Having tried it on-and-off for much of my career, I’ve concluded that it’s extremely difficult for me to work from home, and that coffee shops are even more difficult to work in simply because their furniture tends to be too small for me.

Consequently, I’m looking to either sign up with a coworking space or to share an office in downtown Vancouver. A space located in Gastown, Yaletown, the Downtown Eastside, or the regions between would be great.

The now-defunct Workspace would’ve been ideal: a naturally-lit, open-plan coworking space with other people around, and a coffee bar? Nice. Sadly, they’ve shuttered their doors and their successors, while numerous, don’t quite meet my requirements regarding lighting.

Simply put, I can’t work under fluorescent lights, not even high-frequency “natural” fluorescent lights, nor compact fluorescents. Even in an office with natural or incandescent lighting supplemented by fluorescent bulbs, I suffer migraines, nausea, and–I’m told–absence seizures.

I can work under halogen or incandescent bulbs–though I realize the impending ban on incandescent bulbs may make finding this dream office ever more difficult.

Second to lighting, an issue of physical scale: I’m quite tall and have a tendency to develop back and knee problems when wedging my outsize frame into smaller furniture.

This isn’t a huge problem, as most desks’ heights tend to be well within my margin of error, and most office chairs can be extended high enough that my knees don’t develop any problems. Seat depth and lumbar height are frequently inadequate, however.

Furniture aside, my torso height means that I do still need an external monitor that can be extended high enough to work comfortably for more than an hour or so. As such, I’d need a space where I could securely leave a monitor and keyboard, and, in the event that the office’s available chairs were insufficient, bring in one of my own.

To sum up, my must-haves:

1. Close to downtown Vancouver.
2. No fluorescent lights.
3. Secure enough that I could leave a few hundred dollars’ worth of equipment stashed somewhere–or more ideally, on my desk itself.

Nice-to-haves include:

1. Other freelancers and independent workers in the same space. It’d be handy to have someone with whom to have a ‘water-cooler’ conversation.
2. An open-plan layout rather than a private office.
3. Close proximity to coffee.

I don’t need a meeting room, space for my employees, foosball table, gym, land line, or fax machine, though these would certainly not dissuade me from renting. Maybe the foosball table, were it next to my desk.

Ideas? Contact me.

Update: Mission Accomplished! Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions!

If you’re like me and subscribe to hundreds of different feeds, it’s important to figure out a good workflow that helps you focus on what’s most important. Not all of us have three or four hours a day to read blogs!

Read the post: RSS: the quicker way to stay up to date

My first post is up this morning, bringing you my solution to a very specific and picky iOS4 problem. Imagine that, me complaining about something.

Read the post: iOS4: Rotation lock good, backgrounds bad.

(For future posts, check the Future Shop Tech Blog soon.)

Allow me to introduce a new feature here at Omega Point: Catherine Uses…! But what is that, you ask?

Readers, as you can imagine, I get asked to endorse all manner of products: video games, athletic shoes, questionable dietary supplements… the list goes on. Rest assured, it’s only my strong sense of ethics and responsibly that keeps me from shilling for anything that comes my way. (Are you from Golden Palace? Let’s talk.)

Moreover, would anyone really believe it when I did sell out? I know when I’ve finished a hard day’s work pretending to enjoy Red Bull and signing autographs, there’s nothing I like more than to take a load off and curl up with a nice, frequently-used product or application.

If only there were a way to combine the two! Then it hit me: what better endorsement could I offer than a nod to something I actually use myself?

As my friends can attest, there’s nothing I like more than telling people about neat software I’ve discovered, or which shell scripts they should be using to make their lives easier. Also, fonts. I definitely like those.

“Um, obviously,” I am probably saying, as I set everyone straight about some program or other. (Photo by Jeremy Lim.)

So really, it’s a win all around. Catherine Uses… will be a regular feature on Omega Point, bringing you mini-reviews of only the tools, techniques and time-wasters I use most frequently.

How often do you find yourself in front of your two computers, forgetting which mouse belongs to which, transferring files via FTP or USB flash drive, moaning in agony as you save the contents of your clipboard on one computer to a file in order to transfer it to the other? Exactly: all the time!

Well, no more!

