Recently I have posted two parts in a series of essays on Using Portal (Part 1, Part 2). What follows here is the third and final part in this series. It also happens to be the longest of the three.
I have tried to define the problems that Portal will solve, and the audience that will find Portal most useful. Now I will do my best to define how Portal will go about solving these problems, and how it will all look from the user’s point of view.
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When Portal launches, you are presented with a single window containing a large “drop box” and a single button to initiate a Sync.
Dropping any file or application into this box will bring up a list of available Macs that you can sync that item with. This list includes any Macs Portal has previously synced with, even if they are not connected or available at that very moment.
If this is your first time running Portal, a special Welcome window will be displayed, giving the user simple checkbox options to add some of the more popular items to the sync queue. This includes your Mailboxes, Address Book, Calendars, Bookmarks, iTunes library, iPhoto library, etc.
Adding files, folders, and applications in this way will build up a detailed queue for each Mac you want to sync with. Once a file is added, any changes you make to the file, no matter which Mac you make them on, will be synced with all the other Macs. Your files will always be up to date! Changes are transferred from one system to the next over local Bonjour connections, so whenever you bring one Mac close to another, all the changed files stream from one system to the other without any trouble. When these syncs occur, the user is treated to an amazing display of animation, watching as the files from one system are sucked into a twisting, warping wormhole right on their desktop!
These are all the steps that are necessary to get your Macs to sync perfectly: Pick your files and choose where to sync them. All the default settings for when to sync, and how to deal with file conflicts will keep things running as smoothly, and as efficiently as possible. User hassle will be kept to a minimum!
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Nevertheless, there will come a time when the user is inclined to make some changes to the system. Perhaps a new Mac needs to be added to the available “Sync To” list, or maybe you no longer want your personal calendars to sync with your work computer. All these options and many more are easily within reach; all one needs to do is flip the window (just like if it where a widget). First click the “toggle toolbar” button in the top right of the window to reveal the status bar at the bottom of the window (this bar contains an Options drop-down menu, and a search bar). The Options menu can be used to flip the window over to the “Macs”, “Files”, “Apps”, or “Graphics” Options views.
Macs View
Files View
Apps View
Graphics View
Within each of these views, the user can see the basic information about the selected Mac or Item, and make simple adjustments to the setups for each. You can add a Mac to the sync list for a file, disable bookmark syncing for Firefox, or simply change the style of the graphics for when you sync with your work computer.
If the options shown by default are not enough to get Portal to do what you want it to, click the “toggle toolbar” button again. When in any of the Options views, clicking this button will expand the window and reveal the PRO mode. This makes all the sync rules and adjustments you could want available at your fingertips.
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Adding files through the above interface is a two step process, which is about as simple as it can get. To streamline this process even further, Portal also places a “Sync with Portal” command in the contextual drop-down menu in the Finder (when you right-click on a file). Simply find the file you want to sync, right-click on it, find the Mac or Macs you want to sync with, and select them. It can all be done in a matter of seconds, even if Portal doesn’t have an open window.
There is also a Portal widget for those who would rather use the Dashboard to add files or applications to the sync queue.
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What is described above would constitute a fully featured 1.0 release of Portal. Additional features such as Sync to Server, Sync over Internet, and Sync to Disc/Thumbdrive will all come in later releases. For a full list of features, please refer to my post Portal: The Feature Roadmap, and the ensuing forum discussion. If you have any technical concerns, browse through these two following forums to see if your question was raised before: here and here.
If you have any comments or advice or just some words of encouragement, please post them in the Forums. I’m thankful for any helpful criticism you might have.
And remember: Vote for Portal!
