Productivity tools are software applications that help individuals and teams to manage their time and tasks more effectively. These tools can range from simple time tracking and task management apps to more advanced project management software.

The goal of productivity tools is to increase efficiency, organization, and accountability, allowing users to accomplish more in less time. They can be used for a variety of purposes, such as scheduling meetings, setting reminders, tracking progress, and delegating tasks. With the right productivity tools, individuals and teams can streamline their workflows, increase their productivity, and achieve their goals more easily.

I always use the first week of the year to evaluate my tools, workflows and software. I try to switch as little as possible within every 6 months, as I can not afford any downtime during my projects. This is the first year, that I am sharing a mostly complete list of things I use. Might be interesting for some of you.

Update: Not completely done yet, but close :)

Project / Task Management & Research

1. Asana
   „Asana is a web and mobile application designed for team collaboration and project management. It allows users to organize tasks, projects, and conversations in one place, and it offers a range of features, such as the ability to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress. It is designed to help teams collaborate more efficiently and effectively. Asana is a freemium service, with paid plans that offer additional features and integrations.“
   
   Asana has been my go-to tool for the past years to organise my internal and client projects.
   Helps to keep me and my clients informed about upcoming tasks and tasks closed. Also enjoying the REST-API, as it allows me to connect to many of my other tools.
   
   I had a couple of clients that were skeptical about it, but many use it for themselves as well now.
2. Kimai – Time Tracking
   Kimai is an open-source time-tracking software. It is a web-based application that allows users to track and organise their time, and to generate reports on their activity.
   
   Kimai has been one of the first things, that I setup on my Homelab Server. Will talk more about my Homelab setup later …
   
   Its always difficult to grasp how much time projects take, especially when you are not doing generic projects.
   
   Kimai helped me to track certain tasks over the years and help me to optimise my internal hourly requirements per task and costs per task / milestone in the end. Nothing will ever make time-tracking and cost calculation rock solid, but it helps to at least lessen some of the pain ;)
   
   I also used to testdrive ActivityWatch, which has automatic watchers for different tools you use. Nice, but too involved for me.
   
   Kimai has a REST-API to easily access data from other tools in my stack. I have a tightly knit set of tools for all my workflows.
   
   Some of the features of Kimai include:
   
   • Time tracking, with the ability to start and stop timers, and to manually enter time worked
   • Support for multiple projects and tasks
   • Reporting, with the ability to generate various types of reports, including a detailed project report
   • Invoicing, for billing clients for the time worked on their projects
   • User management and permissions, allowing for multiple users and different levels of access to the application
   • Multi language support
   • Integration with other tools as invoicing, project management, and more.
     
     
3. Devonthink
   is a personal information management and research application for macOS, iPadOS and Windows. It helps individuals and teams to organize, classify and discover their files, bookmarks, emails, notes and more. It uses machine learning, natural language processing, and other advanced technologies to help users find and organize the information they need, and provides powerful tools for researching, writing, and data management.
   
   Additionally, DEVONthink provides integration with other applications such as TextExpander, and Hazel, feature for file encryption, backup, and syncing. It can also be used to store and organize PDFs, images, and other documents, and it can be used to create and manage databases, to-do lists, and other types of information.

Project Development Tools

IDE

1. Adobe Dreamweaver
   I know :) Tried to switch multiple times and always came back to it. I know where everything is and have not been asking for anything more in the past ;) But I am also trying to slowly phase out my Adobe subscription and switch to comparable tools without a subscription model!
   I used PHPStorm for a while, but never really switched completely. Not a big fan of the underlying Java architecture.
2. Nova
   CSS, Diff, EJS, ERB, HTML, INI, JavaScript, JSON, JSX, Less, Lua, Markdown, Perl, PHP, Python, Regex, Ruby, Sass, SCSS, Shell Script, SQL, Tree-sitter Query, TSX, TypeScript, XML, and YAML.
   
   Trying Nova right now, which might be my next IDE!

PROJECT PROTOTYPING

Pretty flexible, when it comes to these tools. I am working with different agencies and customers, some prefer Adobe XD and some Figma.

1. Adobe XD
   (Experience Design) is a user experience design software developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is used for designing and prototyping user interfaces for mobile and web applications. It provides a set of tools for designing and prototyping user interfaces, including vector-based drawing tools, prototyping tools, and design resources such as pre-built UI elements, icons, and typefaces.
   
