I’m a big fan of the web-based To Do list service, Toodledo. I prefer it to local software because everything is backed up in the cloud, so it’s accessible from anywhere with a web browser and an internet connection. They also have a great API that enables great iOS apps like 2Do to sync with Toodledo. These options make it the best To Do list service available, in my opinion.

The biggest drawback of Toodledo, and what steered me away initially, is the sub-par user experience of the website. They seem to have spent more time working on the back-end functionality and didn’t put the same level of effort and work into making an attractive, intuitive user interface.

That’s where browser plugins like Stylish come in handy. Stylish allows you to use custom CSS stylesheets for websites to override the default appearance and completely change the look of the site.

Toodledo.com MacOSX Version 2

A year ago, Toodledo looked awful. It was mostly pink, purple and green with a confusing maze of menus which used up entirely too much screen space and poor design choices that made the app look cluttered and busy. I really wanted to use the service because of the plethora of features, but I hated the aesthetics and poor usability. I decided to build a complete Userstyle in the style of a native MacOSX program.

It was a big success. Over 3,000 people installed it and at it’s peak was averaging a couple hundred installs per week. It was quickly the most popular userstyle for Toodledo.

Then in July, Toodledo released a complete redesign. It broke every feature of the userstyle. I suppose it should be a complement that they incorporated many of my UI elements into their new design. Things like the left side tabs for the folders, fly out menus for sorting and filters, and a single consistent toolbar across views. The new Toodledo design was a huge improvement, but it was still fairly ugly, so I decided to update my MacOSX style to work with the new design.

I started from scratch and wrote all new CSS to work the the design. I’m still tweaking the code, but it’s functional on the main Task page and the Search page. I hope to improve it to redesign all of the Toodledo.com pages eventually.

Install the Toodledo MacOSX Version 2 Userstyle

I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting a rivalry website centered around UNC, Duke and possibly NC State for quite some time, but have never had the time to work on one on my own. However, recently I was approached by Shane Ryan (writer for Grantland, Paste Magazine and creator of Seth Curry Saves Duke!) about helping out with a new site he was attempting to launch called Tobacco Road Blues. His goal was to start a blog that covered not just basketball or football, but all UNC and Duke sports.

Well, after a very quick turnaround, today officially marks the launch of TobaccoRoadBlues.com. We’ll be running some of the greatest hits from Seth Curry Saves Duke! for the first week, then we hope to run at 2 posts a day during the week. We’re also working some sort of all-sports championship to replace the now-defunct Carlyle Cup.

We’re currently recruiting additional writers, so if you’re interested in contributing, use the contact form on the website to send us an email.

Hope you enjoy the site.

Update 11/29/11: I've updated the screenshot to include more recent changes to the site

I recently did a website redesign for the Brent Jackson campaign. Brent is the Republican candidate for the 10th senatorial district in North Carolina. He already had an established website built on WordPress, but it was being displayed using a basic template from WooThemes with only slight modifications. He was looking for something more vibrant and custom to his campaign. I used the colors from his campaign logo and delivered a fully custom template that applied directly to the content that already existed. I also inserted a rotating photo slideshow on the homepage.

You can view Brent Jackson’s website here: http://www.brentjacksonforsenate.com

If you read any tech news, you’ve probably heard by now the rumors Google has been working on a true challenger to Facebook. This isn’t supposed to be like their “Twitter killer” that was Google Buzz. Apparently this time they mean business. I began thinking about what, at this point, Google could do to really challenge the juggernaut that is Facebook when I had a realization that the answer might have been lying in front of us the whole time.

Google Buzz

I think the location based Buzz interface on the iPhone is excellent.

Buzz was good in concept. They had 170 million users right out of the gates, due to Gmail’s popularity. They offered the ability to import content from other services already in use, like Twitter, Picasa and Google Reader. What Google didn’t take fully into consideration was the fact that a large majority of people prefer a separation of work and play. In the case of Buzz, not everyone you send emails with is someone you want to share your life stream with. They ran into some rather major privacy concerns immediately after launch. Those problems have been well documented and Google responded quickly with some changes as well as videos and blog posts explaining how the settings worked.

I personally never used Buzz much. I gave it a try for a little while. I was a big fan of the location based portion of the mobile site, but other than that, I didn’t see much value in it. The Twitter import wasn’t real-time, but rather done all at once at the end of the day, making it nearly useless. Not enough of my friends ever got active on it to actually make it a competitor to Facebook for me. I never disabled it, but I after a few weeks, I quit making Buzz status updates and I removed my Twitter import from the service. All that is left is Google Reader, Picasa and Youtube automatic imports.

Google Wave

Wave was another Google project that in theory seemed like the future of web communication. The real time nature of it was/is impressive. It’s almost like a hybrid between email and instant messaging. When it was announced I couldn’t wait to get an invite to the beta. Once I got in, I was rather disappointed. The basics were easy, but any kind of advanced use quickly got confusing. Even worse was the fact that it was useless without people to try it with. They finally opened it up to the general public, but people have been slow to adopt it. I still think Wave has its place, perhaps as a collaborative tool for work, but it just isn’t ready yet.

