Document based vs One Main Window

After looking at NEAT Receipts yesterday and a few other programs, I'm beginning to think that my decision to make ReceiptWallet a one main window application may not have been the best one. A huge advantage to multiple windows is that people can have data files for each year or one for work and one for home. Unfortunately, changing from the main window to a document based model is not easy. Unfortunately NSPersistentDocument doesn't support packages, but a few developers have figured out how to get around this. What does this mean? This would mean that all the data is stored in one package and it would appear as one file, but would actually be separated inside. This is exactly what I'd want with the database file separate from the actual PDFs.

Hmmmm...

CzechLish in Software

Several months ago, I purchased a UPEK Eikon Digital Privacy Manager fingerprint authentication system when they announced a preview version for the Mac. The device was cheap ($40) and I was curious to see how it worked. It worked OK, but when Leopard came around, it stopped working, so I put it away. As part of the setup process you swipe your finger over the device a few times to get a base. I swiped one finger and the dialog said something to the effect "you should swipe another finger in case something happens to the finger you swiped". I didn't get a screenshot of that, but still remember it and laugh at it. The wording wasn't quite right and it didn't dawn on me why; maybe it was a developer joke that would get fixed in the released version.

The UPEK folks have a small booth and I got a demo to see what was new. I mentioned that dialog and the guys there started chuckling. They said the development is done in Praque and they call the language CzechLish. I'm well versed in JapanGlish, but had never heard of CzechLish. I'll have to check out their latest software to see if the dialog is still in there.

Hardware vendors, hire me to do your UI

I always harp on UI as I think that it shows a lot about a product. While the old saying is to not judge a book by its cover, in the case of a UI, it shows me that developers are either lazy or clueless and what else is wrong with the software if they can't spend a little time working on the UI.

Many hardware vendors make decent hardware, but rush out the software, have it done in a foreign, non-English speaking, country, or just don't care. If they spent a little time and money on the software (in some cases, maybe half a day), they could have a much nicer looking (and working) product.

I am serious that if hardware vendors want to contact me, I'd be more than happy to take a look at the software and give them an estimate on what needs to be done to clean up their UI.

State of the Art UI, 6 years ago

In my travels today, I poked my head into the EPSON booth and asked for a demo of their scanner software (I could care less about the scanner), so that guy fires off the Scan from Photoshop and the awful UI pops up. I said, "oh it looks like your UI hasn't changed in 10 years"; the guy responded "it has only been 6". You've got to be kidding me, they can't come up with a better UI in 6 years? He did say that the driver is now a universal binary which is good news for all the poor souls still using EPSON scanners with ReceiptWallet.