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Mobile Suite Showdown – Importing and Exporting

Posted on February 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Productivity apps on the iPad continue to be one of the top selling points for the device. It’s no surprise, then, that there are several office suites available in the App Store. This post is going to explore the three main “all in one” suites which are available on the iPad – Documents to Go, Quick Office, and Office2 HD. Apple’s iWork is also available in the App store, but the “separate app” nature of the suite sets it outside the scope of this comparison.

Today we’ll be looking at the fourth, and final, comparison – importing and exporting. Each suite will be reviewed on both how they deal with data both on a local network and to the cloud.

Quick Office HD

One of the selling points for Quick Office is the ease of which documents can be uploaded to, and retrieved from, computers on the local network via a built-in file transfer interface. This setting can be toggled by tapping the gear button in the file screen and toggling the “file transfer” option. Turning the option on will reveal an ip address which can be used to acces files which are locally stored inside Quick Office. For additional (or, really, any) security an added authentication option can be toggled which will require users to input a user and password combination before connecting. It’s a good idea to make sure this is on. Once file transfers are enabled, users can access Quick Office’s files (for locally stored files only) though a simple web-interface, or by connecting to the server through the finder or windows explorer. In my experiments with Quick Office I found that the file transfer server will disconnect a finder connection when switching to another app on the iPad – this is probably a limitation of iOS.

Quick Office HD also has an impressive number of options available for storing documents in the cloud. Aside from the “big three” of Dropbox, Google Docs, and Box – Quick Office also allows to connections to Sugar Sync, Evernote, and several more. Connections to these services benefit from Quick Office’s excellent file managment tools, however features which are unique to each service are not implemented. This is especially true for the lack of “starred documents” in Google Docs.

Documents imported into Quick Office are handled well – even supporting elements such as outlines, which cannot be generated by the suite itself. Quick Office will also display unrecognized fonts in a default sans serif face without stripping the font information from the actual document. The suite handles spreadsheets well, but my two test presentations suffered from lost formatting and stripped animations.

Office2 HD

As with Quick Office, HD Office2 HD has a built-in file transfer option. This can be access by tapping the gear button in the lower left of the file management screen and toggling “Enable File Sharing.” Similarly, security can also be enabled for this feature. While Quick Office has a colorful and well-thought out web interface, Office2 HD brings up a plain list hyper-links with an upload button at the bottom of the page (which you will probably need to scroll down to reveal). It gets the job done, but it’s not fun to look at. If you are using the file transfer option for this suite connecting via the finder or windows explorer is a better option.

The available options for cloud storage are not as great as in Quick Office. The “big three” are present, as are some other players, but that’s it. The suite, however, adds the ability to connect to a service via webDav – so “roll your own” cloud storage is an option.

Importing files into Office2 HD doesn’t render quite as good results as Quick Office. Unrecognized fonts are displayed in a sans serif font (and retained when opened elsewhere). Outline lists, however, are not displayed correctly though, again, the formatting is retained when opened elsewhere. The application handles spreadsheets well, however, and has in previous months been able to handle files which caused the other two suites to crash. It retains most cell formatting, but cannot hide cells. My first test presentation displayed with moderate success. My second test presentation removed the gradient background and didn’t handle a bullet list very well. Neither presentation retained animations.

Documents to Go

Unlike the other suites in this comparison, Documents to Go makes use of a desktop application to handle local transfers. In one sense, this can be seen as a hassle, because it requires the downloading an application to transfer documents over a local network. On the other hand, Documents to Go removes the need to manually move documents between devices (as in the other two suites). Once installed, Documents to Go’s desktop application creates a folder which will automatically sync files across devices. For uses who want to sync only on their local network, this is a good option.

Documents to Go has the least available options for cloud storage out of the three suites in this comparison. It has the big three, and adds only Sugar Sync as an alternative (each suite also offers iDisk, but this product will soon be discontinued so it can hardly be counted). It does, however, offer some special hooks for GoogleDocs users (the previously mentioned “stared documents”) – this is a nice touch.

Files imported into Documents to Go are displayed nicely. Text is re-flowed for the screen and font information is retained. I sometimes noticed a glitch in the font for outlines when a document is created in the Suite and then uploaded to GoogleDocs, which is an error which should be addressed. Also, Documents to Go has a tendency to strip out paragraph spacing when information is moved through the suite. Again, this is a glitch which I’d like to see fixed. Spreadsheets imported well, retaining cell formatting and even hiding cells which had been hidden in GoogleDocs. One of my test presentations, however, caused the application to crash.

Conclusion

Each of these suites handles importing and exporting in slightly different ways. Documents to Go allows for local syncing, which is a plus, but the added step of installing a desktop application to do so is a non-starter for many. The local file transfer feature for the other two suites is a nice touch (though the web interface is prettier in Quick Office) but requires a manual transfer of data. Again, this is a non-starter for many users.

Each suite has the “big three” cloud storage services available, but Quick Office offers the most options of all the suites. To it’s credit Office2 HD has built-in webDav support, allowing users or organizations to set up their own cloud storage services. Documents to Go has the fewest cloud storage options available, but has some key features GoogleDocs users will appreciate.

The suites each do a credible job importing word processing documents and spreadsheets, but are dismal when importing even the simplest of presentations (really, don’t even bother). The parity of features for each suite makes it difficult to declare a “winner” in this category. As a GoogleDocs user I tend to lean towards Documents to Go, but users of other cloud solutions will be happy with any of the three suites in this comparison.

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Mobile Suite Showdown – Editor Features

Posted on February 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

Productivity apps on the iPad continue to be one of the top selling points for the device. It’s no surprise, then, that there are several office suites available in the App Store. This post is going to explore the three main “all in one” suites which are available on the iPad – Documents to Go, Quick Office, and Office2 HD. Apple’s iWork is also available in the App store, but the “separate app” nature of the suite sets it outside the scope of this comparison.

Each suite will be explored for file management, editor layout, editing features, and importing/exporting. We’ll primarily look at the word-processing features of each suite, but will also compare the spreadsheet and presentations modules for each app. Today we’ll be looking at the third comparison – editor features.

