The latest beta release of SiteSpinner Pro has been posted. It can be downloaded from here.

Note: be sure to backup any projects, and un-install any previous version of the SiteSpinner Pro before installing this release.

All registered users of WebEngine will be able to upgrade to SiteSpinner Pro at no cost.

Projects saved with SiteSpinner Pro cannot be opened With previous WebEngine betas or SiteSpinner. SiteSpinner Pro can open all projects, but be aware that projects saved with future versions of SiteSpinner Pro, up until and including the final release, may not be accessible by previous betas.

We are posting this beta in the hope that you will help us by providing any feedback you might have. So please, post any comments here, or forward them off to us at vmsupport@virtualmechanics.com

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Derry,

I'm not sure if this is a big issue or not, but when I went to install this version, I had to uninstall the old beta of SSPro first, otherwise it told me that a newer version was already installed and would not continue. Just food for thought.

Thanks!

Hi Aaron,

Yes, this release requires you un-install any previous SiteSpinner Pro beta you might have before installing this one. You should not loose any data.

Subsequent releases will not require this.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Derry,

Derry

Love the new coding that allows code objects built with <div> tags to perform properly now. Also, the space evenly between first and last works great! Keep up the great work!

Jim

Derry,

The installer does not install correctly under WindowsME (which has my original WebEngine beta platform). If I install Pro on my XP machine can I just use my old WebEngine registration code or is there a different course to follow??

Is there a link where I can see what differences there is in this new version from the previous?

Thanks,

Ken

BruceM, thanks for telling us about this.

Can you say what happened when you tried to install on WinME? Was there a paritcular error message?

Yes, you can use your WebEngine codes.

Hi Ken,

You can view the Read Me file for a list of changes.

Hi Harpo,

The install runs through, the icon appears on the desktop, but selecting it produces two messages;

The first:
The D:\PROGRAM FILES\VIRTUAL MECHANICS\SITESPINNER PRO V2\BIN\SITESSPINNERPROV2.EXE files appears to be corrupt Reinstall the file, and try again

The second:
Windows cannot run this program because it is an invalid format.

I've replicated the download and tried several installs/uninstalls but with no success.

-Bruce

Hmmm... that's not good. Could you check the installer file (the SiteSpinnerProV290Beta5.msi file) to make sure its digital signature is ok? That will ensure that the file wasn't damaged during download. (see here for instructions)

How about anyone else? Can you let us know if you have or have not been able to install SiteSpinner Pro on Windows ME? Or have had any problems installin on Win95 or Win98?

Thanks,
Harpo

Checked digital certificate as requested:

"This digital certificate is ok"

Ok, thanks Bruce.

Just thought I would point out a possible issue. I was having an issue trying to register this beta. I was trying over and over to register using my SiteSpinner V2: user ID and password. nothing I tried worked. I finally thought WTF, I will try Web Engine: user ID and password. I dont believe it... It actually worked. I would suggest for final version forthcoming that the serial supplied for Site Spinner when purchased would work for the new builds and not the user name and password for WebEngine.

Thank you,
Robin Stocks
www.stoxservices.com

SS-Pro is an update for WebEngine (and bears the new name) not SiteSpinner, which is why your WE registration codes work. Some of the new features being tested in SS-Pro will make their way to SiteSpinner, but VM is working hard to get a working SS-Pro version out the door.

I've been using SS for quite a while now, on a graphic intensive website (www.coreden.com) and found the SSPro option, of making a slimmed down version available for mobile phone browsers, attractive.
I've kept the installation of SSPro on a drive separate from SS, and one of the first things I looked for was the tutorial section under Help.

The 'Getting Started' page suggests a first step of 'Preview all' (to build the tutorial pages on my pc) and says 'Use the double arrows button'
WHAT DOUBLE ARROWS BUTTON? I know where they are on SS but they don't appear in SSPro - or am I missing something?

Now I've spent my whole life not rtfm, so just decided to go ahead anyway.

Using SSPro I opened a copy of my website file and saved it.
Using 'Select project layout type' I chose 'Dual'
Under 'Project options' I note the two alternatives available are 'Scale desktop to mobile' and 'Scale mobile to desktop' but I don't think I really want either as I am having to radically alter the desktop site for the mobile browser.......anyway I went ahead

The desktop tab showed the site in its original form as did the mobile.

I altered the mobile content, greatly reducing the graphics and text, and it looked OK in the preview, but the laptop version was trashed (I had expected to be able to amend the original content inside the laptop version without affecting the laptop content.

I still went ahead and published then tried to browse using my Blackberry.

What I actually got was a mishmash of both laptop and mobile versions, so I have reloaded the original for now.

