Josh Pyles's dashboard

Josh Pyles started following the idea "Auto Categorize Expenses (Like Mint.com)" in Less Everything.

Josh Pyles replied on June 26, 2008 02:15 to the discussion "Invoicing process is too complicated, here are my thoughts" in Less Everything:

Perhaps this process could be rethought... maybe the preview and data entry could be done at the same time with some sort of live preview, including what the email subject and message would be. Just an idea...

I couldn't figure out how to change the themes in that template area. Do I have to enter header and footer text in order to just change the colors? That was the area I looked in to change my theme, but I didn't understand how it worked. Part of the problem there is that I didn't see there was anywhere you could select a "Template" to use in the invoice creation process either.

Re: auto-saving bug: yeah that's a strange one. It seems like it would be fine to auto save as long as it still pops up that add new line item box.

Glad you're liking the feedback. As a web application designer it's sort of my job to be nit-picky about web-apps, but it's all for the greater good of making things even better. I'll be sure to post things here if I find more bugs or have additional feedback.

Josh Pyles started a conversation in Less Everything on June 26, 2008 00:15:

Invoicing process is too complicated, here are my thoughts

Sending invoices is a little confusing. It was my first time, so I thought i'd throw some of my initial thoughts out here:

- Why do I see the preview first? It seems like this should be the last step.
- Why can't I change the theme from here? I can't figure out where to go to change my default invoice theme
- Heirarchy could use some work. I didn't notice the Email Subject and Email Heading inputs so I accidentally left them blank.
- Can we have a more basic theme? I'd love a theme that was strictly black and white. Not sure what's going on with that colored box on the right side of the line description either.
- Adding a line item saves the invoice instead of adding a line item. The second time I click Add line item it works, but this is pretty confusing.

Hope this feedback helps. Oh, feature request: custom themes or color/font schemes? That would make me really happy.

A comment on the question "How do I keep track of expenses outside the business account?" in Less Everything:

Would you say this should be something I do every month? A reimbursement "rent" package that the company pays to myself? This sounds like a great solution. Thanks for the advice! – Josh Pyles, on June 24, 2008 00:24

Josh Pyles replied on June 23, 2008 23:17 to the idea "Full title of items in the title= attribute?" in Strands:

Not the URL of the item, but the full title of the item. Currently it's just showing the truncated version of the title, but it would be nice to just hover over it to see the entire title. Sometimes I don't know if I've already seen something or not in the sidebar.

Flickr does this for example on their image thumbnails so you can see what the full title is before clicking: http://dznr.org/qegv

Josh Pyles shared an idea in Strands on June 23, 2008 22:03:

Full title of items in the title= attribute?

Can we get the title attribute filled with the full title of the item for longer items that have been truncated?

See: http://dznr.org/ln55 for example...

A comment on the question "How do I keep track of expenses outside the business account?" in Less Everything:

I have heard of that but I'm speaking more about things like my rent for my apartment which happens to include my office and my personal internet that my business uses as well. Im sure I'm not the only one facing this situation. Is what I just mentioned part of the piercing? If so, how do I make it right? – Josh Pyles, on June 23, 2008 15:31

Josh Pyles asked a question in Less Everything on June 23, 2008 04:53:

How do I keep track of expenses outside the business account?

What do I do about those expenses that come out of my personal accounts? I don't really know how to track these.

For example, I pay rent each month out of my personal bank account. This is not completely tax deductible, but a small portion of it is. There are other bills that overlap as well. Electricity, Phone, Internet, etc...

Since you guys designed this for small businesses, is there a good way to track these sort of expenses without having to manage the entire personal account through LA as well?

Josh Pyles started following the idea "Center company/product logos in clickable boxes?" in Get Satisfaction.

A comment on the question "Shouldn't there be an option for Sales Income?" in Less Everything:

If there's a way to set up an invoice that is constantly being used (I sell just one product, so all those transactions are the same) that would probably solve it. I guess part of it is just the lack of understanding of the way this area works, or should work in relation to sales transactions. – Josh Pyles, on June 16, 2008 23:10

Josh Pyles replied on June 16, 2008 23:08 to the question "Why can't I rename income transactions?" in Less Everything:

I think a label would be appropriate. I can understand why the original "Name" of the transaction would be important to keep (even if that means behind the scenes), especially with the importing of QIF and making sure there aren't duplicate transactions, but I think being able to reference them with a meaningful label would help out a lot.

As you can see here, http://dznr.org/yaih , the current way doesn't provide much information for me, even though some of those items have notes attached.

Thanks for understanding where i'm coming from here.

A comment on the problem "New Contacts are automatically added as "Employees"" in Less Everything:

Glad to hear it's being fixed :) – Josh Pyles, on June 16, 2008 22:44

Josh Pyles marked one of Allan's replies in Less Everything as useful. Allan replied to the problem "New Contacts are automatically added as "Employees"".

Josh Pyles replied on June 16, 2008 22:43 to the question "Shouldn't there be an option for Sales Income?" in Less Everything:

This is income directly from sales of a product rather than my consulting services. I'm not sure where it should go in this case if there isn't a specific area for sales type income.

Regular income seems tied to specific invoices rather than products, other income is pretty vague, and it's definitely not one of the other two.

Josh Pyles replied on June 16, 2008 22:40 to the question "Why can't I rename income transactions?" in Less Everything:

That *does* work, but it's not the way I would prefer to see things. Looking at my income log it just says a bunch of non-sense, and renaming the transaction to something more meaningful would help me see what's really going on.

In fact, it's an extremely crucial feature for me to use the application properly. All of my transactions from Paypal come in as "Paypal" and I have quite a variety of transactions that come in through there. from Interest Payments, product sales, and invoice payments.

I would gladly give up any notes for a nice way to categorize income and label it.

I feel like you guys have done a pretty good job with the expenses area as far as giving it meaningful metadata, but the income area is really limited currently.

Josh Pyles asked a question in Less Everything on June 16, 2008 22:30:

Shouldn't there be an option for Sales Income?

I have some sales that i'd like to categorize as Sales Income, but the only choices available are "Regular Income", "Other Income", "Interest Income" and "Expense Income".

Doesn't make sense to have a category for sales as well?

Josh Pyles asked a question in Less Everything on June 16, 2008 22:26:

Why can't I rename income transactions?

I want to rename my income transactions to be more specific, but the only options i'm given are to change the dates and accounts.

Can we please have a way to change this?

Josh Pyles reported a problem in Less Everything on June 16, 2008 22:24:

New Contacts are automatically added as "Employees"

Every time I add a Payee using the modal dialog it marks them as an employee and contractor.

This is driving me crazy.

A comment on the idea "Let's Add Sub Category Expenses!" in Less Everything:

Tags sound like a great solution! – Josh Pyles, on June 16, 2008 22:19

Josh Pyles started following the idea "Let's Add Sub Category Expenses!" in Less Everything.