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Speak Up - WSJ Article [Your Voice Has Been Heard]April 27th, 2006 by Narendra |
There was an article today in the Wall Street Journal describing Google Calendar as “quick and easy” and we were grateful to be mentioned 30 Boxes, we think there is an inaccurate portrayal Google as the lead innovator in this space. 30 Boxes and Spongecell brought the One Box format to market. Kiko was the first to pioneer drag and drop and after their redesign, they are currently a much more usable “outlook style” calendar than Google.
[Update: Walt Mossberg has heard a sampling of your passionate opions, no need to email him further. Thank you!]
30 Boxes!
April 27th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
I wrote in.
But I’ll be honest; my love for 30boxes has next to nothing to do with its social elements. In fact, with a blog, a massive flickr account, three active gmail accounts, and a pre-2004 delicious account, I’m just about socialed out. I want something that just plain works, that I can share easily with my wife and friends and family.
And 30 Boxes does that, and does it better than google. That’s why I wrote him.
April 28th, 2006 at 3:41 am
I have been using 30Boxes since the day you opened for business, and I really love it. I find your One Box to be much more powerful and consistent (meaning it gets things right more consistently) than Google’s, and I’ve had difficulty with getting Google to assign things to the correct calendar, or to assign them at all. I love that I can apply colored tags within a single calendar with 30B, rather than needing to split things into different calendars just to get some color. But right now, I am mainly using Google - here’s why: while I love the simplicity of the month as 30 boxes, I also like to be able to view a week at a time; printing seems easier in Google; I prefer having a band of color marking multi-day events rather than words repeated. In your blog entry on the day Google launched their calendar, you wrote that the ‘UI [is] needlessly cluttered’ - well, actually, I find my 30B calendar cluttered with words: I find the Google UI much cleaner and easier on my eyes, and I feel it gets information across more simply. And then my bugbear with 30B: I’m assuming we all are interested in a clear, clean and elegant interface (especially since you’ve dissed the opposition for their clutter) - how, then, do you account for the mess of your Settings page? I love the fact you offer such power, such sharing, so much Web Stuff, but hell I hate having to take in all the information that’s scattered across these pages - the different fonts and font weights and colors, the buttons and options and all!
April 28th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Yup, 30 boxes is easy peasy. I use it for everything. I even use it to keep my kickball team schedule straight and use the syndication tools and tags to post it on my team’s site. Two birds one stone.
April 28th, 2006 at 7:37 am
But No 30Boxes?
Julia over at 30Boxes writes:
There was an article today in the Wall Street Journal touting Google Calendar as â��quick and easyâ�� and although there is a mention of 30 Boxes, we think he is inaccurately portraying Google as the le…
April 28th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Ian: try this theme. It won’t fix all your criticisms, but is definitely a step up in terms of usability:
http://30boxes.com/index.php?themeUri=http://makenosound.com/30boxes/
April 28th, 2006 at 10:01 am
Thanks, John - that is a lot better!
April 28th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
I love 30Boxes and while I’ve tried Google’s offering, I haven’t switched as I see no compelling reason to do so.
With that having been said, I’d also like the option to change views within 30Boxes. Generally I’m happy with the monthly view but the option to switch would be welcomed.
BTW, that theme that John Beeler posted is great!
April 29th, 2006 at 8:13 am
i agree love the makenosound theme by john beeler, i’d definitely suggest you list it along with the rest of the defaults
weren’t you guys going to run a theme contest ? if i just made that up, then i think you should ;-)
great work, keep it up
May 4th, 2006 at 4:47 am
I love 30 boxes. It’s the best calendar out there!