Dork = me

How to Become a Note-Taking Ninja

2012-04-20T15:51:00.001-05:00

I take a lot of notes. I’m talking, a lot of notes. I take notes for all sorts of reasons. For years I’ve worked to create a perfect, zen-like note-taking and writing setup and I think I’ve finally hit pay dirt. This system has helped me manage my information flow so much that I thought I would share it with the world. If you want to be a note-taking ninja like me then begin your journey by following the instructions below.

The Weapons

The following is a list of the weapons you will need to begin your ninja training. Each is deadly in its own right; together, however, they form a deadly arsenal of portable, ubiquitous, and eternally synced armaments. Download them now to get started.

On Your Computer

On Your Mobile Device

Got ’em? Good. Let’s begin.

The Text Editor (your katana)

Arguably, the most important and powerful weapon at your disposal is nvAlt. It is a simple and well built text editor that allows for instant search and note creation plus the ability to use Markdown to render all of your notes in HTML goodness. This app is a port of the original and venerable Notational Velocity and is one of those apps that continues to surprise me with both its versatility and its rock solid operation.

Why nvAlt you ask? Just give it a try. The all-in-one search / create bar is one of the more amazing and most used features. Open the app, type in a title for a note, hit enter, and start writing. It autosaves your document as you type so you’ll never lose a word. Head back to your search bar and type a word that exists in one of your notes and you’re instantly provided with a list of notes containing that word. This feature has to be seen to be believed. There are a bunch of additional stuff to discover (full screen writing mode, different layout capabilities, themes, etc.) so make sure you explore what this app can do. I also strongly recommend you memorize the keyboard shortcuts to make you a blazingly fast, notational ninja.

Dropbox: A Ninja’s Utility Belt

If you don’t have a Dropbox account then crawl out from under your rock, go to www.dropbox.com, and sign up for your free account. You are provided with 2GB of storage right away that you can use for any kind of storage you can think of. In order to get the full benefit from the techniques in this article you will need to modify a preference setting in nvAlt by following the steps below:

Open nvAlt
Open the app’s Preferences
Click on the Notes tab
Click on the menu item labeled Storage
Look for the drop down menu below the words Store and read notes on disk as: and select Plain Text Files
Above that look for a drop down menu labeled Read notes from folder: and choose Other…
Create a new folder in your Dropbox folder called Notational Data and select it

Now, every note you create in nvAlt will be automagically synced to your Dropbox account, allowing you to access to your notes from anywhere, at anytime. There are several Dropbox enabled apps for iOS that will allow you to access, edit, and create notes from anywhere. This means your notes follow you everywhere you go. You can even access them from within the browser!

Notes On the Move

On your iOS device I recommend Plaintext which is a simple and free writing app from HogBay Software. It is a minimal writing app with an interface similar to nVAlt’s. It is ad-supported but the ads are small and non-obtrusive. I’ll mention some other great (but paid) alternatives at the end of this post (see Advanced Ninja Weapons below). I used this app for well over a year on my iPad as my go-to mobile note-taking solution. The beauty of this setup is the ability to instantly access and edit (or create) notes in your Dropbox account on the go. Did you do some research at your desk for that meeting you’re at now? Pull them up for reference on your iPad. Took some notes during that meeting in Plaintext? They’re available immediately when you return to your desk.

The Techniques

We will all have different techniques when it comes to taking notes. The beauty of this setup is how unrestrictive it is. The methods for organizing and storing your notes can be as varied as our individual personalities. I have developed (and in some cases, borrowed) the following techniques over time to increase my note-taking (and finding) efficiency.

Titling Your Notes to Make Them Easier to Find

Due to nvAlt’s incredible (and breathtakingly fast) search capabilities, it will benefit you greatly if you to take that into consideration when titling your notes. I usually try to use some conventions when creating notes, knowing that I’ll need to find them later. The following are a few ways I do this:

Notes About Clients or Projects

When a note I’m taking refers to a specific client or project, I start the note’s title with the client or project name, then a dash, and then a short but descriptive title. This allows me to locate all related notes just by typing the first part before the dash.

Ideas For Future Writing

Throughout the day, I often come up with ideas for topics I want to write about. I borrowed the “q” trick from Merlin Mann and it works beautifully. You just title any note that is going to eventually become a draft with qqq - (or however many q’s you want) and you have a way to instantly search and view a list of ongoing draft ideas.

This trick can be extended to any abbreviation scheme you can dream up. For instance, when I’m doing research and development on something I try to include R&D in the title so I can locate those notes quickly.

To-do Lists

I title my to-do lists with the following pattern: to-do - [year]-[day]-[month]. This makes it super easy to find my to-do lists just by searching for to-do and looking for the date in the title. I use Textexpander’s incredible date completion feature to make this titling process lightning fast.

