Quick Post (Twitter & Facebook posting)

[DanPLC]

I'm proud to present my next app called Quick Post! It allows you to post simultaneously to multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts. The goal of the app was to take the thought out of posting to Twitter or Facebook (or both) and focus solely on the message being expressed.

This thread will serve as a place to discuss ideas, suggestions, bug reports, etc. for the app.

Here are some of the major features within the app:

Posting to multiple accounts

Quick Post takes advantage of webOS 2.0's Just Type by allowing you to pick up your device, type out anything you'd like to share, and tap a single button and send it to either a single account or even multiple accounts. Unlike other Just Type solutions (ex. HP's Facebook app), you don't have to interact with the app itself after initiating a post in Just Type.

Each app can be configured with a shortcut prefix. So let's say you have a Twitter account and a Facebook account. If you assign "t" for the Twitter account and "f" for the Facebook account, you can post to both simultaneously by typing:

t,f This is my message

Or you can do this to post all accounts:

z This is my message

Or you can do this to post to a single account:

t This is my message.

You can also assign accounts as your default accounts. When you do this, if you type a message without a shortcut prefix, it'll send the message to all default accounts.

Message compression

Quick Post implements several message compression techniques, configurable by the user on the Preferences screen. Each method is used in sequence until the message fits within the character limits.

The first one is auto-shortening of urls using bit.ly.

The second one is using the 140it service to automatically compress the message by eliminating extra spaces and using common abbreviations. The service will continue to compress until the message fits.

And as a last resort, the app will automatically split the message into multiple pieces. It adds a prefix to each message indicating which message number it is and how many there will be. It looks something like this:

(1/2) This is an example of a message split (cont.)
(2/2) performed by Quick Post.

Message Queuing

If your internet connection is down (for example on a subway, on a plane, or anywhere with poor cellular service), you can still compose messages for Twitter and Facebook. Messages will be queued to a the notification area and once the internet connection is restored, they'll be automatically delivered.

Also included is an auto-draft saving. Anytime you type out a message, it'll be saved as a draft until it is successfully sent. If a draft is saved, you can restore it by tapping the "pencil" icon at the top of the screen the next time you load the app. Previously selected destination accounts will also be restored.

Summary

The app is designed to work on both webOS 1.x and webOS 2.x. However Just Type is only available on webOS 2.x. In webOS 1.x, you just load the app and instantly you're on the quick post screen where you can type a message and select which accounts to send it to. The default accounts are selected initially.

Quick Post serves as a companion to your favorite Twitter and Facebook apps by providing a better posting experience. I have more ideas cooking up that I'll reveal here as I develop them. The app was submitted to the catalog on 4/17/11.

Here's a video I created to demo all the features in the app: An introduction to Quick Post for webOS

Changelog

Version 1.1.4

- Bug Fix: Dashboard with queued message was not displaying the queued message status. (identified by @errade on Twitter).

- Bug Fix: Adding multiple Facebook accounts would sometimes not work correctly. (identified by Jennifer K. via email)

- Bug Fix: Mentions with an underscore were not cc’d correctly. (identified by @errade on Twitter).

Version 1.1.3

- Add support for the Pre 3.

Version 1.1.2

- Enhancement: The app is now TouchPad-friendly

- Bug Fix: If an image was previously selected to upload to Facebook and the user reloaded the app, the previously selected image would be posted to Facebook even if the user didn’t select the “pencil” icon to restore the saved draft.

Version 1.1.1

- Enhancement: When sending posts, update the 'send' or 'send & exit' buttons to indicate 'sending'. This will be particularly helpful when uploading larger images to Facebook.

- Bug Fix: Draft icon was not appearing at the top of the screen when a draft was saved.

- Bug Fix: Just Type '-i' prefix wouldn't work when the app was already open. Also if an error was generated, the popup would not be displayed if the app was already open.

Version 1.1.0

- New Feature: Add the ability to post images to Facebook and Twitter. For Twitter accounts, images are uploaded to either twitpic or yfrog (customizable on the Preferences screen. For Facebook accounts, the images are uploaded directly to Facebook. To post an image, select the camera icon at the top of the message entry field. To initiate an image upload from Just Type, prefix the message with '-i '. (suggested by multiple people)

- New Feature: If the message has to be split into multiple pieces and there are Twitter mentions, the mentions will be automatically cc'd to each message piece. NOTE: If there are more than 4 mentions, they will not be cc'd. Ex. #FF posts). (suggested by multiple people)

- New Feature: On the Preferences screen, you can now choose your preferred url shortening service (j.mp, bit.ly, or goo.gl). J.mp is the new default service. (suggested by @webOSquire on Twitter)

- New Feature: The app's first hidden easter egg has been added! Hint: Hold on tight, Quick Posting is about to get crazy!

- Enhancement: When splitting messages into multiple pieces, keep the urls shortened to reduce the number of necessary message pieces.

- Enhancement: Do not shorten the following urls: twitpic.com, yfrog.com, and youtu.be. This will ensure the images and videos display properly on the Twitter web site.