Thanks to the magic of Synergy, I’ve been safely controlling two computers with a single keyboard and mouse for the past six years. After three years without active development, a group of developers have taken it upon themselves to create a successor fork, Synergy+, where they have been patching bugs and adding new features since 2009.

So far, Synergy+ has improved upon the original by adding a new GUI, as well as HTML and image support to the clipboard. The latter is not yet supported on Mac OS X, but that’s on its way–they promise.

How is Synergy+ different from a KVM or A/B switch? Simple: it’s all software. Just install Synergy+ on all your computers, make sure they’re connected over the network, and away you go.

I use Synergy+ on a daily basis. My primary computer, a 15″ MacBook Pro, drives a 24″ monitor. To its left is a 22″ monitor, rotated vertically, and connected to my Windows XP box. To switch between computers, I just move my mouse pointer to the edge of the screen and onto the monitor next to it. Synergy transfers my keyboard and mouse inputs instantly to the other computer.

While I’ve kept my PC around solely to test site designs on Internet Explorer, I’ve recently discovered a new benefit to using Synergy. Rather than run a scattering of applications on each machine, I’ve divided up my tasks, using my Mac for development, running Photoshop, Firefox and TextMate, and relegating everything else–IRC, instant messaging, Twitter, downloads, and streaming–to my XP box. By limiting which computer handles which tasks, I can maintain shared control over two discrete workspaces: one where I only do work, and another where I’m only dealing with distractions. It’s worked out quite well, both for my productivity, as well as my CPU load.

If you find yourself needing some extra desktop space or more RAM, maybe you’re asking yourself the wrong question. What do you really want to be able to do? If the answer is “run more stuff in more space”, Synergy can be a great way to get some extra use out of that old computer you have sitting in your closet.

Download Synergy+.

Today, I’m going to complain about what’s wrong with it.

Now, to be fair, I’m quite pleased with the whole Notational Velocity package. Simplenote’s team are quick to respond to problems on Twitter, and quickly tackle bugs as they crop up. Notational Velocity is a well-developed app that can only get better since it’s been open-sourced.

So what’s missing from Notational Velocity if I like it so much? Actually, not much! I can only actually think of three real issues, and two simply aren’t that big a deal. Unfortunately, the third has proven to be surprisingly disruptive to my workflow.

1. Markdown Formatting
Notational Velocity supports bold, italicized and underlined rich text. Simplenote, on the other hand, does not. I’d love it if Notational Velocity had an option to save rich text formatting when exporting to plaintext–at least for bold and italicized text, that is. Markdown doesn’t care for underlines.

This would let me preserve rich text formatting round-trip from a file created in Notational Velocity, edited via Simplenote’s website or on my iPhone as plaintext, and displayed again in Notational Velocity, bold and italicized text intact. It looks like I’m not the only one who thinks this is a good idea, so I’m hopeful we’ll see this at some point in the future.

2. Multiple Windows
I get the philosophy behind Notational Velocity’s two-pane, no-buttons design. I do. I also get that, as such, it’s unlikely I’ll see this last feature without forking the codebase and adding it myself, which goes directly against my philosophy for using Notational Velocity and Simplenote: because it’s straightforward.

That said, I’ve occasionally found myself wishing that I could have two (or more) Notational Velocity windows. Why? Easy: sometimes I need to refer to a daily “to do” list while also referring to a second notecard, and sometimes I need to cut and paste between a couple different notecards, particularly when I’m breaking one up into smaller subcategories.

3. The Icon
Yes, seriously. Hear me out!

A rocket-powered filing cabinet. I can’t think of anything more appropriate to illustrate what Notational Velocity does.

Notational Velocity’s new “filing cabinet/rocket ship” icon is a huge improvement over the terrible, terrible “NV” icon it had for years. It’s clever, well-designed, and the metaphor, a rocket-powered filing cabinet, is both appropriate to what Notational Velocity does, as well as being a play on Notational Velocity’s name. It’s great. I wish I’d thought of it.

I can’t use it.

I tried. I really did! Even after four months of using the new Notational Velocity, my brain simply can’t get around the idea of a note-taking application’s icon not looking like a notepad or book. I’m not setting out to criticize Colin Cody’s ingenious rocket ship icon; indeed, I’m astonished that I can’t seem to get my head around the thing.

