What’s in Your Web App/Software Arsenal? Part 1

It seems that not a day goes by that someone’s not asking me “How can I do this easily/on the web/free, etc.” It likely stems from the fact(s) that -

1. I used to work in IT for the better part of a decade, and have been hands on with just about every piece of office software there is

2. I’m obsessive about trying out any new software that seems like it could be useful

3. I run my own company, and work with a lot of different clients around the world, which means I need to smooth, ready-to-go collaboration tools.

With that said, here’s a list of the tools I use on my desktop and laptop to get the job done with the minimum of insanity.  Like the headline says, this is just part 1 of a 2 part post, next up will be a list of mobile tools.

And rather than this being a one-way conversation dear readers, I’d like to ask - what do you use to get work done?

Web apps -

• Readnotify: Sign up for free at www.readnotify.com, and you can easily track whether a message has been opened or not. For free, you get a total of 25 messages, otherwise, it’s time for a paid account, which is pretty cheap. Using readnotify is as easy as appending “.readnotify.com” to the end of an email address, for example, you send a message to tom@xyz123.com.readnotify.com” and when he opens it, the message tracking will kick in. The tracking is unobtrusive, and doesn’t require the recipient to see those annoying “The sender has requested a read receipt” message.  Readnotify’s especially handy when used judiciously to send proposals, contracts and reports, as it will also track who the attachment (PDF, DOC and other file types) have been forwarded to.
• Yousendit: as I noted in a previous post, Yousendit is a great way to send large files through email without choking the recipient’s inbox with huge attachments. Just upload the file via Yousendit and a link will be delivered to the recipient’s inbox with instructions on downloading the file. Paid users can add priority sends, download tracking and much more.
• Google Apps: Google’s suite of office applications is great for a small business. The free-to-use (and quite powerful) Word Processor, Spreadsheet and email apps are fantastic. If you’re running a business, it pays to use a paid account for your domain, that way, you have all the apps in one central portal, and you actually get some paid support. The ability to collaborate with anyone both inside and outside your domain (and even non-Google Apps members) and easily track changes makes it tough to beat (though I do prefer Zoho’s editing tools). Google just keeps expanding the features of their office suite, which makes it an ever better alternative to desktop office programs every day.
• Zoho Creator: Need an easy-to-use online database? Creator’s what you’re looking for, and it’s free if you maintain three or less databases at a time. Need more databases than that, and it’s time to pay up, but the rates are cheap. If you’ve ever used FileMaker before, Creator will seem like old hat. If you’re looking for a more SQL-like server, then Zoho’s Zoho DB product may be a better choice.
• Mailchimp: “What email distro service do you use” is a question I must hear about every week. And without hesitating, I always recommend Mailchimp. The system is easy to use, lists are simple to set up and maintain, and the email campaign results reports are fantastic. I tried a few other services, and it just feels like Mailchimp is friendlier and more flexible that anything else out there.
• Zoho Invoice: I really hate how long Quickbooks takes to load, and while I tried Freshbooks and a few others, I found I really liked Zoho’s Invoice product the most. It’s quick, effortless and free for up to five clients. After that, it’s still dirt cheap, and there’s no software to install, thus allowing me to quickly jump in and generate a report when sitting in my tax accountant’s office.

Desktop Apps (Windows) -

Although Web 2.0 has made our lives a whole lot easier, there are times when you just have to hunker down and pull up a client application on your PC or Mac. Sadly, I don’t own a Mac (though I am sorely tempted to move to one), so this list is just for the Windows folk out there. And no, not those Windows people in those annoying ads, they can go find their own ways to “be a PC.” Sorry, I just hate those ads.

• Texter: this handy (and free) little applet from the folks at Lifehacker makes the copywriter’s life a breeze by automating text entry. Basically, you create “shortcuts” to common chunks of text you use, and when you type that shortcut, Texter will replace it with the full text, or for hardcore use, you can even program scripts into it, for ease in filling out forms, plugging in repetitive chunks of codes, etc.  Grab it here.
• Foldershare: here’s a great free app for keeping files in sync across the network and the Internet, now if I could just get my wife to install it, she would stop having me email files from her home PC to her work! Pretty simple stuff here, you just assign what folders you want to stay in sync on your different PCs, and the app takes care of it from there. Change a file on one machine, and every other machine gets the updated copy immediately.  I use this with one client who doesn’t have a central server, so we keep our files in Foldershare, and everyone gets the latest version as needed. One warning - Foldershare can chew up bandwidth if someone gets crazy and throws big files or a ton of files into the sync folders at once. There’s no way to limit its bandwidth usage, which has often killed my Vonage IP phone call quality.
• Sugarsync: If it weren’t for that one client who’s got everything in Foldershare, I probably would’ve moved completely to SugarSync a long time ago. Like Foldershare, Sugarsync syncs files across as many machines as you have (though at a certain point, you have to pay for a larger capacity account) and allows you direct Web access to them at any time. There’s also a “Magic Briefcase” for keeping specific files you don’t want synced, but do want available from the web. Take all those features and bundle in a fantastic iPhone app, and the ability to share files by simply sending email links, and you’ve got a great product.
• Skype: my European clients really love Skype’s cheap international calling rates (as do I) and its ability to allow for instant chat at any time, or to place a phone call from your PC with ease. I use it as an “Internet” phone (because my Vonage line pretty much stinks anyhow) and a chat client for specific clients of mine. Being able to leave Skype voicemails is also very cool. Skype’s free for skype-to-skype calls, but requires a paid (pretty cheap) account for calling landline users and using enhanced features.
• Firefox: say what you will about its tendency to chew up memory on your PC, but Firefox is still the browser to beat in my book, mostly because of the incredibly useful collection of plugins and scripts for it. I’d love to switch to Chrome for the sheer speed, but until they get some plugin support, I’ll be a Firefox user.
• Virtuawin - for those of us without a desk big enough to accommodate Steve’s lovely dual-monitor layout, there’s Virtuawin. The app lets you create multiple virtual desktops, so you can shove application windows out of view without closing them, then call them back as you need them. It’s like having multiple monitors that you can keep apps running on without them actually sitting on your desk.
• Microsoft Office 2007 - at some point in the future, we’ll be able to give up on MS Office, but right now, it’s the standard by which all others are measured. Even though I work with a lot of clients through Google Docs, some are still set on using MS Office and emailing documents around, and so, MS Office shall persevere on my desktop, taunting me day in and day out with its annoying ribbon interface, randomly changing fomatting while I edit issues, and its frustratingly incompatible .docx formats.  None of the other alternatives like Google Docs or Openoffice offer an even vaguely servicable mail merge function (which I use for creating reports and catalogs), so there’s one more reason to keep Office ‘07 around.