- Bug Fix: If you selected destination accounts on the Quick Post screen then went to another screen (like the Help or Preferences screens), when you returned to the Quick Post screen, the default accounts would be re-selected.

- Bug Fix: The 'How do I use Just Type' FAQ incorrectly indicated that adding 'a ' in front of a message would post to all accounts. The correct prefix is 'z '.

Version 1.0.1

- Enhancement: Transition to new Facebook smartphone-friendly authorization screen.

- Enhancement: Force the web browser to log off of Facebook before beginning authorization so when adding the 2nd or subsequent Facebook accounts, the user will get a chance to log in. Previously the pin code for the 1st account would be displayed. (reported by Kevin M. via email)

- Enhancement: Add FAQ indicating that the ‘Allow’ button during Facebook authorization may be at the bottom of the page and the user will have to scroll down to reach it.

- Enhancement: Add more useful information on Facebook posting error popups. Also add some debug info for Twitter posting to the logs.

- Bug Fix: Implement changes in the way update statuses are posted to eliminate “Incorrect Signature” errors that a few people may have experienced. (reported by Kerry C. via email)

- Bug Fix: If there are extra spaces in front of a shortcut prefix, the shortcut prefix was not being detected and the message was posting to all default accounts. (reported by @EricJDewey on Twitter)

- Bug Fix: Remove reference to ‘posting songs’ on the Facebook account detail screen. (reported by @Psychonaut42 on Twitter)

- Bug Fix: If there was a notification at the bottom of the screen when loading one of the “info” screens (FAQ, changelog, etc.), the display group wasn’t being formatted properly.

- Bug Fix: Fix typo in the “What if my message is too long?” FAQ. (reported by Joey J. via email).

Version 1.0.0

- Initial release of Quick Post

[npyle]

Hey Dan,

Looks like QuickPost is going to be another great app by you--I use Music Player (Remix) quite often. Let me know if you need any help testing, etc. as I'd love to have a chance to help out.

Norris

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by npyle

Hey Dan,

Looks like QuickPost is going to be another great app by you--I use Music Player (Remix) quite often. Let me know if you need any help testing, etc. as I'd love to have a chance to help out.

Norris

Thanks a lot. Most likely I'm going to skip beta testing and go straight to the catalog. But if I change my mind, I'll post it here.

[DanPLC]

PreCentral just posted a preview of Quick Post on the main site. Check it out: App Preview: Quick Post [video] | PreCentral.net | The #1 Palm Pre and Pixi Community

[npyle]

Originally Posted by DanPLC

Thanks a lot. Most likely I'm going to skip beta testing and go straight to the catalog. But if I change my mind, I'll post it here.

Sounds good to me Do you have a timeframe when it will be available in app catalog--couple of days, week(s), month(s), etc.????

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by npyle

Sounds good to me Do you have a timeframe when it will be available in app catalog--couple of days, week(s), month(s), etc.????

I'll probably be ready to release in a week. However there's an issue with the HP app submission site that could delay it. HP recently made a change to their site (without informing developers beforehand). It now forces apps to set its "min OS version" to "2.0" if it uses any 2.0 features, even Just Type.

If you add Just Type to an app, it will still run perfectly fine on a webOS 1.4.5 device. Just Type is simply a change in a configuration file. Quick Post works perfectly on webOS 1.4.5 (except no Just Type of course). Several other developers have been hit by this issue and it's being discussed here: https://developer.palm.com/distribut...p?f=90&t=12182

If you're a developer, please check out that forum thread and chime in if you haven't already done so. HP shouldn't require "2.0" as the min OS version if all you're using is Just Type or Exhibition (both of which are simply configuration file changes).

But hopefully HP will resolve this issue before I'm ready to release and there won't be a delay. <crosses fingers> If worse came to worse and HP refused to fix the issue, I'd release the app with the min OS version set to 2.0. But hopefully it won't come to that since the app is still very useful on a 1.x device.

[volcom45]

Dan delivers again! Super excited for this app! Will buy the day it comes out! The automatic posting through Just Type via key letters is brilliant!

[semprance]

Just saw this on the front page. Love the design, particularly the way the char limits are built into the text box.

The min. version for potentially optional features is annoying and impractical for devs, but also one of the smaller problems with the submission and distribution process... Although I expect things will be in order a few months from now.

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by volcom45

Dan delivers again! Super excited for this app! Will buy the day it comes out! The automatic posting through Just Type via key letters is brilliant!

Yeah the idea is that people should be able to post to whichever accounts they want (or even multiple simultaneous accounts) without having to do it multiple times in multiple apps, and without having to worry about whether their post has too many characters.

Just type what you want to say, tap "Quick Post", and you're done!

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by semprance

Just saw this on the front page. Love the design, particularly the way the char limits are built into the text box.

I don't know if you noticed in the video, but the char limits actually appear and disappear based upon whether you have Twitter or Facebook accounts selected. So you're only presented with the char limits that matter for this particular post.