Those are just three ways to use the power of nvAlt’s note structure and search capabilities to make writing and searching a quick, painless process.

Write EVERYTHING in Markdown

That’s right, I said it. Everything you type should be in Markdown. I’ll save the nitty gritty for a later post but Markdown is basically your shuriken. It gives your plain text files the power to be so much more. This entire post was written in Markdown and then converted to HTML for posting. All of my notes are written in this format. It allows me to turn any text file I have into a presentation-ready document in just a few keystrokes.

Familiarize yourself with its syntax now. Anyone can learn the basics in a few minutes. Here are some examples of the simplest and most used markdown idioms:

**bold** turns into bold
*italic* turns into italic
[42](http://www.the42.com) turns into 42
* Unordered List Item turns into the following:
- Unordered List Item
1. Ordered List Item turns into the following:
1. Ordered List Item

There are a ton more ways to mark up your text files so check it out now. Give your plain text files secret ninja powers!

Armed with the information above you can now exist in the shadows of the note-taking world, secure in the knowledge that your notes are synced, backed up, marked up and ready for service.

You can post to blogs. Slice!

You can send nicely formatted PDFs! Hiya!

You can access and edit your notes from anywhere, anytime. Chop!

Go now, ninja warrior. You are ready.

Advanced Weaponry

In your quest to become a note-taking, ninja warrior, I have provided you with the best free tools and services available in this post. That being said, if you’re willing to shell out some cash there are some great paid apps out there that are worth mentioning here. I won’t go into great detail but you might want to check out each one on your own to see which weapon suits your style best.

Byword

Byword is a beautiful, distraction free text editor for Mac ($9.99) and iOS ($2.99). It is the app I do most of my polishing and editing in. This app is a joy to use and now that its iOS counterparts have seen the light of day, it is available on all of your Apple devices. It’s also Dropbox-enabled!

Writeroom

Writeroom ($9.99) is another popular contender in the distraction-free writing app arena. It’s a beautiful app and really nice to use but since it lacks Markdown preview support, I tend to prefer Byword. Writeroom is made by the same people who make Plaintext and it is also available for iOS ($4.99).

Writing Kit

WritingKit ($4.99) has been my go-to writing app on my iPad and iPhone for some time. With its integrated browser and quick search I don’t have to leave the app to research links, search for images, or get definitions and Wikipedia articles. This is a huge boon to productivity so I keep it around when I’m writing a piece that requires additional research.

Elements

Elements ($4.99) falls into the same category as Byword and Writeroom, but currently, it only exists for iOS. This was the editor I had on my iPad’s dock since it was released. Only recently did I replace it with Byword. Elements is a frictionless writing environment and is a great piece of software so I’m not knocking it in any way. Byword just feels right to me so I’m sticking with it for now.

These are just a few of the options you have when looking for a writing environment. The important thing is to find a tool that suits you and then use it. Learn it inside and out. Then write something. A good set of tools can only take you so far. It’s the creating we do with them that matters most.

Using LESS to make CSS suck less

2012-03-04T13:52:00.005-06:00

The days before CSS were bleak days for web programmers. Anyone remember using spacer.gif or the layer tag? So, you ask, what could suck about CSS? It brought us so many wonderful things and made styling and maintaining styles across sites so much easier. Well, it isn’t that CSS itself sucks, per se, it’s that CSS could suck less than it currently does.

For developers who use high-level development languages (expecially object oriented languages) probably cringe at the sheer amount of repeated code in vanilla CSS files. Nesting style rules can be a tediously boring task, particularly when working with a complex document layout. Even worse, major layout changes generally means major re-writing of large chunks of CSS. There has got to be a better way!

LESS to the rescue

LESS is a dynamic stylesheet language. It allows you to work with CSS in a more elegant, programmatic way. It introduces the concepts of variables and functions to CSS in a way that will amaze you. Now, for you non-programmers out there, don’t be deterred. While LESS does use some basic programming concepts to work it’s magic it is by no means a full fledged programming language. In fact, if you already know CSS, you already know how to use LESS. So, are you ready to get your CSS world rocked? Then without further adieu, let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Firstly, go download the LESS javascript library here. You’ll probably want to make a folder to contain any working files you create during this post so do that and drop the LESS library file into it. This file will be included into your HTML file later on.

Second, create two files in the folder you created in step one called index.html and styles.less. You’ll want to use a code editor for this but any text editor that can save HTML and text files will do. Open the index.html file and paste the following code (remember to replace the script tag source to match the file you downloaded as you might be using a different version than the one I’ve used here):

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en-US">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Using LESS to make CSS suck less</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet/less" type="text/css" href="styles.less">
    <script type="text/javascript" src="less-1.2.2.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>

BOOM! You’re using LESS. Albeit, this isn’t a very exciting example since but it does illustrate how simple using LESS in your projects can be.