Human-computer interface expert Jef Raskin wrote about this issue in his 2000 book, The Humane Interface. He later summed up many of these points in an email to Tom Gilb:

Definition: A gesture is an action that you finish without conscious thought once you have started it. Example: For a beginning typist, typing the letter “t” is a gesture. For a more experienced typist, typing the word “the” is a gesture.

Rule 1. An interface should be habituating.

If the interface can be operated habitually then, after you have used it for a while, its use becomes automatic and you can release all your attention to the task you are trying to achieve.

Consequently, when an interface can’t be operated habitually, we run into problems. Since I started using Notational Velocity, I’ve experienced this exact issue on a daily basis: I’m reading a blog post. It’s interesting. Full of good ideas. I think, “Hey, this is related to that thing I’m working on right now! Why don’t I copy the URL and make a quick one-sentence note about the way the information therein can be tied into the project? Sweet!”

I select the URL, hit Command-C to copy it, Command-Tab to switch applications–and pause. Wait! Where’s my note…thing? My eyes dart around, as my brain’s needle abruptly skips across the surface of its record. ¹

Suddenly, I’m forced to switch from purposefully performing a task–one that requires me to immediately jot down my current train of thought–to consciously trying to remember and recognize which icon I’m looking for. It’s really disorienting, and I’ve found it to be the one consistent hiccup in my Notational Velocity/Simplenote workflow.

Worse, because Mac OS X’s application switcher lists active applications in the order in which they were last used, I can’t even train myself to click a specific area of the screen, as I would, say, if their icons were instead ordered alphabetically. (Yes, I’ve tried Witch to switch between windows rather than applications. I like the idea, but it’s just not what I’m looking for.)

Incidentally, this quirk of OS X’s interface goes against another of Raskin’s points:

“Rule 1b. To make an interface habituating, it must be monotonous.

Commentary. “Monotony” here is a technical term meaning that you do not have to choose among multiple gestures to achieve a particular sub-task. Crudely, there should be only one way to achieve a single-gesture subtask.”

Here, Raskin’s criticizing the practice of giving the user more than one way to do a task, (To copy the URL of the aforementioned blog post, we can choose between the keyboard command, the Edit menu, right-click menu, etc.) but application switching in OS X is even more annoying. Depending on how many apps I have open, Notational Velocity can be anywhere in a horizontal list of a dozen other programs.

So I changed the icon.

Now that’s an icon you write things in!

Instead, I’m using DeviantArt contributor ^pica-ae’s beautiful Red Moleskine icons.

She’s also created a number of similar icons in more traditional Moleskine colours, but I find I prefer the red one. It stands out against the other applications I use, and as a bonus, feels easier to associate with Notational Velocity’s functionality than the black icons. I’ve used the red icon for about a week now, and it’s worked out well. Is that strictly because it’s an inherently more appropriate icon? Not at all. Perhaps it’s simply easier to find because I’m subconsciously recognizing the effort that went into thinking about the problem and finding what I felt to be a more suitable icon.

This is by no means a perfect solution. I’m frustrated that I couldn’t ever get used to using the rocket-cabinet icon, just because it IS so apt and clever.²

Another option might have been to simply train myself not to use Command-Tab to switch to Notational Velocity. It’s in the same position on my Dock. I tend to keep the open Notational Velocity window to the left side of my desktop, where it does tend to peek out from behind other apps. Couldn’t I have just learned to click the open window rather than looking for the icon? Couldn’t I have used Exposé?

Sure, there were plenty of options available, but changing the way I switch apps might actually have been an even greater change for me to deal with. Consider this: I’ve switched applications the same way on Mac OS X since 2002. I’ve used applications with pads-of-paper for icons to jot down notes since Windows 3.1. Perhaps four months with Notational Velocity and its new icon was simply not long enough for me to learn a new mode of behavior.

My experience here has demonstrated something I think we should all take to heart when designing interfaces: a change to established practices can be really, really hard for users to accept, even if they agree the change makes complete sense.

1. Tch, your MOM has synesthesia.
2. And purpose-designed! Sorry, Colin Cody!

I’ve known from a very early age that I tend towards clutter and disorganization. It’s difficult for me–for all of us, I suspect–to handle the ever-increasing number of tasks, appointments and numbers we’re bombarded with on a daily basis.