   Adobe XD has built-in support for creating responsive designs, by allowing designers to create multiple artboards of different sizes, layouts, and orientations, in order to visualize their designs across a variety of devices and screen sizes.
2. Figma
   Figma is a cloud-based interface design and prototyping tool that allows designers to create, collaborate on, and share user interface designs. It is focused on providing a real-time collaborative design experience, making it easy for multiple people to work on the same design at the same time.

MARKUP TOOLS

1. MarkText
   A simple and elegant open-source markdown editor that focused on speed and usability.

LOCAL TOOLS

I am a Mac and Linux guy. Windows only exists virtualised in my work environment ;)

1. Homebrew
   The Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux).
   Allows you to get almost anything to run locally. Quickly install Go, specific Python or PHP versions.
   Works perfectly on ARM by now. Still remember switching between ARM and x86 architecture / machines for some tools in the past.

CROSS PLATTFORM DEVELOPMENT

1. XOJO
   Not very mainstream, but has been in my toolbox for the past 20 years. Currently testdriving the Android Beta and developing an Android App with it. Has its limitation, but will allow to easily switch to iOS next.
   
   „Xojo (previously known as REALbasic) is a software development tool that allows developers to create cross-platform desktop, web, and mobile applications. It is a high-level programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) that provides an easy-to-use interface for creating applications for various platforms, including macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and the web. Xojo uses a drag-and-drop interface for creating user interfaces and provides a wide range of tools for developing, debugging, and deploying applications.“
2. IONIC
   Mostly internal concepts and prototypes. I know my way around it and keep myself uptodate.
   
   „Ionic is a free and open-source framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It allows developers to use their web development skills to build apps for iOS, Android, and the web (progressive web apps) all with a single codebase.
   
   Ionic is built on top of Angular (a JavaScript framework for building web applications) and Apache Cordova (a platform for building native mobile apps using web technologies) and provides a set of pre-built UI components and tools for building mobile apps with a native-like feel. It also allows developers to use popular JavaScript libraries such as Angular, React, and Vue.js to build apps.
   
   Additionally, Ionic also provides a command-line interface(CLI) to help developers quickly start new projects, build and test their apps on devices and simulators, and deploy their apps to app stores.“
3. FlutterFlow
   Also looking at FlutterFlow currently for some quick prototyping.
   
   FlutterFlow is a website and app building platform that allows users to create mobile and web applications without writing code. It uses a drag-and-drop interface and a visual editor to make it easy for users to design and build their applications. With FlutterFlow, users can create custom layouts, add features like forms, galleries, and e-commerce functionality, and connect to external APIs and services. It also includes a set of pre-built templates and components that can be easily customized to fit the needs of the user. Additionally, it also provides hosting, analytics and can be integrated with Firebase for mobile app development.

BROWSER & APP TESTING

1. LamdaTest
   Lambdatest is a cloud-based, cross-browser testing platform that allows users to test their web applications across a wide range of browsers, operating systems, and devices. It is designed to make it easy for developers and testers to run automated and manual tests on a scalable, pay-as-you-go infrastructure. The platform uses real browsers and virtual machines to simulate different environments, and it can also be integrated with popular testing frameworks and Continuous Integration (CI) tools.

API TESTING

1. RapidAPI (former Paw)
   RapidAPI for Mac is a full-featured HTTP client that lets you test and describe the APIs you build or consume. It has a beautiful native macOS interface to compose requests, inspect server responses, generate client code and export API definitions.

ERROR TRACKING

1. Glitchtip (Self hosted + Sentry compliant)
   An open-source error tracking software that helps developers identify and fix issues with their applications. It allows developers to monitor and detect errors in real-time and provides detailed information about the error, such as a stack trace, context, and user information.
   
   This information helps developers to quickly identify the root cause of an error and fix it. It can be integrated with various development platforms and languages such as python, java, javascript, c# and many more.
   
