Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
‘In the article entitled Apple vs. Microsoft — A Website Usability Study, Dmitry Fadeyev, co-founder of Pixelshell, compares Apple’s and Microsoft’s web sites from a usability perspective, and Apple is the winner. Scott Barnes, PM at Microsoft, agrees with him and suggests the problem is because various site sub-domains have different management.’
Lost your iPhone?
I found this blog reviewing the “Find my iPhone” feature on Apple’s MobileMe Service. Read More >
So unlike most people (apparently), I liked the placement of the tabs at the top of the Safari browser. I enjoy having 28 extra pixels of screen height and felt Apple got this one right. I understand if some people don’t want to change, but to me, this is exactly the type of user experience and refinement that defines why Apple has been able to “Think Different” for decades.
The thing that needs a UI change is bringing back the progress bar. How can anyone tell how much of a page has loaded with a spinning wheel? This seems like a vital portion of web browsing. Adding the word “Loading” on a blue background still doesn’t tell me how much longer I have to wait until my page has completely loaded.
I wasn’t excited about the “Top Sites” feature, but surprisingly, I use it daily. It’s quicker than browsing through bookmarks.
The other features are trivial in my browsing experience.
I’ve yet to upgrade from Safari Beta because I don’t want to lose my top tabs. Maybe if enough of us blog, Apple will at least give us a preference setting to choose top tabs.
Apple released a new beta version of Safari, bringing a whole load of new features, as well as a couple of problems. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the new version and solve any teething problems you might have.
Steven Frank of stevenf.com has posted an interesting commentary of the MS Office 2010 preview.
Be sure to read the follow up.
This weekend I decided to make an audiobook as I was futzing around on the computer. I had a bunch of MP3 tracks ready to go and I consider myself fairly proficient at music production from my glory days working in a studio pretending I was a rock star. How hard could opening up Garageband and importing a few tracks be?
So I created a new music project in Garageband, quickly draggged in a few tracks for a test export, and…hmmmm…no audiobook export option. I must have overlooked something. Google will solve this quickly.
“How to make an audiobook with Garageband?”seemed like an appropriate search. Hmmmm, after reading Apple discussion forums for five minutes, it appears I should create a podcast with chapter markers. But there seems to be a limit of 1 hour and 37 minutes (an apparent bug in GB 4) and it only exports as an M4a or MP3 audio file. I guess I can export a file as an M4a file and manually change it to M4b so it is bookmarkable, but Garageband clearly wasn’t intended to create audiobooks in a simple way.
Fortunately, my fourth Google result mentioned Audiobook Builder by Splasm Software, Inc. After two minutes of reviewing the simple looking product images, seeing the $10 price tag, and the available free demo, I clicked download. The application opened as expected, I hurriedly added five MP3 files and as soon as I could see it work as expected, I pulled out my credit card to cough up 10 bucks for the full version.
A more in depth review of Audiobook Builder is located at aldoblog.com. What I like about Audiobook Builder is that it works exactly as I expected. In fact, it is so simple, it feels very Applesque.
So far it has worked exactly as expected. I’ve joined over 250 files to create a three-piece audiobook over 26 hours long. I wish they’d allow me to undo chapter markings and I’ve read that the app struggles with large (1 gig) audio files. But for me, Audiobook builder is a big time saver and it more than justifies the $10 price tag.
If you blog, Red Sweater’s MarsEdit 2 will simplify your life. They tout it as “Powerful Blog Publishing For Your Mac.” I agree 100%!
Microsoft’s new Windows ad, with shopper Lauren buying a cheap 17-inch HP laptop instead of a $2,800 MacBook Pro, has unleashed the whole ‘Are Macs Expensive?’ debate again Learn More
We recently updated the DAZ 3D affiliate program from a homegrown custom program to Commission Junction. Our custom built application was based around new users signups and was originally designed to payout on multiple levels. It was too complicated for customers to understand, so we simplified it. However, most affiliates complained about it, because we payed 20% of all transactions of a new user for 3 months.
With Commission Junction, we opted for a more traditional program that pays 5% on all transactions when a user clicks on an affiliate banner. Have a Look.
I’ve been using Coda for a month now. It took a day for me to realize this was the editor for me. The simplicity, ease of use, feature set, and Mac design just made sense.
After flirting with BBEdit and Textmate, and trying out several flavors of Ecipse IDEs, I decided to give Coda another go. I’d looked at it a year earlier and it wasn’t for me back then. I guess I didn’t look close enough, because a year later things are a different story.
Panic didn’t set out to make the best text editor, CSS editor, etc… They set out to make one single application that contains all you need to build a website. And Panic has done a great job….Shawn Blanc
There are plenty of online reviews of Coda. Shawn Blanc provides a detailed review much more eloquently than I ever could. It is titled Coda: The One-Window Wonder and you can find it and many other interesting tidbits at his blog.
