Our take on 37Signals Draft product page [Taskforce](taskforceapp.com)
taskforceapp.com
Our take on 37Signals Draft product page [Taskforce]
http://taskforceapp.com/pages/draft
10 comments
To the folks asking if it's a Mac app or a web app, it looks like the answer is "both." From the controls, it looks like it's built on top of Cappuccino from 280North, and being deployed on the Mac using Cappuccino's Native Host feature (http://cappuccino.org/discuss/2010/05/13/nativehost-run-your...).
You're right, the answer is both, but we're not using Cappuccino.
We're using Cappuccino's theme Aristo, which I ported to CSS3: http://github.com/maccman/aristo
For the desktop implementation, we're using Bowline - a framework I developed for producing cross platform desktop apps in Ruby/HTML. http://bowlineapp.com
We're using Cappuccino's theme Aristo, which I ported to CSS3: http://github.com/maccman/aristo
For the desktop implementation, we're using Bowline - a framework I developed for producing cross platform desktop apps in Ruby/HTML. http://bowlineapp.com
Thanks for the correction. Bowline looks super cool. I'm going to have to spend some time digging into it.
37Signals are trend setters when it comes to UI design. Pretty much every iteration of their Design/UI is followed by many web-apps. Remember the very first version of Ta-da list home page, then the old Basecamp homepage, and now the new Basecamp homepage. Also the layout of all their web apps is followed by many SaaS apps now. Now this - simple landing page, will be followed by many people now. It's good stuff!
I did not get it - is this a desktop or webapp?
37signals provides an explanation at the top of the page and a call to action (link to the app store) at the top and bottom of the page. You should consider doing the same with your signup form. This pattern is also noted on Google's results pages where they have a search box at the top and bottom.
Though it may not have been as clear as intended, I "get it". And it's pretty cool—I've signed up for the beta.
Cultured Code (Things) has a competitor… good work!
Cultured Code (Things) has a competitor… good work!
The idea is that by the time you scroll to the bottom of the page, you should have a pretty clear idea about the product and how it's useful to you.
Is it a mac application? Or cross platform? Web? Mobile?
Email replies? Email replies to what?
How does it integrate with Gmail?
It's probably better to present this as a story.
Email replies? Email replies to what?
How does it integrate with Gmail?
It's probably better to present this as a story.
I guess it's not as explanatory as I intended.
It's three things: * A cross platform desktop app * Gmail plugin * iPhone app
If you create a task for someone not using the system, it'll send them an email instead. Any replies to that email will get turned into comments in Taskforce.
I think you're right about representing it as a story, perhaps a life cycle of a particular task.
It's three things: * A cross platform desktop app * Gmail plugin * iPhone app
If you create a task for someone not using the system, it'll send them an email instead. Any replies to that email will get turned into comments in Taskforce.
I think you're right about representing it as a story, perhaps a life cycle of a particular task.
In that case it looks very very cool and I signed up for the beta. Great work.
But when I first read through I too was confused about the comparison to 37signals and their new draft app.
But when I first read through I too was confused about the comparison to 37signals and their new draft app.
Maybe it's because I came in from the HN link, but I was extremely confused by this. I had never seen the draft page before so when I saw the task for "put together draft like product page", I was trying to understand what that meant and find a reference and the page was obviously not helpful so I had to read the HN comments and go find the draft page to get it. Perhaps the same idea of screenshots would work better with a different example that doesn't require as much background knowledge.
One reason the 37s page works really well is that it is bold, stark and clear. For example; they have a white background - which really emphasises the black images & text.
Isn't draft a bare-bones sketching/wireframing tool? This seems to be a task manager.
that's what's got me confused...
I think the idea has promise (and I really like the Draft page), but there are things that need to be changed for this to work. Add a tagline at the top that says what Taskforce is, what platforms it runs on, and where to get it. People should know there's a beta before they get all the way down the page. Scale the screenshots down, and move them to a more normal 16:10 or 4:3 aspect ratio. Also consider focusing in for some of the screenshots rather than putting the whole thing there: the 'drag and drop to share' screenshot, for example, doesn't focus nearly enough on the dragging and dropping and that gets lost. 37s had an easy time in this respect because their app is very very simple visually, and is a fundamentally visual application. You're going to have to do a bit more work to make your screenshots as interesting. Make sure you have an obvious link back to your site. The 'Taskforce' header at the top isn't very obviously clickable. (And there should be a link back from the bottom of the page, too.)
Also, personalize it a bit. There are two lines that really make the Draft page work, in my opinion:
The Taskforce page is a lot more formal and a lot more boring. And that makes it a lot less memorable in comparison.