This installment of the series is going to be handled a bit differently. The same three suites will be reviewed, but we’ll break down the review for each module in the package – Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Presentation.

Word Processor

This is the module I use most in any of these suites. Given that I have to write what amounts to a short reflection paper every week, this makes sense.

Quick Office

As was pointed out in the previous segment of this comparison, Quick Office HD attempted to create a simple interface which was pleasant to look at and easy to navigate. Unfortunately, the shortcomings of their interface choices also impacted the feature set they included in the suite. The word processing module can do basic character formatting, color and font changes, and simple paragraph formatting like indents and lists. It handles these tasks, decently and can interpret more complex formatting well when it’s imported into the suite, but there is no way to handle more complex formatting directly in Quick Office HD. There is no way to customize lists or add spacing between paragraphs. These are two features I use constantly, so their absense is something I feel.

Quick Office HD feels like a mobile editor, which is odd given their decision to present content in a page-layout view. It’s useful for editing existing documents, or creating documents with basic formatting, but it doesn’t seem to be designed for complex projects.

Office2 HD

For an inexpensive package, Office2 brings a lot of punch to the features debate. This suite handles all the basic formatting covered by Quick Office HD. It also, however, has an excellent slate of advanced formatting features. Paragraph spacing, line spacing, columns, manual breaks and tab stops, and full-fledged styles. While I gave Office2 HD poor marks for it’s cluttered interface, it seems the developers were busy adding an insane amount of features to their product. In addition the already listed features, this suite also allows the insertion of images and footnotes into a document. Something no other application in this comparison is able to do.

The desire to have desktop-level features in their application is admirable, and it is rather amazing to have so many options available on a mobile editor. Unfortunately, some of the features feel half-baked. When version 5 first came out, the suite was sluggish – leaving many of the advanced features buried behind a frustrated waiting game. Two iterations have passed since 5.0 was released, however, and the speed has gotten better each time. In fact, Office2 is actually faster on my iPad than Quick Office HD. Other features, however, still need some work. Hanging indents on lists have a tendency to disappear once a document is closed and re-opened.

This is a suite which shows much promise – but it still needs to work out some kinks.

Documents to Go

As with layout, this suite splits the difference between the other two in this comparison. It has many of the features included in Office2 except paragraph styles, images, and footnotes. In place of these omissions, however, Documents to Go adds an extensive array of list options. This includes a good range of multi-level lists for the creation of outlines. As this is a feature I use every week, it’s something I appreciate.

Unlike Office2, the advanced formatting features in Documents to Go “just work.” The only glitch I’ve discovered so far is the omission of paragraph spacing when a document is synced and retrieved from Google Docs. This is an inconvenience, and one which I wish would be rectified, but it’s not a show-stopper.

Spreadsheet

I use spreadsheets infrequently, but when I do they are an indispensable tool for my work.

Quick Office

The Spreadsheet module in Quick Office HD is slick, fast, and intuitive. Functions are easily accessed next to the editor bar, and some basic formatting is found in the main editor window – including the option to format cell data into a pre-arranged type. Other editing includes the ability to do simple borders, change cell color, and align cells both vertically and horizontally. In fact, the same “drag to align” interface which seems unnecessarily graphic in the word processor feels elegant in the spreadsheet. Merging cells and wrapping data in a cell is also easily accomplished.

Selecting multiple cells in Quick Office HD is also easily done. When a cell is selected, a handle appears on each side which can be used to drag a selection across multiple rows, columns, or both.

Office2 HD

The spreadsheet (called “workbooks” when you create a new one) in this suite has a great many features, all accessed through the buttons on the editor toolbar. Included among these buttons are quick borders, and button which will sum all the data in a column (I love this). Data types are found under a dollar sign icon, but advanced formatting is found under an unattractive “…” icon (again, the interface needs a little work). As with the word processor, the formatting buttons span between two pages.

Selecting multiple cells isn’t initially as elegant in Office2 HD as it is in Quick Office. A basic selection requires double tapping a cell and then dragging through the cells you want – a handle appears which can be used to adjust the selection. Alternatively, however, if you tap a single cell and then long-tap another cell a range can will selected (row, column, or box depending on where you long-tap). This would be helpful when trying to select a very specific data-set in a large spreadsheet.

Documents to Go

Documents to Go has an impressive array of functions which can be done with it’s spreadsheet, and can handle basic formatting to display it’s data. Borders, however, are missing from it’s tool-set – which I find an odd omission. The spreadsheet module of this suite, however, does add the ability to hide and unhide rows and columns. This is helpful, for example, when a spreadsheet is used to create a schedule – past weeks can be hidden from view to allow the quick browsing of data.

Selecting multiple cells in Documents to Go, however, is an exercise in frustration. The feature is accessed by double-tapping a cell and then dragging. There is, however, no handle present which can later alter a selection. On large spreadsheets, this creates headaches when attempting to select data.

Presentation

My initial response to anyone wanting to use the presentation modules in these suites is, “Just use Keynote.” As they are a bundled part of the suite, however, I include them in this comparison. I won’t bother with the screenshots, though, it’s just too depressing.

Quick Office

When thinking of the presentation module for Quick Office HD the word, “rudimentary” comes to mind. It has support for the formatting of basic shapes and text boxes – and that’s it. No builds, no backgrounds, no transitions. Just the text and shapes. The purpose of this app seems to be to display, and edit, imported slides rather than build new presentations from scratch.

Office2 HD

This presentation module includes a few more features than Quick Office, including the ability to set a background image. In addition, there are some included slide templates and to import images into slides. Builds, transitions, and compositing features (such as borders and drop shadows) are not included. I also find the presentation module to be a bit unstable, as it tends to crash when inserting images.

Documents to Go

If Quick Office was “rudimentary,” the presentation module in Documents to Go is “bare bones.” There are several simple templates offered when creating a new presentation, but once created the content of the slides can only be altered via an outline view! Speaker notes can be added to slides, in the slide-view mode – but I’m not sure why anyone would bother.

If you’re not importing slides into Documents to Go, it’s best to forget this module even exists.

