Over the past ten months I’ve been using a variety of To Do management applications to solve my personal task management woes. This blog post is a recap of the four best contenders that I have found, where they succeed, where they fail, and what needs to be on the table for me to be happy.

Laying the Ground Rules

As the lead UI designer behind our group task solution Stacks I can be a pretty harsh critic on things that don’t feel or work right. Also along this same line, I understand the difficulty of developing a product and trying to meet feature requests. It’s impossible to keep everyone happy, not to mention build features with time and care. For some of these apps the features I want might be coming, for others they aren’t part of the ballgame and never will be. I get that, but let’s still “talk it out”.

Required vs. Nice to Have

Must have:

• Well designed interface
• Quick task entry
• Repeating tasks
• Time based notifications/reminders
• Access to tasks at all times (ideally: mobile, desktop, ipad, and web)
• Cloud syncing

Nice to have:

• Categorization of tasks (long term, work, personal, etc.)
• Notes or sub-tasks
• File attachments
• An API
• Great keyboard shortcuts

Alright, let’s jump into the four selected contenders and see what they’ve brought to the table.

Simplenote

Done Well:

phenomenal cloud syncing, quick task entry, access to tasks at all times, notes/subtasks, an API

Lacking:

repeating tasks, reminders, categorization, great keybaord shortcuts

At first I felt a little bad including Simplenote as a task management app. The truth is that Simplenote was never meant to soley manage tasks. That said, it’s just too good at what it does to not have it on this list. First off, Simplenote is bar none the best cloud syncing application I’ve ever used. It’s never once lost my changes or updates and I’m using it on my computer, iPad, and iPhone. Also, in a pinch it has a web interface (that doesn’t suck) as well. On top of this it has an API (although it’s not fully public yet) which has allowed developers to tackle the interface in unique ways. For instance, Just Notes and Notational Velocity are independent apps that work great with the Simplenote API.

There are a few big hurdles you have to be willing to accept with Simplenote. First, it won’t be able to send you reminders in any way shape or form. This means you have to remember to check it to see what’s due. This became a deal breaker for me after a few months, but if you’re the type of person who’s disciplined, this may not be an issue. Second, Simplenote has no way to repeat tasks, so all those CC bills and monthly reminders need to be created every month.

If all you’re looking for a is a small To Do app that also has great note taking capabilities Simplenote is probably your best bet. Beautiful Helvtica type, a super clean and fast interface, and very proactive developers. If you need more than just a few lines of text, like me, then it’s onward to the next app.

Things

Done Well:

quick task entry, categorization/tagging, nice interface, access on multiple devices

Lacking:

Repeating tasks are terrible, badge only notifications, no cloud syncing

Things is perhaps the most well known Mac and iPhone task management solution. Culture Code, the creator of Things, has been featured on Apple’s developer site and has done well in a number of reviews. From the surface Things looks like a winner. Beautiful icon and interface, multiple device support, plus tagging and categorization. Yes it is expensive, $50 desktop + $10 iPhone + $20 iPad, but that’s sometimes worth it for a great experience. The problem is that Things felt off the whole time I used it. It’s not that it doesn’t have a few great features (ie: quick task entry via hotkey on the desktop version) but rather that the deep features trail off. The features that should be most thought out don’t seem to be at all. For instance, let’s look at creating a scheduled repeating task:

First off, the entire due field is uneditable so why does it even allow typing? Second, the wording is just ridiculous, ‘copies are due’ could just be ‘this task is due’. Further, why at the bottom do I have to say each copy has a due date, didn’t I just specify that up above when I said the day it’s due? Granted, maybe there is someone out there who needs to randomly assign tasks every month, on a given date, and doesn’t actually have a date that task is due. But really?! Even so, Culture Code should spend some time wording this better, as it is now it’s just insanity. Check out some better solutions that other developers created:

Second, Things doesn’t have cloud syncing. For an application that is meant to exist on three different devices it is extremely weird that there is no cloud connection. Instead, you have to have each device’s wifi on and then let them sync over a home/business wifi network. This, in my opinion, is a recipe for disaster. Router and wifi questions aside, what if I add 7 tasks on my laptop but am connected via ethernet, then take just my phone out of town for the weekend? My data is completely inaccessible. For a $50+ dollar set of apps I expect cloud syncing, even for a yearly cost.

