20 Jan 2004 | Jonny Roader said...

This really does look like a first-class product. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of course, but the signs are good. The taster previews are a very shrewd marketing move too.

Good luck! I await the finished article with eagerness.

20 Jan 2004 | Charbel said...

I can't wait for it to be released...The previews so far have looked terrific...I'll be one of the first to sign up...

20 Jan 2004 | Wilson said...

Continues to look fantastic, I can't wait! January 2004 is ticking away...

20 Jan 2004 | Tom said...

Looks great, can't wait to see the full thing :)

21 Jan 2004 | Gilbert Lee said...

Nothing really fantastic but that's the beauty of it, I think. Simple, recognizable. Good job.

I wonder, though, if the "Edit" link is more effective than "Post a reply" or "Post a comment." What have you guys found in your user testing? Any differences? I do like how you have that "Edit" link is red.

21 Jan 2004 | pb said...

Does anyone remember e-quill.com? It was a cool service where you could mark up web pages by highlighting, circling, leaving post-its, etc. and then email a link to the markied up page. It was perfect for collaborating on web site creation. Microsoft, bought them and I haven't seen anything since.

21 Jan 2004 | JF said...

I wonder, though, if the "Edit" link is more effective than "Post a reply" or "Post a comment." What have you guys found in your user testing? Any differences? I do like how you have that "Edit" link is red.

"Edit" links are only visible to people with admin access (the edit link allows an admin to edit the actual post). All admin links in the app are red so they are easy to spot. Basecamp doesn't have a separate admin section -- all admin functionality is inline for those who can see this. Further, you can turn off admin links if you want to see Basecamp as your clients see it (sans admin links).

21 Jan 2004 | jarv75 said...

Your clients will eat it up.

I think that's my only concern - that it will create a monster. You know, those occasional over-eager marketing execs checking it every 4 minutes and coming up with meaningless questions.

21 Jan 2004 | qwerty said...

Posts appear in reverse chronological order so the latest information is
always at the top of the screen.

Any chance we can have this feature for S/N, too? It's my number one feature wish.

21 Jan 2004 | Ryan Thrash said...

I noticed the "Back to Dashboard" link at the top... care to share some more details on that one?

21 Jan 2004 | TL said...

I noticed the "Back to Dashboard" link at the top... care to share some more details on that one?

The screen above is specific to a project, in this case "Web Site Redesign" for the client "TravelCenter."

The dashboard is project /client agnostic. You can add a new project or client, view general information about your setup, manage contacts within your company, and so forth.

21 Jan 2004 | Bill Brown said...

JF, I believe Gilbert Lee was referring to the mechanism by which the logged-in user adds his comment to the post. He saw the "Edit" link and assumed that it was what enabled Ryan Singer to start his comment. I think you misunderstood what he was asking.

Gilbert: I'm not a 37signals person, but I think that the text area is automatically present with your name above it. The Preview and Post this Comment buttons are always present on the page. In other words, you don't have to press anything to start a comment—just start typing.

If this wasn't, in fact, what you were asking, then I'm sorry to both of you.

21 Jan 2004 | Gilbert Lee said...

I was actually talking about the first screenshot on this page (All Posts page). I'm almost sure that the "2 comments" link is what takes me to the third screenshot. This maybe clear to blog users but it may not be for others. What I was "maybe" suggesting is to say something like "Post a Reply (2 comments so far)" from the first screenshot.

I think I may be overkilling this issue. I'm leaving! I'm leaving!

21 Jan 2004 | JF said...

Just to expand on what TL (a beta tester) said about the Dashboard... The Dashboard is for global stuff -- global settings, global appearance management, global contacts, etc. There's also a "Projects" section on the Dashboard which is what you see first when you log-in each time. The Projects Dashboard is a listing of all your clients and all your projects (both current, active projects and old, inactive projects). For q quick overview, the next milestone for each project is listed as is the latest post. More on this soon.

21 Jan 2004 | Austin said...

I think you've actually sold me.

At first, I thought, "wow, another project manager that almost works like I do." And along those lines, I've been coding my own, but after this post, I'm sold.

It really sounds like it works like I do, especially with organizing the project around posts. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

Question, though, for subscribers, are you allowed to add your company logo to the ehader so the client remembers who they're paying?

21 Jan 2004 | JF said...

Question, though, for subscribers, are you allowed to add your company logo to the ehader so the client remembers who they're paying?

You can add your logo (and the client's logo), but it doesn't appear on the header. It only appears on the Dashboard or the "All Posts" page which are the first two pages the client sees when they log in. And, oh yeah, the log-in screen itself will feature your logo too.

However, the name of your extranet is located at the top of every page (ex: Joe's House of Web Design's Project Extranet).

22 Jan 2004 | Gilbert Lee said...

Since you guys are hosting Basecamp, what's the URL our clients will see?

22 Jan 2004 | JF said...

Since you guys are hosting Basecamp, what's the URL our clients will see?

You'll get to pick from a few options such as clientsection.com, projectpath.com, grouphub.com, updatelog.com, etc. Fairly generic URLs for a project management app. And you'll also get to create your own subdomain (mycompany.updatelog.com). The name "basecamp" or "37signals" will not be visible to your clients.

22 Jan 2004 | Gilbert Lee said...

No grouphug.com?

Thanks for the reply. We're all getting anxious here.

22 Jan 2004 | Joshua Kaufman said...

I have a question for everyone: how useful are weblog style comments for a real discussion and getting real work done?

Personally, I think they have a lot to be desired, namely multi-threaded comments. One thread of comments forces the user to read through every comment to add meaningful dialog. It just never seemed very efficient to me.

Movable Type has a plugin that does threaded comments nicely. I'm wondering if anyone at 37 considered using threaded comments for Basecamp?

22 Jan 2004 | JF said...

Movable Type has a plugin that does threaded comments nicely. I'm wondering if anyone at 37 considered using threaded comments for Basecamp?

We've considered it and may move to a threaded system based on feedback. We're absolutely dedicated to making this the best possible service/app. We'll see how the market feels about the comments and then adjust accordingly.

26 Jan 2004 | billige flge said...

yes it will have the plugin i think so

26 Jan 2004 | Mark Morgan said...

Will the categories (Copywriting, Design, et. al.) be customizable?

26 Jan 2004 | JF said...

Will the categories (Copywriting, Design, et. al.) be customizable?

Of course. You can add as many as you want or delete the default ones that you don't need.

29 Jan 2004 | Arrrggghhhh said...

Just release it already! It's good enough! You're killing us!