Conclusion

In terms of sheer features, Office2 HD dominates. It’s advanced formatting for word processing documents, and several nice touches to it’s spreadsheet module, make it come out on top. Some of the features aren’t quite stable, however, so it might be best to save often when using this suite for content generation. Over all, Documents to Go comes in second due to a stellar word processing feature-set – but Quick Office’s spreadsheet module is also a tempting offer.

 

 

 

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Mobile Suite Showdown – Editor Layout

Posted on February 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

Productivity apps on the iPad continue to be one of the top selling points for the device. It’s no surprise, then, that there are several office suites available in the App Store. This post is going to explore the three main “all in one” suites which are available on the iPad – Documents to Go, Quick Office, and Office2 HD. Apple’s iWork is also available in the App store, but the “separate app” nature of the suite sets it outside the scope of this comparison.

Each suite will be explored for file management, editor layout, editing features, and importing/exporting. We’ll primarily look at the word-processing features of each suite, but will also compare the spreadsheet and presentations modules for each app. Today we’ll be looking at the second comparison – editor layout.

Quick Office Editor

Quick Office

Quick office places  it’s formatting buttons at the top of the editor screen. The number of buttons is minimalist, with text formatting options to the left and tools to the right.  The buttons are persistent, allowing for quick formatting without too much trouble.  Oddly, many formatting options are hidden behind a gear icon – grouped with the tools.  Found under the gear icon are font options, alignment, lists, colors, and indents.  While I applaud the attempt at a minimalist interface, I don’t find burying the bulk of formatting options in one cluttered interface to be an elegant solution.

Quick office also displays it’s content in a page-layout format – allowing a content creator to see how their content will look when printed or exported to a PDF.  This can be a useful feature in some instances, but it ends up wasting most of the iPad’s screen real-estate with an exciting display of document margins.

Office 2 HD editor

Office2 HD

If Quick Office to be minimalist in its layout, Office2 HD celebrates complexity.  There are two “pages” of buttons in it’s interface – the first holds text formatting options and the second contains paragraph level formatting like alignments, lists, and intents.  There is, however, one paragraph level formatting option which can be found in the first page of options – paragraph styles.  While is is more a “feature” than a layout choice, Office2 HD is the only “all in one” mobile office suite which supports paragraph styles, and their inclusion as an obvious option is welcome.  The buttons are not persistent, though, they only appear when the keyboard is engaged.  They also feel cramped, and accidental  taps are not uncommon when flicking between button pages.

This suite also defaults to page layout view.  Unlike Quick Office, however, there is an option to switch to “screen layout.” This makes much better use of the iPad’s screen size, and also allows users to zoom the text to a comfortable level without affecting the layout of the page.

Documents to Go editor

Documents to Go

Documents to Go places it buttons at the bottom of the editor.  This is likely a carry-over from the iPhone UI, where bottom buttons are easier to reach while typing, but it translates well on to the larger screen.  There are five buttons in this row – file options, text formatting, paragraph formatting, lists, and tools.  Each button tap reveals a list of common options for that category, along with a “more” option to access more complex formatting.  The buttons, however, are not persistent and actually disappear when the on-screen keyboard is active. Again, this is likely a by-product of the suite being a universal app.  Hiding the buttons when typing makes some sense when using a smaller screen, but on the iPad the vanishing act gets frustrating.

Unlike the other two suites, Documents to Go doesn’t have a page layout view.  It uses a screen layout view only, reflowing the text as a user pinches and zooms the content.  Given that screen layout view makes much better use of the iPad’s screen, the lack of a page layout option isn’t missed much.

Conclusion

Quick Office attempts to create a fast, minimalist, interface while laying out content with a metaphor common to a desktop suite (page view). In the end it ends up failing in both button layout and content layout.  Office2 HD has a complex, and cramped, interface.  It does, however, have two views for content – allowing a user to view content in a way which makes sense on an iPad’s screen.  Documents to Go manages to split the difference and uses a simple button layout and has no page view option at all.  While Documents to Go has some quirks, mostly due to it’s universal nature, it’s still the best editor layout among the three suites.

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Mobile Suite Showdown – File Management

Posted on February 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

Productivity apps on the iPad continue to be one of the top selling points for the device. It’s no surprise, then, that there are several office suites available in the App Store. This post is going to explore the three main “all in one” suites which are available on the iPad – Documents to Go, Quick Office, and Office2 HD. Apple’s iWork is also available in the App store, but the “separate app” nature of the suite sets it outside the scope of this comparison.

Each suite will be explored for file management, editor layout, editing features, and importing/exporting. We’ll primarily look at the word-processing features of each suite, but will also compare the spreadsheet and presentations modules for each app. Today we’ll be looking at the first comparison – file management.

Quick Office File Manager

File management

Each app has, on the surface, a similar way of handling files. A list of files is presented, with various ways to access files which have been imported by different methods. The differences in methodology, however, highlight some of the biggest differences between the suites.

Quick Office

Quick Office makes use of a slick three-pane interface with services in the left-pane, a file list in the center, and file information in the right. Users can also drag and drop files in to different folder, between services, or down to the special icons at the bottom of the screen (for trash, email, and export). Data is presented cleanly, with inviting icons and good visual feedback. Using the left-pane to list connected services is also a good choice. Files can also be searched for in the ever-present search box – a nice touch.

There are some aspects to the way Quick Office handles files which hinder my work-flow. First, folders aren’t listed at the top of the file list by default. This means scrolling through a list in order to find a particular folder (the search box doesn’t seem to return results for folders). Additionally, support for some key Google Docs features is limited. Google Docs allows users to star documents which may not have any other connection other than being “important.” In Quick Office there is no way to see which documents have this flag (or add it to an existing document). As a Google Docs user I rely on this feature heavily, and would love to see it included into Quick Office.

