macOS What would it take to build a custom browser?

[Nemesis-ROX]

Kind of a far off idea of mine that I'm trying to imagine parameters for.

I'm wondering if a program like Adium can be built -- but instead of people being able to chat with you, it gives you an MSN-type notification every time someone posts in a thread you're involved in online.

So like, people can "subscribe" to certain threads that they want realtime notifications on every time a new post is made.

Done in a package that sits nicely on the desktop in an unobtrusive way that is handy to use.

My idea is that this kind of software could really enhance forum traffic on certain boards and would probably be quite useful if it can realistically be developed.

 

[gekko513]

I don't see what part of this isn't covered by mail notification. Most boards, including macrumors, allow you to set mail notification as the default subscription type if you like.

If you don't want the clutter in your normal inbox, just add a rule to move all mail from macrumors to a separate folder.

 

[GoCubsGo]

If you don't want the clutter in your normal inbox, just add a rule to move all mail from macrumors to a separate folder.

Which happens to be faster than developing one yourself.

 

[Gwardys]

I'm sure you could tie this in with Growl somehow too.

 

[Thom_Edwards]

you could write an applescript that runs as a cron job to check all new mail and alert you if you something comes via the mail notification system. That way you don't have to check your mail so often--you just a handy little message box saying you have a new mail notification.

i wrote an applescript so i can email myself and choose what itunes track i want to hear. pretty useless, really, but fun. here is the (uncommented) code; it should be pretty easy to modify to suit your needs. it checks that the first 4 letters of the mail are "PLAY" and then pulls the remainder of the text after that to get the track number. (PLAY5 would play track 5 of my ipod playlist.)

tell application "Mail"
	activate
	check for new mail
	set newMessages to (every message of inbox whose read status is false)
	set unreadCount to (count newMessages)
	set hello to "play"
	
	if (unreadCount is greater than 0) then
		set i to 0
		try
			repeat while (i is less than unreadCount)
				set i to i + 1
				set theMessage to item i of newMessages
				set theBody to the content of theMessage as string
				set theVerb to text 1 thru 4 of theBody
				ignoring white space
					set isPlay to (theVerb is equal to hello)
				end ignoring
				if (isPlay) then
					set the read status of theMessage to true
					set the deleted status of theMessage to true
					set theSong to text 5 thru length of theBody as integer
					my playSong(theSong)
				end if
			end repeat
		on error error_message number error_number
			if the error_number is not -128 then
				display dialog error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
			end if
		end try
	end if
end tell

on playSong(theSong)
	tell application "iTunes"
		activate
		play track theSong of playlist "Thom's iPod Selection"
	end tell
end playSong

 

[elbirth]

I think the idea that the OP has is more or less meant to be a standalone app just for this purpose that looks nice and interfaces well with the browser (os essentially becomes its own browser).

Just saying that this can be done with email notifications and that developing his own app is a wasted effort is not only extremely unhelpful, but also a bit rude to just dismiss it.
Besides... saying that he can just use email to do the same thing is kind of like saying you shouldn't use mail.app (or any other mail client) because many mail services offer a webmail interface.

I actually think it could be a cool idea. I have Thunderbird checking my 5 email accounts fairly regularly, and I wouldn't want my notifications for that clogged up with notifications of message board notifications. And an integration with Growl would be fantastic.

I say- it's an interesting and potentially useful idea, so if you want to make it a reality, keep looking into it. I'd use it.

 

[bobber205]

That's a GREAT idea!

I've thought abuot doing something like that for some time. I just haven't gotten around to it!

I would pay for that....