Topic: How are you using Backpack? / 100 pages!?!

Simon Hughes asked how I organize my pages. I posted the answer in “Organizing Your Pages” over in Tips & Tricks.

Topic: Tips & Tricks / Organizing Your Pages

My personal Backpack account is close to 300 pages and still growing. I’ve been asked how I manage them, and, I’ll tell you, I’ve tried a bunch of different approaches. These, though, are my favorites.

I prefix all my page titles with three-letter category codes. For example:
ACT = accounts
COM = computer-related
MED = medical

That way, everything groups neatly in the sidebar:
ACT domains
ACT e-mail
ACT miscellaneous
COM licenses
COM software & services
COM support sites
MED breast cancer
MED fatigue & sleep disorders
MED reconstructive surgery

When a category gets bulky (somewhere before 10 pages), I break it into sub-categories, using another three-letter code. For example, SHP (shopping) became SHP PRO (products) and SHP STO (stores) like this:

SHP PRO car
SHP PRO christmas
SHP PRO digital camera
SHP STO apparel & accessories
SHP STO bags & luggage
SHP STO department stores
SHP STO discount sites

But, eventually, even the sub-category lists get long. When that happens (or when you hit about 100 pages total), you’ll probably need real navigation. Fortunately, Backpack makes that easy, too.

When a sub-category gets big, I create a “cover page” for it, full of links to all its individual pages. Then, I remove the individual pages from the sidebar, leaving only the sub-category’s cover page.

It really tidies things up. For example, to get rid of the long list of SHP STO pages in my sidebar, I (1) made a cover page called “SHP STO ALL STORES” and (2) filled it with links to all the other SHP STO pages (apparel, bags, department stores, etc.). I (3) removed those individual SHP STO pages from the sidebar, and now, when I want to find a store, I (4) click on SHP STO ALL STORES. Up pops the page of sub-categories, each linked to their own page full of stores.

Voila! Your own little navigation system. Web designers would call your home page the first tier, the “cover page” the second tier, and the category pages the third tier, because that’s the way you click through them. Studies show that people start to get annoyed when they have to click four or more times to get to what they want, so this simple, three-click system should keep you happy :-)

Just don’t delete the codes. One of the beauties of the three-letter system is that “My Pages” becomes a really useful, automatically-updated site map. Forgotten how you categorized something? Scan through the neatly organized list on My Pages. Want to make sure your cover page includes everything? Check it against the alphabetized group on My Pages.

And, when you make a new page for one of these cover-paged categories, just save it. The three-letter prefix in the title will put it right next its cover page in the sidebar. If you’re in a hurry, you can always add the link later.

I hope this helps. And, I hope it isn’t too confusing. Feel free to ask questions.

Topic: How are you using Backpack? / 100 pages!?!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to this topic.

I’m certainly not perfect, but, for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to describe all of this as though I were :)

HOME PAGE

• Every Day
• Today
• Tomorrow
• This Week
• Next Week
• Soon
• Someday

Before closing up shop for the day, I uncheck the Every Day items, so the list is reconstituted for tomorrow, and I update Today, Tomorrow, and This Week. It doesn’t take nearly as long as it sounds. In fact, it’s two minutes of clarity and pride in accomplishment. We all could use that at the end of the day.

Sunday nights, I update Next Week, Soon, and Someday. It’s actually fun.

ACCOUNTS / USERNAMES & PASSWORDS

I keep track of both (1) usernames / passwords and (2) what personal data I’ve given each account. With a couple of mailing addresses, several phone numbers, a bunch of e-mail addresses, and a few credit cards to choose from, I’d never be able to remember what’s on which account. And, when I need to update a credit card or change an address, it’s as easy as going through the list to see who has the old one.

I used to do it in Outlook, creating a card for each site. But, when I wanted to change something, opening every card to look into the notes field was just too cumbersome. Looking down a Backpack page is a lot more efficient.

