Calling all _Arachnophilia_ users!

Has anyone tried the New JAVA version?

[Gene]

How about it? I cut my teeth on Arach 3.x and now use Arach 4.0 (Lutus no longer supports it; though it's not a problem since there's ONLY 1 bug in it)

I'm so comfortable with it, ESPECIALLY after customizing the tool bar with my "pet tags."

So has anyone kicked the tires on the New Java based 5.0 version? Is it worth the switch?

--Gene

P.S. I'm being a bit facetious in claiming that 4.0 only has 1 bug. However, I've only come across 1 "event" that will crash the program.

...just for fun... anybody care to guess at what that crashing "event" is that I'm refering to? If you've used the program very long, you probably know what I'm talking about.

[ah_jeez]

I have tried the new java version. Just doesn't feel comfortable yet. Some of the features seem to be either missing or awkward.

Will definitely follow the development. Pre Java Arachnophilia is a solid program. You gotta love the guy's Independant spirit.

Oh, and the price is perfect.

PS - Longtime lurker, first post.

[brotherhood of LAN]

Hey ah_jeez, welcome to WebmasterWorld

>version

I have 5.1 sitting right here, though I'm not a full blown user of it (yet!).

I know there are some "true" arachnophilia users around.... ;)

[Eric_Jarvis]

I tried the new version for a few days then went back to version 4...it just seems quicker

[Captaffy]

Like most Java programs I've tried, I really didn't like it.
It was just too slow, and ate up too many resources.

[Crazy_Fool]

i've been using arachnophilia (3 then 4)for longer than i care to remember - it's fast, it works, it does almost everything i need. i'd happily pay good money for software as good as arachnophilia 4.0.

i've just tried v5 and it's like a major backward step. it's extremely slow compared to v4, even with only one file open. there seems to be features missing. it doesn't use the standard windows system windows (ie, file open / save etc) and there is (apparently) no way to create a new directory (not very useful!).

arachnophilia 4.0 with 100 HTML files open runs as smooth as a baby's bottom on an old p366 with 64mb ram, 5 IE browser windows open, WS FTP running, Eudora running (collecting mail every 5 mins from 14 mailboxes) and a couple of notepad files open. everything else runs smoothly as well.

on the same machine with just one IE browser open and nothing else running, arachnophilia 5.1 took nearly one minute just to open the "save as" window (only one HTML file open in arachnophilia) and then the save failed.

i've persevered with 5.1 for a couple of days now and i've lost so much development time that i have no choice but to switch back to 4.0 (what a relief!). fortunately 4.0 is still available on his site.

mr lutus explains on his site that the reason he's switched to java is that he finds it immoral to develop software that only works on windows OS. unfortunately he created something that simply doesn't work on windows, the one operating system that the overwhelming majority of people use. i'd guess the switch to java was more to do with his anti-microsoft feelings - if it was merely a cross-platform support issue, surely the code could have been recompiled for the other operating systems?

it's a real shame to see such a good program go to waste like this. i hope mr lutus can release the code for 4.0 to a developer somewhere so it can be updated to the latest standards and ported to other operating systems properly.

as for the "event" that crashes 4.0, i have no idea. i've certainly had a few crashes but they are so few and far between that i simply cannot even guess at what it might be that crashes 4.0 ....

[dingman]

It's been years since I used anything other than Emacs, but at that point my editor of choice was Arachnophillia. I tried the java version recently, and wasn't impressed. I couldn't figure out how to do anything useful in the few minutes I was willing to devote to trying it. More recently, my wife was looking for an HTML editor, and tried Arachnophillia as well, since she rememberd me using it and had once or twice used it herself as well. She promptly gave up on 5 and reverted to 4, which she has been using happily since. I'd say Lutus has a long way to go before the rewrite catches up with the quality of his previous efforts.

[Gene]

Thanks for all the feedback.

As I recall, in reading general discussions about editors in the past, whenever the Java version was brought up there were no good things to say about it. Which is why I started this thread awhile back.

Still, as has already been mentioned, Arach 4.0 fits like a glove once you've cozied up to it. If there's just one thing I could add to it, it would be the ability to use the "search/replace" feature without having to open all the files before hand.

--Gene

P.S. It's the funniest thing, I was going over the keystrokes to crash the program (as per my trivia question)...

I used to be able to crash the program at will if...
I had a few files open, selected the internal browser, then clicked on and closed the file that I had just "browsed." But now I can't get it to crash? Maybe I've forgotten the exact sequence of events. (I've trained myself for so long to NOT follow the crashing sequence.)

Well I'll just blissfully open and close at will now. If I should stumble upon the problem again, I'll let you know.