software odyssey

I'd like to introduce you to Sprouts - a free online service that will let you create graphical trees of related web search items using a visual designer.

Sprouts is pre-pre-alpha, a lot of features are missing and stuff may break, like handling RSS feed variations. But I need your feedback. Is this a viable tool? Would you use it? Should I continue down this path?

Try out the demo here and give me your comments, thoughts, and feedback here on this blog. If you would like an account which allows you to save trees, let me know here or email me.

Quick status update

I can now serialize tree nodes, which means I can now write to database, file, or whatever, which I've desperately needed to get to the next step. I'll first write them out as HTML below the tree control area and provide an RSS feed. Hope to be able to spend time this weekend and flesh this part out and get an update out.

By wiring the addChild event on the SpringGraph component, you can query relatedObject.data to get an instance of the newly added graph object, not just an external reference to the Item object. I'm sure I'll be refactoring some code later on to take better advantage of Mark's control, there's a lot to it, and even more that appears to be undocumented. But, for now I'm pleased as punch that I keep finding more ways to use it.

Saving trees... to database

I now have trees saving to a database and a very basic user profiles in place. Each node and tree root is stored as separate records, and all relevant node data being stored. There is a bucket field for each graph item on the tree where some extra node information is being stored, and I haven't tested how well that info is getting stored, but this shouldn't impact overall data stores right now.

For now I plan on creating users via an invite-only system, but you'll be able to create and store trees to your user account, login later, and retrieve any of your previous work.

This is all obviously leading up to a beta launch, so if you have any input or features you'd like to see in Sprouts, just let me know. I still have plenty of work to do, but I do want to make sure I get all your great ideas in the next cycle.

Putting up another little project in the GTD category. Taking a page from David Seah's Printable CEO series, I've come away with a simple task/goal manager that's more than a to-do list, but not a full blown project manager. More like a personal task manager to help set and achieve a wide range of goals, from daily tasks to life-long ambitions.

This project takes up the majority of the browser, so click here to run this project. Some screenshots below.


create stacks of goals


open a goal for it's task list

I'm not sure where this one will go, so if you have any ideas...

I've been thinking about GTD lately and came up with this idea for time management while I was on vacation. I know, be-here-now, but actually we had a wonderful time in Greece and these kinds of ideas only come to me while falling asleep or in the middle of the night.

View more of the timer project here.
So, clicking the little nubs around the clock face brings up an event scheduler, and starting the timer to the right activates little red tickers. I still have to wire up the alarm when a scheduled event is reached, and there is no data store yet, but I thought I'd present it and hopefully get some early feedback.