Office 2 HD file management

Office 2 HD

Like the other suites in this category, Office 2 HD gives the user a list of files which can be viewed by a user – but it’s implementation isn’t as slick as Quick Office. First, this suite uses only the left third of the screen to list files, wasting a good amount of real-estate when browsing for a particular file. Second, it always defaults to files created on the device or brought in via a local computer. To access other services, the user has to tap the “back” button upon opening the app – this feels unintuitive. While Office 2 lists folders prior to individual slides, it lacks a any kind of search feature to locate files. This omission is all right for small collections of files, but for people who write constantly, it’s lack may be a deal breaker. Moving and exporting files is also not as easy as it is in Quick Office, and the email function is hidden behind the blue arrow next to each file name. Miss the triangle, and the file ends up opening instead. All in all, the file management features of Office 2 HD leaves much to be desired.

Documents to Go file management

Documents to Go

This suite uses a single pane approach to file management. This makes the interface adaptable for the holding the iPad in either portrait or landscape orientation – it’s also frees the app to have the same file management UI on the iPad as it has on the iPhone. Given that Documents to Go is a universal app, this makes sense of a design standpoint, it fails to put the larger screen real-estate of the iPad to good use. Still, there are some nice features in the file UI for Documents to Go. Documents which have been locally downloaded have blue icons, and a file size next to the document name. Remotely stored documents are greyed-out, giving a quick visual clue for which documents are locally accessible. Folders are handled separately from individual files, creating a easy way to browse them. Also, even though it’s hidden behind blue arrow, a user can star items which are being accessed through a Google Docs account. There is also a special selection in the menu for “starred items,” a nice touch. Search is handled by a soft-button at the bottom of the screen, which returns results for the currently accessed account. Other soft-buttons at the bottom of the screen include – local (for documents created locally on a device), online (for online accounts), recents, store (to upgraded to the “premium version” – this is a waste of space), and settings. The interface isn’t as clean as Quick office, nor as cluttered as Office 2 HD, but screams “basic.”

Conclusion

The special Google Docs features, easy folder access, and visual cues for which files have been locally cached are wonderful strokes of genius in Documents to Go. The sheer slickness, easy of navigation, and persistent search box make Quick Office the clear winner for file management in this field.

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Olive Tree moves into a new neighborhood

Posted on November 16, 2011 | 10 Comments
Olive Tree on the Mac

Olive Tree has been my “go to” mobile Bible solution ever since I got an iPaq in 2001. I’ve stayed with it all through my migration from Windows Mobile, though Palm OS, and finally to iOS. For 10 years it’s been one of the most valuable tools I could carry in my pocket. Imagine my shock when I first discovered that this mobile software company decided to take the leap into the desktop realm! Imagine my happiness when I was asked by an acquaintance at Olive Tree to be part of the beta test!

On one level, this move makes little sense. Olive Tree is a mobile company which is used to dealing with the fluid world of mobile. They’ve provided valuable tools through a massive migration from the PDA paradigm to the smartphone paradigm. Mobile is where their strengths lie, so why venture on to the desktop? I have a feeling Olive Tree, which is required to sense computing shifts because of their chosen development strategy, is seeing the writing on the wall – “mobile” and “desktop” are fusing, and companies which insist on being either one or the other are going to find themselves running out of market-share. Mac OS X Lion has begun the merger of OS X and iOS, and Windows 8 will look like Windows Phone 7 on steroids when placed on a tablet PC. People are becoming accustomed to tools which are mobile, intimate, and powerful. Developers who provide those tools will be the ones who survive the paradigm shift which is already under way.

In many respects, Olive Tree’s movement on to the Desktop parallels Accordance’s movement in the iOS realm. Both companies are setting themselves to be among the “winners” as this paradigm shift unfolds. The question is, does Olive Tree’s toolset translate well into the desktop realm? Below are some thoughts.

First, I have to say that the developers at Olive Tree must be working overtime on the Mac client for Bible Reader. I have submitted bug reports and feature requests which have been checked in within 24 hours, and often implemented in less than two days. As the builds have been released the speed of the app has increased significantly, and I’ve not suffered a crash since my very first build download. They are creating a solid and speedy app.

The interface itself bears a strong resemblance to the iPad Bible Reader. The beautiful parchment background and attractive widgets make for an inviting display. The app is also fully compatible with Lion and can take advantage of Lion’s full screen mode, which creates a distraction-free environment that is pleasing to the eye. Perhaps the only downside to the default UI is the inability to hide the library, which is always open on the left and takes up some valuable real-estate. I’d like to see the ability to hide and show that panel added to the app (note: Stephen Johnson at olive tree has showed me that you can, indeed, hide the library through a menu option).

Users of the mobile app should have no trouble figuring out the features of the desktop Bible Reader. Font Controls, and book ribbons are easily identifiable, and the search box is pervasive and context aware – it recognizes the difference between searching for a Bible Reference and a word or syntactical search. The absence of Olive Tree’s grid method for accessing specific verses is a good decision. On a touch screen it is elegant, but with a touchpad or mouse it would feel limiting.

Tools are accessed by clicking the “Tools & Notes” button next to the search bar. This slides open a panel on the right of the screen which contains a veritable swiss army knife of tools to use. In the panel a parallel Bible can be opened, user notes and highlights can be displayed, search results can be examined, and bookmarks and ribbons can be accessed. In addition to the individual tools, this panel can also display Olive Tree’s “Resource Guide.” This tool brings up a list of every tool that mentions the active verse in the main panel. Commentaries, lexicons, user notes, maps, charts, names, study Bibles, an related verses are all displayed in a well-thought organization. My only problem with the “Tools and Notes” panel is the inability to show more than one tool at a time. It would be nice, for example, to show a Lexicon or Parallel Bible (or Bibles) in addition to user notes and the main text. The additional screen real-estate opens up the room for a more customizable interface, and I’d like to see it implemented as development continues.

Screen real-estate may also be under-utilized in the way that notes and parsing information is access directly from the main text. As in the touch version of Bible Reader, the user must click the appropriate word or icon to display a pop-up window which contains the desired information (often with a button to further expand details in another resource). The animation and display of the information is well-done, but the ability to “dock” such pop-up information into a pervasive block-element would be nice. Again, on the mobile side of development such a feature isn’t possible, but in a realm where a mouse pointer is still present (for now) an auto-updating space with some contextual information would be a good use of space. I would also appreciate the option to display all notes for a chapter at once, synced to the main text. This would also for a commentary reading of one’s notes – the current model of “one note at a time” makes it more difficult to use BibleReader’s notes feature to track the flow of a text. This is something I’d love across the Olive Tree ecosystem, however, and not only on the desktop client.