Let’s dive right in and look at the one of the more useful aspects of LESS development … variables. We’re going to define a color cheme for this example site. We will have a site background, a headline color, a link color, and some colors for navigation states. We’ll also use a specific, default color for text. Here we go.

First, open up styles.less in your text editor. Let’s enter the following code:

@background:    #556354;
@headline:      #495450;
@links  :       #E58F0D;
@nav_inactive:  #8C948A;
@nav_active:    #42423F;
@text:          #333333;

Now, I know you’re looking at that and saying Wha? What’s with all those @ symbols? Well, I’ll show you. Add the following code below:

body,html {
    background: @background;
    color:          @text;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
    color:  @headline;
}

a {
    color: @links;
}

#nav {
    li {
        a {
            color: @nav_inactive
        }

        a.active {
            color: @nav_active;
        }
    }
}

What this is basically doing is using the color variables we set in the first few lines of code as the color values for each of the style declarations above. This allows you to reuse the color values wherever you see fit. Want to add a border that’s the same color as the headlines? Just use @headline as the border color declaration and you’re all set. Want to change that color? Just change the value that @headline was set to and anywhere that variable is used the color will be changed automagically.

Did you see that weird nested declaration for #nav? I slipped that one in on you. That is an example of what I consider to be the most powerful aspect of working with LESS … nested declarations. The code above will compile as the following CSS:

body, html {
  background: #556354;
  color: #333333;
}
h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
  color: #495450;
}
a {
  color: #e58f0d;
}
#nav li a {
  color: #8c948a;
}
#nav li a.active {
  color: #42423f;
}

How cool is that? What LESS’s nested declarations do is allow the developer to model his LESS code after his document’s structure without having to write the tedious and repetitive code of nested style declarations. While it doesn’t seem like it’s saving much in this simple example, imagine the complicated layouts you’ve created before and how frustrating it was to maintain proper cascading when styling items. It also allows the reuse of classes within nested declarations without worrying that you’ve used that same class outside of the current declaration.

Getting back to variables, there is another type of variable you can use in LESS called a mixin. This allows you to include a bunch of properties from one ruleset to another. For example, say we want to have a standardized bottom border for any number of elements. You can do something like this:

.bottom_border {
    border-bottom: 1px solid @links;
    margin-bottom: 3px;
}

Then this can be used anywhere you want. Like so:

h1 {
    .bottom_border;
}

Which will compile as:

h1 {
  border-bottom: 1px solid #e58f0d;
  margin-bottom: 3px;
}

You can even use parametric mixins that can take values. For example, if we wanted to allow for variable width borders within our .bottom_border mixin we can modify it like so:

/* LESS Parametric Mixin */
.bottom_border(@width: 1px) {
    border-bottom: @width solid @links;
    margin-bottom: 3px;
}

/* H1 Tag Passing new Border Width */
h1 {
    .bottom_border(3px);
}

This essentially says that I want my h1 tag to render with a 3 pixel bottom border instead of the default 1 pixel width. Amazing! There’s plenty more things you can do with variables and mixins and, if they were all that LESS did, it would be worth learning. There are many more things you can do with LESS but they are a bit more programmy (I just made that up) and will be covered in later posts.

There’s one last thing I want to cover before signing off. I know some of you developers out there are saying to yourselves Oh great, another Javascript library that I need to include or Wait a minute. This guy wants me to have my CSS depend on Javascript? No graceful degradation! No WAY!!. Well, not to worry, LESS has you covered. LESS was originally developed using the Ruby language and can be used on the command line (UNIX geeks unite!) to compile LESS to CSS manually. The current implementation was rewritten in Javascript for two reasons:

It’s approximately 10x faster than the Ruby version.
It can be used more easily in a development environment.

I know, I know. Manual compilation just begs for mistakes and human error. That’s where the wonderful LESS tool makes this process a breeze. This tool was developed by Bryan Jones and it is a slick one. Here’s what to do.

Download the app
Drop it in your Applications folder.
Launch the app.
Click the plus button to add your .less file to the compiler.
Right click on your .less file and click on Set CSS Output Path. For our example project this can be the root directory or, for more complex projects, your CSS directory, wherever that may be.

Now, when you save your .less file it will be automatically converted to a CSS file. This means you don’t have to include the LESS Javascript library and can instead reference the styles.css file (or whatever your file might have been named) that was generated by the compiler. This means no more depending on Javascript to parse your LESS on the fly which makes it great for production environments.

Hopefully you’ve been able to see the power, speed and efficiency that LESS development can bring to your CSS life. Trust me, use it on your next project and tell me if it doesn’t make CSS suck less. If it doesn’t, you’re doing it wrong.

