And just like my last post I have redesigned my site - I think everything is working, but let me know if you see anything broken. Maybe I will actually write some posts describing some of the new features like I promised last time.

If you are reading this on chrispederick.com you will also see that I have redesigned my site. I am still working out some of the kinks so let me know if you see anything funky and look for some blog posts in the future describing some of the new features.

Dashboard

The dashboard provides similar functionality to the sidebar in that it allows content to be displayed without hiding the page for features like 'Edit CSS' and 'Edit HTML'. However, because it is a custom component it can now be used in Mozilla and Seamonkey (as well as still supporting Firefox and Flock), docked to any side of the screen and supports using multiple sidebar features at the same time through the use of tabs. For example, you can now 'Edit CSS' and 'Edit HTML' on the same page at the same time.

Changes From The Beta Release

Changes from the beta release include the addition of search functionality to the 'Edit CSS' and 'Edit HTML' features and new icons by famfamfam, as well as a number of bug fixes.

Localization & Firefox Add-ons

The localized build is still version 1.0.2 as I do not have any updated translations yet, but once I receive a few I will update the localized build. If you would like to help localize the extension please read the localization documentation.

Let me know if you see any problems, but as long as there are no major issues I will be uploading this version to Firefox Add-ons in the next few days.

The full list of new features in this release is in the changelog, but the biggest change is the replacement of the sidebar with something I am calling the "dashboard".

Dashboard

The dashboard provides similar functionality to the sidebar in that it allows content to be displayed without hiding the page for features like 'Edit CSS' and 'Edit HTML'. However, because it is a custom component it can now be used in Mozilla and Seamonkey (as well as still supporting Firefox and Flock), docked to any side of the screen and supports using multiple sidebar features at the same time through the use of tabs. For example, you can now 'Edit CSS' and 'Edit HTML' on the same page at the same time.

Clearly, this is a major change so it is still a little buggy - particularly the user interface - but I am hoping to tidy it up before the final release.

Feedback

As a beta release this build is not guaranteed to be stable and does contain some known issues. The idea behind this beta release is to give people the opportunity to provide feedback about this next version as well as report any bugs. Please report any feedback or bugs in the beta forum or via the contact form.

If you are having problems installing the extensions please try downloading and installing again from this site following the suggestions in the installation troubleshooting section of the documentation.

Since I have been busy I had fallen behind on Web Developer localizations, but I just caught up and added a number of new and updated translations to the build. Let me know if you see any problems and thank you to the people taking the time to provide these localizations.

Mozilla

I started the day by taking Caltrain down to Mountain View where I met Michael and Josep as well as Rafael Ebron, Mozilla's Product Manager. We headed to the Mozilla offices where Rafael gave me a quick tour before we had a bunch of publicity photos taken and met Alex Guerra from Mozilla's public relations company A & R Partners.

After the photo shoot we drove back into the city to have lunch with Harry McCracken from PC World magazine. However, we arrived a little early and Rafael suggested we head to the Current TV offices where a friend of his could give us a tour.

Al Gore's Office

Current TV is a national cable and satellite channel where a third of their programming is "viewer-created content". They are located in the old E*Trade building in SOMA and we were shown their entire process including a studio, editing rooms and the main room where they control what is currently being broadcast. The office is stunning and the process is fascinating, plus we even were able to see Al Gore's office as he is the Chairman of Current TV.

PC World & CNET

Following the Current TV tour we had lunch with Harry McCracken before meeting a number of people from Download.com, including Peter Butler and Jason Parker. We talked about and gave some demos of our extensions before Rafael showed sneak previews of some of the entries in the Firefox Flicks contest.

We still had some time to kill before dinner so we took Michael and Josep on a quick tour of the city as this was their first time to San Francisco. It was mainly a driving tour because of the rain, but we showed them North Beach, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Golden Gate Bridge. As we drove into the Presidio, Rafael called a friend and said he would try and see if he could set up one last tour for the day. His friend agreed and told us to meet him near the Yoda fountain...

Lucasfilm

So we headed into the lobby of the new Lucasfilm offices in the Presidio. Just in the lobby there were statues of Boba Fett and Darth Vader as well as lightsabers and award trophies. After signing in with security we began our tour.

First, we were shown the on-site cinema where they show movie previews to the company. Everything was designed to make the movie experience perfect, from sound-dampening walls to a state of the art digital projector. However, no food or drink is allowed inside in order to maintain the quality. From there we were led through high-tech security barriers to the main offices.

During the rest of the tour we saw editing rooms, dining halls, posters from every movie the company had worked on and countless models from movies such as Jurassic Park, Back To The Future and Ghostbusters constructed in incredible detail. A number of times we were told we could not go into certain rooms as they were working on current projects like Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Dinner

After the amazing tour we headed to the Thirsty Bear for a quick dinner and met some San Francisco geeks including Steve Rubel.

All in all it was a fantastic day and I want to thank Alex and Rafael for their hospitality. I have also uploaded some photos of the Alienware computer that I won as part of the contest.