Google Me

The rumors surrounding Google’s latest foray into the social web have continued to build over the last several months. From Digg founder Kevin Rose tweeting that it was definitely in the works and it would be called “Google Me” (Tweet has since been removed) to former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo stating that from what he had heard, “This is not a rumor. This is a real project.”

So the question is, what could they do to really challenge Facebook? They would need some kind of killer feature that would cause people to consider the new Google service. The truth is, Google already has a better service than Facebook in several areas already.

• YouTube > Facebook Video
• Picasa > Facebook Photos
• Google Reader > Facebook Shared Links
• Blogger > Facebook Notes
• Google Chat > Facebook Chat
• Gmail > Facebook Messages

What they don’t have is a good way to tie it all together. Buzz was supposed to accomplish that, but I think the fact that each service technically existed on a separate site kept it from being widely adopted. At Facebook the ability to post anything from the single box with the appearance of it being all under one roof makes it easy and intuitive for the average user. The problem with Google bringing all of that together is that they lose their individual brands. The challenge for Google is to find a way to import that data and functionality of all of those services, but allow them to stay separate as well, for people who don’t want to integrate everything. If they can do that, and that is a big “if”, then they might have a true Facebook challenger.

If they want to beat Facebook, however, they need a secret weapon. In this case, I think that weapon lies in Google Wave. The real-time aspects of Google Wave are truly impressive. You can actually see the words going appearing, as users type them. Even in most instant messaging protocols, you can only tell that someone is typing, not what they are typing. Imagine integrating that technology into wall posts and comments. It would be a feature not replicated anywhere else on the web. I think that is the trump card that must be played if Google wants to create a serious contender.

If Google can find a way to combine the impressive real-time features from Google Wave with the other advanced services they already offer, and bring it all under a single roof, then it might just be a social network that could prove to be a true challenger to the Facebook Goliath.

So let me get this straight…Dino Gaudio takes over a struggling Wake Forest basketball program (32-33 over the two years prior) because of the untimely death of the well-liked Skip Prosser. He responds by going 61-31 over his 3 years and leads Wake Forest to their first #1 ranking ever. How do they reward him?

Well, by firing him of course! Athletic Director Ron Wellman’s reasoning?

“A pattern of late-season fades.”

You’re FIRING me!?

Excuse me? A pattern of late-season fades? Wake has only been to the Elite 8 one time since the tourny went to 64 teams. Their only Final Four was in 1962, way back when Billy Packer was in school. Ron Wellman has been the AD at Wake Forest for 18 years, so I’m pretty sure he’s aware of their long history of coming up short in the postseason. It took 12 years to fire Dave Odom. Even including 4 years of Tim Duncan he could only make the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite 8 once. Skip Prosser had 6 years with only one Sweet 16 appearance before his tragic death, and he didn’t get that until his 4th season. The Demon Deacons are perennial underachievers in March. That’s just what Wake Forest does. Everyone knows it…except Ron Wellman, apparently.

As soon as I heard of Gaudio’s firing, the first thing that came to mind was, “They want Brad Stevens.” NCAA basketball’s hottest young thing. He’s young, well spoken, and he just took Butler…yeah BUTLER…to the NCAA championship game. Plus he just looks like a Wake Forest guy. (Don’t ask me what that means because I’m not sure…he just does).

Then Stevens went and signed a 12 year extension at Butler. Probably a smart decision. In today’s game, unless you’re in the Hall of Fame, coaches at any major D-1 school are perpetually on the hot seat. If Brad Stevens goes to Wake Forest (or any other major D-1 school), his expectations immediately go through the roof. He saw what they did to Dino after the success he had. Why would he want the same thing to happen to him? After his impressive run this season, leading his team to an NCAA Runner-up finish, he’s now a legend at Butler. He’ll be treated like royalty there for the remainder of his time. I’d stay too!

So what does Wake do? Well, they hire Jeff Bzdelik, of course.

Wait…who?

Jeff Bzdelik has already perfected the “disappointed in his team” look through years of practice.

I had forgotten about him too, so I had to look up the details. His stellar coaching history includes a 73-119 record in two seasons as head coach of the Denver Nuggets and a 36-58 record in 3 seasons at Colorado. His only success? A two year stint at Air Force in the middle, where he went 50–16 in the abysmal Mountain West Conference. He did lead them to the NIT Final Four in his 2nd season, so I guess that was an accomplishment.

So why would they hire Bzdelik? The only thing I can think of is that in his second season at Air Force, they beat Wake Forest 94-58. Wake Forest was bad that year, finishing 11th in the ACC with a 15-16 record, but perhaps the clinic Bzdelik’s team put on in Colorado Springs stuck in Wellman’s head.

This turn of events makes no sense to me. They can say it was because of poor post season play (1-5 under Gaudio), but this was as good of a case as any of a guy who didn’t get a fair shake.

Skip Prosser would be very disappointed.

———————————–

Update (4/14/2010):  I’m not the only one who thinks this hire is bizarre! Check out this searing article from The Gazette in Colorado Springs. And here’s another article from The Gazette about his sudden departure from Air Force three years ago. It sounds like a he pulled a Mack Brown!