Name Mangler and Butler updates released

June 11th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

We held these off for a day, so as to not steal the thunder from Apple’s WWDC keynote. But now that that’s over with, we’re releasing Name Mangler 3.2 and Butler 4.1.15 into the wild.

Name Mangler 3.2 adds support for Notification Center, and the ability to highlight spaces (including special emphasis on leading, trailing, and double spaces) in your filenames. We added/fixed some other stuff, too—for more details, check out the release notes. Direct buyers can get the update via in-app updating, or by downloading the new version from our site. App Store buyers should see the update in the App Store application (if not now, then shortly).

Note: If you’re running OS X 10.6 or 10.7 and downloaded or updated to Name Mangler 3.2 earlier today, please check again for updates. We just pushed out Name Mangler 3.2.1, which fixes a post-rename crashing bug.

We’re sorry we didn’t catch this one in our testing prior to release. We’ve given ourselves a good talking to, and we’ll do our best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Butler 4.1.15 fixes a couple of minor bugs and updates how Butler handles clipboard content. The Butler release notes page contains the details on these thrilling changes. Update within the app, or by downloading the new version from our site.

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Announcing two free Safari extensions for tab addicts

April 30th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

Today we’re releasing two free Safari extensions, targeted at those of us who rely on tabs to speed our browsing. Here are the details on each.

⌘-Click Avenger

About a week ago, I tweeted this:

I really really hate sites (autotrader.com is another) that use JavaScript and onclick events to break this functionality. Unbeknownst to me, this behavior also irked the other half of Many Tricks, and Peter was already at work on fixing the problem. A few hours after my tweet, Peter sent this one:

After downloading and testing, I discovered it didn’t actually fix the autotrader.com site, because they were using a global onclick handler. After some revisions (including splitting the two functions into separate extensions), though, the extension now works on ESPN, autotrader.com, and many other similar sites. It may not work for 100% of the sites out there, but it’s been pretty robust in our testing.

Download ⌘-Click Avenger

Unread→Tabs

This extension is for those who use vBulletin forum sites. It adds a contextual menu that lets you open all unread article links in new tabs, with a single click. As of now, it only works for vBulletin, but if you use forum sites based on other systems, we may be able to get it working if you can give us a URL to look at.

Download Unread→Tabs

Technical details

These are free extensions (MIT license), and we’ll be submitting them to Apple’s Safari extensions gallery. However, as we don’t know how long that process may take, we’re releasing them here for those who’d like to use them now.

These extensions are provided as is, without any formal support. If you have the “Install Updates Automatically” box checked in Safari’s Extensions preferences panel, you’ll automatically get any updates we release.

Source code: If you’d like to see the source for either extension, here’s where to get it…

⌘-Click Avenger: Bitbucket • GitHub
Unread→Tabs: Bitbucket • GitHub

Alternatively, you can just unpack the extension on your Mac, via Terminal: xar -xf /path/to/extension.

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Name Mangler 3.1 released

April 8th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

Yes, it was just six weeks ago that we released Name Mangler 3, but today, Name Mangler 3.1 has hit the streets. Direct purchasers will find the upgrade in the Update section of Name Mangler’s preferences, if they haven’t set the program to automatically check for udpates. App Store users will see an update for Name Mangler within the App Store application.

So why so quickl for a “full dot” upgrade? Here’s why…

With the 3.0 release, we attracted a lot of new customers, and we received a fair bit of feedback about how Name Mangler’s file list area didn’t act like Finder—you couldn’t select more than one file, making it hard to remove a number of files from a renaming list, or to quickly reorder many files. With Name Mangler 3.1, we’ve changed the file list area to behave more like Finder, addressing this feedback. (We also added a new View > Click in List To menu item to control this behavior. If you prefer the original Name Mangler behavior, set this menu option to Cycle Detail.)

In addition, we were asked for a few additional time and date formatting options, so we’ve added those. In the longer term, we’re looking at adding a full date/time formatter to Name Mangler, but these additional formats address all the requests we’ve had since 3.0 came out.)

The other big change is that Name Mangler no longer commandeers the Command key plus arrow keys text navigation shortcuts—if you’re editing a text field, you can use these shortcuts to jump to the start or end of that text field. Previously, these shortcuts were used to cycle history; those keys have been changed to Control-Command plus the arrow keys.

There are a number of other changes, which you can read about on the Name Mangler release notes page.

