What I’m Using Now

The best place to start is with what I am using now and why. Currently I have all my blog posts in nvALT with names that include the intended blog for the post. I started doing this because I write in Markdown which is really just text. Using nvALT also allows me to work on my posts from my iPad or iPhone with Writeroom (read the review). This workflow means that I can’t just attach my images in nvALT and have them uploaded to my site nor can I send posts from nvALT to WordPress without a copy/paste routine. While the theory of working on both Mac and iOS is sound in the abstract, I’m not really sure that it is reality.

I can probably count the number of times that I have worked on a blog post from my Mac and my iPad on one hand, since I’ve owned an iPad. I have written 3 or 4 posts on just my iPad when it was not convenient to get my Mac. That brings the total number of posts that had some work done from the iPad to maybe 10, in a year. I’m not really using my iPad as a content creation tool.

Do I Find MarsEdit Again?

The workflow I struggle with this week (maybe longer) is, does MarsEdit have a place in my life again? As I said I’m rarely creating content from my iPad so the ‘sync’ portion is only really desirable in the sense that New Year resolutions are made, it sounds good but never actually happens.

While I wait for Daniel to have an iPad version of MarsEdit I’ll at least be looking at a way to sync my work to my iPad so that I still have the option to write posts from it. If I can get sync going then MarsEdit probably does have room in my blogging routine, if not then it might. The thought of moving all my posts in nvALT in to MarsEdit feels daunting and I’m not sure that I want to tackle it.

It’s probably also time to take a hard look at MarsEdit and see where my pain points are in other areas (like WordPress featured images) and see if I can work around them. Maybe a plugin for WordPress is in order that helps MarsEdit along by automatically making an image featured on the WordPress end of the equation?

The original QWERTY keyboard was not designed for typing comfort or for typing speed. It was designed to avoid jams on early typewriters, in 1870. As the bars flew up to hit the barrel, bars that were often typed together (like th) could get stuck. To stop this they designed the keyboard to prevent the jams. Last time I looked at people typing there were no mechanical constraints that needed to be considered, so why are we still using a keyboard layout designed around mechanical constraints?

Enter DVORAK

Dvorak was designed in 1936 as a more efficient keyboard layout. With dvorak many of the common letter combinations are on the home row which means that you can (theoretically) type faster. Dvorak also places much of typing on opposite fingers which leads to more rhythmic typing, which should also increase your typing speed.

While the above points are interesting the real reason that I switched was the ergonomic benefits. On the Dvorak layout you have less finger motion which reduces the stress on your wrists and fingers. Most people report an increase in typing comfort after switching.

Switching

As I’ve said many times, I type all day, so switching to a new keyboard layout actually costs me money if there is a large drop in typing speed. On top of that I use Vim as my text editor (or an alternative that still has Vim keybindings) which is entirely keyboard controlled. Not only did my normal typing change, all of the keyboard controls for Vim change. That equates to a much larger cost caused by the switch.

Befor I made the switch I measured my typing speed and found out that while I often burst up to 80 words per minute I more typically type around 40 words a minute while programming. Since I program all day 40 is the more important number but my goal is to eventually get to a consistent speed of 80.

To make the full switch I started on a Friday night by purchasing the Mavis Beacon typing software and changing my keyboard mapping and printing off the dvorak mapping as a visual reference from Wikipedia. With that all set I stared with the first lesson and spent a few hours learning the new layout. I did the same on Saturday and Sunday, just typed and typed and typed.

I also found keybr.com which has the advantage that you’re not typing words really, just common letter combinations. Since much of what you type is not a word it let’s you concentrate on the letters instead of reading the words and trying to translate them in to key pushes. You can also track you stats here for a record of how you are doing, and it even tracks the errors you make.

Probably the hardest most confusing part is the dang keys. I did not change the keys on the keyboard around to match dvorak layout. This means that looking simply punishes you for not fully touch typing. This is not a bad thing. I’d recommend not changing the keys so that you have to learn to touch type, no cheating.

The original plan was to change back for work on Monday and do the training for a few more weeks and make the full switch at some point.

I found that all the practice I had done made ‘normal’ typing hard. I figured I was fighting it anyway so I figured that I might as well make the switch.

Progress

The general consensus is that, just like any skill, it will take a few weeks to become good with dvorak. By the middle of the week I didn’t need to check the paper reference

Even fighting the layout on the first Monday my error rate was low (99%) so while I was only typing 20 words a minute I was making almost no mistakes (I did make a number of mistakes before).