So, no I don’t use a chart. The information varies too much from account to account. I use notes for sites with a lot of information, mixed in with lists for groups with usernames, passwords, and little else. A couple of examples:

[in a list] 37signals
( ) Backpack: username / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) Backpack: otherusername / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) Basecamp: username / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) Highrise: username / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) and so on…

[in a list] Gmail
( ) publicemailname / passwordhint (fullname, yearofbith, state, alternateemailaddress, secret question? secret answer.)
( ) professionalemailname / passwordhint (fullname, yearofbith, state, alternateemailaddress, secret question? secret answer.)
( ) privateemailname / passwordhint (fullname, yearofbith, state, alternateemailaddress, secret question? secret answer.)

Of course, I write the links so they go straight to my login.

N.B., I know it isn’t traditionally proper, but I put spaces on either side of my slash/hash marks. Now that computers are all the rage, it’s the only way to ensure the text will break at the end of a line if it needs to.

How you group things depends on how you think about them. I recently morphed my 37signals group into several groups, kind of like this:

[in a list] Tumblelogs
( ) Backpack: username / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) Backpack: otherusername / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) Tumblr: username / passwordhint
( ) and so on…

[in a list] Project Management
( ) Basecamp: username / passwordhint (creditcardname)
( ) and so on…

Those are grouped by function, but I also group by category, for example:

[in a list] Web 2.0
( ) Del.icio.us: username / passwordhint
( ) Facebook: username / passwordhint
( ) LinkedIn: username / passwordhint
( ) and so on…

On the other hand, there are things that cry out to be recorded in notes. For example:

• Registered at GoDaddy 070815 [BTW, I write all my dates that way so they alphabetize properly, keeping my files in chronological order]: username / passwordhint (emailaddress, creditcardname, billingaddress city ST zipcode phonenumber, secret question? secret answer)
• Mailboxes created at GoDaddy: admin (primary), myname, yourname, and so on…
• Blog record pointed to TypePad 071004: username / passwordhint (emailaddress, creditcardname)

Or, since I have more than one account in some places, I might write it like this:

• selling: username / passwordhint (emailaddress, billingaddress city ST zipcode phonenumber, secretquestion? secretanswer.) uses paypal emailusername / passwordhint (billing address city ST zipcode phone number, secret question? secretanswer. secretquestion? secretanswer.)
• buying: username / passwordhint (emailaddress, billingaddress city ST zipcode phonenumber, secretquestion? secretanswer.) uses paypal emailusername / passwordhint (billing address city ST zipcode phone number, secret question? secretanswer. secretquestion? secretanswer.)
• nonprofit: username…

Yikes, I take up a lot of space with this stuff.

Tell you what. I’ll save this (the answers to the home page and account-managing) and come back in a bit with the answer to the navigation question.

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Changing Account Name

I didn’t know if it would be possible to change the name of my 37signals accounts. I wanted to switch from my current, generic personal name to one more suitable for consulting work.

If it wasn’t something I could do myself, I figured I’d have to ask you for help. With over 200 Backpack pages, it’s not as though I want to have to manually port them all over to a new account!

I think I tried Basecamp first. It allowed me to change the username, although that didn’t automatically change the account name (the page names and URL). Nevertheless, I was able to do that manually, and the new name showed up in the URL and on the top of the page.

Highrise also let me change the username, but, if I remember correctly, it automatically changed the page title for me.

Or maybe it was the other way around. One way or another, the two applications behaved differently, which surprised me. I figured your whole “keep it simple” approach would mean things were designed to be consistent across applications.

Now I’ve tried to do the same thing for my Backpack account. Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems that, while it will accept a new username (on the Account page), it isn’t actually updating the account (the name at the top of the home page and the URL), and it doesn’t seem to have a place where I can do that manually, either. I.e., it seems to handle name changes in a third way, differently than both Basecamp and Highrise.

I bring it up for two reasons:

One, if I’m right about your wanting to keep things simple and consistent across applications, I thought you’d want to know.

And,

Two, I guess I do need to ask for your help. If I really can’t do it myself, would you please go into the account database and change the name of my account to reflect my new username.