Seriously, handling the glut of data we’re faced with is fast becoming a major problem for our society. We build software to do it. We buy specialized calendars and schedules to fit in all we need to know–and then resort to tying string around a finger to remind ourselves to check them later. We even write lifestyle manuals describing the methods we use to just buckle down and actually do work. The productivity industry is one of the fastest-growing, and one of the few I suspect can really take off during this Great Recession. After all, if everyone’s a consultant in this brave new future of ours, we’re certainly not going to be dealing with less information than we have before now!

So how do I handle it?

I won’t lie:

I use a variety of software and practices to help keep myself organized. Google Calendar and iCal handle my schedule. Bug tracking is handled by Mantis and Unfuddle. My projects and documents are all securely backed up online via DropBox, I have an extensive collection of mail filters and folders to help keep me at inbox zero, I read almost all my regular blogs via RSS. I synchronize all of the above with my iPhone, keeping all my data accessible to me when away from my computer.

However, for the past couple of years, the tool that’s helped me more than any of those–yes, even more than my calendar–is text files. Really. While there exist literally hundreds of options for keeping track of notes, tasks, links and even pictures, I kept coming back to Mac OS X’s default text editor, TextEdit, for my notetaking needs. After all, I need a system that adapts to my needs, and nothing will ever be as flexible or customizable as plaintext.

About five years go, there was a lot of discussion in the Getting Things Done and productivity communities around the “One Big Text File” organizational method. The idea behind this is to keep a single text document into which you drop everything you’re working on: snippets of code, ideas for blog posts, meeting notes, reminders–all of which can be searched.

I tried One Big Text File for a time, ultimately, like even most of its advocates, abandoning it in favour of many smaller files, organized by project or category. After all, thanks to Mac OS X’s indexed search feature, Spotlight, Command-Space lets me search the contents of files from any program.

Pretty slick, right? Well, almost. The downside to TextEdit + Spotlight is that notes tend to get scattered around my hard drive (usually in respective project folders, but still!) and that the few that I use as “working” to-do and notes documents end up being sad, “almost-there” parodies of “One Big Text File” cluttering up my desktop.

Enter Notational Velocity! This delightfully-named program has totally replaced my old TextEdit and Spotlight routine, instead replacing many files and separate windows with a single, omnipresent application.

The Notational Velocity window is one of the simplest interfaces around. It’s a search bar, a list of files and an editing pane. There’s no “Save”, no “File”, no “Close”. Notational Velocity handles that part for you. All note files in the Notational Velocity folder are opened and displayed in a list. To find a file, start typing in the search bar. The results will quickly be narrowed down as you go. To create a new note, type its name in the search bar and hit Enter. Voilà!

Personally, I start typing nearly everything in Notational Velocity–even this blog post. It’s simpler for me to draw upon the notes and point form ideas I’ve come up with previously than it is to write a post or an article in a separate editor.¹

When taking notes or starting a project, I tend to follow a standard outline method, jotting down things in point form, organizing my outline with a single thought per line.

I start with a premise: say, reorganizing my cluttered desk. I then break the overarching task down into sub-tasks:

1. Move papers and junk off desk.
2. Move monitors around.
3. File papers.

I then break “File papers” down into sub-tasks. A lot of these aren’t just receipts, they’re business cards and things! I write “todo: research: business card scanners”, then pause as I realize something that’d be rather spiffy. Under it, on a new line, I write “a) For iPhone.” Later, I’ll search Notational Velocity for “todo” or “research”, finding these tasks and striking them from their respective notes.

Ultimately, the note titled “Project: Clean Desk” will be deleted, as its tasks are completed and related ideas moved to notes like “Idea: Business card scanner for iPhone”. On the way there, I might break it down into multiple cards, involving filing or doing research on buying a new monitor, but ultimately, the goal for this particular note is for its tasks to all be completed. When they are, there’s no sense in keeping it around.

I find this method to be the most effective for managing my data and thoughts. When an idea occurs to me, it allows me to quickly and easily jot it down, later referencing it or moving it to its own separate note.

