Junkyard

Junkyard News

February 14, 2022 (v. 1.9.8)

Alignment Fixes Some controls in the inspector were slightly misaligned, particularly in Monterey.
Follow Links Hold down the Command key to quickly open the URL associated with a text box. This complements the existing tools in the Content inspector which allow you to view the URL in QuickLook without leaving Junkyard. A URL can be added to Junkyard by dragging in items such as a Finder document icon or the address from a web browser; or by using the Web Import inspector. Other modifier keys when clicking a text box are Option (to begin dragging a new connection), Shift (for multiple selection) and Control (to display appearance options for the text box).

December 20, 2021 (v. 1.9.7)

Outline Inspector There is a new outline inspector which provides a plain text, hierarchical perspective on the items on the canvas. Currently it is not possible to make any changes in the outline view. Clicking an item will scroll the canvas to the corresponding text box and momentarily highlight it.
Print and Export Outline The hierarchical outline (including full text of all items) can be printed or exported to an RTF document for use in a word processor. Click the Print button in the Outline inspector to show the Outline Preview window. You can then choose whether to use plain text or display the same text formatting that was applied on the canvas. To make the outline easier to read, you can also insert a variety of paragraph list markers and apply bold, italic and other text formats to plain text items (the original text items are not affected).
Background Grid You can now change the size and color of the background grid (enabled in the Canvas inspector).
Monterey compatibility Fixes to various issues that arose under the newest macOS release.
Stability and bug fixes Throughout and particularly in relation to text editing.

April 18, 2021 (v. 1.9.6)

Shadow bug fix Fixed a bug that caused a "corrupted document" message to appear when reopening a document after shadow text format was applied.
Group bug fix A bug that prevented ungrouping has been fixed. (Tip: To reposition an item without ungrouping, hold down Command while dragging the item.
Improved zooming Continuous zooming, for example by using the pinch and spread gestures on a trackpad, is smoother and more accurate.
Canvas background Previously, the canvas background could be set to "None". This option has been removed and a plain white background will be automatically substituted.

January 11, 2021 (v. 1.9.5)

Undo improvements The undo system has been significantly improved to provide better reliability and consistency. The undo menu now provides individual titles for most undoable actions.
Stability and bug fixes Crashes associated with undo operations and when closing a window in Big Sur have been fixed, along with minor bugs including: horizontal distribution of objects; drag and drop; and display of group labels and connection line labels at correct resolution on retina displays.

December 30, 2020 (v. 1.9.4)

Big Sur, stability improvements and minor improvements This update fixes several bugs including crashes triggered by setting the connection line pattern to "none" and by pressing command-S several times quickly; addresses cosmetic issues that appeared in Big Sur; and provides a universal binary for Apple Silicon.

June 7, 2020 (v. 1.9.3)

Background Grid You can now display a background grid to help position items. Select "Show grid" in the Canvas inspector (or under the View menu). The grid is not shown when printing.
Snap to Grid Enable "Snap to grid" in the Canvas inspector (or under the View menu) to make it easy to align items to the grid lines when dragging or resizing. When dragging, items will snap along the left and top edges. (Use automatic alignment guides to align on other edges or the middle axis.) If you find that items are conflicted between snapping to the grid and snapping to automatic alignment guides, you can disable the alignment guides. The alignment guide control has been moved to the Canvas inspector, and has also been added to the View menu.

June 3, 2020 (v. 1.9.2)

New file format A new file format will provide smaller file sizes and better performance in some cases. When you open an existing document, Junkyard will prompt you to upgrade to the new file format, and if you agree, will ask you to choose a name for the upgraded file. You can simply click Save to continue using the same file name.
Badges Items can now display a badge such as ✔︎ and ✘ in the top right corner. Choose a badge in the Appearance inspector.
Stack and Grid A selection of items can now be stacked vertically or horizontally, or placed in a grid pattern. The Stack, Grid and other arrangement commands are found under the new Arrange menu.
Larger resize handles The small white boxes that you drag to resize an item have been replaced by larger, yellow semicircles. This makes it easier to see which items are selected and resize them.
Keyboard navigation You can now use the arrow keys to navigate among items. When a single item is selected, press an arrow key to go to the next item in that direction. If there are no items directly in line, Junkyard will take its best guess.
Command-return to start and end text editing Press ⌘-Return to start editing the selected item, and do the same thing to end editing.
Command-arrow to add child item Press ⌘ and an arrow key to create a child item of the current selected item. Junkyard will place the new child to the left, right, above or below the item and it will stack the item with any other existing children on that side.
Shift to constrain drag Hold down the Shift key while dragging an item to constrain movement to the vertical or horizontal direction.