I’m sorry to have to bother you about it, but, as I mentioned, the thought of sharing, copying, and unsharing over 200 pages… Well, it’s not a thought I even want to have!

Thank you SO much.

Topic: Feature Requests / Unique URL for home page?

I should have said this earlier: Thanks so much. That’s exactly what I did.

Topic: Feature Requests / Page hierarchy

I fifth the motion!

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Why can't I use strikethrough in textile?

Any luck on this, Sarah? It would be SO helpful if the strikethrough feature worked! Thanks in advance.

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Is watch topic working for anybody?

Doesn’t work for me.

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Search returns are incomplete

The Customer Forum Search Returns seem to be incomplete. I went looking for an earlier post of mine, and while Search returned a couple of things related to me, there were a couple missing, as well.

Any ideas?

Topic: Feature Requests / Links in list titles no longer work

Hi, guys. Listen, this no-links-in-titles thing is really killing me. Is it just that there’s no Textile in list tiles, period? What would it take to get that turned on?

Please, please, please. I’ll do anything. I’ll pay you. I’ll code it myself. Well, as long as you teach me how to code first…

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Why can't I use strikethrough in textile?

Yeah, I know. It does work here (see?), I’ll grant you that, but when I wrote you, it was about Backpack lists and notes, and it still doesn’t work there. Sorry. You tried it, didn’t you? I don’t understand how it could work for you, but not for us. Weird. I’ll be interested to hear what you figure out.

BTW, that is a great picture in your Gravatar. I’ve got to figure out how to get a decent picture. How did you manage it?

Topic: How are you using Backpack? / 100 pages!?!

Thanks for the note about the link, guys. I went back and fixed it.

I should add a really important use: FAVORITES / BOOKMARKS. I have a gazillion, and I’m gradually transferring all of them to appropriate topic pages in Backpack.

1. I can’t stand the visual mess that is the favorites / bookmarks function within browsers, Just looking at the list makes me want to close my eyes. And, I’m not thrilled with tags. They’re great for certain functions, but a little too uncertain for a perfectionist. I want to know I’ve seen all the options, not worry I might have missed some I tagged differently. I just want a good, easy to read, comprehensive list.

2. They go with me. No more, “Oh, I have that page marked at home…” They are wherever the Internet is. Talk about winning friends and influencing people!

3. I can reorder them, group them, add notes about them, stick pictures next to them, link them to other things, link other things to that page… Backpack turns my Favorites lists into actual, functional resources. How cool is that? And isn’t that what they’re supposed to be?

Just note that, while I say “list”, I don’t actually use the list function. Each Favorite / Bookmark is its own little note. The title is whatever makes sense to me, linked to the page, and the note’s body field is available for anything I might ever want to add.

A lot of them don’t need notes, but when notes are appropriate, they’re really beneficial. They don’t even have to be additional reference information. It could just be the date of the last time I visited the site, so I only have to look for things added since then. (That’s a big time-saver.) Or maybe I’m trying to learn something from that site, and the note’s body holds my, well, notes or a little summary. It makes it really easy to compare recommendations or information—it’s all on the one Backpack page. And, don’t forget, you can link from the text, as well.

It’s like my brain, only better!

Topic: Feature Requests / Unique URL for home page?

I’d like to be able to link directly to my home page. As it stands now, that link just takes me to whatever page I visited last. Is there a way for me to do that, or is it a real feature request?

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Why can't I use strikethrough in textile?

I’ve been having the same problem. When I e-mailed customer service, Sarah said I wasn’t using Textile correctly, but I don’t think that’s it.

Topic: How are you using Backpack? / 100 pages!?!

I never expected to see that little note pop up in my account. I’ve created 100 pages! Since July!! And, I don’t even use it for work—that’s all personal stuff!!!

I don’t know whether to be proud or horrified at the amount of information I seem to “require”. (And let me tell you, that’s probably less than half of it.)

What do I use Backpack for? What don’t I use Backpack for? I’m going to go scan my list of pages and give you some examples.

• A page for each of my blogs and sites. Each page then links to various sub-pages that include everything from the technical information and design specs to potential content to reference material or links to things that might be useful someday.

