37Signals gets finger friendly

37Signals just rolled out a cool new feature for iPhone and iPad users. I've recently become the proud owner of an iPad but using Basecamp in Safari has been a little frustrating. Many features in Basecamp are centralized around hovering your mouse over something but, since you don't hover with a multi-touch device, they've added finger friendly menus to To-Do lists, To-Do items, Milestones, and files.

That is a great help and shows that their developers are doing everything they can to accommodate new users on new types of devices. Unfortunately, there are still a number of problems I encountered when trying to get some work done from my iPad.

First off, the video that 37Signals posted on their blog (see it here) cannot be viewed on the iPad. I assume you can't see it on iPhone either. Since I was checking my feeds on my iPad from the toilet I immediately went to watch the video about the new features but alas, it was not playable on my device. Come on, you couldn't use a video tag?

Secondly, although being able to edit todo and milestones is cool, the date picker used for selecting dates just plain old doesn't work. This make setting dues dates for todo items impossible and makes editing and adding milestones pointless since they need dates to be effective. Seems like an important but somehow overlooked detail.

Thirdly, if you click a file it gives you the pop-up option to "Edit" or "Delete" but it took me forever to figure out how to actually download or view the file I clicked on. If you're not zoomed in, the difference between clicking the link for the file (to download) and clicking the item (for editing or deleting) is a small one at best.

Finally, the text areas for messages in Basecamp have no mechanism for scrolling up. This means that if you've typed a bunch of text (or pasted some) you have no way to scroll up and edit content that is past the top of the text area. Again, a pretty important detail and one that makes me not want to use Basecamp from my device.

I am really hoping that 37Signals resolves these issues because my company uses their products constantly and being able to access them on the go would really help me be able to stay in touch with projects without having to take out my laptop.

Quickie App Review: Thyme - a minimalist's timer

I like my apps minimal, with a small footprint, a menu bar only mode and an unnerving straightforwardness. I like apps that do one thing and one thing well. (Incidentally, I first heard about this app at onethingwell.org which, if you're not already following, you should be.) Thyme is a perfect example of this type of app.

I time myself doing everything. I time how long it takes to check my email, read feeds, wash dishes, etc. I've been using Chimoo Timer forever which is a great app and has served me well. Thyme however, manages a simple task in an awesomely minimal package. Hit Ctrl-T and you start timing. Hit it again and you stop timing. The app keeps a record of times throughout a session and has Growl built in. It does one thing and it does it incredibly well. I'll be recommending this to everyone at my shop. BTW, it took me 7:44 to write this post.

My task management dilemma

The arrival of my iPad next week has had me thinking about how many different ways I'm going to be able to use the device to stay organized. I'm a task management crazy person and love making lists. I, like many before me, have been on a search for the best task management application out there. I've tried a bunch of software and have found very few that I actually enjoy using. Over the last year I have purchased Things and TheHitList and have gone off and on with both apps. I recently took a new app for a spin that has really caught my attention. It is made by the same firm that makes my favorite writing software, Writeroom, and it is called Taskpaper. Now I'm in a jam.

All of these apps have great feature sets and their own perks and pitfalls. With the arrival of my iPad, an accompanying mobile app is a must for any task management system I decide on using and I really want to settle on one. Unfortunately, TheHitList (THL) has no iPhone or iPad app so I'm going to have to let that one go. I really like the keyboard integration in THL and the built in task timer is a feature I wish other apps would implement. Development on the software has kind of stalled and I'm not too confident that the app will live long into the future. I hope so and I'm going to keep tabs on it but I have to now turn my attention to the other contenders.

Things is a superbly programmed application and has a UI that is a joy to use. Whether it's project support, recurring tasks, team members, areas of responsibility or one of the myriad other awesome features of this app, I've been hard pressed to find another app that offers so much in such an easy to use manner. In the name of full disclosure, I did acquire both THL and Things through bundled software purchases so I ended up paying less than sticker price for both apps. I've been using Things for a few months straight and have really begun to depend on it. The Things iPad app is yet another example of Cultured Code's ability to craft a beautiful and useful software experience. The only issue I have is that the iPad version of Things is $19.99 which is twice as expensive than any other app I've even considered buying for iPad. Also, the iPhone version is only $9.99 which, although I don't have any experience using it, I do wonder how the iPad apps differs enough to justify charging twice as much for it. It does sync over WiFi with the desktop app and has all of the same features so my usage wouldn't change cross-platform wise.