After two weeks in I can type at 40 – 45 words a minute with a 99% accuracy rate. The accuracy rate is what makes this really a benefit to my overall typing and means that though my raw numbers are still a bit lower than before the gap is far smaller than the numbers indicate.

Switching Back

Some people say that they can switch between QWERTY and dvorak, I haven’t tried it and don’t plan on it till I’ve got a few more months of practice under my belt. I won’t know if I am a person that can switch between the two layouts for a while longer.

For my iPhone and iPad I have not found any useful dvorak keyboard, nor have I had any problem typing. The change is effortless for me. I would assume that because of the change in context, laptop vs on screen keyboard, my brain easily ‘throws a switch’ and I think in QWERTY again.

What About Programming?

Dvorak was designed for typing the English language fast, not for programming. Most programming languages involve a high volume of punctuation, much higher than normal English language typing.

To combat this the programmers dvorak was introduced which moves a bunch of the number keys around along with brace types. I have not really had an issue with the placement of punctuation and just can’t see a good reason to learn a variation to an already reasonably obscure keyboard layout.

The point of Vim in the control modes and keys. With dvorak you change the movement keys away from the home row under your right hand. ‘JK’ are now where ‘CV’ are on a QWERTY keyboard and ‘HL’ are where ‘JP’ were. I haven’t bothered to change the layout around and every article I have read on the dvorak layout for Vim users says just to stick with the default mappings, you’ll learn it.

Gotcha

There are a few little things that can get you when making the switch.

1. OSX Lion boots from cold to QWERTY so typing your password when you start the machine caught me off guard. I’m told you can change this but I have not bothered looking.
2. OSX Lion wakes from sleep in dvorak not QWERTY. I first thought that it would be the same as when you booted the computer, but it’s not.
3. Some applications map their keyboard commands to the key you press not the letter. Take Reeder as an example, the movement keys stay on the home row instead of moving with the letters. This just means that they register that you pressed key 18 not that you pressed a specific letter. Applications are all over the place on this.
4. I had a bunch of hand cramps the first week. I guess that the change of hand movement is something that my hands just were not up for. Never stopped me from typing just meant a few more breaks in the day to stretch my hands.

Other Dvorak Articles and Resources

• Matt Mullenweg Types Dvorak
• DVZine
• The Dvorak Keyboard and You
• 7 Reasons to Switch to the Dvorak Layout

My most recent keyboard purchase was the Microsoft Arc keyboard (aff link). The main reasons I wanted to try this keyboard out were its compact size and the fact that it’s wireless. I prefer fully ergonimic keyboards and I hoped that the slight upward curve in the keyboard would be enough to keep my wrists from getting sore since I’ve had a long standing issue with carpal tunnel from lots and lots of cycling with poor wrist posture. I’ve also had a great experience with a Microsoft Arc mouse (aff link) for travel and even for a sort time as my main mouse. It’s been a solid product for a few years.

To give this keyboard a real decent go I used it exclusively for a month. It was my day in day out keyboard getting at least 160 hours of work.

Great Points

First off I love how small the keyboard is. I’ve got a small desk for the simple fact that if you only have enough room for a keyboard mouse and cup of coffee you can’t ever let your desk become cluttered. One piece of paper on the desk for reference is totally workable but it’s enough of a nuisance that once I’m done the paper has to go away. My former keyboard of choice, the Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 (aff link), is simply too big for my desk now. The Microsoft Arc is a perfect size without being silly small like you get with some other ‘portable’ keyboards. The keys are still close enough to fullsize that you don’t notice the transition. I’ve previously owned a netbook with a cramped keyboard and sure I got used to it but it never felt totally comfortable.

The small footprint of the Arc fits perfect on the desk.

Secondly I’m adverse to wires and obviously avoid their clutter whenever possible. The Arc has no wires at all but comes with a USB dongle to wirelessly communicate with your computer. Under the keyboard is a little recessed area that the USB dongle sits in when you’re not using it. Simply remove the dongle from it’s storage space, plug it in to a free USB port and you’re off to the races. If you’d like you can download the Microsoft Intellisense drivers which will give you a bit more control over the keyboard function but it’s certainly not required if you’d just like to use it as a keyboard. The volume controls even work out of the box with iTunes. I don’t really use any of the other keys for Exposé or Mission Control regularly so I don’t miss them. If I do end up needing them then I can simply reach over to my laptop and use the keys, if you’re on an iMac you’re not going to have that option so take a careful look at what you use for you’re secondary function keys.