• A series of pages shared with a long-distance friend, where we can “chat” by leaving notes for each other, referencing links, images, etc.. It’s great to be able to write down that funny little thing while you’re thinking it or mention the weird web page you just found before you forget all about it. It feels like we’re a lot closer—kind of like passing notes in school. :)

• A “shopping” page, with a list of links to other pages. Some are big comparison pages, with lots of notes, links, and images. Others are lists of stores and sites—a page for antique stores, for example, or a page for great shoe sites. (I keep my list of all the random things that I want over at Wists. It’s just faster than having to cut-and-paste links to all those little pictures.) I also have a page full of links to discount and coupon listings, and when I get one of those special offers from a store (or a site like Backpack), I post it there, so I don’t lose track of it.

• A “creative” page with links to other pages, like my image library (stuff I see that I might want to use for arts and crafts projects later on), which is actually several pages, a page that links to art project ideas, another page with a list of links to sewing ideas, each on their own page, complete with images, directions, etc..

• Things like this, where I’ve done research for something or somebody. I want them to be able to see it, and if it’s something that might be useful to someone else, I make it public.

• A page titled “Dear Dr.,” where I make notes about changes in my health or write down questions I want to remember to share. (I’m recovering from breast cancer and have a few other problems, so it’s good to collect it all in one place and not have to think about it again.) It winds up being a sort of diary (albeit not every day) of my status, and I think it really helps to be able to see what’s really going on over time. It’s certainly more informative than my sitting in the doctor’s office, saying, “Oh, I’m fine, thanks. How are you?”

• And, of course, pages of odd stuff I want to save. One of them is a list of quotes, one is a list of my favorite words, one is a list of links to funny stuff that I’ll occasionally dig through and share when somebody’s having a bad day, etc.. You get the idea.

• A page of links to blogging software and resources. A page of links to Web development sites, software, tutorials, and whatever else. A page of all the domains I own (with notes about their registrar, status, what they’re pointing at, and so forth), all the domains I might like to own, and all the domains I want that somebody else currently owns, plus a list of links to registrars and a list of links to other domain references.

• A “creative writing” page that leads to a bunch of Writeboards that will never make me famous but make me happy in the meantime.

• A bunch of random, personal pages, including one of pictures of haircuts I like, one of images I’m considering for a wall mural, etc.. I even made a page, just like a 13 year-old girl would, of all the boyfriends I’ve had. :) Sadly, I’m a ways from 13, so the memory isn’t what it used to be: there are two I can’t remember! Yeah, it’s silly, and no one cares (not even me, really) but it was fun.

And , of course, there’s more. But I think I noticed your eyes glazing over a few bullets back. Suffice it to say, I’m gradually migrating just about everything to Backpack (or Basecamp, where I’ve got one project for “divorce” and another for “bold new life”). Even my important stuff will be living at 37signals as soon as I can get it there.

At first I wasn’t sure exactly why I was doing it, except that I liked being able to group things and look at them all together. So much better than a thousand generic bookmarks. But then my new computer (UMPC) turned out to be a lemon, and its replacement died of unknown causes, and I just got my third one today. Not only have I not had to transfer all the stuff on Backpack (twice!), but in the downtime in between exchanges, I was able to borrow anybody’s machine anywhere and get at my stuff.

It was so incredibly helpful that I just signed up for Highrise and plan to migrate all my contacts. Then Windows can crash all it wants—I’ll be 37signals-proofed!

Oh! I forgot to mention my two most-used pages!

• One is a bunch of lists of all my myriad accounts with their user names and passwords. I linked the titles right to the sites themselves, so I can just click and go. I need that page at least a few times each day.