   Glitchtip provides a variety of features to help developers and teams manage errors, including:
   -Real-time notifications of new errors
   -Automated workflows to triage and assign errors
   -Support for grouping similar errors together for easy analysis
   
   This has been one of the biggest pains to setup myself in docker, but works like a charm now :)

TRANSLATION

1. PoEdit Mac App
   Poedit provides translators and developers with a powerful and intuitive editor for gettext. It helps save time on mundane translation tasks with a lightweight and easy-to-use interface and smart features like pre-translation and machine translation.
2. Weblate / Selfhosted in Docker
   „Web-based continuous localization. Hosted service and standalone tool with tight version control integration. Simple and clean user interface, propagation of translations across components, quality checks and automatic linking to source files.“

VERSIONING

1. BitBucket / SVN
   Use this for all my private repositories.
2. Github / Git
   Some public, some private repositories. These are mostly hobby related …
3. Homelab Git & SVN repositories
   Use this for projects, documents and other things I like to keep versioned

sFTP / SSH / TERMINAL

1. Transmit / sFtp
2. iTerm2 SSH & Terminal

COMPILER / BUNDLER

1. GULP
   „Leverage gulp and the flexibility of JavaScript to automate slow, repetitive workflows and compose them into efficient build pipelines.“
   
   This tool has been around for ages and is still my tool of choice for many tasks. I am keeping a preconfigured setup updated, so that I can easily reuse it when needed. There are some nice extensions available, like gulp notify, gulp fancy-log and vinyl-ftp.
   
   I started with Webpack for some projects, but some things are still a lot easier to handle with gulp. Currently also looking at PARCEL, which has gained traction and is well supported.
2. CodeKit
   Compile Sass, Less, Stylus, CSS, CoffeeScript, Pug, Slim, Haml, TypeScript, JavaScript, ES6, Markdown, JSON, SVG, PNG, GIF and JPEG right out of the box.
   
   Easy and fast to use, especially for smaller projects ;)

DATABASE

1. Navicat
   „Navicat Premium is a multi-connection database development tool which allows you to connect several types of databases within a single application: MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle and PostgreSQL, create a quick and easy access to all your databases all at once.“

IMAGE PROCESSING / DESIGN

Again trying to free myself from the Adobe subscription model. Might be the last year and than I can finally transition away ;)

1. Affinity Photo
2. Adobe Photoshop

VECTOR DESIGN

Love to switch it up and again be flexible when it comes to customer preferences ;)

1. Sketch
   Love the eco-system around it. Artboards are quick to navigate and you can quickly export assets in the right format.
2. Affinity Designer
3. Adobe Illustrator

ANIMATION

1. Keyshape for 2D and Lottie Animations
   KeyShape is a vector animation software for Mac and Windows that allows designers and developers to create animations for the web, mobile apps and other platforms with a vector graphics editor. It’s an easy to use tool with a familiar design interface, that is built on top of industry standards such as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) and CSS, making it easy to create animations that are lightweight, scalable and perform well on various devices.
   
   KeyShape was created with web designers and developers in mind, it is a great tool for creating animations that are optimized for the web and for adding interactive animations to mobile apps, It also allows for easy integration with other software and programming languages, like web development frameworks, it makes it a popular choice for adding interactive animations and effects to websites and apps.
2. Adobe Animate / After Effects

Project Communication

1. Slack
   Slack is designed to simplify and streamline communication within teams, making it easier for team members to share information, collaborate on projects, and stay on the same page. It can be used by small and big teams, for different purposes and industries, and it’s accessible via different devices and platforms.
   
   Used it far more in the past, but many of the things are centralised in Asana, other Homelab or external tools now. Still using Slack to centralize notifications.
   
   It’s a cloud-based platform that allows teams to communicate and work together in real-time, by providing a range of tools and features such as:
   • Instant messaging and chat, with support for direct messages and group conversations
   • Channels, which are dedicated chat rooms for specific topics, projects, or teams
   • File sharing, allowing users to easily share and collaborate on documents, images, and other files
   • Integrations, which allows Slack to connect with a wide variety of other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Trello, and Asana
   • Mobile apps, which allow users to stay connected and collaborate from anywhere
   • Search, that allows to look for previous conversations, files, etc.
   • Voice and video calls
     
     

Programming Languages

I am always staying busy, when it comes to programming languages. Have my side projects, that keep me exploring new stuff. My current top 8 ;)

1. PHP
2. Javascript / Node.JS / React Native
3. Ansible / Shell Scripting
4. Go / Golang
5. Python
6. Xojo (Realbasic) Desktop / Mobile / Console
7. Swift
8. C++

Homelab Tools

„A homelab is a personal laboratory or workspace that is set up in a person’s home, typically for the purpose of experimenting with and learning about various technology or IT related topics. This can include things like building and configuring servers, experimenting with different operating systems and software, and learning about network and security concepts.“

I started my Homelab 2020 to allow more flexible workflows, to play with Docker setups, lower costs for external services and have full access to any server tool when ever needed. Allows me to quickly mirror customer setups or simulate possible upgrade paths. Quite addictive once you start building your own server. And the things you learn, can be easily replicated to remote servers, which I just did last year. I am starting to move services from a long-time static server to a scalable docker based foundation.

