Comments on: 11 Absolutely Necessary Web-Based Tools for a Freelance Web Designer

By: PM Hut

PM Hut — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:05:04 +0000

@dezyboy, the issue is that Basecamp is the one that started the whole thing, and the rest of the PM tools are just replicas with different look & feel and plans (pricing, bandwidth, storage, etc…)

I’ve published a year ago an article on the ideal pm tool and still many of these tools don’t have the basic necessities to be labeled as ideal.

Going back to Basecamp, there’s another application by 37signals called backpack, which, IMO, should be natively integrated in Basecamp.

By: links for 2009-03-29 « Christophe Milet Lifestream

links for 2009-03-29 « Christophe Milet Lifestream — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:00:46 +0000

[...] 11 Outils online de productivité pour freelance (tags: outils freelance online productivité) [...]

By: ria simpson

ria simpson — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:44:20 +0000

Sage Software has recently launched a free online invoicng tool for freelancers and small businesses at http://www.billingboss.com. Billing Boss is focused of keeping invoicing simple – so simple that you can get set up and send your first invoice in just a couple minutes.

Please note: With the goal of full disclosure, I work at Sage. Feel free to contact me if you have any feedback about Billing Boss.

By: Charles

Charles — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:01:13 +0000

Matt, thanks for this round-up. Can you help? This is driving me crazy! Months ago I saw a screencast or demo for a client review & approval tool that worked like this:

You email the client a link – say, a Home page design – and clients can open it and interact with the page… even up to and including working navigation of a complete website.

This tool is email based, and the link you send clients also provides comment fields. Ever see this? I’ve scoured my browser history, my Evernote, my entire system for hours! No joy. Any help appreciated Thanks, Charlie

By: Justin

Justin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:17:08 +0000

Nice !! What i have seen when doing projects is the use of a project management system. This really helps to get more opportunities of getting new projects as the client gets a better impression of professionalism. Like in our company we used basecamp (www.basecamphq.com) for project management purposes and it changed the email email games we used to play. After Basecamp we have tried so many of the alternatives available today but everything seemed to be either complex with all those functionalies which were not even useful rather made the management process even more difficult. It then came to mind that Basecamp was actually better till the time we found a new product called Proofhub. Though now we use Proofhub Proofhub as our project management system you can use some but this 1 is the best from all that we have used and at a good price. Thanx for the post

By: Interview with Matthew Jurmann of CHROMATIC

Interview with Matthew Jurmann of CHROMATIC — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:03:11 +0000

[...] I highly recommend that anyone looking to start their own web design business read our article, “11 Absolutely Necessary Web-Based Tools for A Freelance Web Designer.” This article applies to freelancers and small [...]

By: Webmaster Forum

Webmaster Forum — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:11:38 +0000

Awesome stuff Matt, thanks for writing this.

Keep the site fresh.

By: Pete White

Pete White — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:17:26 +0000

Some great links, especially campaign manager. Just wondered if you could recommend any online accounting packages, Cashboard looks good but I don’t think its a full accounting package.

By: 9 Brilliant Ways To Ensure Client Satisfaction and Project Success | CHROMATIC

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:50:03 +0000

[...] my article, 11 Absolutely Necessary Web-Based Tools for a Freelance Web Designer, I discuss the importance of utilizing a number of invaluable web-based tools to help streamline [...]

By: Tim Jahn

Tim Jahn — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:15:23 +0000

Seems Google has neglected Feedburner lately and left it basically useless. Data is constantly skewed (if it even appears) and jumps all around the board on a daily basis.

Anyone know of any reliable FeedBurner alternatives?

By: dezyboy

dezyboy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:23:37 +0000

One issue I had with Basecamp, was why bury the login? Go to the main page and try to find it. Doesn’t make sense, does it? Every time I would go back to the site and try to find it myself I’d forgot how I got there! Bad, bad 37Signals. That’s what you get when you design an application for yourself and not users I guess

By: Daily Digest for 2009-03-29 | Midlife Manifesto

Daily Digest for 2009-03-29 | Midlife Manifesto — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:15:06 +0000

[...] Bookmarked a link on Delicious. 11 Absolutely Necessary Web-Based Tools for a Freelance Web Designer … [...]

By: Markandey Singh

Markandey Singh — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 05:55:23 +0000

Hey!
This is cool collection. but i don’t agree with the order in which they are presented!!

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:12:07 +0000

There, now that’s a lot more constructive .

I have a hard time seeing how the Basecamp UI is too complicated, and honestly, I can’t imagine a UI being much simpler to use. That being said, I’m definitely going to have to check out the various options you’ve cited in your response. If they are as good as you say they are, I’ll include them in my next article sharing some free alternatives to the list above (some of the web-apps above are free, though).

Thanks for sharing.

By: dezyboy

dezyboy — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:06:05 +0000

Good points.

I’m absolutely biased given the two to three times I’ve tried working with their products and got frustrated with the UI. I kept asking myself, “why are people using this thing? It’s overly complex, confusing, and there are free apps out there that can do this stuff.” Granted, they’ve got a great group of die-hard followers plus a great PR/marketing strategy which seems to be working for them. Not arguments there. I agree that it’s not a huge chunk of change, but with other services such as Flickr, various desktop (Adobe) apps, service provider fees, and domain registration/hosting all competing for my dime, it adds up.

The tools I use are things such as Project Pier (projectpier.org), which is the open source application similar to Basecamp, Dotproject (www.dotproject.net), which allows me to do the typical project management GANTT chart stuff, and Contactizer Pro, which is a CRM type application with advanced features. I purchased Contactizer Pro from a MacUpdate bundle for $49 that included several other useful apps. So far as accounting, I found an older copy (2006) of QuickBooks Pro at a yard sale for $5 and run that via Parallels. Instead of Campaign Monitor, I use Vertical Response because it offers a pay as you go plan which seemed to meet my needs better than any of the others. Mind mapping stuff is usually done with Freemind, another open-source desktop application.

Aside from my biases, I do appreciate seeing what others’ use for their daily routine. In that regard I enjoyed what you’ve shared here. Hopefully people will be smart about evaluating their own tools to ensure that their meet their specific needs. Thanks again for the writeup.