Tab Interface Design [Response]

2011-10-15T17:33:00.001-05:00

I recently read an article that talked about different behaviors in browsers when it came to closing tabs. You can read the article here. I read this article from start to finish and it is a well written piece.

The article talks about the placement of the close button on the visual tab interface in Google Chrome vs. Apple’s Safari browser. While I can appreciate the points made (and obviously Chrome’s interface is better) I found myself wondering the whole time “Who uses the close button on a tab?”.

This thought kept occurring to me because the gist of the article is about not having to move your mouse to close multiple tabs whether from the right or the left of the tab bar. Turns out, Chrome puts that little circle with an X in it right below your mouse cursor so multiple reptitions of the close action do not require any mouse movement whereas Safari’s close buttons move causing the user to re-position her mouse in order to continue closing multiple tabs.

This entire point can be made moot by the usage of keyboard shortcuts in both browsers. Why move your mouse at all to click that close button when you can just hit ⌘ + W to close a tab? You can hit this shortcut to your heart’s content in both browsers (and also in Firefox, Opera and newer version of Internet Explorer) and never touch your mouse at all. This is one of the reasons I’m a huge advocate of keyboard shortcuts. They save time and reduce mouse usage (or eliminate it completely). They also save your sanity when it comes to interface differences between apps.

SELECT-ing Column Comments in MySQL

2011-04-14T17:35:00.001-05:00

I started a project today that required I access a client's existing MySQL tables to add some data and utilize the database for a web app. The client's column names are codified into capitalized, 7 character strings that, as far as I can tell, have almost no discernible way to determine what data the column actually holds. As I was browsing around and getting familiar with the database table I realized that phpMyAdmin was showing full text names for these columns below the coded column name. Upon further investigation I was able to determine these full text names were stored in a field titled "Comments".

My goal was to figure out a way to query these column comments so that I could use the full text comments as display labels for the app I was writing (and also so I wouldn't go crazy trying to memorize the column name codes). The problem: I had no idea where those comments were stored or how to get at them. Google to the rescue!! (or so I thought.) After several fruitless searches I uncovered this blog post describing how to create a table with comments. Armed with the quesries from that post I started hacking SQL statements in phpMyAdmin starting with this one:

select columnname, columncomment from columns where table_name= 'your-table' ;

This query threw some errors so I started breaking it down. Eventually I ended up with this:

SELECT column_comment FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name='your-table';

This finally worked and I was able to retrieve the comments for the columns and continue on my way. I'm not sure how many times this sort of thing is done out there in the wild so I figured I'd pass on my experience. Hopefully no one has to waste their time figuring this one out in the future.

Adventures in iOs Provisioning Land

2011-02-25T17:49:00.002-06:00

Wow. I just spent the better part of a day chasing down the strangest issue so I figured I'd post what happened and how I fixed it. Hopefully, if you're reading this, it helps you in your plight.

I recently got a new Macbook Pro and have been in the process of getting all the stuff I actually need off of my previous laptop. I had been developing on iOS from this old laptop without issue. I went to build a project last night on my new laptop and was, mysteriously, unable to build. Instead I received the following error in the build results: Command /usr/bin/codesign failed with exit code 1.

After the requisite Google search on this error I had some links to a few possible causes of the issue. Most of them had to do with duplicate or incorrect certificate and provisioning profiles. I removed them all, started from scratch, followed Apple's provisioning instructions to the letter, and still was unable to build my app. I repeated this nonsense a few times and dug deeper.

IThe idea to check the raw build logs occurred to me and I found this odd string tacked onto an error: "CSSMERR_TP_NOT_TRUSTED". Again, I dumped it into Google and started reading. Again, I was pointed in the direction of certificate issues. None of the solutions I found solved my issue though. Now it was time for good ol' experimentation.

Two things led to my eventual release from provisioning purgatory. Firstly, I did not have the "Apple Worldwide Developer Relations Certification Authority" certificate installed in my keychain. This can be downloaded from the provisioning portal after logging into the developer center and installed by double clicking the downloaded file. Just make sure you're using Safari because, for some reason, the certificates cannot be downloaded properly in other browsers. Secondly, I went into Keychain Access and started mucking about. For each certificate you have that has anything to do with iPhone development, get info on the certificate and expand the "Trusted" section. Set the first drop down menu to "Always Allow". Close this window, put in your admin password and continue to the next certificate. Now, go back through each certificate, change the trust back to "Use System Defaults", close and save. At this point, go back into XCode and attempt to build your project again.

The jury is still out on why this worked for me. Other people fixed this problem with different solutions but, if you end up at wit's end like I did, try this and let me know if it works. Anyone else ever have this issue? Anyone else fix it?