Third, Things isn’t very good at reminding you about tasks. It shows you a badge of how many tasks you have but beyond that you have to go in and look at your tasks on a daily basis. Maybe some people do this but I don’t. Let me specify a time to be reminded and then show me an alert on my phone, simple enough?

End game, Things just doesn’t stack up for the price. If Culture Code works on usability and wording, allows cloud syncing, and gives a discount to users that own all the apps I’ll consider it again.

NotifyMe 2

Done Well:

beautiful mobile interface, push reminders, categorization, task notes, price

Lacking:

web interface might as well not exist, no desktop version, no API

NotifyMe 2 is the most recent application that I’ve been using. While it lacks a desktop client (which is a huge downfall) the mobile client is extremely good. The biggest and strongest pitch for NotifyMe is exactly what it’s name says: notifications. NotifyMe syncs your tasks to the cloud and then sends a push reminder to your phone when the task needs to be done. At that point you can either snooze it and be reminded later (at an interval you set) or check it off. Additionally, repeating tasks on NotifyMe are better than any other interface I’ve seen – especially considering it’s a mobile interface. You set the date and time the task is due, then how often it should repeat, you can do alternate weekdays, weeks, months, or years. Or, something like remind me every 45th day. The best part about this is the ease with which it works. You can tell the crew at PoweryBase sat down and really went through the steps.

Among the other nice things in NotifyMe are task notes and task sharing. Task notes are placed nicely within each task, a small icon appears next to tasks that have notes letting you know additional information exists. This seems small but the ability to add a few notes into a task is huge. For instance, I add a task to set up a doctor appointment easily, but remembering to bring my new insurance card and the new office address could be just as important. The ability to have notes fixes this problem. Additionally the app also has a sharing and friends feature. I haven’t tried it enough to know how well it works, but if it works as advertised (and I assume it does based on the rest of the app) then it should be a hit for married couples or families. The ability to assign notifications to others on the fly could be extremely useful.

The biggest knock against NotifyMe has to be their application web interface, webapp.notifymecloud.com. In fact, let’s be honest, it doesn’t even deserve to be called a web interface. It’s more like a pile of trash sitting online that is meant to somehow duplicate functionality of the mobile app. And, while technically it has the functionality, the feel and care of the mobile app is 100% absent. The icons are gross, the corners of the containers are rough and thrown together. The task fields are unstyled and unorganized. It’s literally like someone went into Dreamweaver and inserted a bunch of default text fields, added some terrible icons, and said “that’s good, I’m done”. The fact this application is so bad makes me terrified that PoweryBase doesn’t take their design seriously. If they are willing to put out something this bad on the web who’s to say the app might some day slip into the same void. Terrifying.

In conclusion, NotifyMe 2, from a mobile perspective, is the best task manager I’ve seen. This is big because if there is any place to have a great app it’s on the device that’s always with you. Sadly, the web app is not worthy of discussion. It’s unusable and beyond in a pinch circumstances, worthless. Let’s hope this gets addressed so I can give NotifyMe 2 the clear victory in the To Do application space.

The Hit List

Done Well:

best desktop experience of any app I have ever used, great keyboard shortcuts, tagging/categorization, extremely fast task creation, repeating tasks

Lacking:

vaporware iPhone version, an API

I’ve never been as excited about a program as I was about The Hit List. It’s beautiful, fast, easy to learn, and incredibly well thought out. Sadly two years into the product life cycle the announced iPhone app has never been released and the desktop version has never come out of beta. The developer has dropped off the face of the earth. While the desktop version is truly a marvel to be seen (even in beta), the lack of syncing, API access, or a mobile version render this app a dinosaur. Some people have gotten it to work with the 2Do via calendar syncing, but I’m just not willing to use some hack method for important tasks in my life.

Because I’m such a fan of The Hit List I believe it belongs in this showdown. For someone that only needs a desktop application there is nothing better on the table. Just check out this quick video I whipped up:

If The Hit List gets an iPhone app I will jump on it no matter what the cost. Though I’m a realist and therefore betting this app, sadly, won’t see the light of day.

