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A short review of Backpack
As discused in my last fanboy post, I was anxious for the launch of 37signals’ Backpack this week. Lucky me got a Golden Ticket on Saturday night, so I got an early start with the new app. I’ll skip the explanation/introduction (they do pretty well on their own) and offer a fews pros and cons.
Pros (what I like):
- Reminders (QT movie) are great. Life-changing great. And now that US Cellular is supported, I can get reminders on my cell phone. Be sure to check out the shortcuts for setting reminders (also).
- Pages (QT movie) are like a wiki you actually want to use. They hold all kinds of stuff (images, files, text), and are easy enough to edit and create that anyone can understand. And the “home page” is perfect for keeping track of random crap — post-it notes, a cluttered (virtual) desktop and a bulging inbox are things of the past for me.
- Sharing is well-implemented and super useful, not to mention a clever marketing tool. (People have to register to view and edit privately shared pages.) Having said that, I wish I could share with people who don’t have an account. The email-invitation style of Ta-da is very smart.
Cons (room for improvement):
- I wish Backpack would let me put page content in any order I want. Currently, it has to be in the order they specify: Body, List, Notes, Files, Images, Links.
- Multiple to-do lists within a page would be nice. I know you can create psuedo-nested lists, but it’s not the same.
- There a few minor interface inconsistencies with the content buttons that run across the top of every page. I’ll spare you the lengthy textual description and share a diagram. This stuff isn’t really a big deal, but it made me think a few too many times.
- Emailing content to pages is really cool, but setting reminders via email would be super cool. I have a feeling this is in the works, but it can’t come soon enough for me.
All in all, it looks like 37signals has another winner on their hands. Ten thousand new users in the first week seem to agree with me.