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Review
iSticky
Issue: 3.5 (May/June 2005)
Author: Toby Rush
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 3,993
Starting Page Number: 9
RBD Number: 3505
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Full text of article...
The Stickies application that comes with OS X is one of those polarizing programs: there are those who use the living daylights out of it, and those who never open it. For those who never use it, you can probably skip to the next review. For the rest of you -- especially those of you who are nit-picky about graphic look-and-feel -- Insist's iSticky may be a dream come true.
It's hard to review this program without using the phrase "Stickies on steroids." iSticky provides nearly all the functionality of Apple's utility, including the capability to change color, font, style, and the size of the text. However, it also adds quite a number of other capabilities to the little program, including much finer control over the look of the notes, the ability to tie notes to files in the Finder, and the capability of sending notes directly to other iSticky users, or to anyone, via e-mail.
iSticky handles note color by defining user-customizable themes that control everything from color (text, background, and border) to texture and shape. Tweaking the default themes allows you to create notes that look like they are embossed into your desktop, like iTunes-esque metal plaques, "lickable" Aqua-style buttons, or sleek panels of smoky glass. Notes can include headers and footers, which are displayed with different (again, user-customizable) font characteristics than the rest of the note.
Unlike Apple's program, iSticky does not support inline graphics, but pictures can be set as backdrops for each theme. A particularly cool feature allows you to set a large picture that appears as a backdrop but is pinned to a particular point on the screen. Thus, each note shows a small part of the picture, and additional notes show more of the picture.
When a file from the Finder is dropped onto a note, the note displays the file's icon and information. When that file is selected in the Finder, iSticky is brought to the foreground.
One of the big differences between Apple's Stickies and iSticky is iSticky's ability to send notes to others. iSticky will use Rendezvous to automatically detect other iSticky users on your network. For users outside your network, Insist operates a central server which facilitates communication among iSticky users, much like an instant messaging service. You can keep a personal "blacklist" to block notes from particular users. iSticky provides a capability to send notes as e-mail messages, or even as SMS communications to cell phones or other devices.
If there is any downside to iSticky, it's that the user interface necessarily seems a little overloaded for a sticky-note utility. For example, to edit a note you do not type directly into the note; instead, you double-click the note to bring up an editing sheet. This interface complexity makes the program feel a little top-heavy, if only because the user expects a sticky-note utility to be extremely intuitive and simple. However, users do not have to know every nook and cranny of the program to find it useful, and those who eat and sleep with Apple's utility may be chomping at the bit for the additional features iSticky provides.
IN BRIEF Product iSticky 1.7.8 Manufacturer Insist Software Price $24.95 Contact Info http://www.isticky.net/ Pros Graphically rich, internet savvy Cons Complex interface Rating (1.0-5.0): 4.2
End of article.
Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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