Web based Time Tracking application

ArYeS

Me and my friend are designing and hopefully making an web based Time Tracking application useful for tracking time freelance or company projects. We tried a lot of existing applications, but think that they are too complicated or too expensive.

Application will include also widget application for windows systems and little app for mac users that will be able to store time data till it syncs to web to upload it to database, so you can work offline and still track time.

I'm interested in what you think about app like this, do you need it? Would you be interested in using it? How much would you pay for something like this (monthly basis)?

This data will help us to improve our application and also help me with my colleage project, that includes designing this site.

Thank you!

Firebert

i was looking for something like this recently.
i know it would come in handy for me as i'm continually up and down a lot at home.
i wouldn't dish out a lot of cash for something like this though. keep it on the cheap and no monthly or yearly subscription either. if i buy the app, i want to keep it and use it unless new useful features come out, etc. then i wouldn't mind buying it again if i felt necessary.
granted, the overhead for freelance work in this industry can be exceptionally low, but the taxes you gotta pay as contract labor are retarded enough to warrant a low price tag on an app of this nature.
maybe have added features at different levels of the product to meet different price points and also reach out to various work environments/industries. that way if someone doesn't want to dish out the cash, they can still get the basic core functionality of the application at a low price tag.

shit... just realized that this was web based even though it is right there in the title... slow goin on the coffee this morning ;P
i don't think it should be totally web based. more along the lines of that syncing idea you mentioned

just disregard everything i said... i don't know how any of that will be pertinent. is it still monday? sheesh.

MoP

I don't like the web-based ones. I prefer having all of the info locally, and not needing a username/login or anything. I just want to track it internally and not upload anything.

I used the app someone linked on here a while back for that, I forget what it was called though. I haven't reinstalled it since I upgraded to Windows 7, in the end I was just using it as a source of interesting statistics (eg. how ridiculously long I spent playing Left 4 Dead) rather than an actual useful application for timing myself and keeping a schedule.

Anyway, that's just me. I'm sure others may have different needs. There are already free web-based time trackers, which seem fairly simple. What will your application do that theirs don't?

danshewan

I use RescueTime for purposes similar to those MoP mentioned - more of an overall indication of how I'm using my time as opposed to time management itself, but even the free, basic version is pretty good.

www.rescuetime.com

There are tons of features you can opt to pay for that add to the already solid functionality, so I'm not really sure why you'd choose to develop another app like this when there are so many already.

aesir

mop: I think it was manic time

Yozora

I use http://www.manictime.com/

Its like rescuetime, but simpler. I don't even use the tags, just let it run in the background so I can see how long I been in what program/website. Oh yea and its free.

I don't think I'd pay for a similar tool even if it had more functions (I actually can't think of any more functions I want though...)

Frump

I'm using manic time as well and I have used it to track my time spent working. However, it's a bit unforgiving, very exact. If I start working at 3pm and end at 10pm, to us that's 7 hours, to the software it's more like 5.5 because of breaks and such. So if I forget when I started or ended I have to use that time, which is always lower than what it seems it should be. After looking at rescuetime it seems to have a bunch of issues I have with manic time solved, maybe I'll give it a try.

I don't really like the idea of web based. I would prefer a local version, but synced might work, I'm just not sure why I would want to sync my data if it's already local. For a software like this, I'm not sure simplicity is the key, because I find manic time very simple but also lacking in interesting features. I personally wouldn't pay for a software like this when there are other acceptable freeware applications that do the same.

Xenobond

I used manictime for a while just to see in an average month how much time was spent on working making art, working doing not art, and not working. Was pretty interesting to see where all my time went. If this is going to be a web-app, it should be able to feed my facebook & twitter with achievments, and allow me to check my productivity score.

skylebones

I also use manic time. Sometimes it's scary how much time I waste.

Yozora

Frump wrote: »

However, it's a bit unforgiving, very exact. If I start working at 3pm and end at 10pm, to us that's 7 hours, to the software it's more like 5.5 because of breaks and such.

Thats why it's good. You want it to be less accurate and make up lies about how long you really been using a program? Whats the purpose of that?

I know what you mean when you say it feels like you been working longer than it says, but that's our problem with our perception of time.

If anything, the fact that it highlights you spent 1.5 hours outside of the "work" applications shows you either need to be more efficient with your time or spend a bit more time to "balance" it out.
Or just add 1.5 hours to the time because that's how much break time you need per working day.

Taz

I use ManicTime as well, great little app. Except It's forced me to uninstall some of my much loved games when I saw how much time they were eating. r.i.p my lvl 80 night elf rogue.

lisaniel

Thanx for sharing
Online Timecard

emmkatie

Out of all the applications for time tracking that I've used, I settled for this one.

It does everything we need as a team. It tracks our work hours and monitors our computer activities.

Aside from the fact that it is open source, it has a web server that stores and syncs all the info and time recorded from the application -- just like what you wanted.

anika hanan

You can checkout Replicon's ( http://www.replicon.com/olp/online-time-recording-software.aspx) software, it is cloud-based time management software with excellent features and user-functionalities.

You can also go for free demo to know more about the options in the software. I use this software at work. All the staffs are enjoying the benefits of making the change. We love our work now because many difficult and monotonous tasks have become so very easy.

Thanks!