Alarms is the reminder app I've been waiting for

2010-10-12T13:22:00.001-05:00

If you're like me, you forget stuff. Emails to reply to, files to work on, phone calls to make. We all have stuff we need to do but the human brain isn't the best at reminding us to do our stuff. Alarms is a simple yet powerful way to stop forgetting and start doing.

This app hides away in your menu bar, only showing up when you actually need it to. Drag a file or email to your menu bar and Alarms slides into view. I'm usually not a fan of app animations but this one is so smooth and beautiful that it doesn't detract from using the app at all. Once Alarms has slid into view, drag the item along the timeline and drop it on the time you want to be reminded. (You can also drag over a date in the calendar to schedule a reminder on a different day.) That's it. When the time comes, Alarms indicates this with a menu bar bounce and a short beep. Open up Alarms again, double click the thing you need to do and the file associated with the reminder will open up and you can begin working. Once your done, check the item off and it disappears.

Here's the app in its open state:

I can't begin to describe how useful I've found this app to be. I have tried a ton of todo list apps but nothing is as simple and unobtrusive as Alarms. It's a killer app for email processing. I start my day by going through my emails and dragging any items that need something done into Alarms. This allows me to schedule my mornings and email replies throughout the day and I never forget to get back to a client or research a bug. You can also just double click on the timeline to enter tasks that don't have a file associated with them.

Digging into the preferences you find a nice option set for customizing the way Alarms works. You can change your start and end times for your day (great for those of us who don't work a standard 9-5 job). Changing the alarm sound and snooze time are available here as well. You can even sync Alarms with iCal which, although I haven't played around with this feature too much, seems incredibly useful. Since I use Todo for task management on my iPad (which syncs with iCal), it looks like I can finally be reminded of tasks from my iPad on my laptop and vice versa.

Here's what the preferences look like:

All in all, I've found Alarms to be one of the most useful productivity apps I've used in a long while. Since I'm poor, I have to wait until next payday to purchase a license (my trial ran out today as you can see in the screenshot above) but the app only costs $15 which is a steal in my opinion. Check this application out. You won't be disappointed.

Solving my inability to keep a diary: Chronories

2010-07-05T14:24:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you but I've always wanted to keep a daily journal. I just never seem to keep up with one. I've tried Moleskines and journaling software but nothing has ever worked. I write a few days and then forget, or get too busy. I recently found a piece of software that makes a daily journal easy and fun to keep. If you're looking for a diary app for your Mac, look no further than Chronories.

Chronories runs in the background while you use your computer and automatically tracks application usage, people you've contacted, websites you've visited, news feeds you've read and iCal events. The app also allows you to take screenshots directly into your diary and iSight photos also. Plus, you can set and track your moods and type your own journal entries. It even tracks the daily weather for you!

What I especially liked about this software is the menu bar reminders. Every day the menu bar icon shows an unobtrusive number reminding you that your diary needs you. It will prompt you to set your mood, take a photo of yourself, snap a screen capture and write an entry. It makes it super easy to maintain a record of your days with the least amount of effort. I used this app every day of the 10 day trial period.

On top of the app's functionality, you also get a bunch of ways to view and analyze your daily data. You can view computer activity, weather, moods, etc on graphs. You can view your screen shots or iSight photos in cover flow. It makes keeping a diary simple and enjoyable which, until now, I thought was impossible for me.

The only downside to all of this is that now my demo period is over and I can no longer keep my diary!!! Since my budget for software is $0 right now I'll have to wait until I can scratch together the $29.00 before I can start my diary back up but this app is worth every penny.

37Signals gets finger friendly

2010-06-15T10:21:00.003-05:00

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

2010-06-08T08:52:00.001-05:00

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

2010-06-06T17:18:00.001-05:00

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

2010-05-31T21:09:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-19T13:46:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-17T20:42:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-24T07:45:00.001-06:00

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.

Minmal Mail

2009-12-09T14:32:00.001-06:00

In my question quest for more and more minimalism in my computing experience I stumbled on a way to make Os X's Mail app much more minimal than normal. Here's how:

Go to View > Hide Toolbar or click the little pill button in the top right corner of Mail. I don't ever actually use these buttons and so have no us for them. I do use the search function quite often though and this technique hides the search bar. By hitting ⌘-⌥-F you can get your toolbar back and you're already in the search box.
Then go to View > Show Mailboxes to toggle the sidebar. I only need access to these folders occaisoinally. There is another sweet keyboard shortcut involved here. Hit ⌘-⇧-M to toggle the drawer on and off

This allows you to only view your inbox and focus on one message at a time. See the screenshot below to see what it looks like.

