ITEM.PARTY

ITEM.PARTY is a list app.

Why did you write a list app?

I didn't mean to write a list app. I meant to write a table app that worked better than a spreadsheet for non-numeric data. But then I needed to make it work on my phone to update the data, and phone screens are really no good at all at presenting tables. So it became a list app in practice, and there are lots of those.

What happens next?

I've been working on other things, but I've realised that I was working towards a number of distinct goals for ITEM.PARTY.

(1) View lists as tables with smart rows and columns. Play with data by grouping items.

(2) Create and edit item lists from a phone that might be offline.

(3) Provide spreadsheet-like manipulations appropriate to mostly text/category based items, maybe some light calculating (converting units, bucketing, totals and averages...)

(4) Work with data wherever it may be, don't hide it within a centralised service.

I started with (1) and wrote the app as a PWA because I hoped that would be enough to give me (2), but that was a mistake.

I've realised that (4) was actually the most important one goal me, and it makes a bigger difference than it might look to how things pan out in practice. With data stored in a central location, you can talk about access to that data, and it makes sense to manage that access in the same location. The scopes converge: you get one account, one app, one data type. My original idea for goal 1 had been to take JSON data from anywhere and visualise it according to a schema, or setup. Private data, public, whatever. But after four months I'd made one compromise after another, and I found myself with an unexceptional list app with a Firebase backend and some quirky UI decisions, and no good reasons for people to use it over those other options.

So I think I need to start over. Be more radical.

• If you can truly get data from anywhere, 1 and 2 don't need to be the same app. 1 should be a Web page. 2 should be a native app.
• The one list a user most relies on is the list of the lists they're working with. Lose this, and you've basically lost all your data. The way to avoid centralising this list is to put it on the web.
• I should pull access control out of ITEM.PARTY completely, including my poor attempts at integrating with Firebase and Google spreadsheets. The app(s) for ITEM.PARTY 1.0 will just use straight HTTP PUT and GET. The server can decide whether to permit access. Maybe they are on some kind of private secure network.

Kendal Model Internet Club

If all this sounds like a weird retro list app for nerds that miss the 90's, so be it. (I don't particularly miss the 90's though.)

What's the status of ITEM.PARTY right now?

It's still here but no longer being actively worked on:

ITEM.PARTY online on the internet

Why should I use ITEM.PARTY and not a spreadsheet?

Spreadsheets are very commonly used for working with items. Each item can go in a row (or a column), and each different aspect of the items gets a column (or a row). This works fine! But...

• Spreadsheets don't know you're working with items. They only understand cells. You can break things by putting the wrong kind of value in a cell, or by copying and pasting carelessly.
• Spreadsheets are at their best when working with numbers. They aren't so good with other kinds of data. Say you want to attach a few paragraphs of your notes to each item.
• Spreadsheets need big screens, because each item is long and thin. It's hard to work with a spreadsheet on your phone.

Nevertheless, a spreadsheet might be a better choice if

• you have hundreds of items, or
• you want to do complex calculations, or
• the items depend on each other.

Why should I use ITEM.PARTY and not a specialized app?

If there is a specialized app for the kind of items you want to work with, then absolutely use it! But...

• There might not be an app that's focused on your specific goal.
• Specialized apps come with models built in, which you have to work with. You might want your to-do list app to express something like "I can only do this when I'm in X location". You might have to go through a bunch of apps to find one with that feature.
• You might start with one idea of what your items look like, but realize later that you need to change it. You might have to switch app and enter all your data again.
• You might not have a model for your items at all, but want to discover the important aspects as you go along.

Examples

Scrambles in the Lake District

Randomly

Web 1.0, a tangent