Mobile Web App Tools Wishlist: ActionMethod, TextMate, MacBook Pro

eric — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:34:13 -0500

In order to go the direction I want with mobile web app development, I'm working towards getting these tools so I can produce design/code more efficiently:

ActionMethod

I don't typically refer to a product or service as 'amazing', but I can't help but describe Behance's project management solution as anything short of amazing. The fact that I can use it on my laptop AND my iPhone is tremendously useful. I LOVE the 'Focus'-based thinking that keeps me focused on the top tasks I need to, yes, focus on. It lets me organize tasks into projects and groups and this is a must for me. I've tried using Cultured Code's Things (and others), but for some reason ActionMethod doesn't require as much time to manage for me.

I'm currently using the free account which lets you use up to 50 tasks, but I'm looking to purchase the $99/year account once other life/family items are taken care of.

TextMate

This past October, I plunked down $99 for Panic's Coda to replace the dead-in-the-water Smultron. Now Coda does code editing, FTP, Subversion, command line interfacing, but what I use most is the code editing. It's amazing what it doesn't do with code editing. I can't even auto-complete or auto-close HTML markup when it's inside a PHP file. It also takes forever to render syntax coloring for small CSS files.

Anyway, I should have just gone with TextMate for $55 and used the FTP clients I already have. It's more mature and doesn't have the feature lag and thats-coming-in-a-future-release-itis that Coda currently suffers from.

Apple MacBook Pro 17"

My 17" PowerBook G4 has served me well over the past 5 years, but is showing it's age both in performance and, well, on the screen actually (it has a weird, 2-3 pixel wide vertical line about 3 inches from the right side of the screen). I also can't build things for the iPhone, etc without being able to run from the newer Intel-based Macs. Since I don't have a dedicated office, I need the screen real estate. This will probably come later this year, but it's becoming apparent that this PowerBook needs to retire.

I'm Excited Anyway

I'm excited to get moving on this new area of design and development and, Lord-willing, He'll provide the tools I need at the right time.

Stepping on to the Mobile Web App Field

eric — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:27:13 -0500

I'm excited about moving towards a new direction this year. I'm stepping onto the mobile web app development field! I'm currently nailing down some things for my first flagship product. Outside of the absolute uniqueness of it, the majority of my excitement comes from how useful this flagship app will be to a massive amount of people.

One of the most exciting aspects for me is that the end product has nothing to do with design, development, branding, website creation or social networking.

It'll be a while before I have anything to share on it and this post primarily serves as a reminder and accountability to get it done.