Demo software always seems to run out when you need it most but can afford it the least

2009-12-08T17:44:00.001-06:00

I went to do some posting tonight and opened up my new favorite blog editor, Blogo. To my unfortunate surprise, my demo had run out and I could no longer use the software. I'm now posting this through a crunchy web interface with no drag and drop, no Flickr integration, no nothing. Ugh! The problem is, I won't be able to afford purchasing the software until my next paycheck (2 weeks away!!). When I realized how much I depended on this software to do my blogging, I decided to write a review and explain to you why Blogo is so wicked cool.

Let me start by saying I've tried a ton of different blog editing options. Marsedit is nice. Ecto is okay too. They both cost less than forty bucks. I've tried free options, Adobe AIR apps, browser plugins, and even went so far as to try using Flock. None of these solutions offered what I was looking for in a blogging experience. Blogo has everything I was looking for and even stuff I didn't realize I wanted.

Firstly, the interface on this app is slick beyond belief. With no text on any buttons you can still fumble your way around and create some pretty decent content. Draft saving, media access, full screen mode, formatting options and more are all a click away from the writing interface.

Secondly, this app was the first one I used that had working Flickr support. That was pretty important to me and it handles it beautifully. Using images from my computer, the web, or flickr was easy peesy.

Thirdly, this app adds built-in pinging services when publishing and ping.fm / twitter support as well. O don't really use them but it is still cool to see them included.

I can't say enough good things about it and at $25 per copy, it's a steal. I'll have to wait for mine but that will just make it sweeter when I can enter my license code and continue using it to bring this fascinating content to you.

** edit: once I get my license code I'll do a more in depth review of specific features. I just can't get into the app right now

Outstanding Customer service: Bike Light Failure

2009-12-08T17:32:00.000-06:00

I own a set of Blackburn Flea bike lights. They are fantastic, tiny little lights. You can check 'em out here. They have the ingenious little charging device that allows you to charge both lights from a AA battery. A few weeks ago I went to charge my rear light and it would not take a charge no matter what I did. So, I did what any conscientious consumer would do and sent an email to the company. A little under a week went by and I received no response. These lights were expensive, mind you, and I did not relish the idea of having to replace it out of pocket; especially since they were less than a year old.

I eventually received an email from customer support in response to my initial query and the outcome blew me away so much that I felt the need to write about it. The customer support agent asked me to provide my mailing address and they shipped me a replacement the very next day, no questions asked. This is the kind of service that keeps a customer. It would take a lot for me to consider a different brand for my bike light choice in the future and I won't hesitate to recommend their products and company to my friends and family. A lot of companies could take a page from their book. Keep up the great work Blackburn!

Cell-phone elimination and the freedom I will achieve

2009-12-07T22:32:00.001-06:00

I've recently begun the journey towards a life without a cell-phone. I've been debating this move for sometime but I've finally made the decision. I'm cancelling my phone on the first day of the new year. I'll be replacing text messaging with my Peek device and phone features with a Skype account with my own phone number. I'll be saving well over 600 to 700 dollars per year and will at long last be rid of, IMHO, one of the worst banes of human existence, the cellular telephone. I'll post the summary of my cost analysis soon.

The Master Collection: Code Library

2009-11-28T11:17:00.001-06:00

Have you ever found yourself writing the same code over and over again, wishing that you could just insert this code already typed and move on to the good stuff? I have, several times. So I began my latest endeavor. I'm going to try and build a master code library in five different languages to improve my efficiency and productivity. The languages I'll be concentrating on will be XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript (jQuery focus), and Actionscript.

I'm using a combination of tools to compile this code library. First off, for short, commonly used code snippets I'm using a great app called Typinator. It allows me to type an abbreviation and it fills in the associated text. I use it for outputting XHTML tags in proper form, Actionscript access modifiers, commonly used jQuery constructs, and CSS snippets.

Secondly, I'm using an application called Code Collector Pro to organize the larger stuff. This is where I'll keep entire pages of XHTML (basic document, document with css and jQuery included, etc…), jQuery plugins (when I write them), and Actionscript utility classes. I'll also be keeping my PHP related classes and scripts here too. I still need to find out how to setup Code Collector Pro to format my code properly. I need to download and install a bunch of Textmate bundles to do it but haven't spent much time on that yet.

It is a daunting task and often times it seems like an un-manageable project but I think I'll be able to get it under control. Figuring out what code you need to write before you need to use it can be tough and this will definitely be a work in progress. Has anyone else ever done this? Have any tips or suggestions? Let me know in the comments.

Application Review: Capo - a working musician's best friend

2009-11-26T20:20:00.001-06:00

I recently got asked by a buddy to fill in on bass with his band at their next show. My musical activity has been at a low point lately so I agreed and had him send me the songs we'd be playing. (You can check out Orion Walsh at myspace and blogspot.) I've heard him play a bunch of times so I already knew the gist of most of his songs but I really wanted to get the parts down note for note.

