PalaceChat macOS Beta Notes

Every beta since the last release, newest first. A beta is a test version: it has the newest changes and fixes, but it may still have bugs.

macOS (Apple Silicon) & macOS (Intel) Version 5.0.300.3 Beta

New

• A new, more compact chat bar, now the standard one. The line above the chat box is gone, the room's user count moves to the window title, the person you whisper to shows as a small tag inside the chat box (click its x to stop whispering, each tab keeps its own), and the room's status messages show at the bottom of the room. If you prefer the old look, View > Chat Bar Style > Classic brings it back.
• Group PM is now a button next to the translator, and it lights up while it is on. The translator and emoji buttons have the same new look, and light up while their windows are open.
• Options > Advanced has a new box, "Hide the room's scrollbars".

Improvements

• The mouse wheel, the trackpad and the Magic Mouse now scroll the room, up and down, and left and right with Shift and the wheel or by swiping sideways.
• Zooming in now lets the window grow until it fills the screen.
• The Cyborg editor is much faster. A big file opens in half the time, typing no longer freezes it, and the colors follow what you type. Text in quotes that runs across lines, and brackets, are colored right.

Bug Fixes

• The Cyborg editor shows all its line numbers again (it showed only "1").
• Updating from the update window now closes PalaceChat completely, so the installer no longer says it is still running.
• With "Shrink the room instead of showing scrollbars" on, switching tabs no longer makes the window grow and then shrink.
• A zoom you set by hand in a tab stays with that tab again, also with the room shrinking on, and comes back when you reopen PalaceChat.
• Closing PalaceChat with unsaved changes in the Cyborg editor now asks before anything closes, and Cancel keeps everything open.

New for room scripters

• STATUSMSGEX, a new script command: a status message in its own color, shown for the seconds you choose. With the new chat bar it shows at the bottom of the room in that color, with the classic one the status line takes the color. Example: "Round 2" "#FF8800" 5 STATUSMSGEX Two more digits set how see-through the band is, from "#FF8800FF" (solid) to "#FF880000" (no band, only the text).

macOS (Apple Silicon) & macOS (Intel) Version 5.0.300.2 Beta

Improvements

• Animated GIFs on doors in a state nobody sees now stop, start again from the beginning when they show again, and give their memory back after a minute.

macOS (Apple Silicon) & macOS (Intel) Version 5.0.300.1 Beta

Improvements

• Rooms with an animated GIF background play much more smoothly and take far less of your Mac's power: each frame now costs about a tenth of the work it did.
• Animated GIFs on doors that keep playing are much lighter too, and the memory they use is given back as soon as no door shows them anymore.
• Going back to a tab with a video or a web page in the room no longer shows it black for a moment: the page is there right away.
• Entering a room with a video or a web page no longer shows a black box while it loads, you see the room, and the page appears when it is ready.
• Clicks and keys answer faster, above all while a room with a video or a web page is loading.

New for room scripters

• WEBFOCUS, a new script command: a web page in a spot keeps the keyboard once you click into it, until you click somewhere else. For games where you type into the page. Example: 1 ME WEBFOCUS
• HIDEBUBBLES, a new script command: a room with no chat bubbles. What people say still shows in the chat log (and is read aloud, if you have that on), and the bubbles come back when you leave the room. Example: 1 HIDEBUBBLES

macOS (Apple Silicon) & macOS (Intel) Version 5.0.300.0 Release

All fixes and new features from the previous beta series are now folded into this release. The beta list resets here, anything new rolls out starting with 5.0.300.0