USB dongle storage

The Arc also comes with a nice little bag to protect the keyboard for travel. It fits tight without being so tight you have a tough time getting the keyboard back in it’s packaging. Obviously if you’re using the Arc as your main keyboard the bag is going to sit somewhere unused but if you take it travelling you can know that the keyboard is reasonably protected in your baggage.

Often mobile keyboards have pretty crappy keys. Overall the keys on the Arc feel pretty decent. Sure they’re not quite as nice as my MS 4000 but they’re not terrible and with a few exceptions I’m going to get in to later, I’d say they’re at least as good as the ones on Apple Wireless keyboard or my MacBook Pro and I’m totally fine with those keys.

While looking at the keyboard in the store the overall height was giving me pause. I’ve use the Apple keyboard’s (wired and wireless) and they’ve always been way to low for me. I end putting the Apple keyboards on a magazine to make them approach anything near comfortable. Once I’ve done that they are tall enough and thus reasonably comfortable (but not ergonomic at all) but it’s dang ugly and given a choice I like an aesthetically pleasing work area. The Arc keyboard is not very tall but it doesn’t feel as low as the Apple keyboards. Granted this is a different desk setup from my previous one and I’ve never used the Apple keyboard with this posture so it might be okay but given two years of trying to make an Apple keyboard work I’m skeptical that a different posture would fix the faulty ‘minimal’ design. After a month of use the Arc never felt like it was too short for all day typisting. (yeah that’s not a word)

While many Mac users would be annoyed by the lack of a Mac specific keyboard layout it doesn’t bother me at all. You can configure the keys to function in the same layout as they would on your Mac so it’s not like you have to learn a new keyboard layout. The little stickers don’t match, get over yourself.

Meh

My biggest complaint about the keyboard is the keys on the top corners, specifically the ‘escape’ key. I use Vim all day for programming which means copious use of the escape key and it frankly sucks. It barely moves when you hit it and you’ve got to hit it hard to make it work. The same complaint is applicable to the delete key but I use that much less so it never annoyed me.

Others will also hate the arrow keys. While the standard Apple arrow keys are half sized the Arc provides a single square which is supposed to be all four directions. As I mentioned I use Vim so I rarely use the arrow keys and they were not a real problem for me. Yes sometimes I did click up when I meant to use the right arrow but not often enough to be of any real annoyance. I can certainly see how anyone that uses the arrow keys regularly would hate them. They do have the same ‘too short’ response of the escape key.

Single button for all keys on the Microsoft Arc keyboard

My second complaint about the keys is that the backspace key squeaks something fierce. Maybe I’ve got a funky model that just happens to have a funny backspace key or maybe I just use it way too much (lack of typing accuracy anyone) but in a month of use backspace squeaks if I press it at all. It still works works and I don’t have to press it hard but it’s dang annoying and makes me wonder if the key is going to wear out prematurely. When you use something daily little things like a squeaky key become big problems.

While I love that the keyboard is black and thus matches my black desk, the sort of glossy finish is a magnet for finger prints which drives me bonkers. I’m probably a bit OCD in that I clean the outside rim of the keyboard a few times a day because it’s got smudges on it. If smudges on things bug you in general stay away from this keyboard or you might end up with a clinical diagnosis of OCD.

I also dislike the lack of configuration available for the keyboard. Sure the Intellisense drivers let you deal with the function keys but that’s it. After digging around online it seems that with the Windows version of the software you can change what the Capslock key does. As I’ve mentioned a few times I code with Vim and I’d rather have the capslock key be escape, something that I haven’t found a way to accomplish even with Keyboard Maestro. Even if I could just turn it off instead of remapping it I’d be happy.

Coming hot on the heals of not being able to change the function of the capslock key, is the complaint that there is no visual indicator that you’ve got the capslock key on. For me it’s not a big issue but I can certainly understand why it would be for others.

Finally while the keyboard is wireless it’s not a Bluetooth keyboard so that means you’ve got something else to plug in. If you’re going to use this as a travel keyboard then you’ve got another thing to use. I am continually amazed/baffled at new wireless keyboards and mice that don’t just use Bluetooth. All Macs have Bluetooth built in and a most of the laptops I’ve seen lately. Why add another item to the mix when there is a perfectly valide wireless technology available?