November 25, 2019 (v. 1.9.1)

More connector options. Some expressive new connectors have been added. To see them, double click a connector (a.k.a. arrowhead) or click the pop-ups in the Connection Lines inspector.
Adjust connector placement. To adjust the point where a connector joins an item, hold down the Shift key while dragging the connector to the desired point on the item boundary. (To revert, drag the connector without holding down the Shift key.)
Cosmetic improvements. The connector popup has a solid background for better visibility. When a text item is selected, a highlight colour is no longer applied; the highlight interfered with border colour selection and was not necessary since selected items already display resize handles. The visual indication shown when you drag to connect items is now clearer.
Performance improvements. Various fixes including a bug that caused labels to be drawn in the wrong place for arc shaped connections.
macOS 10.15 Catalina. Improved compatibility and several crashing bugs have been fixed.

May 29, 2019 (v. 1.9)

Drag to change connections. You can now drag connectors (arrowheads) to a new item. Previously it was necessary to delete the entire connection and draw a new one.
Square connector. A small square connector is now available.
Doubleclick to change connector. Doubleclick any connector to change to another type. The existing pop-up menus can also be used.
Connection line label position. The label on a connection line can now be aligned next to the source or destination item, as well as at the midpoint. Use the new "Align label" pop-up in the inspector.
Contextual inspectors. Right-click (or control-click, or two-finger tap) on a text box, connection line, or the canvas to display the inspector for that item.
Group background colours. A distinct colour can be specified for each group using the new Fill pop-up menu in the inspector. When a group is included within a larger group (by grouping it with other items), a different colour can be specified for the enclosing group.
Moving a nested group. Normally when dragging any item in a group, all grouped items move together. To drag only a nested group, hold down the Command and Function keys while dragging any member of the nested group. *Tip* Hold down just the Command key to drag a single item within a group.
Default item size. New items will default to the width of the last item that you resized.

April 1, 2018 (v. 1.8.5)

Connection lines can have arrows at both ends.
A directionless round connector can be used instead of an arrowhead.
Changing the default text box font in the Preferences panel works correctly again.

January 13, 2018 (v. 1.8.4)

Connection lines can now be labelled. The label is automatically positioned around the midpoint of the connection line. Select the line, and enter the label in the Connection Lines inspector. To change the font, size, and color of the label, click the button to open the Font Panel.
Connection line popover. The connection line popover has returned, in part to make it more convenient to enter labels. Doubleclick a connection line to see a popover where you can configure its color, pattern, and other features. (As before, you can configure multiple connection lines by holding down the Shift key while selecting them, and set their attributes, including a common label if desired, in the Inspector.)
Group label fonts. You can now specify the font, size, and color of group labels. Click the button in the Group panel of the Inspector to open the Font Panel.
Alignment guide fix. Fixed a problem with alignment guides being drawn incorrectly after dragging a multiple selection.

December 21, 2017 (v. 1.8.3)

Fixes a crash that could occur when dragging in or manipulating external documents.
Additional fixes to High Sierra issues and various minor glitches.

October 28, 2017 (v. 1.8.2)

Fixes issues that appeared in High Sierra.
Automatic alignment guides. Horizontal and vertical guides appear when a text box is aligned with the edge or centre of another text box. You can disable this feature in the NEW alignment inspector, which also provides quick access to simple tools for horizontal and vertical alignment and distribution.
The outline view now displays in its own window. After displaying the outline you can resume working on your Junkyard document. When you next click on the outline window, it will automatically update to reflect any changes.

May 15, 2017 (v. 1.8.1)

This update fixes several bugs to improve appearance and usability:
Fixed a problem with undo during text editing.
Improved the clarity of text and shapes drawn at all zoom levels.
Fixed a problem that caused text to be misplaced, or text boxes to be wrongly sized, while editing.
Fixed a bug that cut off the top of the inspector panel, making it difficult to select the canvas and general tools.