This is when I remembered an application I had been a beta user for called Capo. I looked up my license key and downloaded the app right away. For those of you not in the know, Capo is a program designed to help you learn music. Period. It allows you to load up an .mp3 file into it's beautiful and simple interface. (See screenshots at the end of this post.) You then have the option to modify the song to 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1x, and 1.5x speeds without pitch change. You can slow down that killer solo or keyboard lick and learn it note for note no matter the genre or skill level. You can also change the pitch if you want to try a different key or need to transpose a part to your instrument.

This alone would be a great feature set but there's more. You can add markers along the track to denote chorus, verse, bridge, and regular markers. This allows you to practice each piece of a song at a time until you've got it down and move on to the next piece. I love the keyboard shortcuts in this app. To add any of the aforementioned marker you just position the playhead (or during playback) and hit the corresponding letter (M, C, V, B). Using a combination of looping and the control keyboard shortcuts you can jump from marker to marker effortlessly and play each part as many time sin a row as you need to.

As a bass player, the equalizer section is a huge help to me. It has settings to isolate bass or mids or manually set the equalizer. You can also utilize the voice reduction section to reduce male or female vocals. This was great since the tracks are a bit light on bass and heavy on vocals & harmonica. I was able to remove the vocals and isolate the bass areas to hear exactly what I was going to need to play.

If you're a working musician who often has to learn new songs or just want to cover your favorite song, Capo is the perfect addition to your musical toolbox. Download the demo today and see for yourself.

Standard interface

Equalizer enabled

Uninstalling MySQL (64-bit) from Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6)

2009-11-25T01:07:00.001-06:00

I've been setting up my development environment on my recent Snow Leopard installation and installed the MySQL BETA 64 bit version. This was a mistake. I'm not sure what the problem was but I was never able to get the service to start so I downloaded the 32 bit GA version to be on the safe side. Lo and behold, when I tried to install it I received an error that stated I couldn't install because I had a newer version installed. I found some instructions on how to do this and wanted to share. I found this information here and I believe the original source is referenced in that post. These were the instructions:

sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
edit /etc/hostconfig and remove the line MYSQLCOM=-YES-
sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*

These commands worked perfectly but I still received the error when installing the 32-bit version. I then found a user who commented that in Snow Leopard, receipts have been moved to /private/var/db/receipts and they take the format of com.mysql.*. Once I removed these receipts I was good to go.

I don't know how common the problem is but this is one of those practically instant solutions and I hope it helps.

Adobe AIR App review: ImageSizer

2009-11-24T11:05:00.000-06:00

In my line of work I receive a ton of photographs from my production team and I often need to batch process large numbers of images at once. Usually it is a combination of re-sizing dimensions, reducing quality, and changing the file name.

I've been using an incredible application for this called Quickscale for some time and I'm in love with it. It's is superbly integrated with OS X and has a very "Mac" look and feel to it. It is simple to use and incredibly powerful. It also is beautifully fast and reliable and has a plethora of options. Unfortunately, after my recent upgrade to Snow Leopard, the app is no longer allowing me to set the JPEG quality properly. I've contacted the developer and am hoping for a fix soon.

In the meantime, I still have work to do! So I went looking for a free substitute application to fill the temporary void. I happened upon a great Adobe AIR application called ImageSizer. Not a lot here in terms of advanced options (more on the way according to the developer) but you can import files, resize, modify quality settings, and export to folder and such. The app is fairly solid, quick, and small and for being free it is a perfect solution to my current situation. I experienced a few crashes when pushing the software but nothing I can't deal with. The thing I'm happiest about is the final exports from this app. I've been getting an average size reduction (on already saved for web JPEG files) of 25%. I'm talking an 80KB file turned into a 20KB file!

I'm not saying I'll be replacing Quickscale anytime soon but in a pinch, this app is a life-saver. Here is a before and after set for inspection.

Before

After

Software Review: MindNode Pro - Map Your Mind!

2009-11-20T20:25:00.001-06:00

I am a huge fan of mind maps. They're useful for any kind of planning and brainstorming and are a great inspirational tool. Unfortunately, drawing them by hand quickly becomes unmanageable for larger sessions and is impossible to re-organize once drawn. I've looked high and low for a mind-mapping application that was as easy to use as a notepad and pen but with the power of a computer to organize and scale with ease.

A mind map is defined by Wikipedia as:

A diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

They can be incredibly useful and I have used them to jumpstart my creativity on many a project or task. I've tried several programs both free and paid apps. A great many of them were wonderful pieces of software with oodles of features and lots of extra functionality. Which was my biggest problem with them. Mind mapping software needs to be fast, easy to use and simple.

