Topic: Feature Requests / To-do Comments / Milestones comments

oscar7g said: ”@ kshock – the messages/comments on Milestones and ToDos take on the privacy setting of the original item, so if the original ToDo is private then so are the comments.”

No it doesn’t because the messages/files are attached to the Milestone which you can’t make Private, not the To-Dos. So, there’s no way to make all messages/files attached to a Milestone Private, but, you can make a To-Do list attached to a Milestone private.

Topic: Feature Requests / We Need Private Milestones!

Now that you can attach messages and files to Milestones, we need the ability to make Milestones and all related info/files PRIVATE. Or at least the ability to make the message/files attached to a Milestone private if not the Milestone itself.

Right now, all messages and files attached to Milestones can be viewed by EVERYONE with access to the project, even if they don’t have To-Do or Milestone access. So, this is a big flaw in this otherwise great feature.

Topic: Feature Requests / To-do Comments / Milestones comments

This is a fantastic new feature that will make Basecamp even more flexible and useful.

Just one big problem for me: Messages and Files attached to Milestones cannot be made Private.

We were using the Message system with file attachments as our Project Manager because we could make things private for in-house collaboration, or make it public for us and clients to review. Attached files to private messages were also made private.

Now when we attach messages to milestones, we can’t make them private anymore, therefore, while I’d LOVE to use this great new feature, the absence of privacy for comments/files related to milestones makes it a feature we can’t really use. :(

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Making Messages attached to Milestones Private

So, I guess there’s no way to do this?

Topic: Feature Requests / Subscribe to All Project Milestones

I wish there were a way I could subscribe to all the Milestones assigned to me for ALL projects. That would make the iCal Subscription feature a lot more powerful and useful.

I have dozens of projects going all the time, so, it’s not feasible to subscribe to the calendar for every single project. It also shows me ALL milestones, not just the ones assigned to me. So, it’s not very useful at all, unless you want to see what everyone is doing at all time.

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Making Messages attached to Milestones Private

It seems that there’s no way to make messages attached to Milestones private, along with attached files?

I really need this capability to make Basecamp work well for us, because we don’t want every person with access to the project to have full access to all messages or files.

So, while I love the new ability to attach messages and files to Milestones, it really needs the Private feature added as well. Or, why not just add the ability to make Milestones private, which would apply to all attached messages and files, too?

Thanks.

Topic: Feature Requests / iPhone 2.0 app

I’d rather not have to subscribe to another 3rd-party app to use Basecamp on my iPhone. This would be a sweet feature for 37signals to add to Basecamp, and I’d trust them a lot more with our project data than a 3rd party developer.

Topic: Feature Requests / iPhone 2.0 app

Me too! An iPhone-optimized version of Basecamp would make it truly mobile. Please do it!! :)

Topic: Feature Requests / Assign Category to Attached Files

I would really like the ability to assign a Category to files that are uploaded as an attachment to a Message. We use Categories to keep things separate and manageable for clients and our staff. So, currently when we upload a File as an attachment to a Message, we have to go to the Files section and edit each attachment to assign a Category.

All you’d need to do is add a Category dropdown to the right of the “Choose Filename” field for each file attached.

Thanks!

Topic: Feature Requests / Issues including sub-contractors

Yes, this is a problem with Basecamp. We use sub-contractors, too, and find it very difficult to setup and manage in Basecamp right now. Private needs to be more granular so it can be applied to specific items within Basecamp on a case-by-case basis. Right now, Privacy is too broad and can’t be controlled very well.

For example, when adding a new Message, I’d like to specify who can see it, much the same way you can specify who is to receive Notifications. That would be a LOT more useful than simply flagging it as Private.

Topic: Feature Requests / Project Structure

There isn’t a way to create sub-projects, but, what you really have are various areas of focus within a large project. Basecamp is a bit cumbersome with really large projects, I agree. But, there are still ways to make it work.

I agree that Milestones and To-Do lists can be used as a way to organize multiple areas of focus within a larger project. I would also recommend putting the Categories to use for this purpose. For example, we set up Categories for various parts of the project that are distinct from others. So, for your project, you might have Categories such as Collateral, Newsletter, Exhibition, etc. We make these Categories consistent for Messages and Files, as these are the 2 parts of Basecamp we use the most. Then it’s easy to see all Messages and Files related to just those specific areas of the project.

