Wow. This has been a long time coming. It’s time to finally begin building up to the launch of the new Backpack.
We originally hoped to have this out at the end of 2006, but a variety of circumstances pushed it back and back and back. Technical challenges, strategy changes, and the launch of Highrise all played a part in the delay. We apologize. We learned our lesson about pre-announcing releases that aren’t truly right around the corner.
Familiar yet all new
One of the challenges of developing the new Backpack was to maintain familiarity yet make the product feel brand new. While the standard tools remain mostly the same, the experience of interacting with the tools is all new. It’s something you’ll feel when you use it.
Anywhere
The first major change we want to preview is the “items anywhere” feature. The current version of Backpack segments the page into fixed compartments. To-do lists always at the top, then notes, then files, then photos, etc. Not anymore. the new version allows you to put anything anywhere. A file on top of a list. A list below a note. A photo gallery at the top of the page, etc. It’s up to you.
Same content, different order
To illustrate, here’s two screenshots of the same content in a different order.
Coming soon
The new Backpack is coming soon. Thanks again for your patience and stay tuned for more previews and the launch announcement.
Armando Flores
on 17 Jul 07Sounds good,
I look forward to the new Backpack. BTW, here is my wish list:
- Customizable CSS styles
- Items anywhere including side-by-side (maybe using CSS)
- Search capability (tags are cool but…)
- Time sheet items (even if it is just at the page level)
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Ruminator
on 17 Jul 07I’m hoping for OpenID login/integration with Highrise and Basecamp.
hardcoreUFO
on 17 Jul 07Cant wait to see it. I’m sure the wait will be worth it.
Ben Mills
on 17 Jul 07I’m hoping for:
A quality API. OpenID. Calender reminders (not just the 30 minute checkbox).I’m excited to see the new version. It really is a tool that I use all day, every day.
Ben Mills
on 17 Jul 07Will the new version break the API?
Gayle
on 17 Jul 07Yay! Yay yay yay!
does a little happy dance
I’m little so I don’t use the hefty basecamp or even highrise very much, but backpack is my favourite tool ever. Yay for the backpack lovin’!
Mike
on 17 Jul 07Oh boy! I can’t wait….
Matt
on 17 Jul 07Items everywhere is a big step forward. Thanks.
Pete Callaway
on 17 Jul 07Great news that Backpack is getting an update.
One worry, as Ben asked… how broken will our apps that use the API become?
Aaron
on 17 Jul 07I nth Ben Mills’ suggestions (quality API, flexible calendar reminders).
Also, I suggest: archiving completed list items so they’re not cluttering up the main page, but they’re accessible if I want to go back and see what items I completed on a given day.
DjD
on 17 Jul 07Wooo hoo! :)
Jarkko Laine
on 17 Jul 07This is great news! I’ve been waiting for the “items everywhere” feature ever since I started using Backpack in the first place.
Any other great features coming? (Although apart from this one I’m not sure if we really need any…)
Derick
on 17 Jul 07Are there going to be changes to the pricing? i.e. should I upgrade now to lock in today’s prices :)
Alan Jacobs
on 17 Jul 07Well . . . I’ve been your consistent defender on the Backpack forums, but I really wish you hadn’t done this - and I hope there are no more previews! After last year’s previews, which came to nothing, I had to spend a lot of time reminding myself not to be frustrated with with Backpack can’t (yet) do, but to focus instead on all the stuff it does exceptionally well. But this new preview just re-creates the frustration. For one thing, there’s no guarantee that you won’t run into major problems again - the complexity of the task fooled you once before, maybe it will again. But even if not, there’s no way to tell what you mean by “beginning” to “build up to” the launch of the new version. Does that mean that launch is a couple of weeks away? Or a couple of months? Or six months? I just wish I didn’t have this stuff to think about. All I ever wanted - and all I still want - is to hear something along the lines of “We’re launching next Monday.” Until it gets to that point, I’d rather not know.
J
on 17 Jul 07“A file above a list” makes more sense than “A file on top of a list”. That could make for some interesting rendering issues though…
Drew
on 17 Jul 07Nice! The only ‘pending’ Backpack update I was aware of is the “items anywhere” feature. Looking forward to seeing what else is in store.
Thomas
on 17 Jul 07This has more to do with Basecamp, but I was wondering whether doing something like Twitter would help with your team members. On the Dashboard you could instantly know where your staff are, and what they are doing etc.
Say if they are not on an Internet connection, but don’t want to call every staff, they just text Basecamp, and everyone can see your status.
