LittleSnapper Case Study

What do you use LittleSnapper for?

The web is awash with UI 'pattern libraries', some more useful than others. They certainly serve a purpose, but using other people's work has one major drawback for me: you miss the documentation process. That would be appealing to most people, but for me the very act of identifying and thinking through a pattern is where I derive most value.

This is where LittleSnapper helps me. When I stumble across something interesting, I really don't want to fumble with multiple applications to capture a screengrab and then annotate it. It's too much overhead and means I can't focus on the documentation process itself. With LittleSnapper open in the background, I don't need to worry about this. It's always on hand when I need it and doesn't bother me when I don't.

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The upload features are wonderfully seamless but more importantly, allow me to get the data out of [LittleSnapper] and in to something I can access on the web.

Just recently, I've been considering the 'first-run' experience for a piece of social software we've been working on. There's a whole host of approaches to 'easing' people in to an initial experience - I've been using LittleSnapper to capture these as I consume my daily dose of web geekery. This way it doesn't become a chore, but instead something that I can do effortlessly.

What is your favourite feature?

The upload features are wonderfully seamless but more importantly, allow me to get the data out of a desktop app and in to something I can access on the web. Long term, I can see this being really useful when framing discussions with clients e.g. "...let's pull up a bunch of first run experiences that I find interesting". I'm already a big Flickr user so it was the nautral choice for me.

Which features have been the most useful?

1) Tagging. Re-discoverability is essential for me, especially as I use this in conjunction with Flickr.

2) Blur tool. I don't really want to publish my credit card details on Flickr as certain well-known web designers have done in the past.

3) Smart collections. These get more and more useful as my library grows - I love being able to slice through the library using my own tailored facets (I am an IA after all!)

How has your workflow improved?

I've been wanting to put together my own inspiration pool for ages (I hesitate to call it a pattern library) but it had to be something I could achieve with as little overhead as possible. I'm so lazy.

Anything else you'd like to add?

The UI is endearing. More Apple than most Apple products.