Verdict

The real question is will the Microsoft Arc continue to be the keyboard I use? Nope. I’ve found over the last month that my wrist pain has increased, well actually it’s started again. Because of the pain I’ve been moving my old MS 4000 back on to the desk for prolonged typing. The Arc isn’t a bad keyboard, I typed this article on it, it’s just not quite what I need to keep my wrists healthy and happy. I’m going to keep it around for travel since it would allow me to put my MBP on a raised surface so I’m not looking down all the time. A perfect use of it would have been for my 8 weeks spent with family this summer. I didn’t have the room for a full keyboard and I was working every day. Over the course of 8 weeks my neck got progressively more sore and having the laptop raised up would have prevented the neck strain.

If you are looking for a portable/small keyboard that has good keys and don’t mind the issues I’ve noted on the finish, escape and delete keys, and you don’t use the arrow keys much this might be the perfect keyboard for you.

The Henge Docks are a beautiful piece of kit designed to vertically dock your Mac laptop. All of the cables route out the bottom of the dock so everything is nice and clean on your desk and everyone knows a clean desk is a must have. To get a good idea of the Henge Dock in action watch their video I’ve embedded below.

Initial Impressions

Once I got past my initial excitement at a new piece of gear for my office I realized that there were a few little things that made the Henge Dock not quite as nice as I had thought.

First off is the fact that they didn’t take the time to make sure that their logo was on the same side as the Apple logo on top of the machine. I’ve got a wicked IronMan sticker on the top of my machine and I’d like to show it off but that also means I’ve got to show off all the little bolts that hold the cables in place. Sure not something that’s a deal breaker on the device but it’s obviously something that just didn’t have that last little bit of thought put in to it.

Henge docks puts the Apple logo on the wrong side. It's the little details that make a good product great.

Overall I really liked the dock and the fact that it cleaned up my work area. I didn’t miss having two monitors since I’ve found over the last year that two monitors just increases the chance that I’ll put Twitter on one and get distracted. I loved that at night I could just stick the laptop in and know I’d have a full charge by the end of the day. It’s a bit annoying that you can’t power the machine on while in the dock and if you use your SD card slot often you’re kinda out of luck since it’s buried under the dock. You can pick the dock up and then get access to it but I doubt anyone is really going to do that.

6 Months In

After 6 months I’ve just retired the Henge Dock. On top of the little things listed above I’ve started to have functional problems with it. Every few weeks I’ve got to reseat my video cable because it’s not connecting to my monitor at all. As soon as I pull it out of the dock and just connect the loose cables everything works fine.

In my effort to get the video cable seated properly and not slip I also cracked the stand. Yup make the bolts to tight and you’re going to crack the little pieces of plastic that divide the individual ports up. Heck it’s just plastic so of course too much pressure would break it and it’s good that the dock cracked instead of the cable but it still sucks. If the dock was built out of aluminium to match the MBP it obviously wouldn’t break but of course then the pressure would be placed on the cables, and I’d be afraid of the Apple video cable breaking. It’s unlikely that you’d be able to break the rubbery/plastic of USB or audio cables and since they’re cheap it wouldn’t really matter much anyway.

It’s also worth noting that I only had the power, USB, audio, and video cable installed. That’s about the minimum required to actually use the computer. I actually ran it without the audio cable via my Bluetooth headphones for a while as well and despite removing the options for a ‘bad fit’ in the dock I still had video issues.

Recommendation

I’m not upset about my purchase really just disappointed in the final product. I’ve found that it’s not really durable and that no matter how I worked with the video cable I’ve had issues with the monitor connecting. I haven’t seen anyone else report these issues so it’s possible that I’m in the minority but it’s still something to think about.

Would I buy a new one? Yes. If Henge comes out with something that has the potential to resolve my video connection issues by allowing me to have the cable tight enough that it doesn’t slip I’m all in. I still think that Henge has the best looking dock out there. I’d even still buy it if they didn’t fix the logo/bolt issue, but if I can’t actually use my computer without fail then the dock is entirely useless to me.

If you’d like to support the site and are looking at purchasing a Henge Dock here is an Amazon link.

Update September 14 2011

Someone at Henge read this review and offered to replace my cracked dock at no charge. They also mentioned that because MBP ports are actually behind the case not through it, it’s possible that they could be out of alignment which would cause my wonky video connection. I’ve opened this up a few times to add RAM and swap in a new HDD so it’s entirely possible that I’ve mucked up the ports. A quick visual inspection leads me to believe they’re a bit off so when I get the new SSD in the mail and before I start using the new Henge Dock I’ll work at realigning them and see where we go.