One place where Olive Tree absolutely shines is in sync. Here their mobile expertise does them a great service. Olive Tree has it’s own sync service which passes user data between devices, and it works splendidly. A user note typed on an iPad, for example, automatically is transferred to a phone or desktop. This is cloud computing at it’s best!

What Olive Tree has brought to the desktop is a well-adapted version of it’s iPad experience which is a pleasure to use for quick tasks and reading. There is no clutter, options are clearly marked, and the tools are powerful. It’s lack of an ability to customize may lead to some frustrations for power users, however, and I’d like to see some more customization features added in the future. For a first move into the desktop realm, however, Olive Tree’s Mac Bible Reader is an impressive start.

*Disclosure* I am a beta tester for Olive Tree’s desktop app, and have been a beta tester for their iOS app in the past. As such, in the past, I’ve received access to tools in order to test features. For the desktop beta I’ve only received access to early builds of the application.

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A Son of Thunder

Posted on August 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

One of the most compelling reasons I head down to Williamsburg as often as I do is the bookstore located in the Williamsburg visitor’s center. I love browsing the shelves, speaking with the excellent manager, and taking home a stack of books heavier than I can carry. Some times when I head down to the store I’ll have an idea of what I want to look for among the shelves. This year, I though it would be a good time to read a biography on Patrick Henry. So I did. A Son of Thunder, by Henry Mayer, is a well-written volume expounding on the life of an oft-quote (though, I would argue, rarely understood) founding father. It illustrates Henry’s sincerity of belief, alarming contradictions, and deep desire to see American’s become a free people.Henry came from humble roots, the son of a floundering father and a mother caught up in Evangelical zeal. He spent portions of his youth attending Presbyterian meetings and, while he never himself left the established church, Henry developed an appreciation for both the dramatic preaching style and the zealous adherence to religion the members of that community shared. This dual appreciation made Henry first one of the most notable orators of the day and then one of the earliest champions of religious liberty in the American continent. He was a skilled attorney, and quickly established himself as a defending of common people against the old aristocracy of Virginia planters. It was Henry’s oratory in the House of Burgesses which sparked the general resistance to the Stamp Act, and launched him into the being one of the first Americans to publicly challenge the right of the King to rule the American Colonies. Mayer successfully shows Henry’s roll in spurring the colonies toward unity with each other and independence from England.

Yet, Mayer also shows how Henry’s influence was very much a roller-coaster throughout his public career. He posited his political credentials on his ability to read public sentiment. When he knew the public was riled up in a cause he supported, Henry charged forward in a stampede for victory. When he became aware, however, that he had run ahead of the crowd Henry frequently backed down. In the moments when he was running with the crowd of public sentiment, Henry’s stature could be matched by few of the other founding fathers. When he found himself out on a limb, however, his zealous oration often minimized his influence for a season. Ironically, one of his most celebrated statements from the First Continental Congress, “I am not a Virginian, but an American” was one of those moments where Henry’s influence diminished. The other delegates, indeed the bulk of the population, didn’t share his sentiment. Henry’s frequent appeals to popular opinion made him appear to be a demagogue in the eyes of his political opponents, and they used his occasional walks out on to weak branches to reel him in.

Henry’s greatest accomplishment, however, is one for which is receives little praise. The mythology surrounding the writing, presenting, and ratifying our current constitution often paints an image of celebratory romp as the people celebrated the great wisdom found in the document (at least, this is what my schools always displayed). This could not be further from the truth. In fact, there was strong resistance to the document – which many viewed as a deeply flawed document at best. Patrick Henry led the charge against ratification based on two main faults. First, Henry was deeply suspicious of the ambiguities regarding the powers of the document. To Henry, there was far too much room for the proposed federal government to assume “implied powers.” This was, in his mind, an invitation for tyranny. Second, Henry was aghast at the lack of a declaration of rights such as the one found in the Virginia constitution. Without such a declaration, Henry expounded, there was nothing to truly check the encroachment of federal power upon individual liberty. Henry proposed that Virginia put off ratification until amendments could be made to the constitution so that the liberties of the people would not be trampled upon. In one sense, Henry’s recommendation for amendments prior to ratification was a bit of a farce. His real goal seems to have been to force a second convention in order work on amending the Articles of Confederation and dumping the proposed constitution. His more extreme stance, however, enabled popular sentiment to galvanize support for what we call the Bill Rights – amendments Henry’s main opponent in the ratification debate, James Madison, vehemently denied were necessary at all.

Henry’s opposition to the federal constitution is often portrayed as little more than a footnote – an alarmist reaction from an old rebel who didn’t understand that the revolution was over. This does neither the ratification debate nor Henry justice. Henry’s assumption was that an unchecked federal government was the greatest threat to liberty that could be had. He also held that the federal government, as conceived, would lead to the wanton pursuit of luxury and indebtedness. On the other side Madison saw anarchy as the greatest threat to a free people, and held that for America to stand in the world a strong central government was needed. The question is is often put forward, “Who was right?” It seems that both sides were correct. The Federal government began assuming powers almost from the moment it opened it’s doors, and the pursuit of luxury and privilege could be considered an American pastime – a far cry from the old ideal of the frugal yeoman farmer many of the founders had for the country. Madison, in fact, was one of the founders of the Democratic-Republican party. This party, in opposition to the Federalists, tried to keep the federal government small. On the other hand, Henry’s view of the world was never very broad. It was more dangerous and unstable than the country gentleman ever seemed to grasp. If America was to thrive, then it needed the industry, commerce, and access to overseas markets that a strong central government could give. Without the federal constitution the union may have been broken up in the 1790′s. Madison helped make sure the union survived, Henry helped make sure it would remain free.