This is where MindNode Pro shines. This application provides an ephemeral mix of simplicity with intuition and allows you a seamless pathway from your brain to map. The app is available in a free (props to the developers for providing a powerful free version) and a pro version ($19.95). While the free version is powerful and very capable the value that comes with the pro version far outweighs the coinage you'll lay out to get it. A glance at this feature comparison chart should convince you.

My favorite thing about this app is the way the keyboard is used to navigate, create / edit, and move nodes on your map. Upon creating a new file, an initial node is created. Type the name of the idea / project you're mapping and you're ready to go. Hit Tab to create a new node and type away. Hitting enter commits your changes and a combination of enter or tab will allow you to create children or sibling nodes with ease and grace.

The pro version also allows you the ability to close and open any node on your map. This lets you create huge, highly detailed maps and keep everything organized and easy to follow. There are keyboard shortcuts to make showing and hiding these nodes a breeze.

Fullscreen mode is another huge bonus when working with large maps. I love the ability to hold space and drag the map to navigate to sections that are off-screen. You can also zoom in and out of your map to inspect branches anywhere at anytime.

With a ton of export formats (PNG, TIFF, PDF, HTML, RTF, OPML, FreeMind) you can share your mind maps with anyone easily. Since the free version can also open pro versions (with limitation) your friends and colleagues can even open your maps, edit or add to them, and collaborate on ideas with you. I like to use the Dropbox service to work on project plans with employees no matter where they are.

If you want a simple yet effective way to plan your ideas MindNode Pro is a piece of software you shouldn't be without. I use it during all of my company's planning / creative sessions and even use it to plan vacations with my girlfriend! Try it now and see for yourself.

Actionscript 3.0 Tweening tips: Preventing borders from scaling when tweening

2009-11-17T10:47:00.001-06:00

I was recently trying to animate a box with a border using the Tween class in Actionscript 3.0 and ran into some strange behaviour. As the width of the Shape grew, so did the width of the stroke around it, even though I wasn't tweening this property. Here's the code I was using:

import fl.transitions.*;
import fl.transitions.easing.*;
import flash.display.*;
import flash.events.*;

var growBox:Shape = new Shape();
growBox.graphics.lineStyle(2, 0XFF0033, 1, true, LineScaleMode.NONE);
growBox.graphics.beginFill(0x124590, .9);
growBox.graphics.drawRect(0,0, 30, 30);
growBox.graphics.endFill();
var growContainer:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
growContainer.addChild(growBox);
addChild(growContainer);
growContainer.x = (this.stage.stageWidth / 2) + (growContainer.width / 2);
growContainer.y = (this.stage.stageHeight / 2) - growContainer.height;
var wTween:Tween = new Tween(growBox, "scaleX", None.easeInOut, 0 , (this.stage.stageWidth / growContainer.width), 30);
wTween.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_CHANGE, growing);
var prevX:Number  = growContainer.x;
function growing(event:TweenEvent):void {
	growContainer.x = (prevX - (growContainer.width / 2));
	trace(growContainer.scaleX);
}

After some research I ended up changing my lineStyle settings to the following:

growBox.graphics.lineStyle(2, 0XFF0033, 1, true, LineScaleMode.NONE);

and everything worked perfectly. The specific class to import here is

Flash.display.LineScaleMode.<br />

I was happy to figure this out since I had no desire to have big fat borders on my graphics in my application. Hope this helps.

Additional links:

Make your own Fresh with Spotlight and Saved Searches

2009-11-13T14:53:00.001-06:00

I've recently been trying out an application called Fresh which I first heard about through the a nano mission on MacHeist. Basically this app gives you a keyboard accessible drawer that contains the most recently used and modified files on your system plus a section called the "Cooler" where you can keep frequently used files. The app is really cool and has a great look and feel. The problem is I don't use it very often and, since I try to keep my computing experience as minimal as possible, I've been trying to figure out if I really need it running.

I realized that I could replicate most of the core functionality with services built right into my Mac so I dug in and now have one less piece of software running during my day. Here's the steps I went through to replicate this app's functionality:

I created a new "Smart Folder" called "Fresh" in Finder.
I set the search criteria to show me files "Last Opened within the last 3 days" and "Last modified within the last 3 days".
I then created another "Smart Folder" called "Cooler" which searched for the Spotlight comment "coolit".

Now, whenever I need a recently used / modified file I just open the Fresh smart folder (which I plan on attaching a keyboard shortcut through Quicksilver to) and use my recent files. I can do the same thing with the Cooler folder so whenever I add the spotlight comment "coolit" the file will show up in "Cooler". Easy, simple, clean, and free!

Blogged with the Flock Browser