It’s not so much the reading process of a unified inbox that I dislike. It’s nice to be able to quickly zip through all of your incoming mail and sort it. It’s nice to not have to switch inboxes to see all of your email. What I hate is the writing process of the email.

With a unified inbox whatever your ‘default’ email account is will be placed in the ‘from’ address when sending a new email. Sure this makes sense but I have 5 emails (way too many I know) and I don’t want some people corresponding with some accounts. I don’t really want my business clients to have my personal email address.

Having a unified inbox while sending email increases the cognitive burden of email. Now I not only have to think about my reply I have to remember to make sure it’s coming from the proper email address. I have to take my fingers off the keyboard get my mouse and select the proper email account. Moving your fingers off the keyboard is slow if you’re typing 90% of the time like me.

Three times in a week I’ve sent an email to a client from an account I really shouldn’t have. No the world won’t blow up but it looks less professional. Because of the increase in cognitive burden that comes with sending email from a unified inbox I hate having one. I truly don’t understand why people love having a unified inbox, just means I have more work to do over a medium I don’t really like.

Can anyone tell my why you love a unified inbox? At this point I’ve turned it off in Sparrow.

Scenario

My use case is that I want to have the books I read backed up online but more than that I want to be able to read them and make notes that sync with the books. I want these notes to be available on my iPad and iPhone and on my Mac (and any other platform for the future).

Goodreader

If you haven’t heard about Goodreader before then you must have been living under a rock. Goodreader is the best document viewing application on iPhone or iPad. It let’s you view and annotate PDF files along with many other features which I’ll cover in a future review. PDF files are a safe bet because they’re just everywhere. You can read them on any platform and the notes are viewable everywhere.

The biggest feature that makes Goodreader a point of discussion today is its sync feature with Dropbox. The sync is even two way, so you can make a note on a PDF file and save it back to Dropbox when you’re done. This two way sync is what makes Goodreader and PDF files suit my needs. Annotations show up on my Mac once the files have been synced back to Dropbox.

The sync isn’t quite perfect though. You’re not opening the native Dropbox version of the file (it’s just a limitation of iOS) so getting your notes synced means syncing the whole file back to Dropbox, not just the new notes. In the case of one file I worked with recently that meant 97.5mb of uploading needed to be done. This means syncs aren’t fast from iOS so you’re not going to make a quick notation and save it, you’ll need to make sure that you’ll have the time to upload the changed file.

Once the new file is uploaded it syncs back down to your main computer really quick. I’m not 100% sure but Dropbox must know that it’s just an incremental change and only sync the changed bits. Viewing the notes on OSX is a simple process of opening them in Preview and then clicking on the ‘notes’ button in the lower right hand corner. Preview also lets you make notes easily but again to see them on your iOS device you have to open Goodreader and sync the folder which requires a scan and download. This is faster since typical download speeds far exceed upload speeds but it’s still a manual process that you need to remember to perform.

The manual process also means you’ve got a possibility of sync conflicts. You could make a note on your Mac and not sync right away. A few days later make some notes on your iPad and then sync and you’ve got a conflict. Goodreader is set to ask you what you want to do with the conflict but it comes down to a manual process. You’ve got to keep one file and throw out the other, create duplicates or leave it unresolved. I’d really like to see it sync every time you open the program though if you’re syncing large amounts of documents (2GB of books for me) it could take a bit of time.

Goodreader Sync Conflict

Amazon and Kindle

The second option is purchasing your books via Amazon’s Kindle service. Amazon provides their Kindle software for every platform I’m on, OSX iPad and iPhone. The software ubiquity means I’m not giving up access to my books because it’s on Kindle. At this point it’s also pretty safe to assume that Amazon is big enough that the Kindle software won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

Kindle books come with Whispersync which is really just a two way sync. In practice this means you can read a bit on your iPhone and when you open it on your iPad it will sync forward to the page you were on.

This sync feature also extends to the notes you make in the book. Make a note on any version and it will be synced to all versions. All of the syncs are incremental too so you’re not waiting for the software to save 97mb stuff each time you want to sync notes.

The big draw back to Kindle is that the sync always moves you to the furthest ahead page. So in a technical manual you could be reading one section for reference and jump back to another portion of the book but it will keep trying to sync you to the furthest page. This certainly makes sense for reading fiction books since you consume their content in a linear fashion, but that isn’t always the case for technical content.

