As you may have read, we’ve started using Basecamp and Backpack from 37signals as our productivity tools of choice to manage the projects inside MacStories. We’ve also paired them with some 3rd party tools suck as Spootnik and Headquarters to further enhance our workflow, and we’re very happy with them - we think we’ve found the best way to keep us organized and access our tasks from anywhere, be it the desktop, web or iPhone.
The other 37signals product, Campfire, was too much tempting to not give it a try, and so I decided to create an account and see whether it could come in handy. Sure it did, but combined with a Mac app called Propane.
Read on to find out why.
First, for those who don’t know, Campfire is a web based group communication tool in real time, much like a rich chat that enables you to insert any kind of content inside it and retrieve it later. You can attach pictures, links, any kind of file you want to share with your team. Previous conversations are archived online by default and you can access the transcripts at any time, in case you’ve forgotten what Cody said about invading France (yeah, he talks about stuff like this usually). You can create rooms, invite people, chill around and have a good time with your collaborators. It’s awesome, and it has seriously improved the way I chat and share stuff with people so far.
Propane is an application for Mac OS X exclusively built to access Campfire, so if you’re looking for another AIM client you can stop reading this.
That said, Propane brings all the features you’ve gotten used to see on Campfirenow.com, with some additional Mac-only goodies I’m sure you’ll like. First, you can add as many campfire sites as you wish, thus having multi account support - which is a good thing for large teams who collaborate on different projects. We have only one account so we haven’t been able to test the functionality, but no doubt it’s a good thing. The main screen is the Lobby, where you can see all the rooms you’ve previously created on Campfire together with their descriptions and people online in that room. Useful to have a quick overview about what’s going on. Also, you can open multiple rooms within the same Propane window, and the app will just open them in tabs at the bottom. Again, useful.
The chat window of Propane is simple and attractive too. The layout is clean, focusing on content rather than additional and useless stuff like many other clients do; the interface is minimal, yet well designed and eye catching. I also appreciated the fade in / fade out animations when loading a room. As for the features, Propane offers all the things you can do on the website, including file attachment, inline pictures, search and lock / unlock rooms. It’s a rich desktop Campfire experience.
The greatest thing about Propane is that it doesn’t aim at changing Campfire, but rather bringing all its features to the Mac OS X platform - and the developer definitely accomplished this task. Propane is a must have for every Campfire & Mac user. You can go download the app here, and you won’t regret it.