For a real-world example,² consider this post. Yes, the one you’re reading right now! The initial task, reviewing a single program, has grown into four separate blog posts as well as some notes on usability, criticisms of Notational Velocity itself, and–for some reason–the makings of a mini-rant about the Singularity. If you tend to follow a similar workflow and process, perhaps now a little puzzled by the implication that anyone could arrive somewhere else, Notational Velocity just may be what you’re looking for.

So how is Notational Velocity better than or superior to TextEdit + Spotlight?

It’s a much simpler application, and your recently-edited notes are visible at all times. You don’t have to worry about saving files, or opening one after a reboot only to be forced to find your spot again. Without taking my hands off the keyboard, I can search notes, create new ones, and quickly find the information I’m looking for.

However, where Notational Velocity really shines is synchronization. Every five minutes, Notational Velocity uploads and downloads changes with Simplenote, a web service with very similar functionality. Simplenote, in turn, rocks because it has a slick iPhone app that also connects to their service. Its functionality is very similar to that of Notational Velocity.

Notational Velocity + Simplenote are currently the two most useful applications I use. Between Notational Velocity on my Mac and Simplenote on my iPhone, I actually don’t use the Simplenote website at all, though it’s nice to remind myself that it exists.

Using Windows? You may have noticed my described workflow is pretty specific to Apple devices. It sure is. Fortunately, while Notational Velocity’s Mac-only, the Notes app for Windows looks quite similar. Caveats: Simplenote support has been announced for Notes, though it’s not yet available. I’m not sure if Notes can run without its own database, storing notes as discrete files as Notational Velocity does. This latter feature in Notational Velocity can be handy for editing files with other programs.

In conclusion, the system I’ve outlined here is most definitely not for everyone. I can think of any number of ways I’d improve Notational Velocity and Simplenote to better fit my needs, but that’s another post. However, it’s definitely the best system for keeping notes I’ve found so far. Have you used a better one? Leave me a comment!

Download Simplenote for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Download Notational Velocity for Mac OS X.

Update, June 13, 2010:
Using Windows? You might want to try ResophNotes, currently in beta. (License: proprietary; Cost: free.)

1. Email tends to be an exception: those get composed in a single sitting in my email client.
2. My desk is in pristine condition at all times. Obviously.

Yeah, there’s more, actually.

First, the good parts, the ones that were enough to make me give up Firefox:

• It’s fast. Really, really fast.
• Pages you visit get indexed in OSX’s Spotlight. It’s like Google Desktop for Firefox, only not totally ridiculous.
• While Safari doesn’t include support for Firefox-style extensions, there are a bunch of cheesy hacks billed as plugins that look very similar to the end-user. Apple has indicated they’re going to stop support for these though. Hopefully, by the time they do, Safari 5 will have incorporated some of the functionality of the ones I like.

  I’m using Glims, Safari AdBlock and Inquisitor. Inquisitor is fairly rad, actually. It changes how your search results work and adds support for all your favourite search engines, searching them all in parallel if that’s your thing. (It’s not mine.)

Now, the parts I hate:

• Selecting text and right-clicking gives you the usual “Search in Google” option. It apparently can’t be changed to open in a new tab by default. So for me, a user who searches lots of strings and opens them in new tabs, I’m forced to Cmd-T new tabs open, copying-and-pasting the text into the search box.
• I’m not used to having to type a search before I tell Inquisitor where to search. In Firefox, it’s the other way around: you click the dropdown, select “Wikipedia” and then type what you want to find.

Still, these were not huge complaints. If you’re on Firefox on OSX, I’d give Safari 4 a try. Want to sync bookmarks between the two? (And office computers, your iPhone, blogroll, etc?) Get Xmarks.

Mind you, I still have no plans to use anything but Firefox for development purposes. For making sites, Firebug is where it’s at. When casually browsing, however, I just don’t need to be using half my CPU and RAM to display websites.

Drupal
Extension

Firebug

I definitely agree with MacBlogz’ assessment: “Safari 4: Three Steps Forward, One Step Back

http://www.macblogz.com/2009/02/24/safari-4-three-steps-forward-one-step-back/

While otherwise a competent, irritatingly underfunded news organization, the CBC sucks at infographics. Most of their “interactive features” are just text that requires a lot of clicking and scrolling to read. That’s not “interactive”, guys. That’s “broken”. (In fairness, a lot of these come from the Canadian Press, which presumably also supplies these horrible clicky things to the two other^[1] Canadian news organizations.)