Will follow up on this section soon ….

Enjoy coding ….

Transition

jQuery has provided easy access to complicated core Javascript solutions in the past and has been shielding us from difficult workarounds for legacy browsers. But times have changed and many of those things can be done as easily using Javascript directly.

jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library. It makes interactions with HTML documents easy, and is widely used in web development to add features to web pages and to simplify the process of writing JavaScript. With a combination of versatility and extensibility, jQuery has changed the way that millions of people write JavaScript.

5 reasons, why you might want to stop using jQuery!

1. jQuery is a large library, and loading it can add a significant amount of time to the page load time of your website. If your website doesn’t use many of the features provided by jQuery, it may be more efficient to use smaller, specialized libraries or to write your own code.
2. Some developers prefer to use modern JavaScript features like classes and modules instead of the functional programming style used by jQuery.
3. As web development has evolved, many of the tasks that jQuery was commonly used for can now be accomplished with vanilla JavaScript, which is plain JavaScript that does not use any additional libraries.
4. Using jQuery can make it more difficult for other developers to understand and maintain your code, especially if they are not familiar with the library.
5. In some cases, jQuery may not work as expected with certain versions of modern browsers, or it may not be optimized for mobile devices.

That being said, jQuery is still a popular and widely used library, and there are many valid reasons to continue using it. It is ultimately up to you to decide whether the benefits of using jQuery outweigh the potential drawbacks in your particular situation.

Benefits to using pure JavaScript

1. Improved performance: Pure JavaScript code is generally faster than code that uses libraries, because it does not have the overhead of loading and interpreting the library.
2. Smaller file size: Pure JavaScript code is generally smaller in file size than code that uses libraries, because it does not include the library code. This can result in faster loading times for your website or application.
3. More flexibility: With pure JavaScript, you have complete control over the code, and you can customize it to fit your specific needs.
4. Better understanding and control: By writing your own JavaScript code, you can gain a better understanding of how it works and how to troubleshoot any issues that may arise.
5. Improved compatibility: Pure JavaScript code is more likely to work across different platforms and devices, because it does not depend on a specific library or framework.
6. Easier maintenance: Pure JavaScript code is generally easier to maintain than code that uses libraries, because it does not require updating or maintaining the library code.

„You might not need jQuery“

Easily search and compare direct Javascript solutions to jQuery ….

How jQuery does it:

Pure Javascript:

Link

or use UmbrellaJS

UmbrellaJS is a lightweight JavaScript library that provides a number of utility functions and features for working with DOM elements and handling events. It was designed to be small, fast, and easy to use, and it does not have any dependencies on other libraries.

Some of the features provided by UmbrellaJS include:

• Easy element selection and manipulation using CSS-style selectors
• Support for chaining multiple function calls on the same element
• A simple event system for handling events on elements
• Utility functions for working with arrays, objects, and strings
• Functions for handling AJAX requests and working with JSON data

UmbrellaJS is a good choice for developers who want a simple, lightweight library for working with DOM elements and handling events. It is especially well-suited for smaller projects or for developers who want to avoid the overhead of larger libraries like jQuery.

Selector demos:

Documentation
Migrate from jQuery

HTMX might be another way …

HTMX (HTML enhanced for asynchronous communication and XML) is a JavaScript library that allows you to add asynchronous communication and other interactive features to your web pages using HTML attributes and elements. It allows you to make AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) requests and handle responses directly in your HTML, without the need for writing any JavaScript code.

HTMX works by intercepting events on HTML elements and making asynchronous requests based on the attributes you specify. For example, you can use the hx-get attribute to make a GET request to a specified URL, and use the hx-trigger attribute to specify an event that should trigger the request. You can also use the hx-target attribute to specify an element on the page where the response should be inserted.

Here’s an example of how you might use HTMX to make a GET request and insert the response into a div element:

When the button is clicked, HTMX will make a GET request to /some/url and insert the response into the div element with the id of target.

HTMX is designed to be easy to use and flexible, and it can be used to add a wide range of interactive features to your web pages.

I am currently using HTMX in one of my longterm projects and will be talking about it more in a separate article in the future !