I am thankful to have been able to read this volume on Patrick Henry’s life. He is a well-known agitator, and yet little understood. I know him a little better now. I’m still not sure if I like him (some of his glaring inconsistencies, notably on slavery, drive me nuts), but I have respect for him and I am grateful for the work he did in trying his best to establish a free society in the United States.

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The hidden gem of OpenLP

Posted on August 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

At Central, we use the open source program OpenLP.org for our lyrics projection. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that some of the commercial apps have – but it’s simple, fast, and free. These are three great traits for a church running on a shoestring IT budget.

OpenLP recently releases their 2.0 beta for general use, and I immediately picked up on a feature that I felt was going to be “killer.” it’s not the new song editor, or the ability to play videos from within the app. These are nice features, to be sure, but they aren’t something that utterly blew me away. What blew me away is a hidden gem called “stage view.”

Stage view is linked to a new remote plugin in OpenLP 2.0. This starts a local web-server which creates a nice AJAX enabled website. Actually, it creates two web-sites. The first site (for which it was devised) allows a client to control the songs as they are projected on the screen. It’s fast and well thought-out, but there does need to be a better way to switch songs the interface. The second site is the aforementioned “stage view.” In stage view, the lyrics of the current song show up in a reverse contrast theme, Each “page” shows the current song in white, with the next slide below it in grey. Above the lyrics is the programmed progression of the song, so people viewing the lyrics this way know how the song is going to be sung. The “page” changes with a slight lag compared to the lyrics on the screen, but since the lyrics of the next slide are already displayed it’s not a big deal.

As you might expect from the name, stage view is meant for the people in the worship team. It allows them to see the progression of the song as rehearsed, and the reverse contrast prevents the creation of a “glow” on the band. In our Church, however, it’s going to be used for something else – accessibility.

My son has a genetic condition called, “ocular albinism.” This means he doesn’t process visual data well – which makes reading lyrics off a screen impossible. Since we got the iPad, we have put the lyrics in a dropbox folder his tablet can access, letting him sing along. It’s been great, but also creates a lot of clutter in the drop box. It was also impossible to edit the lyrics meant for his tablet match the way songs had been rehearsed as it would make the lyrics so cluttered as to be unreadable. With OpenLP screen view, however, I no longer have to create a separate lyric file for my son, the lyrics match exactly what’s being sung by the congregation, and the link to the stage view site can be shared with others who might have visually impairments. As a bonus, the reverse contrast is less distracting in a crowd of people. Today, both my father-in-law and I used the feature in worship – it worked great.

The system isn’t perfect, however, there are a couple of minor problems.

First, churches have to have publicly accessible wifi to be allow people to access the service. Routers, however, are cheap – there is no reason why a church can’t set up a wifi network for locally accessible data like stage view and make worshipers aware of it’s presence (letting them know it can only access local data so people won’t be overly frustrated). This is actually the route I’m planning on taking for central to avoid the need to give people a wifi password.

Second, and more troublesome, is that the control portion of OpenLP’s remote plugin isn’t password protected. Any device connected to the wifi network can connect to the local web-server and take control of the service! It’s not something that makes me very comfortable, and I hope there is both a password and ssl added to the plugin soon (remember, this is a beta, there is still work to be done).

All in all, OpenLP 2.0 is a capable lyrics projection system with an active support community, great features, and a wonderful hidden gem. It’s well worth your time to check out!

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Oh Blogsy!

Posted on April 16, 2011 | 10 Comments

A couple of days ago I wrote that I hadn’t found a decent blogging tool to us on my iPad. That was then, now I’ve found Blogsy and I can say that blogging on the iPad is looking up! It’s not yet perfect, but it’s pretty darn close! Here’s my thoughts.

The Good

Blogsy has a lot going for it!

The icon

I know, the icon is a pretty odd place to start a review of a blogging tool, but in this case it fits. Apple love beauty, but far too many app icons look like they were thrown together at the last moment and declared “good enough.”. By contrast, the Blogsy icon is a gorgeous classic manual typewriter which is the same shape as all other iOS apps, but creates the illusion that it breaks these constraints. The keys in the icon read, “Live long and prosper,” and the upper row also has symbols which create the Vulcan salute. The paper in the typewriter reads, “Get back to work! You’re wasting time!”

Why spend so much time on the icon? Because it reveals the character of the developers. They know that writing should be an enjoyable, and even playful, experience. Their icon tells their users, “Enjoy this experience!” Even better, the exchanges I’ve had with developers tracking down a bug (which may have just been user error) have shown that their icon tells a true story. I means a lot.

Rich Text

I can write HTML, but on the virtual keyboard it’s insanely difficult to do. Blogsy still edits from an HTML interface (which they call the “write-side”), but has an elegant “rich-side” interface in which writers can do some significant formatting to the text. I’d like to see a full-justification option, but it’s very impressive nonetheless. This is, in fact, my greatest complaint about blogging on the iPad. I am having some issues with Blogsy displaying as it would appear on my blog, but when I publish things look perfect.

Drag and Drop

Inserting images into posts is a pain in the neck. Actually, it’s a pain in just about every app on my iPad except for Apple’s iWork suite. While there could be some improvements (which are coming) Blogsy knocks this feature out of the park. Bloggers can use the side-bar to drag in images and video from their accounts on Flickr, Picasa, and You Tube. They can also use a built in browser or google image search to drag in images from the web (with a warning that this some people don’t like this).

What is missing is the ability to drag in images from your device. This seems like an odd feature to miss for the 1.0 release, especially if you have an iPad 2 and want to drag in images or video to your posts. The folks Fomola, however, will have this feature in an upcoming release.

Documentation

When you open Blogsy they have a pre-written post which explains many of their features before you touch anything. It’s well laid-out and informative, but has one “cheat.” There is a table in the post, but no table function in the editor – it’s an image. It doesn’t impact the post – but I figured I’d toss out “gotcha.” There is also a series of videos which they produces and show Blogsy in action. These are informative and short.

Support

Blogsy has a great support. They respond quickly to emails for help (keeping in mind they’re on the other side if the planet). They also have an active twitter account @blogsyapp and are a lot of fun to chat with. As a bonus, the artist who created the Blogsy icon saw me mention it and also chimed in. They are socially connected, fun, and helpful. People in IT support positions everywhere should take notes.