But I digress. A tad.

Yeah, that’s a shame.

This graph of the depressing failure that is Northern Telecom is pretty good because it ties news and events to stock price over time. There’s still ridiculous amounts of clicking on tiny little dots though. Mouseover, anyone?

(In fairness, there are at least forward/back buttons.)

I find it really bizarre that the two most effective “interactive” features on CBC’s website are both incredibly morbid: a “where did people find feet washed up on beaches?” map, and a map of gang hits in Metro Vancouver. (Wow, that map certainly makes the Downtown East Side look quiet. “DTES: Too poor for gang-bangers.”)

Both of these, predictably, use Google Maps, and colour-code the different categories of event at that location. (“Raccoon paw hoax” or “stabbing”, for example.) This conveys a decent amount of information without having to select the icon to view additional details. However, you still do have to click the thing to find out anything more.

I will say, though, that the effectiveness of both of these horrible death maps could be improved by taking time and date into account: personally, I want to see how long ago those people down the street got murdered in their attic. I mean, really, now. (I remember seeing a Google Maps mashup that did this, with a slider at the bottom. Can anyone help me out with a URL?)

The New York Times, on the other hand, takes online infographics to a whole new level, rivaling the quality of their print features. I’ll explain more about this in 30 minutes.

[1] Yes, seriously. (Stupid Conrad Black. Stupid CRTC.)

I know a few of my neighbours:

• There’s the autistic tween two doors down who throws extremely loud temper tantrums.
• There’s the students on the other side of my house, one of whom once dated a guy who was extremely emotional during sex, to her irritation: “I just love you so much.” “Yeah, whatever.”
• My upstairs neighbour and her teenage son, whom I do see and speak to regularly, are nice: she plays golf, he likes video games. Their (great-) uncle lives down the street in what I suspect is the first house to be built on that lot. Vancouver is an extremely new city, remember.
• I don’t know the guys next door, but they always have very entertaining conversations in Mandarin. One of them frequently sings commercial jingles and Frank Sinatra medleys. They then argue about them. Once, he was playing a flute!

But this all brings me to my point. Today I was thinking about the fact that it’s actually kind of weird that I do know any of my neighbours’ names. Most of us don’t. We live in apartment buildings, or commute from the suburbs. My street definitely has more in common with the latter, with its stupid wasted space and identical “technically it’s a detached home” houses.

It’s not much, but the view’s amazing.

But worse, we all buy into it. Between my house and my neighbours’, identical to my own and built at the same time, there lies approximately 6 feet of space, more than half the width of my weird, narrow apartment. So what do we do with it? On my half, there’s a two-foot-wide path from the front of the house to the back, a foot of cedar chips, ending at a terrible, rusty chain-link fence. On theirs, the inverse. Only they have gravel instead of cedar chips.

Bravo, architects. Instead of having access to a fairly nice shared patio, allowing us to sit out in the cool breeze between the two houses, to barbeque, fix a bike, or do some windowbox gardening, we have an ugly fence dividing the space, forcing the addition of a buffer zone in the middle, lest we brush up against it and totally get rust particles all over our spiffy new bike’s handlebar tape. (Not that this happened to me recently or anything.)

By putting up a barrier and maintaining the fiction that we can’t actually smell each other’s dinner, we’ve wasted what amounts to an entire laneway. In some cities, there would be an actual street sign along a gap that wide between two buildings.

This is ridiculous, honestly. It’s time to stop catering to the idea that enclosing a chunk of lawn with a fence is a status symbol. Nobody is helped by this fence remaining here. The owners of our two houses don’t even live here. It’s not helping resale values. Anyone wanting to buy one of the properties and return it to a single-family home would incur tens of thousands of dollars of construction costs, only to be left at a disadvantage paying the mortgage. (Seriously, is there anyone in Vancouver who can afford to own a detached home and not rent out a suite?)

Without the fence, both units would have an extra amenity, appealing to renters. As tenants, we’d have more usable space. I could turn my bike around without having to lift it above my head or pick it up on the back wheel.

And most of all, maybe I’d actually talk to the guys across the fence sometime and ask them if they want any help settling the argument over the Sleep Country Canada jingle.