Apple launches redesigned 'Bug Reporter' website for developers
Apple's online "Bug Reporter" tool, also known as "Radar," has been given a facelift with new features, such as improved searching and auto-saving.
The revamped website became available to developers this weekend, and boasts further improvements for attaching files, and also recognizing when a bug has already been reported. Details and pictures from the new website were shared by AppleInsider reader Hunter.
Apple's Bug Reporter includes the ability to filter bugs, and utilize an advanced search to find specific problems. Development can be divided into a number of categories, including operating systems like iOS, and services like iCloud.
Bug Reporter is only accessible by authorized Apple developers.
The revamped website became available to developers this weekend, and boasts further improvements for attaching files, and also recognizing when a bug has already been reported. Details and pictures from the new website were shared by AppleInsider reader Hunter.
Apple's Bug Reporter includes the ability to filter bugs, and utilize an advanced search to find specific problems. Development can be divided into a number of categories, including operating systems like iOS, and services like iCloud.
Bug Reporter is only accessible by authorized Apple developers.
Comments
The results were equally put into a bug database, but it was possible to collect info into a bug report over hours or days if needed, without things timing out, it was possible to work off-line, and reports were mailed out whenever the machine had connectivity; and things worked flawlessly over low bandwidth connections such as mobile Internet without needlessly gobbling up bandwidth or being painfully slow and unresponsive.
Apple's assumption that everyone works or wants to work while hooked up to some fat pipe just isn't a valid assumption.
If they changed the UI like they just did or used any different filing method, they'd have to get everyone to update their copy of the app. On NeXT, they didn't really have much choice, this was before Google and the web really hadn't expanded all that much (<20,000 sites). On the web, it's an instant update for everyone. If you have to be sending messages back and forth, it needs a connection anyway. An app may be more convenient for not having to log in and have timeouts but it's not like you'd be submitting bugs all the time. You submit a bug, wait 4 months and they'll close it without any resolution and by the next OS update 9 months after that, whatever you noticed was wrong will magically work ok.
As if Apple ever updates that web site...
...first time in many years. An app can be part of Xcode and can update through apple's software update mechanism and can live update categories as needed and connectivity provided, just as various eBay listing software update themselves.
There's no reason a web interface and an app can't co-exist.
I went from one of NeXT's and Apple's top bug reporters to not reporting any bugs anymore since Apple also blocked the former (free form) email bug reporting vector.
Not getting paid to do Apple QA, but when someone whom Apple employees pulled out of the crowd at WWDC because they recognize his names from all the many useful bug reports stops reporting bugs, it should give some pause...