The next version of ScribeFire for Google Chrome and Safari has been released; the equivalent version of ScribeFire Next is also available.

What’s new in this build?

• “Blog This” option in the context menu (Firefox and Safari only) transfers the currently selected text, link, or image into the editor for easy blogging.
• Tag autocompletion. Any tags you’ve used in your last 20-30 posts will be used for autocomplete.

  

• Custom Fields (Wordpress only).  Custom fields have been fully implemented, complete with autocomplete for field keys.

  

• Better Drupal and Movable Type support. Category selection works now, and publishing to a Movable Type blog has been cleaned up and more fully tested.
• A bug causing linebreaks to be lost has been fixed.
• If you’re running a Firefox 4.0 beta and you open ScribeFire in a tab, that tab will be an App tab.

What’s missing in this build?

• Dynamic layout in Firefox. There were some major bugs in it, and I didn’t want to delay this release just for that one feature.  It will be back (and in all browsers) as soon as it’s working properly.

Google Chrome users, download ScribeFire 1.2.0.0 for Google Chrome here.

Safari users, download ScribeFire 1.2.0.0 for Safari here.

Firefox users, you can download ScribeFire Next 1.2.0.0 for Firefox here.

The last few months have seen great strides in ScribeFire for Chrome and ScribeFire for Safari, both of which are based upon a single codebase that came from rewriting the main portion of ScribeFire for Firefox. However, ScribeFire for Firefox (a.k.a. ScribeFire Classic^®) is still using the old code, making it difficult to fix bugs and get updates out quickly and easily.

In order to allow Firefox users to benefit from the rewritten code being used in Chrome and Safari, I’m introducing a new version of ScribeFire for Firefox, and I’m calling it ScribeFire Next. (As in, “This is where ScribeFire is going Next.”) ScribeFire Next uses the same codebase as ScribeFire for Chrome and Safari, but it’s integrated into Firefox in the same way as ScribeFire Classic^®.

There are a few differences between ScribeFire for Chrome and ScribeFire Next:

• ScribeFire Next supports image uploads.

  Neither Chrome nor Safari have the necessary features that allow developers to integrate file uploads into extensions, but Firefox has had those features for ages.

  

• ScribeFire Next has a dynamic layout.

  Because ScribeFire Next can be used in split-screen mode, some changes were made to better accommodate a wide but short display. If your available space for ScribeFire exceeds a certain width and is wider than it is tall, ScribeFire Next will transfer everything but the title and content fields into a sidebar, giving you more space to write:

  Normal (tall) layout:

  

  Dynamic (wide) layout:

  

ScribeFire Next will eventually replace ScribeFire Classic^® and ScribeFire Mobile (but not until it makes sense for it to do so), meaning that the same code will be used for all versions of ScribeFire, allowing updates to be made available for users of all browsers at a faster pace and with higher quality.

You can install ScribeFire Next right now. It will automatically import any blogs you have set up in ScribeFire Classic^® and give you instant access to the new UI and features that ScribeFire for Chrome and Safari already have. (ScribeFire Next won’t interfere with your existing ScribeFire install, but if you have both installed, you will have two ScribeFire buttons in your toolbar and status bar.)

Today marks the release of Firefox 3. It’s been 34 months in the making, and is quite literally the best Web browser ever created. There’s a very detailed field guide to Firefox 3 at dria.org, but to sum it up, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t download it as soon as you possible can. Improvements have been made in essentially all areas of the browser: speed, bookmarks, history, memory usage, add-on installation, downloads, password management, security, and much more.

And the best thing about Firefox 3? It’s fully compatible with the latest versions of ScribeFire, so don’t be afraid to upgrade. ScribeFire will continue working just as it did before, if not better.