HTMX Reference / Documentation

It is ultimately up to you to decide which approach is best for your particular project. Sometimes a combination is needed ;)

Enjoy coding…

Facebook sucks …. and now how to solve saving pages connected to a gray account! Might not work for everyone, but it solved it for me.

What are Gray accounts?

„A gray account is an account used to log into Facebook that is not associated with a personal profile or account. People used to be able to manage their Pages with gray accounts before we required individuals to have a personal Profile in order to create, manage, or run ads on a Page.“ – Facebook Help

The starting point and problems!

Normally it should be easy to transfer a page to a new administration account. Right? RIGHT!

My customers page was on the new profile page layout, that was introduced a while back. So normally you should go to the Page -> Professional Dashboard -> Settings -> Site Access. This would than allow you to assign a new page admin.

This just straight fails for me! I can easily choose a new person , select person and allow full access, confirm with password and than nothing happens. When checking the console, i see a couple of random errors …

Tried with different accounts, different browsers, different OS. Always the same …

The solution

After trying everything and almost giving up. I though, well you can still switch back to the old page layout, maybe that works!

And that is what finally worked for me. I was able to assign my customer as a new admin, within Settings -> Site Roles and than switch back to the new page layout!

Again … Facebook sucks! Who is testdriving updates and checking for incoming errors … seems that noone cares. Just leave it to the user, to solve their own problems. Not a single resource, that actually helps. I am sure that there are many, that already lost their pages! Just unbelievable !!!

Happy coding!

When you look at Youtube, Twitter, certain Facebook groups and even some software companies, they are all building up fear for the upcoming / in-progress Google „Helpful Content“ algorithm update.

WHAT IS IT?

– Our “helpful content update” launching next week will better surface original, helpful content made by people, for people, rather than content made primarily to gain search traffic. It’s part of a broad effort to show more unique, authentic info in results – Google SearchLiaison@Twitter

WHEN IS IT HAPPENING?

Its happening as I write this and its about time!

The goal of this update is to rank websites that publish original and unique content. Content written by real writers and not AIs.

This also downgrades websites, that write about content that is not relevant to their core expertise. So no more content domain dominance, by posting about every possible content angle to lure visitors in.

Also old content, when not updated regularly, will loose prominence.

This all is a plus for the enduser and knowledge seeker. Google has been preparing for this for years now and its not happening suddenly.

Structured data gained more and more importance over the past few years. Google is finally using it to cleanup search!

HOW GOOD WILL IT BE?

Hard to tell. But change was needed! There are so many underrated websites out there, that deliver quality content, but never got a chance to bubble up or shine :) This will hopefully get us better search results and better quality control.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RESULTS!
Keep on breathing …. ALEX

Ich hatte dieses Jahr die Möglichkeit, über meinen Kunden TYPEMYKNIFE®, an der „Nacht der Sterne“ in Stuttgart, im Mercedes-Benz Museum, teilzunehmen. Auf der Gala kommen mehr als 800 Gäste aus Gastronomie, Hotellerie, Politik, Kultur und Wirtschaft zusammen. 

NACHT DER STERNE / ahgz Sterne Award 2022

Es war ein klasse Abend, auf dem nicht nur die Spitzenköche aus Deutschland, der Schweiz, Südtirol und Österreich ausgezeichnet wurden, sondern diese auch Live zeigen konnten was sie so können.

Veranstaltet wird die Party von der Allgemeinen Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung (Ahgz) und Burg Staufeneck / Rolf Straubinger.

Moderatorin des Abends waren die Journalistin und Fernsehköchin Felicitas Then und Rolf Westermann von der ahgz-Chefredaktion.

Informationen zum Award, den Methoden und Siegern findet man hier.

TYPEMYKNIFE®

TYPEMYKNIFE® hat Vorort an einem Stand eine kleine Auswahl seiner Küchenmesser, die über den 3D Gravur Konfigurator vorbereitet und graviert wurden, präsentiert. Dadurch hatten Gäste die Möglichkeit, die gravierten Küchenmesser einmal persönlich zu entdecken und die Qualität zu bestaunen.

Die fast 1400 km Rundreise aus dem Norden hat sich gelohnt. Es ist immer schön Kunden mal nicht nur virtuell zu treffen, besonders wenn die Distanz so groß ist. Bei der Entfernung trifft man sich nicht immer mal kurz auf einen Kaffee oder Gin-Tonic :)

Gruß an TYPEMYKNIFE® / Schwäbisch Gmünd / Stuttgart