My first impression of Backpackit when I saw my homepage was, "hmm.. pretty simple", but not in a simple to use way, but rather the design and layout was very simple and nothing too fancy. This can be both good or bad, depending on the type person you are. It definitely has some nice subtle details, like a slight drop shadow on the main container, nice looking buttons and a good selection for the font size. But beyond that, it just seemed a little boring to me. Some rounded edges would've made it a look a little nicer, but really not all that important.
One thing that bothered me was the showing and hiding of the different sections as you click on the top buttons (List, Notes, Images, Links, etc.) As you click on each button the corresponding section appears. However, the previous section(s) don't hide, so the effect is sort of jumpy and awkward and hard to see what you just opened. You will see what I mean when you test drive it on Tuesday. I would've liked to see some nice Fade in and Fade out effects or even the Fade Anything Technique (FAT) effect on those sections when they appeared and disappeared. Just minor little annoyances or future enhancements.
But enough about the look-n-feel, let's talk about the functionality and the use of the application. The main idea behind Backpackit is for you to be able to organize your day-to-day information all in one place. You can create to-do lists. You can send yourself little notes, images, files, etc. You can set quick little reminders - which are then alerted to you by both email and an SMS message on your mobile device (one of the more useful features - IMHO)
The ability to email yourself the contents of one of your pages is a pretty neat feature also. It would be nice to be able to email the same page to your friends as well, but I guess a simple email FWD would solve that problem. As for emailing content to the page itself; every page that is created has a unique email addresses generated to go along with it. This was another annoyance about the application, but it seems like it is a necessary step to prevent spam and make your pages more secure. You can generate random emails until you find one that you like, but remembering these email addresses is quiet difficult. One suggestion that the FAQ page makes about the email addresses is to add them to your email program's contact list and give them friendlier names based on the content of the page you are updating (for example, BP Homepage). This is not a bad solution, but I would still rather have an easier email address to remember with maybe username/password in the subject line or body.
Overall, the application has its uses and is very simple and intuitive to use. The email commands are quiet simple as well. To send yourself a note, you create an email with a subject like so,
todo: Pick up little sister from school
Or you can optionally just put the word "todo" in the subject line and use the email body to create a more descriptive todo item.
If you just send an email with a subject line and body text, a special section is created on your page called "Emails". The email section contains emails that you send to yourself. The subject line becomes a link and the body text becomes the target to that link. This is a good way to send yourself bits of information, like a cool website or link that you found online. Or maybe a recipe or a funny news article that you want to look at later. I normally use my Del.icio.us account for this purpose, but that thing is getting way outta hand and too cluttered. Emailing myself the information may be a better alternative. Now if only those email addresses were a little easier to remember!
Well, thats all I have time for now. I have concluded that Backpackit could be used in a number of useful ways. For me, I am not sure if I can justify paying for the upgrades. I can save myself the money and just send myself emails and use Del.icio.us. But for those of you who are very disorganized and constantly send yourself notes and reminders, it might be worth the $5 a month.
