4 ms·

Daytum: beautifully-designed site for tracking personal statistics

30 points by unalone 17y ago

coconutrandom 17y ago
It looks nicely laid out. But I cannot read it. Perhaps a slightly darker shade of grey could help with the contrast.
yangyang 17y ago
But seriously, who needs to know how many hotels someone's slept in over the last month, or what baked goods you've got in your house? Surely the novelty wears off pretty fast. There are some things that I want to track (running data from my Garmin watch for example), but something as general as this isn't going to be much use for that.
- unalone 17y ago
  I think it's more for the entertainment than it is for productivity. It's a Feltron production—he's the guy with the ridiculously specific annual statistic reports.
  - huhtenberg 17y ago
    If it's more for the entertainment, I wonder whom they envision paying for this service ?
    - unalone 17y ago
      Maybe they don't? Felton's a professional graphic designer who makes money as-is. Not every web service needs a business model.
      - huhtenberg 17y ago
        They have a $4/mo pricing for premium accounts. That is what I was referring to.
s3graham 17y ago
Hard to read, main page has no lower case. Without signing up, I don't understand how it works. Do I have to manually enter all my stats into a spreadsheet, or is it better than that?
bbgm 17y ago
Not exactly the same goals, but http://your.flowingdata.com/ http://your.flowingdata.com/ is simpler and quite useful for things like tracking weight, etc.
mcav 17y ago
To give some context to this: Nicholas Felton is a graphic designer who has been known for creating annual reports -- very specific graphic design productions that include minutiae about his life over the past year. You can see 2008's report here: http://feltron.com/index.php?/content/2008_annual_report/ http://feltron.com/index.php?/content/2008_annual_report/ Some time ago, he partnered with a coder to create Daytum, which is an easy way for people to track other statistics about themselves in much the same way that Nicholas Felton does in his reports. Yes, the details people track in Daytum are usually trivial, unnecessary, etc. Yes, it's a bit of a novelty. But it's certainly unique, and sometimes it's cool to have something like this to track random statistics, even if only for entertainment value.
- yangyang 17y ago
  That's fair enough, more art than utility. Thanks.
joao 17y ago
This type of applications reminds me a bit of the Moodstats — http://moodstats.com http://moodstats.com , from way back in 2001 (if I recall correctly). Built by the Cuban Council - http://cubancouncil.com http://cubancouncil.com - in Macromedia Director.
diN0bot 17y ago
uses google charts to generate charts. that's what i use on a similar project (also flot). i was hoping to see something with a little more javascript interaction. i have the same problem exploring Felton's reports: jumping around is jarring. would rather see mouseovers and zoom ins. ultimately, looking at a really big poster, one that makes sense at different scales when standing 20ft away and 2ft away, is probably the best experience. i want to capture that through a web browser somehow. ideas...?
- unalone 17y ago
  I get what you're saying. Felton's primarily a print designer; his report is designed for print purchase. I didn't have the same problem with this site, though—what did you find jarring?
californiaguy2 17y ago
I don't know if this is "beautifully designed" - more like "sparsely and starkly designed, which conforms to someone's particular idea of beauty".
- unalone 17y ago
  I'm sorry. I will never use an adjective again. For the record, I don't think the design is sparse or stark. For me, sparse is something like NowDoThis, and stark is something like Daring Fireball. But if it conforms to your particular ideas of sparsity and starkness... The front page isn't the wow factor here. The profiles are absolutely beautiful. Check out http://www.daytum.com/feltron http://www.daytum.com/feltron. Then check out the bar graph on http://www.daytum.com/feltron/page/10835 http://www.daytum.com/feltron/page/10835, and see what happens when you hover over elements. There are a few dozen different output options available, and they're all displayed terrifically. The interface for the logged-in user is similarly unique and beautiful. It's a perfect example of an interface that's interesting and singular not because it's trying to be particularly aesthetic but because its goals require a unique approach.
  - californiaguy2 17y ago
    The use of words instead of numbers to indicate integer values is especially annoying to me.
jakarta 17y ago
Ehh - having to watch a Vimeo video to understand how this works and how to do things on Daytum is extremely annoying. More work should be done on the ease of use end. I get the idea that it's cool to present minimalist designs, but they should seriously considering adding some clear on screen instructions for new users.

