As my frequency of visits to Digg decreases, the probability of me writing Greasemonkey scripts that work with Digg also decreases. Plans that I had for writing scripts that work with Digg have been ranked lower among my priorities, and the completion and release of these scripts will occur later than I originally expected. In addition, maintenance of scripts that I wrote for use with Digg is less likely to occur as a result of me not using such scripts as often. However, discovering that one of my scripts does not work properly immediately makes work on that script a higher priority than any other work that I plan on doing. And it was not long ago that I discovered that the most recent redesign of Digg necessitated that one of my scripts for Digg be updated. While the functionality of the script was intact, the design of it was rendered unacceptably unprofessional. So work on modifying this script began within minutes of me noticing the need for these updates.
I first considered simply adding a notice on the page on Userscripts.org on which the script can be downloaded saying that updates to the script needed to be made. However, it would have been preferable for me to post an actual update to the script rather than a notice saying that an update to the script would be made available soon. I tried to determine whether or not I could make corrections to the script so that what it adds to the page would appear as it previously did. And fortunately, after finding that only minor updates needed to be made to the script, a new version of the script was made available shortly after determining that updates needed to be made. Still, I was not sure exactly how long this script had a design that did not match how it appeared in this screen shot. If this script were one that I used as often as I previously did, these necessary updates would have been made in a more timely manner.
It may have been this need to update this script that made me consider making further improvements to its design. I have previously mentioned that I consider myself more interested in what is performed after data is submitted through a user interface than design of the user interface itself. However, I understand the importance of good user interface design, and sometimes I find that I need to focus on a more diverse group of topics. I have wanted to ensure that the design looked as professional as possible. For that reason, I decided to remove the rounded corners on the header above where the search form the script adds is added. And after successfully removing those rounded corners, these added search form elements now look more appropriate. And so I released another new version of the script that made more changes to the appearance of page elements on Digg. A screen shot of how Digg appears when using the new version of the script can be viewed by clicking the thumbnail below.
I am not sure how much time I will spend maintaining this script in the future. However, I will be sure to take time to determine whether or not it works properly, and I will respond to any feedback from end users about it.