The Final Conclusion

Considering it’s mid 2010 I’m astonished that someone hasn’t solved the GTD personal task solution in a way that meets the few goals I provided above. There is a lot of potential in the market but no superstar. I’d love to hear other people’s solutions to the GTD problem, maybe something’s out there that I don’t know about. Until then I’ll keep hoping for a better desktop or web version of NotifyMe2. Or, even better, the mystical unicorn Hit List iPhone application from Andy Kim.

Note: I wrote this post on a personal blog a few years ago, but I think it still pertains to developers using Coda or any all-in-one application.

…Panic software (the makers of Transmit FTP) have released a new “all in one” web site management application called Coda. The basic goal of this app is to take a bunch of things needed to build websites and place them all together in one application. Now, pardon my skepticism and negativity, but the best part about using an operating system, particularly one like Mac OS X, is that I can easily use multiple simple or complex applications in a quick fashion to complete projects. And to put it in short, I just don’t get the point of putting everything together in one app, even if it is developed by some of the best software makers around.

In fact, the whole idea seems to go against all the benefits of running OS X, much less running multiple applications targeted to exactly what I need. Granted, some apps get a little intense and do more than I may need. For example, I can’t say I use scripting in many apps that support it, but that’s because I don’t have to. An application like TextMate gives me the opportunity to pick and choose exactly what I want from a text editor. It isn’t trying to do too much, particularly because if it did it would interrupt the way I work. The things I don’t use don’t get in my way, and the things I do use are easy to get to. Sure, there are applications out there .. iTunes .. hut…hum.. that do handle tons of tasks all under one umbrella. But guess what, advanced music creators probably don’t use iTunes to do the majority of their composing, editing, and refining. Even though it may have the capability to do some of these tasks. This is why Apple created iWeb for novice web builders, because it allows them to do what they need without getting drug into the depths of web development. The problem is, Coda is iWeb for pros, which is a paradox in and of itself.

Here’s the gist of what I am getting at — the ideal application should be great at handling everything you need to do and shouldn’t get in the way if you don’t use every feature it offers.

Coda, to me, doesn’t seem to follow this line of logic. Rather, it forces the developer to use everything it provides and it doesn’t give much leeway in one direction or the other. For instance, Coda comes with Transmit FTP built in. Which sounds great until you want to connect to a client’s site to update one tiny PDF file. Suddenly you find yourself launching the entire client web project just to make one tiny update, an update that won’t even require 80% of the tools that Coda brings up. It’s like using photoshop to casually view pictures, no one wants to do it! Having an application that does too much is like having a beautiful piece of jewelry that weighs too much to wear. It may look great but dealing with it first hand just seems like a waste of time and comfort.

Recently here at Imulus we had a production server go down, meaning all of our clients’ websites on that box were unreachable.  Thankfully, we had the proper precautions taken and backups were restored in hours.  Yet it was a very stressful time for all of us and it led me to wonder what else was out there and how much better we could have responded in an emergency.

After a bit of research I found Microsoft’s Web Deployment Tool, also sometimes referred to as MSDeploy.  Of course it only applies to Windows Servers with IIS, so if you are looking for another OS/web server solution this article is not for you.

I was somewhat skeptical at first because, well, I’m skeptical of everything.  They even call me the skeptic here at work.  It also seemed a lot of people that were writing about it were fanboys and it was a very new product (I started testing when this product was still a release candidate).  After reading about it thought I should give it a shot since it sounded very powerful.  Here is a short version of what we were looking for:

• Able to take all manual steps out of recovery
• Backup all files and code that made up the website
• Include all settings, SSL Certificates, Bindings etc.

After playing with it and doing some tests I was very impressed.  The tool does deployment/backups per site, so if you host multiple sites on a server and want to customize depending on site you are able to do that.  You can view code dependencies, backup databases – do almost anything you want.  You can choose to use the GUI from IIS Manager or go command line.  You can choose to export the package to another server immediately or create a folder with an archive of all necessary files for restoration later.

If you are interested in using it for deploying, go get it,  check out this overview page or visit their forums.