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Name Mangler 3 is new and noteworthy…

March 8th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

We, of course, have already proclaimed as much, but Apple has now decided the same, featuring Name Mangler 3 in their current New and Noteworthy category.

We were supposed to move Name Mangler 3 to its normal $19 price yesterday, but in lieu of this news, we’ve decided to leave it at $10 through the weekend. So if you were on the fence, now’s the time to make the move—both the App Store and direct versions are $10 each for three more days.

Before buying, please compare the two versions to make sure you know what you’re getting with each one. Two key differences are OS X version required (10.8 for App Store; 10.6.8+ for direct) and Path Finder support (none in App Store version; present in the direct version).

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How to: Restore Command+Arrow keys in Name Mangler

March 3rd, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

One of the new features in Name Mangler 3 is a comprehensive history of renaming operations. Name Mangler will remember your last 50 (or more, if you change it in prefs) renaming actions. You can access these saved configurations via our history browser:

To make it easier to browse your history, we provide two keyboard shortcuts: Command-Left Arrow (previous configuration) and Command-Right Arrow (next configuration). Experienced keyboard users will instantly recognize that those are the shortcut keys for jumping to the start and end of text strings in an input box, and may wonder how we have the keys serving both roles.

The short answer is “we don’t.” In Name Mangler 3, you can’t use those shortcut keys to navigate input boxes, only to navigate history.

But there is an easy solution, for those who prefer these keys in their text field roles: change the keyboard shortcuts for the history browser. After changing these shortcuts, the Command plus arrow key shortcuts will work as expected in Name Mangler’s text fields.

If you’re experienced with changing OS X keyboard shortcuts, you just need to assign Previous Configuration and Next Configuration to new shortcuts, and you’re done. If you need more specific how-to help, keep reading.

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How not to compete in business

March 1st, 2013 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

Late in the day on March 1st, we received an explanation/apology from Dietmar Kerschner.
As far as we’re concerned, the personal side of this matter is now closed.

Two days ago, we launched Name Mangler 3, our first major upgrade to the program in nearly three years. This update was user-driven, based on feedback we’ve been tracking since Name Mangler 2 came out. We focused on speed, the ability to perform more than one renaming action, and some user interface improvements. We’re incredibly proud of what we built, and have been thrilled with the initial reaction.

Then yesterday, out of the blue, we received an email claiming we’d violated the copyright of another renaming application. We spent the afternoon researching the other app, and eventually sent an email response back to the accuser, clearly demonstrating our innocence through screenshots and app release timelines. (Name Mangler has existed in pretty much its current form since its initial debut as File List, way back in 2005.)

We thought that would be the end of it, because it was obvious there was no infringement. Today, though, we discovered that our accuser has gone public (despite not replying to our email) with these tweets:

Now that we’re being called thieves in a public forum, we feel we must respond in public as well: we cannot let Dietmar Kerschner trash our hard-earned reputation with baseless accusations that can’t withstand even the most basic level of scrutiny.

A Brief History of Name Mangler presents our side of the story. There you’ll find details on the development of Name Mangler, and that of Renamer(4Mac), the program whose designer has accused us of copyright infringement. Even a quick glance at the page will show that we’ve copied nothing from Renamer—if anything, we could claim that their latest release copied our design.

The purpose of this blog post, though, isn’t to go through a comparison of the two apps. Instead, we’d like to focus on the impact baseless copyright violation accusations have on both developers and (potentially) end users.

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The nitty-gritty on buying Name Mangler 3

February 27th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

Have you heard the one about the customer who walks into this confusing mess of prices and stores, and says “Look, just tell me how to buy the new version of Name Mangler?”

OK, so it’s not really that bad, but the fact that there are two versions Name Mangler 3 for sale in two distinct channels does make for some potential confusion for those looking to buy. Hopefully this post will clear up any such confusion.

As background, this is the pricing for Name Mangler 3, in both the direct and App Store sales channels:

  • Normal price is $19 ($18.99 in the App Store).
  • Sale price is $10 ($9.99 in the App Store) through March 5th 2013.
  • Direct purchasers of version 2.x can upgrade for $9 through our web site for the next 30 days. Beyond that, the upgrade price will be $14. The upgrade will, as always, get you

This knowledge base article describes the differences between the App Store and direct versions of the program. There aren’t many, but for certain users, there may be some show stoppers for the App Store version. Please check that document before you buy.