The second item I don’t love about books on the Kindle is that the table of contents sucks. On OSX you can have a bookmarked copy of the contents sitting on the site of the reading area. In Goodreader a simple press at the bottom of the screen and you can navigate the contents through bookmarks easily. The Kindle formats I’ve dealt with require you to press and navigate to the contents pages then flip through till you find the page section you want then jump to it. Sure it works but it’s not nearly as smooth at the PDF files provide.

Option Three

There is a 3rd option, storing notes in text files. It would be a simple matter of recording which page and copy/paste any required text to the text file. WriteRoom makes searching files easy on iOS and nvALT does the same for OSX. Text files are also readable on any device, they’re light weight so syncs are quick.

The issue with this is that the notes aren’t directly linked to the text in question. You can’t just go in to the file and click on it to bring up the exact location in the book that the note pertains to. You’ll have to open the text file and then the book then go to the page in question. It just seems like a lot of steps to me, which means I’m less likely to do it.

Which One?

Each option has it’s draw backs. Using the PDF method you’ve got to upload the whole file each time you make a note and want it synced. Using the Kindle method you’re dealing with pretty terrible table of contents navigation but super quick syncing. Using text files means multiple applications running and no direct link to between your notes and the corresponding text in the files. Really what I want is a solution that syncs as fast as Kindle books but has bookmarks like PDF files. Anyone have other suggestions?

I actually found PlainText first which is also by Hog Bay Software. It’s more or less an ad supported version of WriteRoom. You can pay to have the ads removed but it’s still lacking a few features that may make the purchase of WriteRoom worthwhile.

Both WriteRoom and PlainText have built in support for Dropbox which I consider a must have feature. The whole purpose of switching to plain text is so that I can edit text files from both the desktop and my iPhone and the only viable way to do this in my opinion is through Dropbox. Adding Dropbox to either application is as simple as inputting your username and password. Each application will want to create it’s own folder for syncing but it’s a simple matter of changing the name of that folder to match whatever folder you’ve already created (in my case a folder called text).

Easy Dropbox support for both PlainText and WriteRoom iOS

Both WriteRoom and PlainText also support TextExpander which is a huge time saver on OSX already but really shines on an iOS device, saving you lots of thumb typing on a small screen. Getting a snippet to expand is as simple as typing it and hitting space and watching the snippet expand. Again this is another required feature as far as I’m concerned.

Search is another feature shared among both applications. Simply hit the magnifying glass on the bottom of the screen and start typing. In my tests it seems very fast but since I’ve really just started the text file life I’m only dealing with 20 files at most. I’ve heard that if you’re dealing with thousands of text files search can be problematic so remember your mileage may vary.

fast and elegant search support in PlainText and WriteRoom iOS

WriteRoom starts to pull away from PlainText in it’s interface. I was unable to find a way to get PlainText to go in to a full screen mode while in landscape orientation and on an iPhone those few extra pixels, since the top menu bar remains showing, make a big difference.

While they both also share the same interface on initial start WriteRoom offers a number of configuration options. You could set a dark background with green text or a blue background with white text, but only if you’re using WriteRoom.

WriteRoom iOS provides some extra display options

Not only does WriteRoom offer colour options that are unavailable in PlainText, it also offers choices in fonts, font sizes, and line height that are lacking in it’s cheaper priced sibling. Even the stock font in WriteRoom feels much easier to read than what is supplied in PlainText.

The final question is, which one should you buy. I’d say download PlainText and give it a go. If the ads, font and loss of full screen don’t bother you then you’ve got a free solution. If you can’t stand the ads 1.99 removes them and you’ve got a cheap solution. If you dislike the font and want those extra few pixels get WriteRoom, it’s only 4.99 so it’s still cheap. I found enough annoying about PlainText that I forked out for WriteRoom. I haven’t spent enough time with it to really know if that’s where I’ll stop bit it was good enough to write this 600 word blog post on and that ain’t bad.

iPad

Both PlainText and WriteRoom are universal applications, which mean they work on iPad’s as well. I got an iPad on Saturday so I can tell you that WriteRoom is pretty nice. It works the same as the iPhone version. When in landscape mode you can make the text go in to fullscreen which is pretty awesome. The addition of the landscape keyboard makes writing full blog posts pretty easy. Outside of that I don’t have enough experience with the iPad versions to feel like I can give them a solid opinion. So far they seem to be just as awesome on the iPad as they are on the iPhone, I expect that I’ll continue to like them.