If you are interested in seeing how we created a fully automated solution, read on.

Since we wanted something that had little or no human interaction, and therefore not error prone with a high degree of reliability, I came up with a solution that took all human involvement out of the backup and recovery process.  The solution we came up with is broken into 3 parts.

1) Backups of all sites in IIS needs to occur in case of a server failure.

2) Replicate backups to other available live servers as well as offsite automatically.

3) The ability to recover our site(s) needs to be easily and quickly available with fewest manual steps as possible.

To address all these I wrote a small, simple program to help the Web Deployment Tool with this process.  The program has two purposes and can easily be scheduled through the task manager in order to create a repetitive and up-to-date solution.  The program writes two files.  The first .bat file should be run nightly, or however often you want, and contains commands for msdeploy that create an archive backup for each site in IIS.  The second bat file contains all commands for msdeploy to install/restore each website that has been archived.  This second file should only be run if a server goes down and you need to restore sites on your standby server.

To take care of our first step we must schedule an execution of our custom application to generate our archival and restore bat files.  We must also schedule an execution of the archival .bat file our program generates to be run afterwards.  The bat file execution results in the creation of an archive for each site.

Now that all sites are backed up with step #1, we need to take care of step #2.  To do this, just use your favorite sync tool to copy all necessary files to other server(s) and offsite.  If you don’t know what I am talking about, check out Super Flexible File Synchronizer or Microsoft’s Sync Toy.  Using a program to move files on an automatic basis allows us to be ready to execute step three if we ever need to.

Step #3 is the only manual step in this whole process and is quite easy.  First, bind the new server you are recovering to with all necessary IPs, or do whatever network voodoo you need to.  Secondly, run the recovery .bat file.  The file will install your site(s), application pool, certs and restore all settings.  One click recovery?  Yes please!

If you think this code could be used in your environment you may grab a generic version here – I hope it helps.  Obviously, I make no warranty about any of this process or code.  If you do use the code, please read the readme as well as the code comments.  The code is a Visual Studio 2008 C# solution licensed under GPL.  Use your heads and do your testing people!

If you come up with anything different feel free to comment and let us know how you have improved upon the process.  If you modify the code please send me what you have done.  Enjoy!

I just recently got back into the magic of Pandora, an awesome way to find new music and share music mixes with friends.

However, after a few hours of use I remembered what kept from making it my main jukebox player in the beginning. The answer is simple, it’s hard to use while working in other applications. For someone like me who spends hours at a time locked in a text editor, switching to my browser and tracking down a play/pause button 20+ times a day can be frustrating. My first idea was to move Pandora to a standalone browser instance using Fluid. However, after a quick search and a bit of help from a co-worker I found an even better solution — PandoraBoy. It’s a small free Google code application that works similar to a standalone browser instance but also adds global hotkey controls.

You can set global shortcuts for actions such as: play/pause, next song, next station, previous station, vote up, vote down, player volume, and mute.

Once mapped you can use Pandora as your primary media player without ever having to view it in browser. Props to the makers of this app, it’s exactly what I was looking for. If you’re keen to try it you can download it now.

If you find, like me, that you can’t stand the dock icon you can use the quick one I whipped up. Download my PandoraBoy alternative icon.

We’re happy to formally announce the launch of Support Details, our first planned public product. This is one of those ideas which was in the works here at Imulus far longer then need be. In fact the idea was discussed in ’03 and sadly it fell off the radar until this year. Support Details is an attempt to add clarification to browser related issues between non-technical web visitors and their clients & customers.

This idea started as way to save time. To solve odd browser issues our team was always asking the clients questions like:

“What browser are you using?”, “Which version of Flash is installed?”,”Do you have cookies enabled?” “What is your screen size?”

You get the point.

We simply were losing too much time to explaining the “how to” aspect; hence Support Details.

To be useful the product had to determine what browser a customer was using, along with any other configuration data which could be detected. Then, it needed a reliable way for capturing and sending the data over to the person who was working on the problem.

The concept is simple. That is part of the reason we believe it works so well. Yet, we’re always open to good suggestions for improvement and we’re eager to hear your feedback.