The first topic to address is recent buyers, particularly recent App Store buyers. The good news is that if you purchased Name Mangler within the last two weeks (on or after Feburary 13th, 2013), you’re entitled to a free upgrade to Name Mangler 3.

How do you get that upgrade? That depends on where you bought your copy.

  • For direct buyers, we will be sending you a license file, with no action required on your part. (If you already purchased an upgrade license, we’ll be sending you a refund, too.)
  • For App Store buyers, you face a decision. If you want the App Store version, you’ll have to buy it directly from the App Store—we do not have any way to provide free App Store copies to recent purchasers.

    However, you can get a free license to the direct version, if that’s acceptable to you. To get your free license, email me (rob at our domain, or click here) your iTunes receipt, clearly showing your full name, date of purchase, and Name Mangler as the purchased app. I will then verify the receipt and send you a license file.

Read on for some answers to questions that may come up as you’re looking to buy Name Mangler 3…

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Hello, I’m Name Mangler 3, nice to meet you!

February 27th, 2013 by Rob Griffiths

After a long and intense development period, Name Mangler 3 is now available, either directly from our site or from the App Store (yes, it’s sandboxed). This release is loaded with tons of new features, an updated user interface, and some incredible increases in renaming speed.

Name Mangler 3

The regular price for Name Mangler 3 is $19, but it’s on sale for an astonishing $10 for the next seven days as an introductory special. (Name Mangler 2 users who purchased directly from us can upgrade for $9 for the next 30 days, after which the upgrade price will become $14.)

For a video overview of Name Mangler 3, check out the overview video (also available in ogv and webm formats).

While designing Name Mangler 3, we had four objectives in mind: Safe, Fast, Complete, and Easy. After many months of effort, and lots of great feedback from our beta test team, Name Mangler 3 delivers on all four of these objectives. Keep reading to see just how we’ve added features, improved performance, and revised the user interface to achieve our objectives for Name Mangler 3.

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A brief follow-up on Donation Day activities

December 22nd, 2012 by Rob Griffiths and Peter Maurer

On December 20th, we ran a promotion wherein you could get any of our apps for $1 apiece, with the understanding that you’d donate the cost savings to a charity of your choice. Obviously, we have no idea how many people actually donated, versus those who just saw a chance to buy our apps on the cheap—hopefully a fair percentage of people at least gave something to a charity of their choice.

From the responses we did receive, the distribution of charities was quite wide. Browsing the emails and tweets, here’s every charity we can identify that received some money from our customers on Donation Day (in no particular order):

Salvation Army • Oxfam Japan • Partners in Health • 10 Days of Giving Food Shelf • Gruft – Caritas Vienna • World Wildlife Fund • Bible for Today • Charity:Water • Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation • Celiac Disease Center • Mind, the Mental Health Charity • Santé-Sud • Action Contre La Faim • Electronic Frontier Foundation • Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence • National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation • Oakton Community College Educational Foundation • Hurricane Sandy Appeal – British Red Cross • Wikimedia Foundation • Coalition to Stop Gun Violence • Jehova’s Witnesses • Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger • Warren Public Library • Mateno • Motor Neurone Disease Association • Local food drive • Local church parish • Nyx – Free public internet • American Red Cross • Local children’s charity • Housing Works • WaterAid • WCNY Public TV • Warren General Hospital

That’s quite a list, and we obviously hope that there are many other charities that benefited from our Donation Day; we heard from only a sampling of our customers.

To all of you who bought and then contributed to a charity on Donation Day, we thank you for following through on something that was based on nothing more than trusting people to do the right thing—both of us felt really good about what was going on as we read the tweets and emails. And for those of you who bought the apps cheaply but haven’t donated, please do so. This wasn’t a giveaway on our part, it was an idea to raise money for charity. So please, contribute your savings and help make a difference.

In closing, and to bring Donation Day full circle, we’ve also made a charitable contribution of our own: Many Tricks has donated $2,000 to Newtown Youth and Family Services, to help everyone there recover (as best as may be possible) from the horrible tragedy they’ve lived through.

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday—Peter and Rob.

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Donation Day has come to a close

December 21st, 2012 by Rob Griffiths

If you’re coming here via a link about our Donation Day promotion, it has come to an end. We’ll have an update on how it went somewhat later today. Thanks to everyone who did the right thing by donating their savings to a charity of their choice!

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