I’ve decided to test Backpack with their free service. My hope is that it will help me to be a little more organized in my blogging.
I’ve made my front home page public to show you a little of what it can do – I’ve not put anything special on the page so far, but you get the idea.
Of course there are other secret blogging business things lurking behind the scenes in the private areas (insert evil laugh here). Actually the only thing behind the scenes at the moment are a growing list of blog posts that I want to write on ProBlogger in the next few days which I emailed to the list as I thought of them. But I can already think of a number of uses for my BackPack which could assist me in my blogging.
The free version has ads on the public pages and doesn’t allow image or file uploads. It also only allows limited numbers of active reminders and pages – but it definitely gives a feel for the program. I’m really impressed by its simplicity, speed, smooth transitions and many potential applications.
A number of features I’d love to see incorporated would include:
- SMS alerts to my mobile carrier in Australia (Telstra)
- ability to email reminders
- ability to respond to ‘reminder’ emails from within the email. ie if at the bottom of each email it had a link to ‘snooze’, ‘delete’, ‘edit’ etc. It does have one link to a page where all this can be done – but a one click option to delete would be cool (I’m lazy).
- public editing of pages (I wouldn’t want this on any page – but I’d love to be able to offer a couple of pages to readers of this blog to be able to edit. Even if there was a ‘register’ option where the public could apply to be a contributer.
- ability to change the look and feel of public pages
Of course these might be features I’ve just not yet found.
I’m particularly interested in how others are planning on using BackPack – especially in your blogging. Do you have any initial reactions on it that you’d like share?
Public editing is a feature! In the sharing panel, type some email addresses in down below the public button.
“These people will receive an email with a link back to this page (they’ll only be able to access this page — they won’t see your other pages). If they don’t have Backpack accounts they’ll be prompted to sign up for a free account before they can access the page.”
Yep – perhaps I wasn’t as clear as I could have been with my point. I’d like to make anyone be able to edit a page or two – not just those that I choose to allow. To use this feature means I have to add email addresses manually.
I’d love a system that has a little button for readers to click that allows them to register themselves as editors.
Everywhere I go today, people are talking about Backpack.
So, without reading about what people are using this for, I went to the website. I’m sorry but I was disappointed.
For a start, the home page tells me nothing:
Is that a load of marketing-hype-words-with-empty-and-incredibly-vague-meanings or what?
I go on to read the about page… same thing.
I’m also confused as to why their navigation is across the top and down the side.
Oh, and then,… I realised that Darren’s linked to backpack.com not backpackit.com and I’m saved from that awful website ;)
Sorry Rachel :-)
So far using Backpack has been fun. I love stuff like this, I can pretend that I’m getting stuff done and not just creatively procrastinating.
I do really like the ease of use. Its very simple to add a new task or a little reminder note. The features, even in the free version, are brilliant. People who use GTD would probably find something like this very useful too.
Honestly though, I don’t know if its something that I would use consistantly. I tend to be quite hap-hazard with things like this. I’ve taken up a new challenge that will last in the initial stage for 3 months which involves several new sites, so I guess I’ll try it out for 3 months and see how it works.
I’m currently using Basecamp to help me manage two book-writing projects and my online magazine (that also involves a blog), and it’s a fantastic program. So I immediately signed up for a free Backpack account. It seems really great, but I’m still figuring out what I’ll use it for, since I already pay for Basecamp. I’m writing a series on blogging for our readers (focusing on crafts blogs for fun, not profit), and may mention it there as a good resource to help with organizing and planning ahead.
This is my first time commenting, but I’m a big fan of your blog. Thanks for the time and thought you put in to it!
Basecamp is great. It’s a project manager and it’s especially excellent if a group is involved in that project. Unfortunately it’s rather expensive for personal use. I think they are targetting company.
But, it is free for 1 project. You may like it because even it’s 1 project I can put all the to do lists there.