Tools We Can All Use

Who I Am...• Part of the team at Lucidus, an Internet

Strategy & Services Firm

• interface designer; HTML/CSS developer

• QA tester

• Analytics and usability consultant

• Regional account manager

• The “South Florida office”

First, let’s put technology into

perspective.

It won’t makeyou smart.you smart.

It won’t makeyou organized.you organized.

It won’t simplifyyour life.your life.

It might help you with all of these things.

with all of these things.

At its best, technology should empower you.

.

How ?

Applying the right

technologies for you.

Focus, Simplify and Connectand Connect

• Production

• Project Management

• Communications

What’s Ideal?

• Good - Ability to get your own stuff in order

• Better - Ability to Share

• Best - Ability to Collaborate (then share team effort)

Google Apps• Focus -

Why troubleshoot email problems?

• Simplify - Gmail has revolutionized how we view email

• Connect - Share your calendar, documents and spreadsheets too. Allow for viewing or collaboration

Google Apps• Focus -

Create a draft

• Simplify - Collaborate with team

• Connect - Send to clients to view, as attachment or embedded in email

Google Analytics• Focus -

Get metrics that have meaning and depth

• Simplify - Review reports in detail or get the big picture, set goals

• Connect - Share reports with clients

BasecampProject Management and CollaborationProject Management and Collaboration

30 day free trial$24-$99 / month

• Focus - Notifies you about changes in status, dashboard is grouped by client name and project

• Simplify - Can view all projects at once

• Connect - Share messages, lists, writeboards, files and more with people you select

BackpackSmall-scale Customizable IntranetSmall-scale Customizable Intranet

• Focus - One spot for all project to-dos, notes and assets.

• Simplify - FeatureLESS on purpose

• Connect - Share pages, calendars, news, writeboards and files Free trial - $24-$99 / month

igoogle• Focus -

One location, lots of information

• Simplify - Customizable with gadgets

• Connect - Share gadgets, some data

Favorite Gadgets: Todoist, Google Notebook, RescueTime, Wikipedia, Google Calendar, BeTwittered, Sticky Note, Intellicast Hurricane Watch

Subversion(tortoiseSVN or svnX)(tortoiseSVN or svnX)

• Focus - browse and manage working copies and revisions in repositories

• Simplify - Open-source GUI for Subversion

• Connect - safeguards changes in development work, throughout team

ScribeFire• Focus - Quickly

return to other tasks

• Simplify - Open in Firefox browser, linked to URL

• Connect - enables quick, easy updates of your blog

Firebug• Focus -

Inspect code as rendered in the browser

• Simplify - Open in Firefox, highlight areas of page as needed

• Connect - get it done and delivered without guessing

Freemind• Focus -

See sitemap and relationships, diagram flowcharts

• Simplify - Reduces confusion

• Connect - versatile, exports in several formats

OmniGraffle• Focus -

Make wireframes and sitemaps easily

• Simplify - Clean, simple graphics

• Connect - versatile, exports in several formats

$99.95 - $199.95

Get the Benefits

• Focus your work

• Simplify your efforts

• You can sleep at night

• Happy clients

• Deliver greater value

Thank You!Resources and Q&AResources and Q&A

• Hoekman’s Design Description Documents http://rhjr.net/ddd/

• Website Checklist http://www.chromaticsites.com/web-design-blog/2008-05-26/the-official-successful-website-checklist-challenge/

• Google Apps http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/var_1c.html

• Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/indexu.html

• Backpack http://backpackit.com

• Basecamp http://www.basecamphq.com

• Subversion http://subversion.tigris.org and svnX http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/development_tools/svnx.html

• OmniGraffle http://store.omnigroup.com