April 9, 2017 (v. 1.8)

A new Web Import toolbox lets you easily import multiple URLs from your web browser. The toolbox displays a list of all open windows in Safari or Chrome. When you click Import, Junkyard will create an item linked to the URL for every tab in the selected window(s). You can still manually drag in individual tab URLs, but this is much easier and faster when you want to capture multiple tabs that are related to your current project. Prior to import, you can specify the display preference (see next item) and whether to automatically group the imported tabs.
Items linked to a web or file URL can now be displayed either as images (thumbnails of the original web page or document) or text (the URL). Choose the preferred option in the Content toolbox.
Fixed a bug that prevented tabs from drawing correctly in certain cases.
Fixed a bug that prevented highlighting of connection lines when selected. Click on any connection line to select it, then use the tools in the Connection Lines toolbox to configure its appearance.
Fixed a bug that resulted in empty groups remaining on the canvas after all members of the group were deleted.
Additional under-the-hood improvements including some fixes for some crashing bugs. Also, in some cases, Junkyard will open much faster and its memory requirements will be significantly reduced.

December 29, 2016 (v. 1.7)

Groups. You can now group objects. Optionally show background and border around groups. Support for nesting groups. Optionally display an automatically positioned group label.
Group functions are supported by a new Group inspector.
A new Connection inspector replaces the former pop-up (right-click) inspector. Along with the line pattern, weight, colour, shape and arrowhead functions, the inspector allows you to easily: select all connection lines; reverse direction; and delete.
Multiple connection lines can be selected. Click a connection line to select it, use shift-click to select additional connection lines, or click the new Select All button in the Connection inspector. This makes it easy to customize the appearance of connections.
You can now specify the point where connection lines join a note. Previously all connection lines were drawn to the geometric center of the note. You can now optionally constrain connections to the midpoint of the object edge, which provides a more structured appearance. This option is found the Connections inspector.
Cleaner interface with new unified Appearance and Content inspectors.
Copy and paste appearance settings (shape, fill, and border pattern, color and weight) using the Format > Appearance menu.
Default appearance settings now update automatically when you configure an item’s shape, border, fill or a connection line pattern or arrowhead.
You can also specify the default appearance settings. Select an item with the desired attributes and choose Format > Appearance > Set Default Attributes.
A window size/scroll bar bug issue that arose in macOS 10.12 Sierra has been fixed.
Battery drain is reduced in portables by avoiding discrete GPU usage.
Purchase reminders appear a little more often, but the frequency of reminders doesn’t increase with usage.
Internal updates to improve performance and stability.

September 21, 2016 (v. 1.6)

Junkyard is now free to download with optional In-App Purchase to eliminate reminder messages that occur more frequently as usage increases.
Several under-the-hood changes have been made to improve performance and stability.

May 4, 2016 (v. 1.5)

Text and items can now be shown in circles, diamonds and other shapes.
Unlimited choice of fill and border colors, including gradient fills.
Unlimited choice of canvas background colors, including solid colors and gradients, and background color can now be set on a per-sheet basis.
Navigation map now displays high fidelity miniature view of the entire canvas with full detail, instead of schematic overview.
Improved controls for resizing items and drawing connection lines.

October 21, 2015 (v. 1.4.3)

Revised interface in the Format Panel reduces clutter, improves ease of use.
Fixed a problem creating thumbnail preview images in OS X 10.11. Drag URLs and files onto a Junkyard sheet to create a link, illustrated by an image of the website or file content. Use the Quick Look button in the Format Panel to view live previews of linked websites.
Additional fixes for OS X El Capitan.

July 1, 2015 (v. 1.4.2)

Improvements in the clarity of text rendering, especially when dragging, zooming, and using Junkyard on scaled displays.
Bug fixes and general under-the-covers performance improvements.

April 24, 2015 (v. 1.4.1)

Fixed a bug that disabled the Format > Text menu.
Text styles can be created using the standard Ruler provided by Mac OS X. While editing a text box, choose Format > Text > Show Ruler, and then use the Styles dropdown menu located within the Ruler. Styles defined in the Ruler are available in any Junkyard document as well as other Mac OS X applications that use the Ruler’s standard features.

February 18, 2015 (v. 1.4)

Controls are logically grouped in the Inspector and can be hidden if not required.
A navigation map showing a bird’s-eye-view of the current sheet is now provided in the Inspector. This helps you stay oriented when the sheet is large and only a small portion can be visible. You can drag or double-click in the map to quickly move the visible area.
The appearance and behaviour of tabs has been improved.
You can set a default font for text boxes. (Preferences).
Text that you paste or drag in from another source can be automatically converted to the default font. This is useful when you are gathering material from diverse sources. (Preferences).
While the default font applies only to newly created text boxes, it is now also easier to change the font in existing text boxes. Click the text box to select it (shift-click to select multiple) and click the desired font in the Font Manager panel.
Positioning of objects on the canvas relative to the bottom left corner of the window is preserved.
Connection lines and arrows draw correctly when printing.
Additional bug fixes and stability improvements.