Now Taskpaper is a bit different than THL and Things in that it is a much simpler and minimal interface. Projects, tasks, tags and notes are entered using a super simple text formatting trick. Any line ending with a colon automagically turns into a project. Any line starting with a dash followed by a space turns into a task. Any word preceded by an @ symbol is a tag. Anything else is a note. Simple, easy and fast. The other thing I like here that Things does not offer is projects within projects. This really allows a project to be broken down much more granularly. Taskpaper files are just text files so they are easily portable and storable. Using the free service SimpleText I can sync both my Writeroom files and Taskpaper files online and access them from anywhere. The iPad app is the exact same interface so again, usage across platform remains the same. At $9.99 it is half the price of Things for iPad. The only problem? I don't actually own Taskpaper yet and in order to use it after the demo period is up I will need to lay out the $29.99 for the desktop version. This is still much less than the full price version of Things ($49.95) and iPad app ($19.99) but, since I got my copy in a bundle this comparison doesn't work in the real world.

I have a feeling that I'll end up going with Things in the meantime since the initial cash investment is about all I can afford at the moment. Although, when that iPad version of Writeroom comes out, I might need to re-visit the issue then. Any thoughts or tips?

Quix - one bookmarklet to run them all

I've been using a web app recently that has completely changed my habits of sharing and accessing content on the web. It is a bookmarklet called Quix. Quix replaced several of my existing bookmarklets in Safari and I wanted to write this post to not only tell others about it but to learn how to better use it myself.

I used to have bookmarklets for doing everything. One for Readability, one for Facebook sharing, one to add a link to ShoveBox and so on. Quix does all of this and more all by itself. Quix is driven by a command line interface which is simple to use and easy to remember. Once it is invoked you are presented with a simple dialog box. You begin typing and when you've finished typing your command hit Enter and your done. In Safari, your first 9 bookmarks on the bookmark bar are mapped to Cmd + [1 - 9] so Quix is a single keystroke away.

For example, to share something on Facebook I just hit Cmd + 1 (or click the Quix bookmarklet), type fb, hit Enter and I'm done. If I want to read something in Readability I just type read instead. shove for ShoveBox. Those are the commands I use the most. I'm learning though, through researching this post, that there is a bunch of functionality I've been ignoring. By invoking Quix and typing help you can get the full list of commands that are supported (or you can click here). I've just started using php for searching the PHP manual, img for google image searches, and evernote to clip to Evernote.

One of the most interesting things about Quix is that you can write your own commands and extend Quix to implement additional functionality. I haven't messed around with that yet but I plan on it. I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff I could do with it.

I've found Quix to be an essential element to improving my web workflow and I find myself a little lost when I'm using a machine that doesn't have it. Now I'm going to study that command list and learn even more ways to use Quix.

Application review: Divvy

Apps that reduce my mouse usage are my bread and butter. I'm a keyboard shortcut freak so any time I can accomplish a task with a keystroke instead of a mouse movement, I do. One of the things that has always driven me nuts was having to re-size my windows manually to fit my current workflow. I've been using SizeUp to alleviate this problem for some time now. Recently though, I've been turned onto a new player in the window management game. Meet Divvy.

Divvy is a menu bar app that stays out of the way until you call up the interface where you can just click and drag on the grid to resize the currently selected window. The hotkey to call up the panel can be customized but comes as Command-Shift-Spacebar. While the panel is open you can tap Command to further sub-divide the grid. This give you a quick and easy way to resize all those windows on your screen.

This alone would make this app awesome but you can also assign keyboard shortcuts to access commonly used window arrangements and sizes. Say you want to be able to set any window to 30% of the screen to the left. Call up the Divvy panel and click the gear icon in the top right. Click the Shortcuts tab and click New (or Command-N). Drag out the window size you want, give it a name, and assign a shortcut (I used the number). Now whenever you call up the panel and hit the 1 key your window will resize to 30% of the left of the screen, immediately. You can create as many of these shortcuts as you want to allow for an infinite number of possible arrangements.

