Travis 15 Jul 05

Very cool guys, I’ll check it out once I get home.

Kevin 15 Jul 05

Where is the Windows version? :)

Donovan 15 Jul 05

Where do we get the API Key?

RS 15 Jul 05

> Where do we get the API Key?

It’s at the bottom of the Account screen in Backpack.

Jay 15 Jul 05

I would love to see a Basecamp version.

Lisa McMillan 15 Jul 05

I second Jay’s comment! This is a hot little widget. Fast, clean and useful for sure. Any chance there’ll be an API for basecamp any time soon??

JF 15 Jul 05

We do have plans to release a Basecamp API, but we have some other Basecamp stuff to take care of first to get it ready for an API. Hopefully before the end of the year, but we can’t make any promises at this point.

DaleV 15 Jul 05

Holy crap … that’s nicely done! I was expecting to be able to view the items, but to be able to add, edit, and access all of my pages … . DANG!

Melyssa Lipsey 15 Jul 05

This is THE most useful widget and will likely become my most used widget. An awesome addition to the 37signals family of handy products and services. Way to go team! This rocks!

Jeff Adams 15 Jul 05

I agree with Kevin, we need a cool little windows app that does the same thing.

Dan Boland 15 Jul 05

First things first, the widget looks great; they definitely got the look and feel of it down. But what is the incentive for Chipt Productions to create this? A pat on the back, or is there money involved?

JF 15 Jul 05

Chipt designed it because they probably wanted to use it themselves. And since they seem to be cool folks they released it so everyone else could use it too.

We didn’t pay them or ask them or even know they were developing it — we just put the API out there and they ran with it. That’s the beauty of an API — people can build tools on top of your tool.

JF 15 Jul 05

Here’s the Backpack API. Want a Windows app to work with Backpack? All the hooks are there, you just need to go build one!

Sunil 15 Jul 05

This is definitely the best widget I have. Excellent work guys!

Only one question… It keeps coming back to my main backpack page when I open up dashboard. Is that the expected behavior? I would love for it to stay on the last page I had it on.

Jeff Hartman 15 Jul 05

I’ll echo that this is the best widget out there, hands down.

So, so great.

Matt 15 Jul 05

JF got it right. I built the widget because I wasn’t satisfied with the previous offerings of widgets for Backpack. It was originally for me, but as it progressed I decided to share it.

Also.. I would love to hear of any bugs you might stumble across. I’m sure there’s still one or two lurking.

Bill Erickson 15 Jul 05

now all you need is a konfabulator widget for all those Windows and pre-OSX 10.4 users. It shouldn’t be too difficult because Dashboard is simply a copy of Konfabulator.

www.konfabulator.com for those of you who dont know what it is

Josh Wand 15 Jul 05

One more vote for a Konfabulator widget! Pretty please???

Anonymous Coward 15 Jul 05

+1 for a Win32 version on Konfabulator!

David 15 Jul 05

This is great stuff! Two comments:

* Any possibility for a draggable lower right corner, to make it bigger?

* A slightly larger typeface would be nice, or more leading. Backpack feels very spacious and easy to read, but the type in the widget feels a little cramped.

Otherwise, great work, I’ll use this all the time.

Aaron 15 Jul 05

I wish links formatted with the “link” : url format worked with it, but great job. Thanks.

Aaron 15 Jul 05

Also, I wish the lists and notes did not switch to the Home page everytime I view. If I want to see my shopping list at a glace I dont want to select that page everytime. Thanks.

Dethe Elza 15 Jul 05

Looks good, but couldn’t get it to connect to my site. So far I haven’t found any compelling applications for Dashboard and I keep it turned off.

Anthony Baker 15 Jul 05

Love the widget, but I’m in the “turn off Dashboard” camp. I use DashPrefPane to turn it on and off, as I’ve found that it does tend to slow things down a bit.

For those who are interested, there is an app out there called Amnesty that allows you to run Dashboard widgets directly on the desktop, which is very nice.

http://www.mesadynamics.com/amnesty.htm?=cua

Am not clear if this allows for the improvement of overall Dashboard performance.

stilist 15 Jul 05

The irony of it all… yesterday you post a complaint about fake scrollbars, and now you’re showing off a widget with a fake scrollbar.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, I just find it funny.

Will 15 Jul 05

I’m having the same issue as Keegan. The Widget will retrieve my page names, but no content for anything.

Most of my content is formatted using html tags rather than just straight text. Could that be the culprit?

Also, even though I’m able to see each of my page names in the list, I get a persistent “login error” message

george 15 Jul 05

Looks great; my AD and I were just wishing aloud yesterday that we had a Backpack widget!

I’m unable to connect, though; I’ve entered the API code and username and still get a login error. I’m using the free version of backpack - would that make a difference? Anyone else having this problem?

carl 15 Jul 05

Amazing widget. I also like the Idea of a draggable window to resize for more viewing area but more importantly, Deletion could be easier.

Excellent work.

Zelnox 16 Jul 05

Ho ho, so cool. ^_^ I should use backpack more often…

Jack 16 Jul 05

Brilliant. One thing that just struck me - I’ll now be using Backpack without ever visiting the site, which seems a little strange (I’m quite a light user, and always add stuff using Quicksilver).

Wesley Walser 16 Jul 05

It’s amazing how people take your software, and build something with it that they need, and by doing so make your software better.

I love technology!

Matt 16 Jul 05

Hey everybody!

I’ve uploaded v1.0.2 of the widget to chipt.com. I recommend anyone who’s already downloaded it to get this one. It’s got some helpful bug fixes, but most of all, there are some changes which greatly reduce the load placed on backpack’s servers.

This widget is still undergoing improvements and updates, so check often for a new version.

Frank 16 Jul 05

I can’t wait until someone delivers a ta-da list widget.

Oz Alfert 16 Jul 05

Fantastic widget. Implementation is spot on. This is the kind of thing widgets are for. This and the google maps widget are what it’s all about. Thanks to the developer.

~bc 18 Jul 05

I have some feedback on the widget… but first, nice job. Thanks.

Alright down to biz:

* Textile implementation: things look a little ridiculous with the markup spread all over. - I don’t know if this would be easy in the least.
* Resizable window, please.
* Resizable text.

My biggest problem related to this widget and Backpack in general is there’s no offline use. If this widget could cache my changes, then sync up once online again, that would be awesome. I know I’m asking a lot of a widget. This would be more of a desktop app in my mind.

I was at Dave Winer’s OPML demo at Harvard the other night, and although its rough at this point, it was cool how he could make changes in a desktop app and it was instantly saved online… If it cached (I should have asked him), it would be awesome.

Todd Dominey 20 Jul 05

Two things would make it perfect:

1) Delete button to remove entries
2) Resizable window. Longer list items are impossible to read without one.

Otherwise, fantastic thus far.

Tim 20 Jul 05

Very, very cool. Would LOVE to see a Konfabulator version of this!

Felix Wonderland 02 Aug 05

I would also really love a Konfabulator port of this!
… especially since Konfabulator is free now ^_^

Ross 31 Aug 05

Here’s a tip: if you hit the issue where it can’t connect to Backpack and tells you to “check your info” just re-enter your username and API key. That seems to work for me.

PhilWil 30 Oct 05

How about making a Konfabulator widget for this so windows users can have a look see?

Paul Clegg 25 Jan 06

Base Camp great - widget would be brilliant.

Tiger l'Osmose 02 Feb 06

good bless tiger

3stripe 16 Feb 06

is there an ETA on the basecamp version?

toriagi 21 Mar 06

How the dashboard widget implement on window?