30 points by unalone 17y ago

It looks nicely laid out. But I cannot read it. Perhaps a slightly darker shade of grey could help with the contrast.

But seriously, who needs to know how many hotels someone's slept in over the last month, or what baked goods you've got in your house? Surely the novelty wears off pretty fast. There are some things that I want to track (running data from my Garmin watch for example), but something as general as this isn't going to be much use for that.

unalone 17y ago
I think it's more for the entertainment than it is for productivity. It's a Feltron production—he's the guy with the ridiculously specific annual statistic reports.
- huhtenberg 17y ago
  If it's more for the entertainment, I wonder whom they envision paying for this service ?
  - unalone 17y ago
    Maybe they don't? Felton's a professional graphic designer who makes money as-is. Not every web service needs a business model.
    - huhtenberg 17y ago
      They have a $4/mo pricing for premium accounts. That is what I was referring to.

s3graham 17y ago

Hard to read, main page has no lower case. Without signing up, I don't understand how it works. Do I have to manually enter all my stats into a spreadsheet, or is it better than that?

bbgm 17y ago

Not exactly the same goals, but http://your.flowingdata.com/ http://your.flowingdata.com/ is simpler and quite useful for things like tracking weight, etc.

mcav 17y ago

To give some context to this: Nicholas Felton is a graphic designer who has been known for creating annual reports -- very specific graphic design productions that include minutiae about his life over the past year. You can see 2008's report here: http://feltron.com/index.php?/content/2008_annual_report/ http://feltron.com/index.php?/content/2008_annual_report/ Some time ago, he partnered with a coder to create Daytum, which is an easy way for people to track other statistics about themselves in much the same way that Nicholas Felton does in his reports. Yes, the details people track in Daytum are usually trivial, unnecessary, etc. Yes, it's a bit of a novelty. But it's certainly unique, and sometimes it's cool to have something like this to track random statistics, even if only for entertainment value.

yangyang 17y ago
That's fair enough, more art than utility. Thanks.

joao 17y ago

This type of applications reminds me a bit of the Moodstats — http://moodstats.com http://moodstats.com , from way back in 2001 (if I recall correctly). Built by the Cuban Council - http://cubancouncil.com http://cubancouncil.com - in Macromedia Director.

diN0bot 17y ago

uses google charts to generate charts. that's what i use on a similar project (also flot). i was hoping to see something with a little more javascript interaction. i have the same problem exploring Felton's reports: jumping around is jarring. would rather see mouseovers and zoom ins. ultimately, looking at a really big poster, one that makes sense at different scales when standing 20ft away and 2ft away, is probably the best experience. i want to capture that through a web browser somehow. ideas...?

unalone 17y ago
I get what you're saying. Felton's primarily a print designer; his report is designed for print purchase. I didn't have the same problem with this site, though—what did you find jarring?

californiaguy2 17y ago

I don't know if this is "beautifully designed" - more like "sparsely and starkly designed, which conforms to someone's particular idea of beauty".

unalone 17y ago
I'm sorry. I will never use an adjective again. For the record, I don't think the design is sparse or stark. For me, sparse is something like NowDoThis, and stark is something like Daring Fireball. But if it conforms to your particular ideas of sparsity and starkness... The front page isn't the wow factor here. The profiles are absolutely beautiful. Check out http://www.daytum.com/feltron http://www.daytum.com/feltron. Then check out the bar graph on http://www.daytum.com/feltron/page/10835 http://www.daytum.com/feltron/page/10835, and see what happens when you hover over elements. There are a few dozen different output options available, and they're all displayed terrifically. The interface for the logged-in user is similarly unique and beautiful. It's a perfect example of an interface that's interesting and singular not because it's trying to be particularly aesthetic but because its goals require a unique approach.
- californiaguy2 17y ago
  The use of words instead of numbers to indicate integer values is especially annoying to me.

jakarta 17y ago

Ehh - having to watch a Vimeo video to understand how this works and how to do things on Daytum is extremely annoying. More work should be done on the ease of use end. I get the idea that it's cool to present minimalist designs, but they should seriously considering adding some clear on screen instructions for new users.