Time Sheet Online

[smctainsh]

Hi All,

After some thought, I've decided to take the Time Sheet project that I've been working on to the online arena. This new project includes many of the features found within the Time Sheet desktop application. The features the online version includes are:

- The ability to record time and allocate it to a job

- The ability to generate invoices

- The ability to email invoices directly to your client from within Time Sheet

I'd really appreciate any feedback that anyone may have on this online version of Time Sheet. Feel free to try it out by visiting this page and logging in using the user name and password 'demo'.

One known issue is that it doesn't work properly in IE6, and I still haven't decided on the best font to use for the interface yet (it defaults to Gill Sans MT and falls back to Arial when this font can't be found).

Again, any feedback is greatly appreciated. :D

As always, thanks in advance,

Steven

[Kami-]

Hi,

Doesn't work for me, however you do warn me that it won't on the main page when you state it needs "JavaScript" to work ;)

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

It worked for me but the design is not that great. Maybe smaller Icons would look better.

[smctainsh]

Hi,

Doesn't work for me, however you do warn me that it won't on the main page when you state it needs "JavaScript" to work ;)

Yeah, it uses JavaScript to provide an AJAX powered interface (what with the timer and all :)). Did you give it a try? :)

It worked for me but the design is not that great. Maybe smaller Icons would look better.

Thanks for the feedback. Anything else in the design besides the icons you feel could be improved on?

Steven

[Kami-]

Yeah, it uses JavaScript to provide an AJAX powered interface (what with the timer and all :)). Did you give it a try? :)

Thanks for the feedback. Anything else in the design besides the icons you feel could be improved on?

Steven

Ye, functionality seems fine... just hate browsing the net with JavaScript on :p

[smctainsh]

Ye, functionality seems fine... just hate browsing the net with JavaScript on :p

Cool, thanks for testing it. :)

Steven

Edited October 9, 2008 by gigapixels

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Yeah, it uses JavaScript to provide an AJAX powered interface (what with the timer and all :)). Did you give it a try? :)

Thanks for the feedback. Anything else in the design besides the icons you feel could be improved on?

Steven

No that is about it. Just be security conscious.

[smctainsh]

No that is about it. Just be security conscious.

Thanks for the feedback.

Any further feedback on this service? In terms of features offered and functionality, (when released) what would you think of a $20 a year fee to use it?

Thanks,

Steven

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Thanks for the feedback.

Any further feedback on this service? In terms of features offered and functionality, (when released) what would you think of a $20 a year fee to use it?

Thanks,

Steven

I thought that you were doing this for your own use for your own company. There are l corporations that do this exclusively. I don't believe that you will be able to compete with them.

[smctainsh]

I thought that you were doing this for your own use for your own company. There are l corporations that do this exclusively. I don't believe that you will be able to compete with them.

How so? Are there features this service is lacking? What do you believe makes this service incapable of competing with others?

Steven

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

How so? Are there features this service is lacking? What do you believe makes this service incapable of competing with others?

Steven

The fact that these corporations have thousands of employees all over the country. You may be able to compete at a small scale such as in your area. But these corporations not only do what your program does they also do the payroll and W-2's etc, they do the entire payroll of companies. A great many companies have outsourced this type of work.

[ncc50446]

You should have it autosave every few minutes, incase the browser crashes or something. I closed the tab after two minutes, so maybe it does after a longer period of time, but just an idea, should the browser crash, power goes out or something. Updates the time to the serverLooks good other wise though

[smctainsh]

You should have it autosave every few minutes, incase the browser crashes or something. I closed the tab after two minutes, so maybe it does after a longer period of time, but just an idea, should the browser crash, power goes out or something. Updates the time to the serverLooks good other wise though

That sounds like a great idea. :) It should be easy to implement; I'll look into it. :) Thanks for the feedback.

Steven

[smctainsh]

Hi All,

I've updated Time Sheet Online, taking into account what you guys, as well as others, have suggested. I'd love to know what you think of the updates. The URL and demo account user name and password are in the first post.

Thanks,

Steven

[smctainsh]

Any feedback on the changes I've made?

Steven

[smctainsh]

Anyone?

Steven

[Kami-]

Seem's fine...

[smctainsh]

Thanks, F7S! :D Any more feedback?