Disclaimer

I paid for all of the applications myself but most of the links above are affiliate links.

In the episode they talk a bunch about using text files for storage of items and it made me realize (maybe it should have been obvious) that OmniFocus is really only for items that are actionable. Storing random ideas for application reviews, which often only consist of the name of the application, is not a good use of OmniFocus. I can’t do Wunderlist so it’s not an actionable item and why is it in OmniFocus?

I certainly want to capture my idea to review GTD/TODO applications and the titles that I find as I’m reading the web but until I’m actually ready to sit and write the post on an application it’s not an actionable item and should be stored somewhere else.

Enter the Text File

With the above relvelation around I moved all of my ideas for any blog post in to text files with the following format ‘blog-ideax-{blogname}.txt’. Again going back to the MPU episode ending with an x makes sure that any type of searching I do will only result in the 3 blog idea files I have and not random other files with the words blog-idea in them.

I took this further when working with my DVD’s. I’ve been in the process of ripping every physical disc to my computer. I’ve done about 230 and have a few items left like double discs and TV shows. Previously I had a list in OmniFocus that had all of the names of the DVD’s in it. Sure I can ‘rip’ each of these titles but again it just seems like too much overhead to me. All of the titles moved in to ‘todox-dvd-rip.txt’. So when I want to sit down and rip a few new discs I can put in an OmniFocus task to rip some DVD’s and use the list to strike out the ones I’ve already done.

I’ve sat with this new scenario for a few days and I think that I’ve reduced the number of items I need to review/sort in OmniFocus without loosing track of things I want track. Since I’m syncing all of these files with Dropbox (affiliate) I also have the ability to easily add items from my iPhone with any one of the number of text based applications out there. Sure there is an OmniFocus iPhone client but to drill down in to a project then add a new application that I want to review always felt pretty cumbersome from the iPhone and dealing with it a second time from the desktop felt like a waste of time.

Disclaimer

I paid for all of the applications myself but most of the links above are affiliate links.

Steps

Any proper backup system really combines a few different items not just one solution.

1. Instant backup of critical files
2. Longer term on site backup of the whole machine
3. Offsite long term backup
4. Bootable copy of the system

Instant backup with DropBox

Dropbox Site

Dropbox has made backup and sharing of files easy, like it should be. All it takes is installing Dropbox and then anything you put in the Dropbox folder is automatically synced online, it even keeps versions and lets you restore deleted files up to a certain point.

I use Dropbox for most of the files for my current clients. If the system dies those are the things that I’ll need access to quickly so I can keep working. I also keep DMG files of all of my crucial applications here. I don’t have room for CS5, iLife, iWork…CD’s when I travel but I want to make sure I’ve got the software I’d need in an emergency. Even outside of not having room for all that physical media it’s way faster to install them from a DMG file. For CS5 we’re talking 20 minutes saved. It’s also way faster than visiting all the sites and downloading the DMG files to install them. Restoring a system with the DMG’s on your hard drive already will save you hours.

Storing the DMG’s in Dropbox also gives me the option of just stealing the wife’s laptop and grabbing my DMG’s to install the software on her machine. All I’d have to do it download them from the Dropbox site all in one place.

As I said above, most of my current client files are in Dropbox which obviously means that some aren’t. My local databases and code is not in Dropbox, it sits in the normal htdocs folder inside MAMP. The databases do contain some information but really nothing crucial so I don’t worry about them all that much. The bigger thing that needs to be restored is the code I wrote for a client site. All of my code goes in to Git which I push off the laptop before I close the lid (and multiple times during the day). Sure I could loose a bit of code but typically we’re talking about an hour at most half a day, certainly nothing that’s too terrible.

Sure Dropbox has recently had a security scare but the fact remains that if you’ve got something online that’s sensitive you shouldn’t have trusted the security to someone else. If my Dropbox was accessed someone would see PSD files for clients and my normal contract for work which I published online anyway. All sensitive information is kept on my hard drive and caught in my other backups. If I were to keep sensitive information on Dropbox I’d setup an encrypted sparsebundle and not worry about it. Anyone that’s whining about the security of Dropbox missed the first crucial step in data security, trust no one but yourself.

Longer Term Onsite

OS X comes with Time Machine which is pretty dang awesome. I figure most people are familiar with Time Machine so I won’t go in to detail on what it is. The bad part about time machine is that it wants to backup every hour by default and provides no way of modifying that schedule. Updating my files every hour is a waste of time and system resources so I use Time Machine Editor to set a new schedule for my backups.

