As soon as I heard my friend Matthew Rex was working on a Mac application together with Tim Davies (I interviewed both of them on MacStories, here and here) I started wondering how awesome that app could have been. Then, I heard it was called Stacky and it was about a new way of managing Mac OS X stacks. So I seriously got excited and immediately shot a mail to Matthew asking him to answer some questions about Stacky, Stacks and other random stuff of Mac development and his 2009 achievements.
He was kind enough to reply with great responses and some cool hints at what Stacky might look like. Also, remember to follow Stacky and its creators on Twitte: @stackyapp, @matthewrex and @tmdvs.
Enjoy!
So, I heard you’re working on something new, called Stacky. There’s even a website for that, stackyapp.com. Can you tell us what is it all about?
Good question! Stacky is something that I think a lot of people will really like. It’s a way to have “groups” in your dock, or stacks. For example, if you’re a designer, instead of having each application you use in your dock, taking up tons of space, you can simply have a “Design” stack with all your applications in it. When you click the stack, it’ll open up and display your apps just like regular stacks do!
Seems like you’re working on it with Tim Davies from Yummy Cocoa. How did the project get started?
It’s funny, because it was entirely random. Recently I was looking at my dock, and I was annoyed that I had five design apps in there, taking up space. I like the convenience of having them in the dock, but I was also bothered about having to shrink the dock down so small because of the number of icons. I’m a little bit OCD, so I already organize my dock into sections.
I thought, “Well, why can’t I have a stack anywhere in the dock?” And tweeted about it. Tim promptly responded, and we immediately began brainstorming. Tim is an awesome developer, and I’m excited to work with him.
What are in your opinion the problems with the current Snow Leopard stacks?
Well, I guess that I can only have them on the right side of the dock, and that they currently really only serve as a way to display folder contents. I know there are some small tricks here and there to get them showing different things, but they’re really only 50% useful. You really can’t choose what you want in a specific stack unless you make a folder of aliases, and drag it to the dock. And even then, you’re limited to the right side of the dock, bundled with the other stacks. With Stacky, we plan on adding the ability to place a stack anywhere in the dock.
Are you planning to charge for Stacky when it will go public?
I know this is always a sore subject with some people, but I’ve never really understood why. Bottom line is yes, we will be charging something for Stacky, but it won’t be excessive by any means. We’re going to price it fairly, as it’s not really a full software suite (yet!), but just something very useful! We’ll probably do a limited private-beta to make sure everything works right, and then release for the world to enjoy.
I know you’re quite into user interface design. Which tools do you primary use for your works? Just Adobe Photoshop?
I pretty much live in Photoshop. For about 90% of my work I’m strictly using Photoshop. But I’ll enlist the help of Illustrator and certain 3D apps from time to time.
Though many people don’t know it, there are Stacks for the iPhone too, thanks to Steven Troughton-Smith. Obviously, the app is Cydia-only. Will you perhaps make an iPhone version, Cydia-only version of Stacky. I know many devs are making good money from the Cydia Store.
To be honest, the idea for Stacky really was inspired by Steve’s “Stack” for iPhone. The first thing we did was ask him if he minded, and he gave us his blessing. Steve’s app is really quite perfect already, so I don’t think we have any plans on moving into iPhone territory on this one; it’d be the same app!
One thing you achieved in 2009, one thing you didn’t.
Ooh, that’s a deep question. Well, I suppose I’ve achieved something quite exciting for myself to be honest. I’ve managed to get out there and secure a few really awesome freelance projects that I’m pretty proud of. They’re not all mac-related, but they’re all important and very exciting.
One thing I didn’t achieve was to fully conceptualize and help develop an iPhone app. I do have an iPhone app coming out soon that I helped design, which will be really cool, but I’m still eager to think of something from scratch and make it successful!
How do you see the Mac and iPhone development scene evolve in 2010?
Hopefully less Twitter apps. :) But seriously, I think 2009 was a huge year for iPhone developers, and it kinda held a rise AND a decline. We went from super successful millionaire stories to 4 month approval nightmare stories. It’s pretty crazy. I think we may see a bit of a shift from iPhone devlopment to Mac development, hopefully. I’d love to see 2010 be the “Year of the Mac”. The lack of approval processes, Apple taking a cut of the profit, and complete lack of limitations may provide a very comfortable home for the developers that have been stressed about iPhone apps. Even though I made a joke about Twitter apps, I think I’m most excited about Atebits’ Tweetie:Mac 2! That and Stacky of course!
Thanks for chatting with us Matthew!
Thanks for having me again! Can’t wait to talk more as the projects evolve!