Unfortunately you can’t create Categories for To-Dos, Milestones or Writeboards, so, this solution has limited usefulness.

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Thumbnail Images Broken

All fixed, thanks a lot!

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Thumbnail Images Broken

All of the thumbnail images that appear with a message or in Image Grid View are displayed as broken graphics now for all of our projects. This has created quite a mess of things.

Is this going to be fixed soon?

Topic: How are you using Basecamp? / Anyone use BC for Web Design Projects?

I’ve been using BC for over a year now, and while it has helped us internally organize files and project info, I’m finding it difficult to make BC work well for our web design projects when it comes to presenting clients with designs, getting their feedback, uploading revisions and getting approval on design choices.

After a year of use, we have found that generally our clients find BC very confusing and difficult to use. They’re never sure where to look to find a file or how to give feedback or approve a design. I’ve tried doing this via Messages and attached files, but, the Messages interface isn’t very intuitive in the way Comments are hidden from view but the original message is in full view. Unless you notice that “3 comments” text link, you don’t realize a whole conversation may be going on after the initial message. As a result, every single client always starts a new message for every bit of feedback, which becomes a mess eventually and impossible to make any sense of it all.

FIles all get clumped together by date or category only, there’s no real versioning tools that help us and clients keep track of which is the latest design or which of the submitted designs was approved out of the group.

So, we are finding that Basecamp is not meeting the needs of a web design shop who needs to interact with clients and present designs and versions of designs for approval. If anyone has found a way to make it work for this kind of workflow, I’d love to learn the details of how. Or, if there’s a solution similar to Basecamp that is more appropriate for design shops, please let me know.

Thanks!

Tom

Topic: Troubleshooting and Bug Reports / Basecamp not working with IE6

Hi, 2 of our clients called us today to say that they were unable to log into Basecamp or unable to look at files attached to messages. They were all using either AOL or IE6. When I tried using IE6 here, I had the same problem. I can’t even get to the Bascamp login screen for our account on IE6, I get a blank white page instead.

Has something happened recently? We never had this problem before today, so, wondering if this will be fixed soon so our clients can see their projects.

Topic: Feature Requests / Time Tracking Needs Improvement

We use Timefox right now, actually. It’s a nice software, but, it costs us $40 per month and we don’t really need all the features Timefox offers for time-tracking, we have fairly basic time-tracking needs, but, even Basecamp’s time-tracking features are too basic for our needs.

I noticed that Timefox recently started offering a Premier version which includes project management. If they offer similar project management features as Basecamp, we just may drop Basecamp in favor of Timefox if the time-tracking features don’t improve in Basecamp soon.

Topic: Feature Requests / Time Tracking Needs Improvement

We love Basecamp and use it every day. We also do a lot of hourly/timed work for clients and find the time tracking features in Basecamp a little lacking. As a result, we use a different application just for time tracking/reporting, but, I’d LOVE to not have to do this outside of Basecamp where all of our project info is stored.

Here’s what would make Basecamp’s Time Tracking feature a lot more useful to more people:

1. Allow Categories to be assigned to each time entry, so that we can group entries by those categories in Reports.

2. Allow Categories to have a dollar amount assigned to them so that they can be used to help determine how much to charge for time spent on certain types of tasks. Reports would add up the total dollar amount as well.

3. A simple Javascript timer that you can start and stop and record the amount of time between those 2 events would be very handy!

Thanks!

Topic: Basecamp API / Too Expensive?

I took a look at some of the 3rd-party API’s available for Basecamp. Some of them look nice, but, I’m a bit surprised how expensive they all seem to be. I’d like to use a few of them, but, just can’t justify the costs.

Topic: How are you using Basecamp? / Deleting Writeboard information?

Actually, after one click you are given another prompt asking if you are sure you want to delete the Writeboard. It takes another click to actually delete it.

It might be a nice feature to disallow the deletion of anything added to a certain project by anyone but the admins. This can help prevent accidental deletions by clients unfamiliar with Basecamp.

Topic: Feature Requests / Dismiss Basecamp Announcements

Hi, I’d like to suggest that a “Dismiss” button be added to all Basecamp announcements that appear on the Dashboard page. Once I’ve read it a few times, I don’t need it taking up space on the screen, so, it would be nice to have a Dismiss button I can click to make the announcement go away. I’ve seen this done on other sites and think it’s a simple but nice idea.

Thanks!