The Not So Good

No software is perfect, so here’s some glitches.

Gestures

When you want to publish a post in Blogsy you can swipe three fingers upward and you’ll receive a confirmation dialog to publish it. This is a good feature. To switch back and forth between the Rich and Write sides, you swipe left or right and the page flips with a beautiful animation. This is a intuitive way to go back and forth, but I end up suffering from too many accidental switches when I’m trying to select text. I think I’d like Blogsy to go to a two-fingered swipe to get from side to side.

Images

Dragging and dropping images is wonderful, but when you tap an image there are buttons for alignment in the menu which appear. I still don’t know what these do, and when I select them it messes up how my posts are displayed. I figure that I’m not using the buttons for their intended function, but it’s kinda un-intuitive if you are used to manually inserting images into and HTML document. I’ve already mentioned not having access to images on the device, but that is coming. I also don’t get my expected text-wrapping inside the Rich-Side of Blogsy, but my posts are displayed normally as long as I don’t mess with the alignment options in the image menu.

Editing

There must be a reason why we can’t get rich text editing in any blogging app on the iPad, but I’d really like to have it! Until that time Blogsy has come up with a good solution.

Platform Support

I use WordPress, so Blogsy is idea for me. I’m looking for a good blog editor for my friends who use Joomla. I wish Blogsy had it!

Conclusion

With the arrival of Blogsy my MacBook is going to used much less, and my iPad just got more useful. For a 1.0 release, this is a polished application with improvements already in the pipe! For an introductory price of $2.99,you’re a fool if you want to blog on your iPad and don’t pick this up!

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Magical Presentations(?)

Posted on April 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

 

iOS Keynote

My prayer-gathering slide show

Last night, Central Baptist Church had a wonderful evening of prayer which sprang from a discussion we recently had on restructuring.  It was, truly,  a good beginning.

As I am, according to one of the members of our congregation (who happens to be a doctor), “The poster-child for ADD” I tend to avoid prayer meetings like the plague.  This isn’t because I don’t want to pray with others, it’s because by the time the second person has started talking I’ve already mentally checked-out.  Normally, I just begin reciting the Jesus Prayer to myself to keep from wandering too far.  Even that, however, doesn’t prevent the stress of being cooped up in a room with people taking turns talking to God while I have to pretend I’m listening (and, no, repeating “yes Lord” over and over does not help). To make a prayer meeting accessible to myself, then, I typically cycle through a series of different forms of prayer, and frequently limit the amount of words a person can speak out loud when spoken prayer is called for (not only does this help me keep focus, it also cuts off the tendency for prayer meetings to devolve into prayer wars, with people looking to pray to get the greatest chorus of “yes Lord”).

I am also a visual-thinker, so I like to lead people through the progression of prayer by displaying images and text for people to follow along.  This is good to do in a room where the fluorescent lights are sucking people’s brains out through their eyeballs.

I am also a geek, so I thought that a prayer-meeting would be a wonderful time to test developing some slides entirely on my iPad using Keynote.  Here’s my experience.

Slide Development

Developing slides on Keynote was “OK.”  The touch interface is good for moving objects around, and the built-in templates are beautiful. I do, however, have some problems using iOS Keynote to develop slides:

  • You can’t alter the template.  You pick it, you use it.  End of line.  You can’t set up your own templates, nor can you change the background of a slide in your template.  It’s like the MCP has everything locked down.
  • Slide Transitions.  On the desktop, I can create a master slide for a template, and set it for a specific transition (page flips for Scripture readings, etc.).  I can’t find a way to do that on iOS Keynote, nor have I figured out a way to set a slide transition on more than one slide at a time.
  • Accessing images is a pain.  I really wish Apple would just get cloud storage for images and whatnot done already.  I’d love to be able to access my iPhoto library on my iPad without having to sync.  As it stands now, the only way I can get my images on the device is to copy them into dropbox through my macbook or set up a sync through iTunes.  This pretty much defeats the purpose.  Also – Carbonite, if you’re listening, being able to save my files which are backed up via your service on to my iPad would be really nice.  OK?

Presenting

Presenting through the iPad was a very nice experience, but was it “magical?”  Here’s my thoughts on this.

  • The dual-screen features for Keynote on the iPad are good, but not perfect.  I can mirror the projector, show the next slide, show the current and next slide, or show the current slide and notes.  It’s a good selection, but why on Earth can’t I show the current slide, the next slide, and also my notes?  There’s room for this, it should be an option.
  • Switching slides also needs more feedback.  Right now if you tap the slide changes with no indicator on the iPad whatsoever.  If I swipe, however, I get an arrow showing me something is progressing.  The problem is, while the arrow direction makes logical sense (it points right when you advance and left when you go back), it feels backwards.  This is because I’m used to using my iPhone to control presentations – on both the Wooji Presentation Remote (my favorite, by the way) and Apple’s Keynote Remote when you advance the slides or notes move in from the right.  When you go back they move in from the left.  iOS Keynote needs to implement something similar because it’s move visually intuitive.
  • The speed is amazing.  There were times where I wasn’t hitting the “sweet spot” for swiping or tapping and I couldn’t advance the slide – when I figured out the process, however, the transitions were fast. New notes and the slide-preview showed up right along with the projected slide on the screen (there is more of a delay when controlling a presentation from my iPhone).
  • Switching apps is wonderful.  At one point I wanted to switch to Evernote so I could jot down what people were saying regarding Central.  Specifically, what we’re doing, planning on doing, and feel called to do.  It “just worked,” and people were able to see my list as I made it.  In the future, I can see how this would be useful for doing a group brain-storming session with a mind-mapping app.  Getting back to the presentation was fast, and it came up in the same state I left it in (multi-tasking in action, I’m glad it works correctly).
  • I hate being tethered.  I love begin able to walk around while I present.  While that would have been stupid in the context of a prayer-meeting, I can see how limiting being tied to a VGA cable would feel when lecturing or preaching.  I really want to see mirroring, or at least Keynote presenting, enabled via airplay.  A projector with airplay built-in, would be a killer app.

