Kanbie is an extension for Chrome based browsers that is somewhat minimal. A pop up accessed via the extension toolbar provides the three most typical columns in Kanban boards. However the To-do, Doing and Done headers can be renamed via a double click.
The kanban method for staying organized works for some better than others, some might prefer a text or markdown based approach to note keeping, others with a calendar to stay organized with tasks. All methods require a bit of discipline to use regularly and take the most advantage of.
Alt+K opens the Kanbie pop up, however this combination could be in use by other tools. The Space bar or + icon creates a task. The letter l creates a label which is also accessible via the label icon. A label can then be assigned to a task using the #hashtag method while typing the task. Each label can have a different color and the color can be chosen by repeatedly clicking through the fill icon as the extension cycles through different colors. While typing a task a time or date can be assigned to it by adding t: and/or d:
As in all kanbans dragging a task between columns is the way to manage its progress. Kanbie also features several themes.
Chasys Draw IES (version 5.12.01) is an image editor (referred to as Artist) but also a convertor and viewer.
The quirky nature of the software comes into view immediately after downloading and perhaps even before it when the download page can confuse the user by offering a self signed and zipped version that includes an “Installer for Standard Install and Portable”. The downloads ofcourse include setup.exe and the user choose to use the portable mode after clicking the setup.
The program then proceeds to warn the user that portable mode may miss some unnamed features, those features are not necessarily clear but include inability to load RAW files and a custom temp folder among others. During the portable install several errors appeared, some to add the aforementioned warnings, but they were dismissible and the program loads.
The user then has to choose which of the three modes to enter, that is the aforementioned editor or others. The editor will ask if a blank project is required. The other options are Poster or Flyer, Object Animation, Frame Animation, Edit Photo, Stack Photos, Icon, Animated Cursor, Batch Job, Screenshot or Screencast and more.
The program can open images from a url and multiple images at once to speed up editing. It also supports importing or acquiring from a scanner.
Perhaps most importantly it supports layers. Animation adds to the rarer features of the program besides icon generation (Under Processes menu)
Chasys has a whle set of editing features including brushes, shapes and others familiar to any image editor user. In addition there are more advanced tools such as liquidify (see in the image above), smudge and background erase.
The convertor only accepts a folder and not individual files, adding to the strangeness of Chasys. it proceeds to ask many questions about the file types, destination folder, EXIF retentions and more. For example if not careful and the Include Subfolders option is checked the program will try to load and convert many files.
The viewer provides a shortcut to edit the currently viewed file, to convert, print, rotate, zoom, and even send it via bluetooth.
The program also supports plugin with a set included with most adding support for various file formats such as PaintShop Pro (PSP), Photoshop (PSD), Affinity (Afphoto), QR codes, Text in circles and others.
Chasys is certainly different and needs getting used to. Not just first time use but subsequent uses feel different. The online help does help clarify but the workflow is not the most typical.
Pictor (v 1.27.0) is an interesting image editor that while basic looking has some not often seen features.
Of these more unique features are 36 predefined collage shapes that arrange 2 to 25 images in different configurations. Plus a whole set of shapes (geometric, stars, arrows etc.) that can be added to images. Perhaps more unusual is the crop and erase features where an image can be cropped using a shape instead of a rectangular crop. Free hand cropping is also a less common option. In the screenshot below Crop —> Crop by shape is chosen and drawn on the image. After drawing the shape clicking enter crops the image leaving only the parts of the image within the triangular shape. The Erase option does the opposite by erasing a (triangular) shape and leaving the rest of the image intact. The crop has a few more options as well with one being crop by text whereby a typed text remains with the the rest of the image cropped.
The Add menu adds text and other images to the existing image. This feature includes a ‘Text Circle’ option where the text entered is drawn in a within a resizable circle, a less configurable feature of something seen in the likes of Photoshop. The Replace option is like overlaying the open image with another.
Pictor also does batch (resize, rotate, add image, etc) processing plus the expected gamma, brightness, grayscale, negative, emboss and others under the Color menu. It also features various pens for drawing on images with various thicknesses.
An important limitation seems to be that the program supports only one Undo level and further changes are therefore destructive.
Pictor is portable and less than 3MB unzipped. It supports most standard set of image formats including the likes of EJPG, WebP and PGM.
Flow Launcher is a featured packed launcher for Windows 7 and newer computers. It is fully portable and support an extensive list of commands that can be augmented with plugins.
The first and most obvious feature is finding and launching files using Alt+Space keys to bring the search box to the foreground. Start typing and matching results appear. Enter to choose one of the highlighted results. Priority can be given to specific actions besides launching system files. For example to search the web with the phrase being typed. The program also supports variable paths using the % at the beginning of the search query. In addition system commands such as restart, shutdown, any batch or PowerShell commands can be executed through Flow Launcher. Each type of query has an – editable at Settings —> Plugins – action keyword to make the program more efficient. One example is the default b to search various browsers’ bookmarks.
Typing a url – for example rgdot.com – can also open the default browser and navigate directly to the site. Other web commands include the likes of ping.
Matching results are set at 5 by default, this can be changed as can be the browser used to launch web related queries, thus overriding the system default.
Of the more useful plugins is clipboard history that can be installed along those available in the default download via Settings —> Plugin Store. The program restarts after the user presses enter to confirm a plugin installation.
The programs supports an extensive list of themes and modifications of its interface that even include the likes of the search box width and a minimum number of typed characters it uses to show better results. Somewhat expectedly the download is almost 180MB and decompressed at over 300MB.