But really char limits don't really matter at all anymore with Quick Post. It takes care of it by compressing and splitting the message. But I have the char limits in there just in case you go over by a little and decide you want to make a quick change. Also the compression and splitting techniques are optional. Some people may decide they don't want to use either or both, so the char counts would become more important in that situation.

Originally Posted by semprance

The min. version for potentially optional features is annoying and impractical for devs, but also one of the smaller problems with the submission and distribution process... Although I expect things will be in order a few months from now.

Yeah they'll eventually sort out their various app submission issues...but I hope it's sooner rather than later.

[irateb]

I had visions of creating an app to do this and you beat me to it. My procrastination wins again! Since you've already done the hard work, my one suggestion (if you haven't already thought of it) is a preference or option to remove hash tags when you post to Facebook. Not sure how hard that would be to code, especially if people put their hash tags somewhere other than at the end of a post. I remember parsing from college and that it was not fun...

[npyle]

Originally Posted by DanPLC

I'll probably be ready to release in a week. However there's an issue with the HP app submission site that could delay it. HP recently made a change to their site (without informing developers beforehand). It now forces apps to set its "min OS version" to "2.0" if it uses any 2.0 features, even Just Type.

If you add Just Type to an app, it will still run perfectly fine on a webOS 1.4.5 device. Just Type is simply a change in a configuration file. Quick Post works perfectly on webOS 1.4.5 (except no Just Type of course). Several other developers have been hit by this issue and it's being discussed here: https://developer.palm.com/distribut...p?f=90&t=12182

If you're a developer, please check out that forum thread and chime in if you haven't already done so. HP shouldn't require "2.0" as the min OS version if all you're using is Just Type or Exhibition (both of which are simply configuration file changes).

But hopefully HP will resolve this issue before I'm ready to release and there won't be a delay. <crosses fingers> If worse came to worse and HP refused to fix the issue, I'd release the app with the min OS version set to 2.0. But hopefully it won't come to that since the app is still very useful on a 1.x device.

Thanks for the update on timing--keeping my fingers crossed about the whole app submission issue gets resolved soon so it doesn't delay your app from hitting.

I am a dev, but am just starting off and haven't submitted an app yet, so I wasn't aware of this issue. My first one is very basic, as I learn things along the way, so I appreciate the heads-up on things.

Looking forward to buying this app the day it makes it to the app catalog.

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by irateb

I had visions of creating an app to do this and you beat me to it. My procrastination wins again! Since you've already done the hard work, my one suggestion (if you haven't already thought of it) is a preference or option to remove hash tags when you post to Facebook. Not sure how hard that would be to code, especially if people put their hash tags somewhere other than at the end of a post. I remember parsing from college and that it was not fun...

This would be easy to implement; however if someone types out a hashtag, it seems like they want it displayed. Otherwise, why would they bother to type it in the first place?

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by npyle

Thanks for the update on timing--keeping my fingers crossed about the whole app submission issue gets resolved soon so it doesn't delay your app from hitting.

I am a dev, but am just starting off and haven't submitted an app yet, so I wasn't aware of this issue. My first one is very basic, as I learn things along the way, so I appreciate the heads-up on things.

Looking forward to buying this app the day it makes it to the app catalog.

I wasn't aware of the issue until recently when I had problems submitting an update for the "web feed edition" of Music Player (Remix). I came across the thread on the Palm Dev site and it seems other people are having the same issue.

HP has to realize that since they made the decision to not upgrade all devices to webOS 2.1, they need to allow developers to add certain 2.x features in their 1.x apps without making us set the min OS version to 2.0. Otherwise, we'll lose a big portion of the existing userbase.

[Spader]

I've been following this on Twitter, and I can't wait to use it. Great use of Just Type!

[retroblu]

you may have already thought about this, but will you be adding additional services to post status' too, like gtalk, linkedin, myspace etc...

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by Spader

I've been following this on Twitter, and I can't wait to use it. Great use of Just Type!

This is what Just Type is made for. However for some reason HP forces you to load the app's card when using Just Type which seems counter-intuitive. I can see where in some cases this would make sense, but the developer should have the option to complete the task without requiring a card. But I've overcome this limitation by forcing the card to close automatically when the post is successful. And if the post fails for some reason (no internet connection, etc.), the card will load up and display which accounts had issues and what the errors were.

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by retroblu

you may have already thought about this, but will you be adding additional services to post status' too, like gtalk, linkedin, myspace etc...

I have thought about that, but I initially wanted to focus on Twitter and Facebook since it seems most people use those sites. If I get enough requests for other social networking sites, I may add them in the future.

[irateb]

Originally Posted by DanPLC

This would be easy to implement; however if someone types out a hashtag, it seems like they want it displayed. Otherwise, why would they bother to type it in the first place?

It's probably just me then, but I usually leave off hash tags when I do updates in Facebook, since Facebook doesn't really use them for anything.

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by irateb

It's probably just me then, but I usually leave off hash tags when I do updates in Facebook, since Facebook doesn't really use them for anything.

Oh ok...you mean leave them off if you're posting to both Twitter and Facebook. That makes sense.

I'll add that to my to-do list.