Initial Conclusions

Is using Keynote to present live “magical?”  I’m not quite ready to go that far.  It’s certainly “magic-ish,” but the continued presence of the physical tether, the lame indicators when advancing slides, and the weird over-sight that doesn’t allow you to put notes up on the “Current and Next slide” view gets in the way.

I’ve also had problems importing presentations into Keynote in the past, which would make me hesitant to use this frequently for presentations.  Here’s my gripes.

  • Getting presentations into Keynote is a bear, and when you import it, there’s not way to keep changes in sync with the version you imported from.  This is a pain when I import from DropBox, for example.
  • There needs to be a way to embed a font in a presentation, or add fonts to the app so presentations can be displayed correctly.  Yes, fonts should be kept as simple a possible, but when I import a presentation from an other platform, I don’t want to be limited to what Apple says “simple” is.  An app like Strip Designer will allow you to add fonts, why on earth can’t Keynote?
  • Embedded videos don’t play in my imported Keynotes.  I’m going to put this through some paces, but no embedded video has be able to play when I present my slideshow.  I’m not sure if this is because the videos will only output to an external screen (they do display like they should play), but it’s a big annoyance.  Also, Apple must open up the codecs supported on the iPad. I don’t expect them to open the flood-gates and get every obscure or geek-loved codec available, but even wider support for Apple’s beloved h.264 would be a big step up.  My Kodak Play Sport video camera, for example, takes video with h.264 and AAC as the audio – the video simply cannot be imported into the iPad!  This is a pain because I was really looking forward editing some video in iMovie on the iPad.  It should work, as the specs are correct, but Apple has it locked down so tight it doesn’t work.  I don’t want to be making a presentation and find my media is unusable with no ability to make it useable.

So there you have it.  Presenting with iOS Keynote is a very good tool (I do love that it just gets out of the way), but it’s not a great tool.  I have sincere hopes that it will become a great tool.  But until then, my Macbook will continue to be present when I’m presenting.

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Hands On With the iPad 2

Posted on March 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

Well, yesterday I stood outside and got myself an iPad.  Now, a day later, I’m ready to share some thoughts on actually using it.

The bad

It might seem odd to start with the bad things in a review, but with my iPad I feel compelled to share the one thing that I feel Apple got “wrong” with this device.  Simply put, it’s the buttons.  Or, rather, every toggle on the device except for the home button.

Ironically, my problem with the toggles is a side-effect of one of the iPad 2′s greatest features, it’s thinness.  On the iPad 1, the straight edge served as the perfect venue for the volume rocker, the lock switch, and the sleep button.  On the iPad 2, that straight edge is gone, and the buttons are almost under the screen.  This is a minor annoyance for the sleep button, which I don’t use anyway since I got a smart cover.  It’s an inconvenience with the volume rocker, as I’m not used to it’s location yet and I need to fish around for it.  The lock switch, however, is a bear.  Unless your finder is directly on top of the switch, it’s really difficult to toggle – I’m actually afraid of damaging it!  I guess I’ll get used to its odd angle (compared to the screen) and the particular way it needs to be toggled, but compared to the iPad 1 it seems like an odd design flaw.  The hardware buttons really do take some getting used to.

The Good

So what about the good?  My son has an iPad 1 so I can compare it with that device, it makes the good of the iPad 2 stand out even more.  There’s a lot to love.

First, when I showed my wife the two devices side-by-side this morning she said instantly, “The iPad 2 is a lot brighter.”  The LED lit screen on the iPad 2 is brilliant and is noticeably brighter than its first gen cousin.  I’m going to check it out in bright sunlight tomorrow to see how the screen fares there, but indoors, it’s stunning.

Second, this thing is fast.  Web-browsing is noticeably faster, and animations are smooth.  In fact, the animations showed no stuttering even while installing multiple updates and receiving desktop notifications.  I haven’t seen a breakdown that tells us how much ram it has yet, but it’s obviously got more than the iPad 1.

Third, I love the smart cover.  Yes, it only protects the front of the device – but it’s just dang cool.  When it’s folded back flat against the back of the iPad it actually makes the device easier to hold and it keeps it from sliding around when on your lap.  The “stand” function is also really cool – though I do wish that it could somehow work to stand up the iPad when in portrait mode.

Using it

The cameras are OK.  The two times I’ve use it, both under artificial light, the picture has been rather grainy.  I need to do a comparison, but my 3Gs seems like it does better video in lower light conditions (of course, that could just be because I can’t see the graininess on the smaller screen).  Facetime works as advertised, the audio quality is excellent and the picture quality is pretty good as well (I want to try it out with someone on an iPhone 4). I haven’t installed Skype yet, but I’ll do that soon.

Typing on this device is about the same as the iPad 1, which means “good” but not great.  I typed my “in line” blog entry on the iPad and wasn’t frustrated at all, which is saying a lot, but I did find myself accidentally hitting the space bar from time to time.  I did get used to it, but it was a minor annoyance.  I’ll get a bluetooth keyboard for this eventually if I’m going to do any serious writing on it.

Video streaming is wonderful.  HD videos in my dropbox play without a hiccup and the quality is perfect.  Youtube videos play equally well, and html 5 UI elements on web-pages show absolutely no lag whatsoever.  Apps in general are responsive and seem to launch faster than on the iPad 1.  This thing is fun to work on.

I actually haven’t played a single game on the iPad yet.  I have one installed (Harry Potter Lego), but I got this to be a work device, so I’m trying to keep the clutter of of it as long as I can.  I do foresee angry birds on this in the near future though!

Final Thoughts

I own a first generation iPod Touch and an iPhone 3Gs.  When I got back to install someone on the 1st gen Touch, it feels slow.  It’s not really any slower than when it was my primary iOS device, but the shift to the 3Gs was just that dramatic.  The shift to the iPad 2 from the iPad 1 isn’t quite as dramatic, but it certainly feels similar.  It is a very dramatic switch.

Give me a day or two, and I’ll post a bit on how I want to make use of the iPad in ministry.

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