Tue 2 Jan 2007
There certainly isn’t a lack of web-based time tracking apps right now. I’ve used SlimTimer in the past, but Tick, BaseCamp and Harvest are all major players, to name a few. Despite the number of options available, Myles Eftos couldn’t find one that fit his needs. Myles motivations for starting 88 Miles were twofold.
1) I needed a decent reason to use Rails seriously, and
2) I was in desperate need for a really simple time tracking system
Myles was looking for something simple and with 88 Miles he’s achieved that. The application is easy to pick up - I didn’t even check out the help section once. 88 Miles is great for single developlers, but also has features for tracking multiple users over the same projects.
88 Miles is free if you tracking under 40 hours a month and offers for pay plans if you need to track more time. There is also a mobile edition, which I didn’t get a chance to try, but is a nice touch. Also of interested to developers is the open API.
Myles works full-time for Bam Creative as a development team leader. In the 5 months he has been working on this projects he figures he’s put in 250 hours. In addtion to the 88 Miles blog, Myles also has a personal blog, which I highly recommened for any web developers.
As a final note, I would like to compliment Myles on his design skills. Although is admittly more of a coder then a designer, I’m impressed with the look of both 88 Miles and his blog.
Thanks to Myles for submitting his app. I encourage anyone looking for a simple time tracking system to check out 88 Miles.
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January 2nd, 2007 at 1:33 pm
A couple comments/bugs I saw while using 88 Miles:
1) I wouldn’t require first/last name to register. I can see why it’s needed if you’re managing a staff, but as a single user it’s more information then I’d rather give out.
2) Also on the register, I like how errors are listed at the top in addition to highlighting the field. However the checkbox fields don’t highlight correctly. I’m using FF 1.5.0.9. Screenshot.
3) Still on the register form - The select time zone drop down is a little intimidating due to how many options there are. I would love to see something creative here, like a clickable map.
4) Once logged in the top has “mattc is logged in.” As a user I expect the logout to be in the same area, rather then listed last on the right menu.
5) As a free user I see “You can record 40 more hours of time this month” on the top of the right menu. I think you should add links in this section for “Upgrade” and “Benefits of Upgrading”.
6) Configurable date format. “02/01/2007 14:41″ - Reads Month/Day/Year to me. I think being able to set the format would benefit users in other countries. I’ve also found that users prefer easier to read formats, such as “Jan 1, 07 12:21PM”.
7) If I go to Summary while a project is running I get a strange value in the Diff field. Screenshot.
To reiterate, I think 88 Miles is fantastic. Often times it is hard to take a step back and look objectively at your own app. I hope these comments help Myles and he continues to build on his solid web app.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the great review! I’ll definitely take the bug report on board - you make some really great points.
This sort of feedback is invaluable, because unfortunately as a a single developer, especially when working on a side project, you may miss something.
If anyone else finds any issues or has any comments, please drop me a line on the contact page.
January 3rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I meant to mention this in my original list, but forgot. I’m actually glad I didn’t mention it since I’ve had time to think about it and I’m now not sure if I’m right.
The issue is:
When registering if you enter a password, but forget another required field the form is reloaded with password filled in. Doing a view source gives me:
<label for="user_password" class="required">Password</label><input id="user_password" name="user[password]" size="30" type="password" value="test" />
I was always under the impression this was bad practice, but I’ve been thinking about it for the past day and can’t really come up with a reason why. Granted anyone could do a view source and see your password, but presumably the user is going to correct the error and resubmit the form, rather than walking away. And it is annoying having to re-type your password (usually twice) if you miss something else on a form.
So if anyone knows the best practice on this I’d be interested to hear.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
[...] Matt from PseudoCoder has written an review of 88 Miles. Thanks to him for picking up a few issues, which have since been sorted out. [...]