Steven

[Kami-]

Thanks, F7S! :D Any more feedback?

Steven

Not really, maybe apply dynamic style sheets so that user can alter look & feel? Not keen on the standard style myself, not sure why though, just doesn't appeal to me. *shrugs* Personal taste... I know.

[smctainsh]

Not really, maybe apply dynamic style sheets so that user can alter look & feel? Not keen on the standard style myself, not sure why though, just doesn't appeal to me. *shrugs* Personal taste... I know.

Sounds like a great idea; I'll look into it. :)

Steven

[smctainsh]

I've created a survey to make it easier to record your feedback on Time Sheet Online. You can view the survey here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?ke...QVklgidYmwPn9Jg

Thanks,

Steven

[jukeboxhero52]

Here are a few things I've spotted - I only played with it for a few minutes, so I may have looked over some important areas.

• Invoices would be great if they could export directly to PDF.
  
• If you're looking to sell this to businesses, you'll need to have the ability to export any and all data to quickbooks.
  
• Have the ability to add tasks/time individually (not using the 'record' feature). From personal experience, I may forget/not have a chance to start/stop/pause a project if something else comes up, and would need to enter hours manually.
  
• Give the option to automatically round numbers to nearest quarter-hour/half-hour. Many company's have a MINIMUM number of time increments to bill by (If I do 27 minutes of work - its automatically bumped to 30 minutes).
  
• Reduce the size of the header - it's too tall.
  
• Let the pages "run" (don't have a scrollbar inside the page). If i would use this, I would probably make it a very small browser window on the side of my screen - if that's the case, i would have multiple scrollbars (inside page and outside vertical...pain to scroll).
  
• I don't think that "stopping" the timer should clear it as well. I think the buttons should be "play", "stop", and "clear". Would be nice to have the option for multiple timer's at once. (Often I'll be 20 minutes into 1 job, and then need to take a phone call that puts me 10 minutes into a different hob).
  

Hope that helps!

[cultavix]

since we are helping you with it, we should get free accounts :p

since we are helping you with it, we should get free accounts :p

[smctainsh]

Here are a few things I've spotted - I only played with it for a few minutes, so I may have looked over some important areas.

• Invoices would be great if they could export directly to PDF.
  
• If you're looking to sell this to businesses, you'll need to have the ability to export any and all data to quickbooks.
  
• Have the ability to add tasks/time individually (not using the 'record' feature). From personal experience, I may forget/not have a chance to start/stop/pause a project if something else comes up, and would need to enter hours manually.
  
• Give the option to automatically round numbers to nearest quarter-hour/half-hour. Many company's have a MINIMUM number of time increments to bill by (If I do 27 minutes of work - its automatically bumped to 30 minutes).
  
• Reduce the size of the header - it's too tall.
  
• Let the pages "run" (don't have a scrollbar inside the page). If i would use this, I would probably make it a very small browser window on the side of my screen - if that's the case, i would have multiple scrollbars (inside page and outside vertical...pain to scroll).
  
• I don't think that "stopping" the timer should clear it as well. I think the buttons should be "play", "stop", and "clear". Would be nice to have the option for multiple timer's at once. (Often I'll be 20 minutes into 1 job, and then need to take a phone call that puts me 10 minutes into a different hob).
  

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much for the feedback! I really do appreciate it, and I really like some the suggestions. The rounding of time is already taken into account; in the invoices, it rounds time to the nearest 15 minutes. I'll work on making this more dynamic though. :) If you want to go in the draw to win a one-year license, complete the survey at the link mentioned above, but in the comments field, just mention your Neowin user name and that you gave feedback on Neowin. :D

since we are helping you with it, we should get free accounts :p

since we are helping you with it, we should get free accounts :p

Have you looked at the survey above? I'm giving out five one year licenses to those who complete the survey. :)

Thanks again for the feedback - I really appreciate it!

Steven

[smctainsh]

I've now updated Time Sheet Online, taking into account many of the suggestions posted on this forum. I'd appreciate any feedback on the changes made, and would appreciate it if you could complete the survey (the link to the survey can be found when you log in). The user name and password are both demo.

You can view the demo at the link specified in the first post, or you can go here. I am in the process of setting up an SSL certificate on the website, too - this should take effect soon. :)

Thanks in advance,

Steven

[Kami-]

Nicely done