Web based Time Tracking application
polycounter lvl 8
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!
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!
Replies
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.
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?
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.
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...)
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.
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.
Online Timecard
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.
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!