I am going to continue using both SizeUp and Divvy as a complete solution to window nirvana. SizeUp has the ability to move windows from monitor to monitor and from Space to Space (I'll be covering SizeUp in a future post) using the keyboard alone so I'll keep using it for that. Divvy allows me more customization of available window dimensions so it will allow me to fine-tune everything. It's unfortunate I'm so broke right now because this software is well worth the $14.00. I'll be snapping up a licensed copy as soon as I get paid again. Seriously, check it out. You won't know what you did before.

Application Review: Default Folder X

Every once and awhile you find a piece of software that does its job so well that you stop noticing it completely. You know what I’m talking about. That app that just works. Simply. Un-obtrusively. I often also end up realizing that said application has loads of features I’m not utilizing and even cooler ways to do what it already does well. Default Folder X is one of those apps.
I don’t even know how I learned about DFX but I’ve had it installed on my MacBook Pro for quite some time. I think the following sentence from the user’s manual sums up what this app does nicely:

Default Folder X makes Mac OS X’s Open and Save dialogs work as quickly as you do.

After installing the preference pane, DFX will show up on all Open and Save dialogs. It can appear as a black, grey, or colored addition to the standard OS X dialog window. One of the cooler features of this app is the ability to click an open finder window and have the dialog show that location. This makes it super simple to open or save files to any currently open Finder windows.
Another useful feature is the option-up and down arrow key combinations in Save dialogs. These step forward and backward through the recent folders list allowing you to quickly and easily access folders you're been using without the mouse. This is a life-saver when doing image manipulation and conversion for web use. I usually have an "Originals" and an "Edits" folder and can switch between them seamlessly using the above keyboard shortcuts.
Incredibly, this was one of the only things I used DFX for and it is still a must-have application for me. Since I've been reviewing my own Applications folder to try and trim some fat I decided to refresh my memory as to what else this app could do. Boy was I surprised. I've been missing out on all sorts of productivity enhancements which, since I'm keeping the app in my workflow, I'm going to take full advantage of.
Something I hadn't been using was the ability to set default folders on an application by application basis. This makes an application's open or save dialog show a folder you choose by default for that app. I use this to automatically save documents of different types to different folders and I never have to navigate to the location I want to save to. Combine this with the ability to add tags and Spotlight comments on the fly and you're on your way to file organization heaven. You can even set keyboard shortcuts for specific folders to go to locations at the press of a button.
DFX gives you several different ways to access recently used or favorite folders through the in-dialog menus. You can rename, move, and create archives right from the same window as well. I don't know how I got along without this app before. The $34.95 price tag might seem steep at first but trust me, try this app and you'll see that it's worth every penny.

37Signals App Review: Logbook

My company recently started using the great suite of 37signals productivity apps and I'm in love. We're now using Basecamp for project management, Backpack for organization, and Highrise for CRM. I think using these apps will usher in a new year of collaboration and organization the likes of which we've never experienced.

One of the features I love about Backpack is the Journal feature. It allows you to set your current status and log entries when you've completed work. It is a great way to keep other people in the loop without having to specifically contact them. The problem is, opening up a webpage and navigating to the Journals page takes way too long to make using it very efficient. That's where Logbook saves the day.

Logbook is a great looking app that does one thing and does it extremely well. It allows you to quickly and easily post status updates and entries to your Journal without having to even open a browser window. The app sits quietly in your menu bar until called upon (either by clicking or, for the keyboard fanatic, you can set a custom keyboard shortcut to show and hide the app interface.) You can even set Logbook to remind you to post your status, which is does with one of the nicest reminder options ever, a simple color fade to red. No bouncing, no noises, no pop-up dialogs.

The app is a paltry $12.99 and, as soon as I have a little more cash to burn, I'll be buying this right away. I also have a dashboard widget installed (which was free) but Logbook is worth the cash IMHO. I do wonder if there are bulk licensing options since I run an all Mac shop with about 10 employees and, if we could afford it, I'd love everyone to have this app running all the time. I've had it installed and running since I downloaded the demo and love using it. Check it out now and let everyone know what you just did or what you're going to do.