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tylerhallon Alan.app – Add a Border to macOS Active Window

Developer of the app here. You’re correct. Accessibility APIs + timer + transparent top-level NSWindow that ignores input and draws a border.

tylerhallon Augmented Reality Ducks

Indeed, I buried the lede in this post. But I wanted to have fun with such a silly idea, first.

tylerhallon I think Catalina 10.15.4 broke SSH

Thanks, but that's not the port number :-) That was just for illustrative purposes.

tylerhallon I think Catalina 10.15.4 broke SSH

Good sleuthing, but the missing port number is simpler than that. I just blacked it out of the screenshot. I know very well that running sshd on a non-standard port has no benefits security-wise, but it does lessen the length of my log files from dumb script kiddies. I redacted the port in the screenshot for that reason.

tylerhallon I think Catalina 10.15.4 broke SSH

Yeah, it's a $5/month DigitalOcean box with only my blog on it and nothing else. All assets come off a CDN and Varnish is sitting in front of WP, but looks like that still wasn't enough this time. It worked fine for my previous two HN'ings earlier this year.

tylerhallon I think Catalina 10.15.4 broke SSH

> it’s probably useful to others?

That's my intent. I'll put it back online for others to find once the fuss dies down.

tylerhallon I think Catalina 10.15.4 broke SSH

Sadly, I mean it. Don't want to go through this again. Taking down the post for now.

tylerhallon DefaultApp

Yeah, sorry. That's just Xcode's default header. Feel free to open a PR or issue.

tylerhallon DefaultApp

OP here. I think we're aiming for the same thing - though with slightly different priorities.

Of your list of minimums that DefaultApp omits:

Not every app adheres to a Document-based pattern. The apps I personally build typically fall into a "shoebox" style where explicit documents aren't used.

And there are other data layers than CoreData, which is why I didn't add that - especially since even with CoreData everyone has their own favorite library/framework. So that's easy enough to drop-in for those who want it. (That said: probably 95% of the apps I write use CoreData, so )

A customized NSToolbar would be great, but, again, there are so many implementations out there, which one would you pick that would satisfy the majority of apps/developers?

Anyway, like the accompanying blog post says, this project is "highly opinionated". It's just what I've cobbled together over the years. I'm not going to die on a hill for any of my particular choices. Do what works best for you.

tylerhallon DefaultApp

OP here. Thanks for pointing out that omission. It's MIT like all my other stuff. I've updated it.

tylerhallon Broken

OP here. I never installed Catalina (or any recent beta software in years) on my primary machine that I get work done on. My Catalina testing this Summer was explicitly kept to an old laptop and virtual machines.

My "simpler" comment was about my mistake in signing into iCloud on those test devices. I learned my lesson and either stayed logged out or used a test iCloud account for the rest of the Summer.

And, overall, my post and comments in general are about running Catalina now that it's publicly released. Not about issues I experienced as a beta user.

tylerhallon Broken

Been running WP for god knows how long for my personal site, while my company website is built with Jekyll.

In June I migrated to Ghost simply to try it and learn more about Node. It was _fine_, but never really fit my mental model of how a blog should operate or a web app should be structured. For better or worse, I'm an ex-Yahoo and a PHP guy through and through.

tylerhallon Broken

sigh I switched back to WordPress literally five days ago and haven't yet gotten around to installing a caching plugin. My bad. I've turned Cloudflare caching on in the meantime.

tylerhallon Broken

OP here. Thank you. I have no issues with the tightening of security and permissions on Catalina. In fact, I welcome it both for myself and my aging parents who I want to remain safe online. My issue, as you said, is the implementation and lack of documentation for those of us who do know what we're doing.

tylerhallon Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

I'm not familiar with them. What would they help me with?

tylerhallon Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

I started selling macOS (and now iOS) software on my own website back in 2007. https://clickontyler.com My original goal was to earn enough money to refinish the hardwood floors in my house. Since then, however, it's taken on a life of its own and become a suite of three main products. It enables me to live comfortably in the Nashville suburbs.

