Firstly, since several of you have asked, I want to give you a general idea of our release schedule. We are aiming for a release towards the end of Q1 2009 and are fairly confident of our ability to hit that target. I know this is probably later than many of you were hoping, but we still have a lot to do. However, we are progressing well and are slightly ahead of schedule. At this stage it’s too early to say when we’ll have a release ready for beta testing.
Back to the main topic. When we were designing the new version of MenuMachine, we wanted to provide users with a choice of multiple menu types. MenuMachine 2 allowed users to select vertically-expanding or cascading menus, but we realize that there are many more menu types that users might like to create, and there are also new menu types that we wanted to implement for the first time.
For this reason, menu types in MenuMachine 3 have been implemented as plugins to the main application. This means that we can easily add new menu types to MenuMachine without having to alter the base application code. We anticipate shipping MenuMachine 3 with a variety of useful menu types and we then expect to release new menu types as we are able to develop them. This means that MenuMachine 3 should become more powerful and useful over time.
We have also implemented our external editor support using a plug-in architecture. This will allow us to easily add support for other editor platforms. We will definitely be supporting Dreamweaver at launch and if we have time the initial release might support some other editors. We anticipate creating editor support modules for BBEdit, TextMate and possibly Coda and Espresso initially, with more to follow. If you have any suggestions for editors that you’d like to see support for, please let me know either via email or in the comments.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I would like to see support for RapidWeaver also.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I would love to see support for Freeway Pro, something which I’ve recently purchased to test as an alternative to GoLive.
October 13th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Do you think the code created by MM3 will be easily implementable into Wordpress?
October 14th, 2008 at 8:56 am
@Greg:
Yes, it will be easy to incorporate MenuMachine 3 code into Wordpress or other CMS/Blogging software.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Just wanted put my vote in for BBedit and PageSpinner.
October 18th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Coda and soon to be released Espresso support would be excellent.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
definitely BBedit.
I am not fond of Dreamweaver. Too clumsy.
GoLive was still OK although I used the GoLive coding environment more (only for fast setup of tables I used the GoLive WYSIWYG environment).
BBedit is the “Rolls Roys” of the html editors.
Therefore BBedit support highly recommended.
Thanks
AZ
Amsterdam
Holland
November 9th, 2008 at 7:33 am
please support also golive 9
November 10th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I miss using GoLive and MenuMachine so very much. Now that I’m using Dreamweaver I’ve had to purchase other menu solutions (DW extensions) and while I don’t miss GoLive anymore, I miss MenuMachine even more than ever. One of the things I struggle with is that these menus are so very difficult to customize. Their standard menus are so unbelievably ugly and lifeless. Rob, you are a rare blend of developer and artist. I cannot wait to buy my new copy of MM3!
November 13th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I have to whole-heartedly agree with Priscilla, I too miss menu machine and am now using Dreamweaver.
I also have had to purcahase css menu extensions. They ARE lifeless and difficult to work with.
I am at the age where I usually donot look forward to the passage of time, but in this case, I can’t wait till the end of Q1!
I hope it will be everything we all know it can be!
Thanks so much Rob!
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 am
I will keep working with GoLive untill the new MenuMachine becomes available. Without MenuMachine Dreamweaver is not an option.
Keep up the good work!!
Milan from Brussels
January 13th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I am glad to hear that MenuMachine is still alive. As I too have completely switched to Dreamweaver.
I was just watching the promo for CSS Menus at webassist.com. Not that great, certainly can’t touch MM. I have switched to mostly coding menus myself, but I can’t get horizontal submenus and some clients want that. (Well in Fireworks but you can’t make it a library item at least in CS3 so no automatic updates of menus) MM is the very best, I have bought every upgrade and would rather spend my money on it than anything else out there, better to just handcode then pay for something that is really not as good.
Keep up the good work!
January 29th, 2009 at 6:53 am
I would really like support for SEEdit Maxi II.
I left GoLive and (unfortunately) MenuMachine in favour of SEEdit, which is a very versatile html-editor that helps you to build up html-code true to web standards.
I'm looking forward to the release of "MenuMachine 3".
January 31st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
@Audun:
Thanks for the link, I haven’t seen SEEdit before. It appears to currently lack a plug-in API which means we won’t be able to provide tightly integrated support, however you will still be able to use MenuMachine 3 with it.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I have not been able to make the switch to Dreamweaver (VERY confusing and WAY too complicated…does anyone know of any online courses to smooth the transition? I’m totally lost in DW.) I am hoping (hope against hope_ that Adobe will have the good sense to roll some of GL’s “actions” and GUI features into Dreamweaver to help bring us “die hards” over to DW (but that’s not YOUR problem!) I LOVE MenuMachine, and love the way that GoLive (CS2 for me) handles actions, the consistent interface for Adobe products, and it’s great handling WYSIWYG layout (grids especially). Please don’t take MenuMachine or MenuMachine support away from us folks who won’t make the switch to DW!
March 24th, 2009 at 4:54 am
The end of Q1 2009 is less than four weeks away. Is there any new regarding the progress with MenuMachine 3 you can share with us? Like many us, I’m sure, I have had to find other products to see me through, but still hold out hope that you folks are near to a finished version.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I’m also very curious how the development is going for the new MenuMachine. At the moment I’m holding up some sites I’m . busy on. This because I would love to implement the new MenuMachine
April 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Three Cheers for MenuMachine 3!!! I’m so excited. My vote for editor support in addition to Dreamweaver would be Coda and RapidWeaver. I have been using both a lot recently. If you need any Beta testers I would be available.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Here’s an idea, Rob (if you weren’t busy enough): I use MM2 on bigger projects to map out the scope of work, i.e., to organize the pages/concepts, before even _beginning_ to build templates, pages, etc. Since MM2 is so easy to use, I once used it as part of a proposal and subsequent Statement of Work; it actually helped me to better understand my budget. It occurs to me that since MM3 will be stand-alone, it could somehow be used enhance the idea of scoping as well as mapping an overall project. That is, perhaps, you could juice-up MM3 as a pre-production tool. Just a thought…
June 19th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Since Adobe have decided to drop GoLive, I’ve made a transition to Freeway Pro. I miss Menu Machine and would love to see a version for this platform, especially with CSS menu creation support. Menu Machine 3 will significantly enhance any of the apps noted above, and would be like one of my best mates coming over for a cold beer in Freeway Pro! Cheers to your success..