My goal here isn’t to analyze the details of what makes this application tick. I’m not even sure I’m qualified for such an undertaking. I do feel I owe it to the people at Panic and the development community to at least state the things about Coda that make my life easier on a daily basis.
Coda is about user experience. Very few applications ever achieve a GUI that increases productivity. Coda hit the bull’s eye here. In some ways the detail that went into increasing productivity reminds me of Basecamp.
I love Basecamp. If I were designing a site, I wouldn’t have done it the way the Basecamp guys did. It doesn’t have all the features other project management applications have. I sometimes request new features (I’m sure customer service loves me). But something about the simplicity and usability saves me time. I can’t always put my finger on it, but it increases productivity.
I feel the same way about Coda. Coda simplifies everything about my daily work. Fewer clicks, gorgeous GUI; it’s a tool that makes work fun. I’ve decided to list my favorite features that collectively have simplified many hours of my work week.
Some things at my company are great and some are a mess. Our roll process is the latter. We have web designers and developers scattered across two floors and three departments often working on the same projects. To avoid stepping on each other’s toes, we all have our own subversion branch (kudos Matt). Marketing materials roll live daily, which means my branch is usually not updated.
With a simple Command + Control + v, all of that changed. Now as I’m working, I see co-workers adding and committing files. I can’t help but click the update button. I swear I have the most up-to-date repository in the company.
The Source Control Status Window has changed what used to be a major headache in a not-so-organized roll process, into a complete after thought. I never worry about an svn up because of Coda. And if anyone at Panic is listening, please let me save my workspace. If there’s a way to load the Source Control Status Window when I launch the app, I can’t find it.
All applications have some sort of preview. In my world of development, there are many applications open at once with limitless windows. Having a copy of Safari (webkit) inside of Coda saves me hundreds of command + tabs per day. It doesn’t seem like much, but it saves me time.
Here is a feature I really don’t use but I use it everyday. Coda has a built in visual CSS editor. It’s functional and gorgeous. When I write CSS, I’m in the habit of splitting my screen with the CSS editor in the top window and code in the bottom window. Even though I code nearly exclusively in the bottom window, it’s still nice to have the visual editor in the top window as a reference if I ever need a memory refresher.
The editor itself is much nicer than the DreamWeaver sidebar CSS editor. The GUI reminds me of where the Adobe team was going with the GoLive CSS editor (minus the messy code) before it was end-of-lifed. I know there are many nice CSS editors our there (cssedit is one I’ve used and like) but why? The less I command + tab, the more I simplify my life.
Note: I’m not adding window splitting as one of the things I love, mostly because all editors I’ve used include this functionality, but if you ever need to compare long lists, the vertical window split is a very useful tool.
Transmit has been OS X’s favorite ftp/ssh client for years. Numerous awards, seamless system integration, once again the guys at Panic hit a home run. Coda includes transmit, and modifies the UI to fit in the sidebar. Fitting the entire application in the side bar means usability suffers a little. You have to tab back and forth between local and remote files, or drag and drop files directly from your desktop or finder into the sidebar. To me, this isn’t that big of a deal considering Coda plays well with Transmit.
The beauty occurs at install when you are prompted to import your favorites from Transmit. Coda is immediately populated with all of your transmit favorites with a single click.
Integration between Transmit and Coda is well thought out. In my work process I often drag files from my dev platform in Coda to other servers I have open in transmit. It seems any drag and drop functionality available in Transmit works as well in Coda including drag and drop between the two apps.
Ok this feature makes me Jones. As I mentioned our office has designers and engineers scattered across our building. This means I am constantly running downstairs to the opposite end of the building. I like working out, but I love working less. The one co-worker that used Coda would share edit with me via the Subetha Engine included in Coda. The stairs were no longer my enemy. But that one worker has now moved on to the greener pastures of iPhone development and I’m left running up and down stairs.
The Code Navigator is my friend. I haven’t seen one mention of it in any online review, nor on the Panic website, but it is very dear to me. As I scan through ginormous files for lost “id” tags, the perfectly placed Code Navigator saves me time. I find myself navigating to tags and functions out of habit and not necessity because it is so perfectly placed. It feels almost like the left menu navigation on most websites, except I’m skipping over thousands of lines of code I hope to never see again and landing directly on the line I need. Once again…timesaver.
BTW, if you aren’t skilled at Terminal (which Coda also includes), the grep functionality integrated into the file find and replace system will leave you with a smile.
Overall, Coda is a MUST have for me. I’m a fan and I hope Panic continues to surprise me with more amazing products.
