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Software that's enjoyable ... software that's a drudgery
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Posted by Paul Korm
Feb 21, 2015 at 02:25 PM
Maybe a little OT.
After posting a comment in another thread about a feature in TheBrain that I have been using more of recently, I knew I wanted to mention that here because I’m enjoying using TheBrain. Enjoy in the sense that using this or that software is a pleasure because it is interesting and delightful in design and features. I’d be curious what software readers here use not just because of what it **does** for them, but for **how** it does that desired thing.
My highly enjoyable software - easy to get lost in
TheBrain
Curio
ConnectedText
My drudgery software - get in and out as fast as possible
Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint
Outlook or any mail client
OmniFocus (oddly, pretty but pedestrian at the same time)
Posted by Dr Andus
Feb 21, 2015 at 02:52 PM
Paul Korm wrote:
> Enjoy in the sense that using
>this or that software is a pleasure because it is interesting and
>delightful in design and features. I’d be curious what software readers
>here use not just because of what it **does** for them, but for **how**
>it does that desired thing.
Yes, I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s probably not all that different from having your favourite tools if you’re a craftsman, which make your job more enjoyable. The interesting question is why some tools are more enjoyable to use than others, and whether the tool makers can affect that.
I have a fairly long list of tools that I get a kick out of using (CT, WriteMonkey, Bonsai, O4D, Surfulater, Boogie Board, NoteTab, SmartDown, Freeplane, PDF Xchange Editor, Screenshot Captor, WorkFlowy, AutoHotkey etc., etc.), and the ones I wish I didn’t have to use, like MS Word, Outlook, IE.
It’s interesting that the latter seem to be complacent corporate products produced by employees, as opposed to labours of love by one-man bands or open-source volunteers (several of them free or donationware).
Another category I’d add is software that I’d like to love, expect to or should love, yet somehow I don’t end up using a lot, such as Scrivener or OneNote (which seems to be an exception to the unloved corporate products), sometimes for reasons that I don’t quite understand myself.
Posted by Dr Andus
Feb 21, 2015 at 03:04 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
>make your job more enjoyable. The interesting question is why some tools
>are more enjoyable to use than others, and whether the tool makers can
>affect that.
If I think a bit harder about the reasons for why I enjoy using the tools that I do, most often these are rarely just aesthetic reasons (in fact I’m happy to use products others might consider ugly). I enjoy some of my tools because of the amazing time-saving productivity functions, or the sheer versatility and pliability, or the fact that they challenge me to keep learning about them, or the fact that they keep being improved (as opposed to some of the corporate software, which can take a turn towards dumbing down or just change for change’s sake).
Posted by MadaboutDana
Feb 21, 2015 at 06:44 PM
Yes, your list is interesting precisely because it’s aesthetically varied – some of those apps are less than attractive, but they’re all pretty good at what they do.
A good combination of streamlining and aesthetics does mean an app becomes a real pleasure to use.
One of my favourites, despite the fact it isn’t cross-platform (yet), is Quiver, because it’s, well, beautiful and practical at the same time.
Others I actively enjoy using include:
- Airmail 2 (don’t take any notice of the negative reviews of this latest version of Airmail 2; if you’ve got lots of mail accounts, it’s absolutely brilliant!)
- Keep Everything (neat, tidy and cross-platform)
- Outlinely (probably one of the most elegant outliners, although alas not being developed very actively. The same team develops SlickTasks)
- Preview (I love Apple’s Preview! Apart from anything else, it’s so much faster than most other PDF viewers)
- Letterspace (probably the most practical and elegant hybrid Markdown editor, especially now the syncing has been improved)
- SimpleNote (super-simple, super-elegant, super-fast)
- Curio (because it’s just so gorgeous)
- Scapple (because it’s the best and simplest mind-manager-like tool around)
- Ulysses (well, I’m hoping I’ll be using this a lot in the near future, once the iOS version has emerged)
- Notebooks (but the desktop version still lags behind iOS)
Apps I really like but don’t use enough:
- Scrivener (just, somehow, a bit too cumbersome)
- OneNote (fantastic on certain platforms - the latest iOS version is amazing)
- Outline+ (a wonderful OneNote alternative, but suffers from the same issues, really)
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Posted by yosemite
Feb 22, 2015 at 01:13 AM
Great topic.
Software/services I think is delightful: Sublime Text, Workflowy, Onenote, Excel, XYplorer, X1 search (old version, 6), PDF Exchange, Github. Fond memories of Listpro.
Drudgery: Word, the web in general.
What delights me is generally what works well for me, what’s fast, what’s powerful. There’s only one web app that I enjoy and that’s workflowy.
I wonder if “required” apps, that is, ones you have to use instead of choose to use, will tend to lean toward drudgery sipmly by the nature of the beast…