I know that many of you are keen to know the current status of our new version of MenuMachine. As noted in my last post about this, we ran into some issues that made things more difficult than anticipated.
MenuMachine’s data model (the information that is stored in memory and on disk) is surprisingly complicated, and due to various issues we were having with reliability and performance, I decided to move the internals of MenuMachine over to Apple’s Core Data framework.
This was not an easy decision as it meant ripping out the guts of the app and replacing them with new plumbing. The good news is that I’m pretty much finished this task now, with the result that the app is now much, much more reliable and much faster. This change to the core of the application will also make future changes to the data model (such as adding new menu types, for example) much, much easier. I’m really pleased with the result.
This done, we’re now back on track. Although we won’t be releasing the new version this year, it’s not that far away now.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
YEAH!
December 4th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Best news of the day, so far! Seriously, I am a die hard MM user and really miss it. Can’t wait to see the new version. Good luck!
December 4th, 2009 at 4:59 am
Very welcomed news.
=)
December 6th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Glad to read this. Looking foward for the new MenuMachine…
December 10th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Gute Neuigkeiten!
Jetzt kann man dann auf Dreamweaver umsteigen.
Das Spry-Framework ist nämlich nicht zu gebrauchen.
December 12th, 2009 at 2:44 am
I can’t believe a whole year has almost gone by and finally the wait is almost over. Roll on 2010 and Rock On Menu Machine!
December 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Great to hear! Count me as a first day release, paid upgrader.
December 16th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Awesome News! Count me in for the first day also, even a beta tester if possible. Happy Holidays to you!
December 17th, 2009 at 5:20 am
You’ve just made my week! Can’t wait.
December 17th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
This is really good news.
Count me in as beta tester and upgrade
Cheers
December 24th, 2009 at 5:15 am
Such great news…thank you for your hard work!
December 30th, 2009 at 7:21 am
This is good news Rob – I have spent years trying to find a dropdown system as good as MM (but which is search engine friendly) – with no luck. I came close with Mootools http://greengeckodesign.com/?q=menumatic, but the glitches on IE5/6 etc made it unworkable for larger menus. I came closer still with Open Cube http://www.opencube.com/ but it was just too damn complicated in the end. I’ve fallen back on MM for almost every site I’ve created since Adobe dumped GL, creating it in GLCS2 and dumping it into a library item in Dreamweaver CS4. This works fine, but I can no longer get away with using MM in this form because of its SEO unfriendliness. I’m sure you get asked this too much, but when in 2010 do you realistically see the MM reincarnation finding its way to my doorstep? If it’s beyond January I don’t think I’ll be able to fend off the hunt for a replacement any longer… Good luck with the ongoing work.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:59 am
Thanks Rob,
Boy I hope this comes out soon. I too am using MM2 in GoLive and then bringing the site into DreamWeaver 4.
Hope MM3 comes soon!
January 8th, 2010 at 6:13 am
Rob,
Great News ! I have already been working on a new release of our site using Dreamweaver CS4, but all of the menu controls are being held until your new release of MenuMachine. Thank you for all of your hard work. . . but I guess when you produce the best menu creator on the market, it’s to be expected.
January 14th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Rob-
Any eta date? Even if you play it safe with a guestimate…we are all ready to slap down the upgrade bucks.
Patrick
January 14th, 2010 at 11:30 am
We’re aiming for first quarter release, that’s about as good as I can give you.
January 20th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
sooo good news! Waiting for the dreamweaver-release, like all the other webcreators. So, I keep my fingers cross, that this will come up soon.
Regards,
Gerlinde from Germany
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:14 am
As much as I would like to express enthusiasm over this new hurdle being crossed, it’s been a year and a half since this was announced. I really can’t wait one more month for this to reach fruition, must look for an alternative at this point. I still wish you the best and hope to one day come back here and fall in love with MenuMachine again!
January 26th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Hate to say it, but I have to move on too. I’ll check back in six months and see if MM3 has finally made it out of the gates. Best of luck. It was always a good product.
January 30th, 2010 at 4:49 am
Menumachine is still the easiest and most versatile solution despite all attempts to fill the void.
I also am anxious to integrate into
dreamweaver, but think that patience leads to better products.
If the app could be a plugin for Wordpress– I would be in web-design heaven.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Have spent fruitless hours try in to find a substitute for MM. Was forced to switch to Dreamweaver after Adobe dropped GoLive and have used Drop Down Menus from Extend. But nothing comes close to the ease of use of MM. Can’t wait for final release.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I have a slightly different form of empathy for you, Rob. We’ve been in the CMS business since 1999, when hardly anyone, except those corporations with big money and healthy IT budgets, knew what a CMS was. Today, there are thousands of CMS’s, perhaps tens of thousands. My empathy, sympathy really, for you comes from my experiences working with coders, not the coding itself, which you seem to be doing by yourself, or with a very small staff. I’m a developer, but my undergraduate degree was in painting. I learned long ago, however, how to communicate with this particular species, i.e., software engineers. Since we created our first CMS, my company’s been through three senior coders, each one of them dead set on “improving,” “simplifying,” “uncovering the subtleties of the code,” etc., and each one has started from scratch. We’re now trying to finish our third re-write, and I find myself in it too deep to quit, yet each day I find myself losing faith in my original vision of being able to change my little corner of the web for the better every time time another one of our loyal customers loses patience and leaves. But we keep slogging on, and the burn rate continues. Like you, someday we’ll have something to offer, but I’m also acutely aware of the risks of delaying a release of a software product, especially one like yours that has a loyal following. And you should be aware of the risks too. Like so many others, I’m rooting for you Rob, but don’t be too surprised to find that when you finally are able announce your product, that nobody will be in the audience. They will have moved on. I hope, for both of our sakes, that this final nightmare doesn’t materialize.
February 11th, 2010 at 4:01 am
Can I assume that all MM Customers will be emailed with an announcement of the new version? I check this board frequently, and think I will just await the announcement…
Hope everyone can engage in worthwhile endeavors that make life worth living until the release — it really is so very much FUN to be here, despite all the things we are told in our own heads that can easily be ignored. I’ll say it again and again, thank you Rob for creating such a great product…
February 17th, 2010 at 5:49 am
I’ll be here when MM3 finally appears, cannot wait! Spry menus are horrid.
February 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
I don’t envy you guys.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Just know that we’re still here and hoping. If it ain’t gonna happen, then tell us that too. I have seven commercial sites active that rely on MM. It is the reason I’m still stuck in GoLive. A pro coder would laugh at my dependency, but that’s fine. MM let’s me be creative without the pain.
Just give us an update, one way or the other. We’re all grown-ups here.