Want to know what has changed since a previous version? This page lists those changes. You can alter the range of release notes to display if you wish.

The latest release of Simon is version 5.1.1.

• The automatic adjustment of next check times is now done after the window has finished loading, to avoid displaying the content immediately, and thus speeding up the startup.
• If the preference to check all tests on startup is turned on, it is now done 5 seconds after completing startup, to give other areas time to settle down.
• Now sets the default preferred release type for the Check for Updates feature based on the type of release first used. If you first use a beta release, it's safe to assume you are comfortable with beta releases, so you are notified of new ones. Otherwise you are only notified of new general releases. You can of course override this in the Updates preference pane.
• Fixed a bug with the quit confirmation preference.

• Fixed a bug where multiple tests added or altered at the same time, with the same test kind, could end up with the same settings for the test plug-in (e.g. the URL). If you added or altered any tests with version 1.2, please confirm that they are correct after upgrading to the latest version.
• Corrected some User Guide and Dejal site URLs in the French localization.
• Updated the CURLHandle framework (which is used by the HTTP and FTP test plug-ins) to use the latest version.

• Added a Ping test plug-in, that supports sending a variable number of packets, and can count the ping as a failure if the response time or packet loss are over configurable limits.
• Added a DNS test plug-in, to check that a domain name can be found — any kind of server. Doesn't prove the server is actually up, but just that the computer knows where it is.
• Added an Application test plug-in, that checks that an application is present, and optionally that it is currently running. If it isn't running, you can use a Launch notifier to re-start it automatically. The Smart Change Detection feature can be used to detect upgrades or other alterations, and the Visit Site function can be used to switch to (or launch) the application manually.
• Rearranged the Add/Alter Test sheet to group the various sections under disclosure triangles, so people with smaller screens can hide bits they aren't interested in. The disclosure states are remembered for next time.
• Added a flexible Automatically Pause Test feature to the Add/Alter Test sheet, that allows suspending a test on any combination of days and times, e.g. if the server is restarted at 03:00 every day and offline for maintenance on Sundays from 10:00 to 12:00.
• Changed the Notifiers selection section of the Add/Alter Test sheet to use an expanding list like the new Automatically Pause Test feature, for consistency and a better user experience.
• Improved the implementation of the plug-in architecture.
• Added a plug-in architecture for test types.
• Migrated the two existing test types to a plug-in.
• Added a Restore Factory Settings button to each of the preference panes, that changes the preferences in this pane back to the recommended values. Also corrected tabbing in the Updates pane for people with full keyboard access enabled.
• Updated the engine for the E-mail notifier (the Pantomime framework) to the latest version.
• Made a number of minor improvements to the handling of links to various pages on the Dejal site throughout the app.
• The Help ▸ Dejal Orders menu item and the Buy... button in the Licenses window now display the Dejal Orders page with the appropriate application already selected.
• Some behind-the-scenes improvements to increase efficiency of the main application controller.
• Now doesn't report a false failure when the computer is put into sleep mode during a check.
• Fixed a bug where the data files could grow rather large, due to old log entries not being deleted.
• Fixed a minor issue with the Speech notifier plug-in.
• Updated French localization.

• Changed the default Smart Change Detection Start Text to omit the close bracket, to allow for sites that have parameters in their "<html>" tag.
• Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the splash window from fading out correctly.
• Fixed a bug that could result in an undesired notifier being used for a test.
• Fixed some text in the French localization of the menus and the e-mail notifier pane.

• Fixed a rare issue where certain valid serial numbers could be rejected as invalid. Only relevant for customers who license Simon when using version 1.1.
• Fixed some text in the French localization of the preference panes.