I’m currently sitting in Ontario with my Time Capsule in BC so while travelling I do loose the versioned backup from Time Machine but with the little bit of versioning available in Dropbox I’m covered enough, and I’ve got 3 backups with me still.

Offsite with Carbonite

In my last post on backup I was using Mozy. Recently Mozy changed their unlimited policy to 50GB which made it all but useless to me. The funniest part of this switch is that it was just after they had major problems with their OS X client. Weeks of issues followed by a policy change turned me off of a service that I’d been a customer of for years. I literally just cut my losses and lost cash (since I had paid for a few years) and switched over to Carbonite for my online backup for 3 computers.

Carbonite Preference Pane

Carbonite works pretty much the same as Mozy does. Download their desktop client and set the items that you want backed up and Carbonite will send it all up online. I’ve found that the Carbonite client is way less CPU intensive than Mozy was. While Mozy was crunching away figuring out which data needed to be sent online your computer would be pretty dang slow, no such issues with the Carbonite client.

One caveat with Carbonite is that it doesn’t backup your movie files by default. In OS X you can simply get info and tell Carbonite to always backup that type of file. I do wish there was simply a preference in the regular Carbonite preference pane but there isn’t.

Bootable Backup

This was the final piece of the puzzle that I was missing till recently. Using Carbon Copy Cloner or [Super Duper!}(http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) and a portable hard drive (affiliate link) I’ve created a complete bootable backup of my machine. This means if the internal hard drive dies all I’ve got to do is plug in the backup copy of my machine and I can be up and running. I even purchased an external that is a laptop sized drive so I can simply swap in the bootable backup if I have to and keep going. Since I keep all my current client work in Dropbox all I have to do is let it sync up again and I’m off to the races.

Super Duper!

I started off with Carbon Copy Cloner and was quite happy with it till I got a few clone cycles in and the 350GB partition was full. While I have a 500GB drive in my MBP it’s only got 320GB on it so I was a bit puzzled. It seems that things weren’t getting deleted. I tried a few times to get the settings right and just wasn’t able to so I purchased Super Duper!. I’ve talked to many people that get CCC working fine, I just wasn’t able to. Certainly give CCC a go if you’re looking for a free solution.

This extra piece is great for traveling since you essentially bring two copies of your computer. I carried my laptop and checked my hard drive in my luggage. That means if my laptop got stolen I’d simply have to purchase a replacement and restore my data. While this doesn’t cover me if the plane goes down but I assume I’d either be dead and thus not care or if I lived I’d have way more important things to concern myself with.

Don’t Learn Yourself

I’ve heard stories from many friends about data loss because they didn’t have a backup solution. Stop right now and setup your backup solution, don’t learn the lesson yourself.

Fold the code

Sure we all know that TextMate can fold code with the little arrows on the sides of the editor but how do you fold code selections? To fold a selection of text simply highlight it and press F1 to fold it.

Go to Symbol

Want to see a snapshot of your document structure and navigate to portions of it? Well go to symbol (SHIFT-CMD-t) is like go to file for just the file you’re looking at. I’ve found it most helpful in my CSS files, and it even shows headers in the file I’ve used to mark out sections.

To Do List

Not sure if this is a bundle that comes with TextMate but I love the TODO bundle. Not only does it provide tab completion after you type todo. True it does keep adding comments around the todo note even if it’s already in comments but I just type successive notes. The real awesome power in this bundle is the todo list. CTRL-SHIFT-T and TextMate builds you a list of the todo notes in your file.

Tip of the Day

Yeah it’s not a keyboard shortcut but under the TextMate menu there is ‘tip of the day’, it’s how I found some of my little features. It can even be turned on for each startup.

Killing Whitespace

There is little that I find as annoying as extra whitespace in files, especially when you start looking at commits in GIT and find cruft sitting all over the place. So lets wage a war on whitespace. Simply record a macro that uses the ‘Remove Trailing Spaces’ command from our menu then save the document. Now go in to your bundles and make that default to ⌘S and all of your work will have the white space removed before save. If you’re looking for a visual guide there is one.

PeepOpen

Sure the regular ⌘T has lots of use but PeepOpen blows it out of the water. PeepOpen does way more than the default ⌘T. It integrates with GIT, and allows you to search down file trees. If you’re big on ⌘T normally the small cost of PeepOpen is totally worth it.