Sandeep Sood
on 17 Jul 07Nice – really looking forward to OpenID integration. With OpenID, it makes it easy take an item and decide on the fly…is this a project, okay, basecamp. A lead or an event? okay, highrise. Anniversary plans? Cool, backpack.
Adrian
on 17 Jul 07Yeah!
One feature, by the look of the screenshot, is that a single list can be named. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.
Dennis Frank
on 17 Jul 07Great news.
My biggest wish (since Backpack launch) is to make a page public without showing it on the shuffle page http://123.backpackit.com/shuffle
Right now every public page is visible to everyone and google. More than one time I was amazed of very private data on pages on the shuffle page. I don’t think this is in every page owners interest.
JF
on 17 Jul 07Dennis, you need to actively make a page public. Pages are private by default. Public pages can and will be discovered by Google if they are linked up anywhere so if you don’t want a page public I would suggest not turning on public sharing for that page.
Dennis Frank
on 17 Jul 07JF, thanks for your quick answer. I think I know all the facts about BP public pages. ;)
Every public page is linked from time to time on your shuffle page and visible to visitors and search engines. There is a good chance to get spidered by Google and Co.
Your suggestion not to use public sharing is nice. But I really want use it! With friends, family or, if I make it public, with the complete web. I know I could share a page (only editable for everyone) with other BP users, but I don’t know how to get my (not english speaking) parents into the BP thing.
I would prefer a additional checkbox “Don’t publish public page on the Backpack Shuffle” or so.
But now back to the topic…
Orca
on 18 Jul 07Thanks for the updates.
Definitely I need a SEARCH function.
Having 35 of pages right now make me really frustated. Clicking and browsing through all the pages to search for something I’m looking for.
Personal Information Manager is nothing without SEARCH function.
Eric Franklin
on 18 Jul 07This looks great you guys. I am looking forward to the improvements. If you guys could make it so that the list items could have dates (and reminders) associated with them, I’d love you all forever! That’s really the only thing keeping this form my being the best personal productivity tool I use.
Sunny
on 18 Jul 07Will you ever do an email app?
Stuart
on 18 Jul 07Great news guys, can’t wait to see the new version!
Some wishlist items I hope make it into the final cut:
- ability to move items between pages
- search
- ability to change the email address on integrated whiteboards (I did have a post on the forums about this, but they have all been taken offline in preparation for the launch) – this is currently a BIG SECURITY HOLE in my opinion
- pages styled the same as Basecamp and Highrise, so there is a consistent look between all your accounts
- ability to share a page in “read only” mode with user abc, whilst sharing in read-write mode for user xyz
- end TIMES on calendar items, to provide a decent daily overview of your schedule
OpenID/Open Bar has already been confirmed, so I guess that’s about it!
:)
Stuart
on 18 Jul 07Also further to that, please please please make SMS reminders for tasks work in Australia (carrier: Optus). It has unfortunately never worked, and there was plenty of posts on the old forums from other users about it.
Thank you.
Shawn
on 18 Jul 07I have some suggestions for stuff that would make backpack much more useful. Or maybe there is already a way to do this stuff and you could just point me in the right direction.
1. My list of pages is all mixed together. I wish I could put them in folders somehow and kind of build a hierarchy like Windows does with it’s file system. That would be more intuitive.
2. Backpack allows me to upload files to my pages. But if I open up one of those files and edit it, the changes can’t be saved. Why not? My work schedule is a Lotus Notes file and I have it in my backpack for easy access from anywhere. What happens if my schedule changes? I have to download the schedule, edit it, save it locally, delete the original from my backpack, and then upload the revised version? That is a lot of work for simply switching days with a co-worker.
3. Backpack allows me to include links to external web pages. That’s terrific. But what happens if the links break? I’m reluctant to spend much time finding relevant links if there’s not guarantee that info will even be there in the future. What if I want to make a backpack page to store order confirmations for online purchases? I don’t think it’s even possible to link to those. They are generated on the fly. What if I want to link to a geocities page? Access to geocities is blocked by my employer. My backpack is becoming less and less useful!
Fortunately, I think there’s an easy solution. I have a toolbar in my web browser called Billeo. It has a cool feature that allows me to save a web page as an image rather than a link. They save the image on their server, so I never have to care if the original web page moves or goes away. I have an exact image of exactly what I was looking at when I stored it. Backpack should add this function.
Chris Vincent
on 18 Jul 07Great! I’ve just started using Backpack as my main personal organization tool since the calendar came out, and it’s awesome in its simple yet very functional design. I do think there are some things which can be improved, such as the ability to reorder everything like you guys just added.
