LucidChart Proves iPad Web Apps Can Be Awesome

By Matthew Guay on June 21, 2011 in Techinch

Today on Web.AppStorm.net, I wrote up an overview of the newest features of LucidChart, the best Visio substitute I’ve ever found. It’s been an awesome app for quite some time, but the most recent updates make it one of the more advanced web apps I’ve ever tried. It now supports offline mode, so you can edit your charts when the internet is down. It can also import Visio files, so you can get rid of it for good.

Best of all, it now has amazing integration with Safari on iPad, allowing you to sketch out drawings and turn them into precice diagrams quickly. Most web apps feel out of place on the iPad, but not LucidChart. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my article was the first to mention the new iPad features. Click the link to read my full review, or check out the video below to see LucidChart in action on the iPad.

Read more: LucidChart: Awesome Charting Got Even Better (plus a giveaway – we’ve got a free year subscription to LucidChart for a random reader!)

Comments { 0 }

Don’t Miss the AppStorm Freelancer Bundle: $300+ value for $49!

By Matthew Guay on June 20, 2011 in Featured, Techinch

Whether you’re a longtime Mac user or are planning on switching to the Mac soon, you can always use great apps that help you get your work done quicker and make your day more enjoyable. The Envato team has put together an incredible bundle of some of the very best Mac apps for freelancers and more. The list of included apps reads like a who’s-who of excellent Mac apps:

Billings – a beautiful app to keep track of your time and create invoices
TextExpander – an app that will help you save time by automatically entering common things you type
1Password – my favorite password tool, which I currently use on my PC
LittleSnapper – a great tool to snap and organize your screenshots
WriteRoom – the original distraction-free writing app
Radium – a great little internet radio player
Arq – keeps your computer’s files backed up to Amazon S3
Alarms – helps you stay on track with simple to-dos and alarms

In addition to these awesome apps, the bundle also includes three great items from the Envato Marketplaces: the Highlight WordPress theme, Ultimate Client Manager app, and a beautiful Translucent Business Card design. They also included the Rockstar Freelancer eBook from Envato’s founder, Collis Ta’eed.

Best of all, you can get all of this for just $49! It’s easily one of the best software bundle deals I’ve ever seen, and with so much useful stuff, you’re sure to get your value out of it. And, if you just tweet about the giveaway using this link, you can get a free copy of Smashing Magazine’s Successful Freelancing for Web Designers!

The deal only runs for 10 days, so make sure to get it before the end of June! If you’ve even considered getting two of the apps in the bundle, it’s a great deal. The only problem is that all of the apps are for Macs, so if you’re a PC user you’re out of luck. I’m currently brainstorming about doing an awesome bundle for Windows users, so if you have a Windows app that helps you be more productive that you’d like to see featured in a bundle, please let me know!

$ Purchase the Envato AppStorm Freelance Mac App Bundle – $49

Comments { 1 }

Why Popups, Ad Push Notifications, and Degrading the User Experience is Bad

By Matthew Guay on June 19, 2011 in Techinch

When you get used to an application just working, it can be a true surprise when it doesn’t work as you expect. Minutes ago, I opened the Plugins page in WordPress on my site. When it loaded, I was stunned to see a popover asking me to upgrade to a new plugin. This was not a standard WordPress notification letting me know an update was available. It was a full popover that was essentially an advertisement for a new service, that took over your whole settings page until you closed the dialog. Talk about a surprise: it was as startling as ad popup windows when browsing the web in the ’90′s.

In WordPress, plugins typically only add a settings page, and potentially a widget on your main dashboard. Otherwise, they don’t change your main WordPress experience unless they’ve been designed to do just that. In this case, the plugin, Yet Another Related Post Plugin, took over the entire WordPress experience in the native WordPress settings page. My initial reaction was to think that my site had been hacked. As soon as I realized where the popup came from, I immediately deactivated the plugin.

As a technology user, and as a writer who tries to decipher technology and explain it to others, I find myself increasingly appreciating clean, consistent user experiences. Users should be able to expect certain things from a platform. They should be able to expect that applications or add-ons to a platform will only affect the things they have been designed for.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 0 }

DropDAV 2.0: Making Dropbox Integrate with iWork and More on the iPad, Better

By Matthew Guay on June 3, 2011 in Quick Tips

There are two major things in technology that have changed the way many of us approach computing in the past few years: Dropbox and iOS. Dropbox enables us to keep all of our files synced seamlessly, so you never have to worry if that important file will be there when you need it. And iOS has freed many of us from the constraints of desktop computing, making it easier to be productive (and entertained…) on the go than ever before.

There’s only one problem: iOS and Dropbox don’t work perfectly together. iOS doesn’t include a full file system, so you can’t just sync Dropbox like you would on a Mac or PC. Then, the iWork apps, Omni apps such as OmniFocus and OmniOutliner, and more don’t include native Dropbox integration. Continue Reading →

Comments { 3 }

Link

The 100 Best Web Apps

By Matthew Guay on June 1, 2011 in Techinch

Would you like to find some web apps that would make your life simpler and more productive? I’ve put together an incredibly long roundup of the web apps I think are the very best on Web.AppStorm. The article clocked in at 8,333 words, oddly enough, so there’s plenty there for everyone. If it doesn’t include your favorite app, be sure to leave a comment and share the web apps that make your tech life simpler!