Graffitio

Hot on the heels of Release 6 is Release 7. I’ve gone over the code with a fine-toothed comb and optimized things tremendously. First of all, the random crashing bugs should be eliminated. There were some memory leaks that reared their ugly heads in extended use that I’ve plugged up. Second, scrolling the Walls and Posts was pretty choppy with images popping in and out. That is no more. Release 7 scrolls are oh so smooth. Finally, I added an Edit button to the Followed Walls screen, to make it more obvious how to unfollow walls.

It takes awhile to make its way to all of Apple’s server, but you’ll all have it soon enough!

Hopefully they’ll approve it soon, and you’ll see it in a few days.

Happy New Year!

Jason’s comment made me realize I haven’t mentioned the Graffitio Forum in awhile.

If you want to get a response from me, posting in the forum is by far the best way. Given that I’ve got my hands all up in Release 6 code right now, feature requests will get maximum consideration right now.

Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately. I’ve been heads down and hard at work on the next release. Here’s a general idea of where we’re headed with the redesign.

It looks like Apple got Release 5 into the App Store way faster than I expected. I guess that saves me the work of putting together a screencast! Here are the new features:

• Create new walls with pinpoint precision using Google Maps: This is by far my favorite feature. You can precisely locate new walls you create. Having walls at their correct location will allow us to do some really cool stuff, which you’ll start seeing.
• See a wall’s location on a map with the new detail view: And this is the first thing that precise wall locations enable. Now if you see a wall in a new city, you can just pull up the detail view and see it on a map. You can then go to Maps and get turn by turn directions.
• Flag walls for review by the Graffitio team: There’s tens of thousands of walls that were created before Release 5. We want to move these walls to their precise locations and clean up the cruft that’s out there. Flagging walls will help us do that.
• Delete your signed posts with a swipe of your finger: I’d have loved this before when I accidentally hit Post before I was finished with my message.
• Choose whether or not to show the Infinite Wall or unsigned posts: These are located under Graffitio in the Settings.app. Turning these off is a great way to filter out the noise.

On the server-side, I’ve just added the ability to link new devices to existing usernames. For those of you that have received replacement iPhones or iPods or upgraded to new ones, this will allow you to keep using your usernames.

As I mentioned earlier, Release 6 will be awhile. If any bugs crop up in Release 5, I’ll release fixes, but no new features for awhile. In the meantime, you will be getting the web version. You’ll be able to go back and attach your username to posts you’ve made in the past, fix the names and locations of walls you’ve created, and delink your username from any devices you no longer use.

Also, some users in blog comments and on the walls have expressed concerns regarding their privacy now that Graffitio has added mapping features. Some users expressed concerns about being stalked, and let me say that no individual’s location information is sent out by the application. Walls are obviously tied to a location, and that information is available on the maps. For those of you that created walls in your homes, rest assured, the new web features will allow you to adjust your walls to a level you are comfortable with.

Finally, let me just say how much I love all of you. Developing Graffitio has been a pleasure, and it makes me so happy that so many of you are as excited about it as I am. You’re the best.

It’s kind of like a State of the Union, except about Graffitio, hence Art. Umm, nevermind.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve been heads down on Release 5, and I just sent out a release candidate to beta testers. A lot of work has gone into Release 5, and I’ll put together a screencast for a later post. Right now, let’s talk about Release 4.

Release 4 has been out for eight days now, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The two big features with Release 4 were usernames and regional walls. Both of these have turned out to be huge hits. My vision for Graffitio was all about conversations around places. It turns out it’s pretty difficult to have a conversation when you can’t tell who you are talking to. Usernames have fixed that and had an unexpected bonus: When users don’t have to worry about being impersonated, they post more, drowning out all the noise. 99% of the offensive content on the Infinite Wall has disappeared simply because artists interested in posting quality content are having real conversations, and it’s so much easier to ignore the vandals. Overall, I think usernames are the best single feature added to Graffitio since its release. For those of you that liked being a number, don’t forget that even if you sign up, you always have the option of not including your username when you write on a wall.

Regional walls had a rocky start. Due to a failure of the service that Graffitio uses to generate the regional walls the day that Release 4 hit the App Store, I had to quickly throw together some workarounds on the server. Once that was taken care of, it’s been smooth sailing. So far, Release 4 of Graffitio has been used in over six thousand regions across seventy-five countries! The United States wall has become an ongoing discussion of the presidential race. In countries where iPhone users are fewer and further between, country walls have served as a place for users to connect with other users who speak the same language. Dropping in on city walls, I see people announcing concerts, complaining about traffic, and even discussing Hurricane Hanna. Overall, I think regional walls are a great addition to Graffitio.

Looking forward, Release 5 is all about increasing the utility of Graffitio. You’ll be able to precisely locate new walls you create, see where a wall actually is on the wall detail screen, and flag walls that are inappropriate, mislocated, or simply not places. You’ll also be able to delete your posts! Release 5 completes the original vision of the iPhone half of Graffitio. Now I can see some of you scratching your heads at that last sentence wondering, “The iPhone half?” The other half is the web portion. For the next few weeks, the web portion will be receiving most of my attention. I’m not ready to get into details, but I will say that the mobile application will always be the primary gateway into Graffitio. The web portion will be a complement for tasks that are easier to perform with a big screen and keyboard.

Look even further into the future and you’ll see Release 6 off in the distance. This is going to be a very significant update to Graffitio. If I used traditional versioning, Release 6 would be Graffitio 2.0. Once again, I’m going to hold my cards close to my chest. One thing that you can count on is that it will look a helluva lot better than what Graffitio looks like now.

Finally, a big thank you to all of my users. I really appreciate everything you have done to make Graffitio a success. You all are awesome.

*WHEW* That’s it! I expect Release 5 to be finished and sent to the App Store over the next few days. I’d love to hear your comments and criticisms on Release 4 and also what you’d like to see happen. In addition to the comments here, you can connect with the Graffitio Community at the forums or in #graffitio on freenode.