do
that, as Smuxi includes automatic [spell checking][#48] while you type messages.
The bad news is that this feature is currently limited to Linux builds, and thus
OSX and Windows build do not ship with it. The installers need to be extended
and I haven't found pre-compiled OSX nor Windows binaries for the GTK+ spell
checking library.

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.10 showing spell checking in action:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.10-spellcheck.png

### Favicons for Server Tabs ###
Distinguishing server tabs can be difficult, especially if you have plenty of
them. All server tabs have the same icon so you need to search for the right
name. I wondered why this issue doesn't happen so easily with a web browser
which usually also has lots of tabs open. Besides the page name there is the
favicon right in front. So why can't Smuxi make use of that simple but effective
technology? Well, [now it does][#702]! You connect to a known network, and Smuxi
will download and show the favicon of the website. It just works and does
everything in the background for you.

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.10 showing favicons in action:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.10-favicons.png

### Quick Join Bar ###
One thing that makes IRC really difficult for new comers is the important IRC
concept that channels are network specific. So what happens is people try to
find / join the channel they are looking for but on the _wrong network_.
They have to connect to the right server/network and then switch to the right
tab, before they can join the channel (using the /join command or join
dialog). The developers of Smuxi had a brainstorming session and came up with
something that should be easy enough for anyone to use and finally solves the
issue: the
[quick join bar][#671]. You know which channel you want to join and which
network, you enter the channel name, select the network from the list and hit
the "Join Chat" button and you are _done_. Now Smuxi will do just the right
thing for you and connects to that network if needed, joins the channel if
needed, or switches to the channel if you are already there!

Screencast of the Quick Join Bar in action:
http://smuxi.im/screencasts/quick-join/

### Indention of multi-line messages ###
Messages on IRC and also Twitter are often longer than a single line in Smuxi
can show, thus it has to be split into a second line or more. The issue here is
that the continuation line looks cluttered because it doesn't align with the
first line. Here you can see an example for this issue:

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.9 showing line breaks:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.9-line-break.png

Ewww, that looks ugly, doesn't it? I will make this one short, here is the cure
with [indented multi-line messages][#727]:

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.10 showing line breaks:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.10-line-break.png

### Enhanced Text Frontend ###
The text frontend which is still in alpha state has received the following
enhancements: new /exit command, new /help command, regular and xterm window
title, and, several fixed crashes.

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.10's text frontend:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.10-stfl.png

### Enhanced Commands ###
The /network command by default shows now all connected and also
[available networks][#724]:

Screenshot of Smuxi 0.8.10 showing network command:
http://smuxi.im/screenshots/smuxi-0.8.10-network-command.png

The /connect command now allows you to [connect by network name][#723] like
this:

    /connect freenode

### Updated Translations ###
  * Portuguese (Pedro Ribeiro)
  * Chinese Simp (Dean Lee)
  * Danish (Joe Hansen)
  * Swedish (Martin Bagge)
  * Russian (Yuri Myasoedov)

### New Translations ###
  * Croatian (Matias M)
  * partially Polish (lukasznaw)

### Contributors ####
Contributors to this release are the following people:

  * Mirco Bauer (126 commits)
  * Bianca Mix (translations)
  * Dean Lee (translations)
  * Joe Hansen (translations)
  * Yuri Myasoedov (translations)
  * Pedro Ribeiro (translations)
  * Matias M (translations)
  * Martin Bagge (translations)
  * lukasznaw (translations)

Thank you very much for your contributions to Smuxi!

Already horny? Go [here][download page] and get some!

## Update: Smuxi 0.8.10.1 ##

About 2 months after the 0.8.10 release, Smuxi 0.8.10.1 with only important
bugfixes and translation updates was released. This release includes the
following [6 bugfixes][0.8.10.1-bugs]:
[smuxi-server now honors the timezone of tweets][#590],
[fixed a connection crash with InspIRCd-2.0 servers][#684],
[quick join no longer opens another network tab][#730],
[closing chats no longer crashes Smuxi sometimes][#731],
[/connect irc.some-server.com works again][#735] and
[focusing the message area moves the focus back to the entry again][#738].

What is it?
===========
Smuxi is an irssi-inspired, flexible, user-friendly and cross-platform
IRC client for sophisticated users, targeting the GNOME desktop.

Smuxi is based on the client-server model: The core application
(engine) can be placed onto a server which is connected to the Internet
around-the-clock; one or more frontends then connect to the core. This
way, the connection to IRC can be kept up even when all frontends have
been closed. The combination of screen and irssi served as example for
this architecture.

Smuxi also supports the regular single application mode. This behaves
like a typical IRC client; it doesn't need separate core management and
utilizes a local engine that is used by the local frontend client.

The project website can be found at:
http://www.smuxi.org/

References
==========
  [download page]: http://smuxi.im/page/Download
  [roadmap]: http://smuxi.im/versions/show/17
  [bugs]:
http://smuxi.im/projects/smuxi/issues?fixed_version_id=17&set_filter=1&tracker_id=1&status_id=5
  [features]:
http://smuxi.im/projects/smuxi/issues?fixed_version_id=17&set_filter=1&tracker_id=2&status_id=5
  [0.8.10.1-bugs]:
http://smuxi.im/projects/smuxi/issues?fixed_version_id=21&set_filter=1&tracker_id=1&status_id=5
  [quick join screencast]: http://smuxi.im/screencasts/quick-join/
  [commits]: http://git.qnetp.net/?p=smuxi.git;a=log;h=0.8.10

Changes
=======
  [#48]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/48 "#48: spell checking"
  [#702]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/702 "#702: Use website favicons instead
of default server icon for major IRC networks"
  [#671]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/671 "#671: Easy Join"
  [#727]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/727 "#727: Indent messages across newlines"
  [#724]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/724 "#724: /network list should show
available networks"
  [#723]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/723 "#723: /connect command should allow
to connect by network name"
  [#590]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/590 "#590: Twitter timestamp always wrong"
  [#684]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/684 "#684: NullReferenceException in
Meebey.SmartIrc4net.WhoInfo.Parse()"
  [#730]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/730 "#730: easy join sometimes opens
second network tab"
  [#731]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/731 "#731: NullReferenceException in
ChatView.Close()"
  [#735]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/735 "#735: /connect irc.example.com is
no longer working"
  [#738]: http://smuxi.im/issues/show/738 "#738: Focusing the message text
view no longer moves the focus to the entry"

21 August 2012

--
Regards,

Mirco 'meebey' Bauer

PGP-Key ID: 0xEEF946C8

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