October 15, 2014 (v. 1.3.2)

Optimizes compatibility with OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
You can now align multiple text boxes horizontally or vertically, or distribute them evenly. Select at least two text boxes, and choose one of the new “Align Objects” or “Distribute Objects” menu commands.
Multiple selection behaviour has been improved. In the previous version you could select multiple text boxes either by shift-clicking or drawing a selection box (hold the mouse button down on any part of the canvas and drag). Now, you can also deselect by shift-clicking, and when drawing a selection box the affected text boxes are immediately selected and deselected as the selection box changes.
Additional minor usability and stability improvements.

September 11, 2014 (v. 1.3.1)

Almost any document and web address can now be dragged into Junkyard. An integrated Quick Look viewer lets you see the original document, including high resolution pictures, videos, iWork documents and live web pages, without leaving Junkyard.
Simply drag in a document from the Finder or a web link or address from your browser. Junkyard creates a resizeable thumbnail image. To see the original using Quick Look, select the thumbnail and press the space bar.

If the original external document file is not accessible (for instance, if you open the Junkyard document on another computer), the thumbnail image will display correctly but no Quick Look preview will be available.
Quick Look previews are not available for images in text boxes that were created in a previous version of Junkyard due to system security restrictions.

You can jump quickly to any sheet by using a new menu item, Document > Display Sheet. This lets you avoid scrolling through tabs in documents that contain a large number of sheets.
A bug that sometimes made text invisible has been fixed.
Stability and performance improvements.

July 21, 2014 (v. 1.3)

Canvas zoom. Zoom out for a bird’s eye view of your canvas, or zoom in to inspect the details. Select a preset zoom level from View Menu > Zoom, press the shortcut keys or drag the slider at the bottom of the Format Panel. On a track pad or compatible mouse, use pinch gestures and double taps to zoom at a specific point. (For information about enabling and using gestures on your Mac, see Apple Menu > System Preferences > Mouse / Trackpad.)
Search. As you type letters in the search field at the top of the Format Panel, Junkyard displays a dynamic list of all the text boxes that contain matching text, organized by sheet. When you click on a search result, Junkyard takes you to the text box and highlights it.
Text boxes are now drawn with a transparent background when the “Draw Background” checkbox is not set (in the Format Panel).
Canvas background. In Preferences choose from the default Plain (white), Subtle ( gradient from grey to white), and Lively (a gradient from the first to the last colors in the currently selected scheme).
Fixed a bug whereby text boxes in different sheets would mirror the movements of a text box being dragged in the frontmost sheet.
Stability and performance improvements.

June 18, 2014 (v. 1.2)

Full iCloud support now provides automatic document and preferences synchronization between different Macs running Junkyard.
In a document with multiple tabs that don’t all fit in the window, you can now scroll the tabs using a left or right single finger swipe or scroll wheel movement.
If you tend to rest your fingers your computer’s trackpad or Magic Mouse surface, you may experience unwanted canvas movements. To reduce this jittering, a new Preferences setting automatically disables canvas scrolling when the mouse is positioned over a text box.
Images can now be added to the canvas through a new menu item Document > Insert Image… (It was already possible to add images by dragging files, URLs, and text selections to the canvas.) The new menu item opens a file dialog where you can choose the image file, then click on the canvas where you want the image to be placed in a new text box.
A new Preferences setting allows you to set a custom text box selection color. This is the color highlight (currently yellow) that is applied to text boxes when they are selected.

May 29, 2014 (v. 1.1)

Using the new Export… menu item, you can now directly export a canvas as a graphic file in multiple formats including PNG, JPEG, TIFF and PDF
When you create a new text box on the canvas by double-clicking, the text box will immediately enter editing mode
When printing, it is now optional to include the sheet title and background shade. To access these options, choose Print, click “Show Details” (if necessary), and select “Junkyard” from the settings menu.
Stability and performance improvements.

May 7, 2014 (v. 1.0.1)

Fix crashing bug re dependence on Lucida Sans
Fix outline view extending below screen
Add default colour scheme and add fall-back

May 5, 2014 (v. 1.0)

Initial release.