Any ideas?????????????

Hi BigG,

Re: 'Use the double arrows button'

- Keep in mind that SSPro is still in beta. The Double Arrows have now become a spy glass with multiple pages. You're not missing anything, we just need to update the tutorials.

Re: 'Using SSPro I opened a copy of my website file and saved it.'

- Hope you saved it with a new name, as you won't be able to open that project with SiteSpinner or WebEngine once you have saved it with SSPro.

Re: 'Under 'Project options' I note the two alternatives available are 'Scale desktop to mobile' and 'Scale mobile to desktop'

- That option applies only when you use the 'Combined' layout, and wont' effect Dual layout.

Re: 'I altered the mobile content, greatly reducing the graphics and text, and it looked OK in the preview, but the laptop version was trashed (I had expected to be able to amend the original content inside the laptop version without affecting the laptop content.'

- The goal of the separate layout modes is to be able to produce different content for different devices. So, what you are attempting to do - create one layout for your laptop, and a different layout for your Blackberry is exactly what SSPro is designed to do.

A simple outline of building a Dual site would go like this:

Design your site in Desktop.
Switch to Mobile, and modify it as needed.

Keep in mind that some objects can be adjusted. However, a Text Object can be adjusted, but the text of the object cannot be edited from one view to the other. You would need to create separate text objects for each view. Some objects can be included on one layout and left off the other. You can right-click an object to determine which layout it is available on.

So, if I have an image at the top of the page on my desktop layout, I may decide to scale it down under the mobile layout. If I have navigation text along the bottom of the page in Desktop, I may decide to move it to the top in Mobile. Then again, I may decide to have different text in Mobile, in which case I would right-click the text and ensure that it is only included in Desktop, and then create a new text object for Mobile (create the text in Mobile and right-click to ensure that it is not available in Desktop).

You should be able to Desktop > Preview, and Mobile > Preview, and see the two separate layouts.

As we have designed SAPro to do what you are trying to do, any feedback you can give us will be greatly appreciated. After trying the above, if you want to publish a test page to your webhost and then post the link to it here, we can take a look.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Derry,

Hi Derry
Thank you for that; clear and concise and relevant to the points I raised.
I appreciate your help and will persevere.
I've just bought WebEngine too, and look forward to the finished product being released.
My best to all involved in producing this.

OK, now that everything is clear, it turns out I 'misspoke'...

Re: "That option applies only when you use the 'Combined' layout, and wont' effect Dual layout." - should be: 'Only applies to Dual Layout'.

The only things in Dual Layout that can be changed without affecting other layouts are:

Positioning
Scaling
Visibility

Any other changes will affect both layouts.

It sounds like the Dual page didn't work on your Blackberry, we are still tweaking the code, so any more feedback with respect to this is appreciated.

Hi Derry

Thanks for your further post.

I've been re-organising things and got to the point where both Desktop and Mobile look OK in both Design and Preview.

I've published to the web. One is on Ihost (coreden.com) and one on a UK webhost (coreden.co.uk)

In each case the desktop looks fine - but in neither case can I get the mobile site to appear on my Blackberry as it should.

I sometimes get the message:
http error 502 bad gateway. the gateway received invalid response from server.

Other times I get the full desktop site, but with the graphics usually right at the end.

Sometimes I get a blue background (with black text!?) sometimes white with black.

Sometimes I get a mix of desktop and mobile, again with the graphics misplaced.

Perhaps you could have a look at both sites and try with your own mobile - and anyone else who wants to join in.

Under 'Project Options' I've used a target resolution of 176X220

I wondered about ticking the Separate CSS Files box but haven't so far.

The websites seem to load slower than previously

I'm no programmer, which is why I like SS so much!!

I hope some of this may be helpful to you

Best

BigG

Hi Derry

This is a follow up to the above post.

When looking at my website through a mobile it's best to move to page 3 (using one of the links) as it's the shortest page, and the others take a l o n g time to load.

I've found that the full Desktop version has been loaded - plus the Mobile version!
Looking at page 3 using a desktop you will see each item listed comprises a table with 3 vertically arranged graphics on either side of a section of text.

Viewing it using my Blackberry I find that each section of the Desktop version is shown, but 'scrambled' - it seems to appear as a graphic, followed by the text, followed by the other 5 pics.

Then right at the bottom, the Mobile version appears, quite nicely, each pic followed by the relevant text.

I see that the navigation links (an arrow with text on it) have been broken up, the text appearing below the arrow, but still functional.

In an effort to find a solution I tried using a single column table, but this couldn't be viewed in the preview window, so I've given up on that one.

BigG