• Added an E-mail notifier plug-in. It is similar to the Speech notifier, with a text area for the body of the e-mail, that supports variables. It also has fields for the addresses and other headers. The Subject and optional extra header value also support variables. The To and Cc fields can utilize Mac OS X's Address Book: type part of an address or person's name, and the field will auto-complete with the first match, and others can be listed by clicking on arrow of the combo box (or pressing the Down Arrow key). The plug-in also has a panel to allow using multiple SMTP servers or Sendmail tools.
• Added a Launch notifier plug-in. This allows launching an application by itself (equivalent to double-clicking on the app in the Finder), launching a document with its default application (equivalent to double-clicking on the document in the Finder), or launching a document with a specified application (equivalent to dropping the document on the application).
• Now determines whether or not there is an active internet connection before performing a site check. If not, it displays "offline" in the Next Check column and flashes a special symbol in the Status column and on the Dock icon. It keeps looking for an internet connection, and performs the check as soon as it is available. Useful for dial-up users, people who sleep their computers while Simon is running, and DSL outages, to avoid false failure reports.
• Added a Flag column that displays a yellow flag icon when a test changes. The icon is removed when the test is subsequently selected, or the site viewed. When one or more tests are flagged, a yellow sunburst badge is displayed on the Dock icon, behind the status triangle. This is useful to help you keep track of which sites you have looked at since they changed.
• Added a Marked as Flagged command to the Edit menu, and a corresponding Toolbar button for the Monitor window (which is not included by default). This feature allows you to manually toggle the Flag column icon on and off, if you wish.
• Added a checkbox to the Add/Alter Notifier sheet to make a recovery notifier only be used if a failure notifier of the same kind has already been used for this failure. Used in conjunction with the checkbox to only use the failure notifier once per failure, this will allow, for example, being notified after 15 errors, and not receiving a recovery notification if the test recovers before the 15th check.
• Added Show Simon Monitor, Show Notifiers, and Check All Now commands to the Dock menu, and renamed the pause command.
• Added a Feedback toolbar button to the various windows, and a Provide Simon Feedback menu item to the Help menu. They display a feedback form in your browser. Please use it to tell us what you think of Simon, to report any bugs, or make feature requests!
• Added a splash window in the shape of the Simon icon's "screen", that fades in and out. A nice Cocoa effect. Desirable as loading the Simon Monitor window can take a noticeable amount of time when there are a number of tests.
• Added animated "static" on the Dock icon when starting and quitting, just for the fun of it.
• Added a checkbox to the Add / Alter Test sheet to allow excluding specific tests from being checked when choosing the Check Now command with no tests selected, or on startup (if the preference to check all on startup is on).
• Now remembers the positions and widths of the columns in the Simon Monitor window.
• When a test is paused, the status column now changes to a pause symbol.
• The previous status of paused tests are now not included when determining the status for the Dock. Also, when all tests are paused, the Dock icon changes to a pause symbol as a reminder.
• Replaced the application icon with a much nicer looking edition.
• Rearranged the Speech notifier user interface to make it work better on smaller screens.
• Changed the keyboard equivalent for the Preferences command to ⌘, which is the new standard for Mac OS X 10.2.
• Renamed the File &blacktriangleright; Pause Testing menu command as Pause Test.
• Updated the credits in the About Simon window.
• Improved the wording of the beta release startup alert panel.
• Clarified a wording inconsistency in the Software Update mechanism, where running a Beta release with the preferences set to indicate you are only interested in General releases would report the previous General release as a newer version.
• Fixed a bug where the notifications weren't being cleared when using the Reset Statistics command.
• Fixed a bug where notifications weren't being logged (but were still performed) for a newly-added test, until after Simon was restarted.
• Fixed a bug in the logic for failure notifications, that could have resulted in some missed notifications if you have more than one notifier for a test.
• Fixed a bug where stopping checking of a site that was previously down would mark the test as recovered (just the status icon). Now more correctly restores the previous status.
• Fixed a minor cause of console log messages.
• Fixed a rare bug in extracting the changed text for display, that could cause a test to appear to be continuiously tested when it is in fact done.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the scrollbars in the notifiers tables on the Add/Alter Test sheet from activating when there are more than four notifiers of a given type.
• Simon now requires a minimum of Mac OS X 10.2. If you run it under a previous OS version, an alert panel will remind you and offer to download Simon 1.0, which works under OS X 10.1.x.
• Rebuilt with the December 2002 developer tools.
• French localization and User Guide updated to reflect the changes in version 1.1.

• Simon is now localized for the French language, thanks to Philippe Bonnaure.
• Added an Action notifier plug-in. It includes several attention-getting actions that can be performed, including options to bounce the dock icon, bring the Monitor window in front of other windows in Simon or all applications, display the Source or Preview windows, or open the page in your web browser. Any combination of these options can be performed when notifying.
• Completed the Speech notifier plug-in, including adding several variables.
• The Sound notifier plug-in now caches the notification sounds for faster playing.
• Improved the change logging. If the changed text is long (greater than 30 characters), the text is analyzed and only the difference is logged. Also, Return and Linefeed characters are replaced by special symbols, so the entire change can be viewed on one line.
• Enhanced the Check Now command so it can be used for more than one test. You can now check all tests at once if you wish. The Next Check Date is adjusted if one or more tests are selected, but not if none are, to avoid making them always check all at the same time. This enhancement is great for people who use Simon as an ad hoc site change checker rather than leaving it running to monitor sites.
• Added a preference to automatically check all tests when Simon is started. This ensures that that statuses for all tests are current when Simon is started, and is useful for people who use Simon as an ad hoc site change checker. This preference is on by default.
• Now remembers the position of the splitter bar in the Monitor window. Also, the bottom portion of the window can be collapsed by dragging the splitter bar to the bottom.
• Also now remembers which page of was being displayed in the Monitor window: Changes, Failures, or Notifications.
• Added a Select None command to the Edit menu, that deselects all of the lines in the currently selected table.
• Added a General Preference field for the maximum number of notifications to remember.
• Implemented the Pause Notifying function.
• Improved the Dock icon badge to use the most recent event (change or failure), rather than a hierarchy of the statuses, with the exception that a current failure will always override anything else.
• Implemented a cleanup of obsolete notifiers listed for the test when the Add/Alter Test sheet is opened.
• Altered the content of the Licenses window: removed the optional Organization field, as it just caused confusion.
• Renamed the "Last Changed" column in the tests table as "Last Change", and renamed the "Last Error" column as "Last Failure", since those titles are more accurate.
• Changed the default value for failure notifiers from 30 to 1. 30 may be suitable for e-mail notifiers, but 1 is better for sounds and others where you want to know immediately.
• Fixed an issue with long change log entries; they are now only displayed to 50 characters, greatly speeding up display.
• Renamed the main monitor window from just "Simon" to "Simon Monitor".
• Fixed a bug where notifiers wouldn't be deleted until another one was added or altered.
• Changed the default sort column from the Next Check Date column to the Last Change column.
• Reversed the logic of the Pause/Resume toggle, so it offers Resume if any tests are paused.
• Fixed a bug where some notifier plug-in settings wouldn't be remembered properly if adding more than one at a time.
• Fixed a minor issue where the license agreement panel would be displayed when downgrading as well as upgrading.
• Fixed some issues with the license serial number algorithm.
• Plus other a number of other minor changes.