All that said, I've been doing this for ten years now and am burnt out. If anyone would like to buy me out and take over the business, I'm open to offers.

tylerhallon Moving 12 years of email from GMail to FastMail

Happy SaneBox + FastMail user for two years now. SaneBox works great with any standard IMAP connection.

tylerhallon Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

http://clickontyler.com/

VirtualHostX was my first app, the one that grew slowly over a few years and then took off. Hostbuddy is a small, companion app that does moderately well. Hobo is my newest, still in beta, that I hope to kick off in February.

tylerhallon Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

I was in the same situation as you a few years ago. My Mac app was making enough money to be helpful but not quite enough to be worth the trouble. I seriously considered open sourcing it. But I stuck with it and, four years later, it grew and began supporting my family full-time.

If you truly believe there's no chance of it ever growing larger, than by all means, retire it. I've sunsetted many apps that never caught on. But don't give up on it too soon!

tylerhallon The Financial Side of Building Mac Apps

I've had two offers from companies wanting to buy out VirtualHostX. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), neither company made compelling arguments for me to give up steady, stable income.

tylerhallon The Financial Side of Building Mac Apps

Nginx is high on mine and my users' wish lists. I'm still trying to figure out if it's even possible to integrate with VirtualHostX (which is Apache focused) given the UI differences Nginx support would dictate or if it would be best to break Nginx support out into a new, standalone product. Some users might see a separate product as a money-grab, but I'm really at a loss as to how I'd combine Apache + Nginx support into a single product.

tylerhallon The Financial Side of Building Mac Apps

For the first five years, it was myself, alone in my home office at night and on weekends. My wife went to bed early and I'd have 10pm - 1am every night to hack around - plus random times on the weekend. After I went full time with it, I toured a few co-working spaces in Nashville, but most of them were either geared at MBAs who co-work for less than eight hours a week, or too expensive. So, even after going full time, it was still just me in my home office. But my working hours changed to a normal 9-5 routine. My wife also works from home, so I never went crazy from lack of human interaction.

As for business partners - never really considered one. I don't think there's enough work to go around. But I do partner with two designers, when needed, and have a few close friends who also do Mac development I can bounce ideas off of throughout the day.

tylerhallon The Financial Side of Building Mac Apps

Thanks! My original goal was extremely simple. Earn $X to do Y home improvement project. But as the app took off I've readjusted my goals. I've never thought about becoming "rich", instead, I see it as a wholly possible way to earn just enough to support my family and be happy.

tylerhallon The Financial Side of Building Mac Apps

Aaron Hillegass's "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X" is how I got started. Likely, his new books only focus on iOS development. But this book pre-dates the iPhone. I learned Mac dev from it in 2005. Highly recommended for the basics.

tylerhallon The Financial Side of Building Mac Apps

Do you think the exposure the Mac App Store offers is worth Apple's 30% cut along with the lack of upgrade options for customers? Why not also (or in place of) sell your software directly through your website?

I'm the author of the article in question, and with my current sales infrastructure, I'm able to spin up and sell a new product (SKU) in a matter of hours. Since I've been doing this for seven years, am I now overestimating the amount of work it takes to setup and sell your app independently?

tylerhallon Apple Adds Two-Step Verification to iCloud and Apple ID

The three day wait is only for users that recently modified their account.

From http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5570

"As a basic security measure, Apple does not allow two-step verification setup to proceed if any significant changes have recently been made to your account information. Significant changes can include a password reset or new security questions. This waiting period helps Apple ensure that you are the only person accessing or modifying your account. While you are in this waiting period, you can continue using your account as usual with all Apple services and stores."

tylerhallon Show HN: Forget Flash, Skip GIF, Control iOS

$9.99 for an encoder that let's me autoplay animations cross browser and on mobile? Sold!

tylerhallon Command-Q

It's in review :)

tylerhallon Command-Q

True, but I actually see that as a "feature". It's the one keyboard way you can quickly quit an app without going through the hold-and-wait. But I'm sure your workflow probably differs from mine. Noted.

tylerhallon Command-Q

Will do. Thanks :)