Another feature that would really help me spend less time in Backpack and more time getting things done is to allow your calendar items to be displayed in a list. Or better yet, give list items dates/times as was suggested in the comments above and then display such dated list items in the calendar. If I click the checkbox on such a list item to cross it out, it should appear crossed out in the calendar as well. As a matter of fact, I want this list/calendar integration so badly that if I don’t get it on the next release I will likely find myself writing a GreaseMonkey extension to do it myself.
Really, I think it would make sense now to ditch the reminders section in favor of the calendar, as calendar items which are set to send a reminder essentially do the same thing.
The only other thing I would suggest isn’t really a feature, it’s rather a new application altogether. I think 37signals should do a personal budgeting application. :) Combining that with Backpack and Basecamp would be one hell of a triple threat.
Noel Hurtley
on 18 Jul 07Finally!
sph
on 18 Jul 07Looking forward to the updated backpack. One concern I have is that whether the mobile-rendered version (adding /mob to the url) will be still supported?
The mobile pages have recently have had some challenges when accessed from a mobile phone, the phone browser (Nokia E61/E61i) insist to load some of the pages as a downloadable file instead of rendering them on the screen. With the same phones and same account I have not had problems earlier.
In any case, keep up the good work, just don’t forget the mobile users with other than iphones! ;)
Dustin
on 18 Jul 07Nice. My only wish is RSS support for lists (although RSS for notes and files would be nice too).
LTL-RC
on 18 Jul 07coughcollapsablelistsandnotescough
Stuart
on 18 Jul 07@Shaun:
1. I prefix my pages with “P: projectname” for projects. I then have a page called “P: ! All Projects”, which utilises the links feature to link to every page I have about a specific project. This means that when I look down the side bar, I can quickly see what each page is about – but it also means that with the All Projects page, I don’t need to put every page in the sidebar (great for older or on hold stuff). I do the same for lists with “L: listname” and help with ”?: helptopic”. However, you could go on with ”$ expense” to categorise expense pages, etc.
2. There was a post recently on either SvN or the product blog about integrating a Google Spreadsheet with a Backpack page – sounds like it would be a better solution for you (plus would allow both you and your coworker to view/edit the spreadsheet if that’s needed).
René
on 18 Jul 07Laughing my f*cking ass off …. ^^
Stuart
on 18 Jul 07@Chris Vincent:
+1 for a 37signals budgeting solution. Hell, +100 for it! I would live inside that app if they built one! ;)
David Chartier
on 18 Jul 07Only thing I would kill for is the ability to move items between pages. I think a lot of the GTD folks using Backpack would love this too.
Derick
on 18 Jul 07from the backpack forums home page: “We expect to launch before the end of July, 2007”
Joshua Kaufman
on 18 Jul 07Awesome news, Jason. I’m really looking forward to it. But please, give us mobile web access to the calendar. I love Backpack mobile, but not having access to my calendar (since it’s the only calendar I use) when I’m not sitting on my computer is really frustrating.
Dave
on 18 Jul 07Nowadays my brain relies on Backpack, so I warmly welcome any upgrades. Thanks for continually making your apps better and better.
Shawn
on 19 Jul 07It would also be cool if I could toggle the calendars on/off.
I use one calendar as a journal of what I accomplished for the day. That tends to get wordy and make the boxes huge.
I want to have the Devils schedule handy, but I don’t need to stare at it all the time.
I want to keep track of promotions at work, but that’s completely irrelevant to whether or not I’m free on Saturday.
Marc
on 19 Jul 07“All I ever wanted – and all I still want – is to hear something along the lines of “We’re launching next Monday.” Until it gets to that point, I’d rather not know.”
It’s creating hype. It’s marketing. Exactly the same as so many other companies do. I love the hype!
ian
on 19 Jul 07have you tried to log into the Backpack forums lately? Part of the message reads
“We’re in the final preparations for the launch of the new version of Backpack. We expect to launch before the end of July, 2007.”
Alex
on 19 Jul 07+ 1000 for moving items between pages. That’s what I’m really hoping most to see in the new version of Backpack.
Second would be search.
Third is better usability for emails sent to Backpack (those which are displayed in the “email” section), like displaying the sender name, and forwarding/redirecting.
Rene A.
on 24 Jul 07Please: Page groups!
I need something to group my pages together. Right now, I do this with a pageprefix – that all pages from a “group” have the some prefix.
sample: HOME – Builing HOME – Upcoming events OFFICE – Events OFFICE – Meetings
Page groups would by very nice – and my sidebar would be much shorter :)
Kristian V
on 24 Jul 07My wishlist as a paying subscriber and active user;
1. Copy/move lists between pages function 2. Sort page order function, maybe even page folders
That’s all .. and so simple to add!!!??
This discussion is closed.