• The other is my home page, where I keep my lists of things to do. One is daily-repetitive, one is weekly-repetitive, and one is just one-off odds and ends I don’t want to forget. The repetitive ones are my favorites, though. There are blogs I want to check every day, sites I want to check every morning to see if the hardware I want is available at a refurbed discount yet (gotta act fast!), etc.. I put links in them all, so it couldn’t be quicker to just click, click, click my way through. There are even things in that daily list that aren’t Web-related. (Unbelievable!) There are two really wonderful things about those lists on the home page. One, I run across them all day long, as my Backpack site stays up on my screen. And, even better, two, the daily and weekly lists are reuseable! I just unclick everything and start again. That is extremely cool.

I don’t know, guys. I realize I’m not talking rocket science (yet—just you wait ‘til I’m back on my feet!), but I think that’s my point. If Backpack can do all these things and be so beneficial for me, imagine all the incredible things it could do for you who have real lives! :) Soon, you’ll be ruling the universe!

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Multiple "Give this page a name" pages

I keep winding up with multiple new pages—2 or 3 or even 6 “Give this page a name” listings in the sidebar. I’m not sure what is causing it; it never used to happen. Am I clicking on something? Is something causing repeat server calls? I don’t know, it just seems kinda weird.

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Links in gallery titles?

Is there a way to include links in Gallery titles, the same way we do in Notes titles? It would be really helpful to be able to link the title of my Gallery back to the images’ original source page.

Topic: Feature Requests / List Dates?

The ability to turn the date stamp on or off in Notes is great. Any chance of adding that feature to the other items on the page, like Lists, Galleries, etc.?

It would help keep track of things, especially as they’re reordered.

Thanks.

Topic: Feature Requests / Save items open for editing when you click to another page

I’ve clicked to another page on purpose, to check or copy something, I’ve clicked to another page like an idiot because I’ve scrolled past the item that’s open and forget it’s even there, and I click to another page by accident a lot. There’s some funny combination of keys between the lower left and far right of my keyboard that zaps me away—I can’t figure out how it happens, but I’m typing on a thumb-keyboard, so it’s definitely fat-fingering.

Every time, I lose whatever I was writing. And I tend to write l-o-n-g notes, so it’s heart-breaking.

I realize it’s nobody’s fault but my own. I’m the one that’s typing too fast. I just get so darn enthusiastic! But I’d really be grateful if you could save me from myself. A frequent auto-save would work, but a pop-up warning on open items (“Yo! Are you sure you want to leave and accidentally delete all your lovely work?”) would be just fine.

Thanks for considering it.

Topic: Feature Requests / delete item completely when checked option

I’m all for being able to delete items when I want to – I love the little trash can icon – but please don’t eliminate the List’s default retention of done items. I know that isn’t what ethicka is suggesting, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to express my appreciation for that feature.

I love my lists of things to do. I often have a bunch going at once, one per date. That way, I can see what errands and so forth I’m already planning to squeeze in to a given day, and I don’t accidentally agree to more than I can handle. It’s also lets me balance the load, set expectations accurately, and make counter-offers: “I’ve already got a lot on my list for Thursday and Friday, but it looks like I don’t have a lot of other stuff going on Monday. How about I do that errand for you then?”

Before, I would have just said yes, added it to my single list, and not gotten to it until Monday – or even Tuesday since other things got added, too – and felt guilty the entire time.

But the thing I love most is my undated Daily list. It contains things like “check this e-mail account”, “check that e-mail account”, “post daily message to friend on shared Backpack page”, “check today’s Google trends”, “check today’s Digg trends”, “check eBay”, “read so-and-so’s blog”... Important daily things go there, too, but mostly it’s the less-urgent stuff – the two-minute stuff you want to do but never seem to get to.

It lives at the top of my Backpack home page, so I have to look past it every time I go to check today’s “real” list. If I grab one little daily thing between each “real” task, everything seems to fit in without too much difficulty.

I’d never copy over that mundane list each day. It’s your default retention feature that makes it work. I check things off as I go, and at the end of the day I uncheck them all for tomorrow.

I also appreciate being able to turn the items into links. I can make “read this blog” or “check that e-mail account” click directly to the right page, which makes it even easier to squeeze things in.

And because the item never fully goes away, it just greys out after I check it, I can always get back to that link if something comes up.

All in all, very, very cool.