Stattoo - May 07, 2004
Author: Panic
Cost: $12.95
Version: 2.1
Reviewed by: Phillip Ryu
User Rating: 
66%
Panic has already made its name in the GUI community with its line of quality software. And now, going through their list of competitors, Konfabulator was next. Stattoo, Panic's answer to Konfabulator, has its pros and cons, but like any Panic app, Stattoo does its job with style, grace, and ease of use.
Features
The concept of Stattoo is pretty simple. Stattoo is in many ways a leaner version of Konfabulator, cut to what Panic thought of as the choicest parts. Like Konfabulator, Stattoo allows users to customize the display of "capsules" - small information bezels that can display the local weather, a clock, upcoming appointments, and more. (There are 9 capsules in the current version, also including a software check, disk space, mail checker, battery monitor, and date display.) Comparisons will likely be drawn to Konfabulator's original 10 included first party widgets, but the similarities end there.
Unlike Konfabulator's widgets, Stattoo's capsules are not interactive. Preferences are set, and from there, there is little user interaction. These capsules are designed solely to give the user information, and as a result, while this design decision promotes simplicity and consistency, a lack of interaction is sometimes rather unintuitive. You can't click the "play" button displayed in the iTunes capsule to pause the track. You can't click on the newest software listings to be taken to the site. Similarly, capsules, when configured and set, become a part of the desktop, which means no additional information on mouseovers. When an application is catered for users who demand information at their fingertips, the lack of a simple percentage number on the battery and hard drive capsules is a bit confusing. Oh, and continuing the comparison with Konfabulator, there are no such things as 3rd party capsules. You get what Panic creates for you.
However, it's time to talk about what's good. The high level of constriction Panic puts on the user has its advantages. Namely, the application is very pretty, and as I will later describe, very easy to use. Yes, Stattoo may not offer a gallery of hundreds of downloadable capsules, but the ones they offer do it in a very aesthetically pleasing way. There is unity in design, and everything is extremely easy to read at a glance. And unlike Konfabulator, with its widgets of many shapes and sizes, Stattoo's strict limitations results in a much less cluttered feeling. The row of capsules fades, and becomes a true part of your desktop. It just feels very light weight, integrated, and clean, and ultimately, I appreciate the lack of interactivity.
There's one more major problem with the tight design, however. For those of us with lower resolutions, it is very possible to just run out of space. Stattoo is designed as a row of capsules on the screen, and there is no way to change that. I doubt that lower resolution using users will find much issue with the ability to put only five or six capsules at a time on their desktop, but it's an issue, and one that unfortunately will probably not be fixed. The only way I could see a solution is to allow more than one row of information, but this may be against Panic's standards of aesthetics, ease of use, and clutter. (I'm not kidding, and on this point, I'd probably agree.)
Here's what I'd like to see in the future. Several capsules already allow user configurable display settings, so I'd love to see options to show more accurate information for the battery and hard drive widget. I'd like to see a few more capsules make it into the app, perhaps including a configurable news module, and a CPU monitor. I'd like options to change the font of the text displays. (Color is already configurable.) But besides that, after giving it some thought, Stattoo basically addresses all of my concerns. While there is indeed a tradeoff of features for simplicity, aesthetics, and ease of use, in my opinion, the result is a very different animal from Konfabulator, but also a more pleasurable experience.
Ease of Use
Like any Panic app, Stattoo is a pleasure to use, and really a showcase app for OS X users. As I have already described, the app is beautiful, but the beauty extends itself to the interface. For most of the time, Stattoo does not have an interactive interface - the point of the app is a seamless bezel of easy to read information, and that is what it does. However, configuration is handled very slickly, with drag and drop utilized to the fullest. And unlike other apps, Stattoo keeps preferences to a minimum, really enhancing the experience for the user.
A quick issue I'd like to bring up is the behavior on a dock icon click. Stattoo brings the capsules to the front, as a configured keystroke command would, but this focus disappears automatically after several seconds. Yes, this is a feature request, but it has a lot do with the user experience. I personally found this short set time frustratingly short, and request options to toggle instead, or perhaps set longer times. Or, even more intuitively, a dock icon click would not bring the capsules to the front at all, but just focus the app. This feature just doesn't feel right, especially when using Stattoo in its default location below the dock. You can't even read the information if you click on its icon to show the capsules.
Nevertheless, overall, the user experience is amazing as always. Keep it up Panic!
Price
Discussions have already begun about Stattoo's price, and thus, opinions on the app's frivolity or usefulness. To this, I respond, if you thought Konfabulator was a total waste of money, Stattoo probably isn't for you. But if you are a person that enjoys soaking in information with a quick scan across your screen, the $12.95 price tag is worth it. Each of the nine included capsules probably exist in one form or another as standalone shareware applications, and the price is a small one to pay for ultimate unity, aesthetics, and ease of use. It's important to note, however, that for now, you pay for what you see, and won't be able to add or modify capsules. However, I encourage anyone reading this review to try the free demo out. This is definitely an app that deserves its place among Panic's other fine offerings.
Comments
Posted by David at May 7, 2004 03:48 PM | Edit | Delete
Why don't you review StatusMonitors?
It was released long before statoo - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22750
StatusMonitors isn't as nearly polished but it has many more features.
Statoo is so info-lacking it looks more like a proof-of-concept than a finished product.
Posted by Mark at May 7, 2004 04:23 PM | Edit | Delete
Well, this app is pretty. I tried it out. I would not however pay for it. To me it is useless. If I were to pay for a status app I would buy iPulse (www.iconfactory.com). It is interactive, has a small screen real estate foot print and is skinable. Again this is all information that can be viewed from software that comes with OS X. With the exception of CPU temperature. but they have freeware and shareware ones that sit in the menu bar. So once again, great quality and fun and many will LOVE IT! but for me I would have to give it a 2 out of 5 stars.
Posted by wibs at May 7, 2004 05:08 PM | Edit | Delete
Eesh, I would never pay for iPulse. any system stats app that noticeable increases CPU usage when your computer starts using resources (be it CPU or RAM or whatever) is essentially robbing you of your computing power when you want it most.
No, the best monitoring software of all time is AquaMon. Too bad it doesn't have graphs =-\.
Anyway, Stattoo is nice, or at least would be with more capsules and more user customization. As it is it doesn't deserve that price tag.
Posted by wibs at May 7, 2004 05:08 PM | Edit | Delete
hrm, edit isn't letting me edit.
Posted by fulano at May 7, 2004 05:34 PM | Edit | Delete
i know this and other apps do a lot more, but i've still been very happy with the very free and opensource menumeters (http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/index.html). this is definitely for those who complain about losing their desktop space. i've also used weathermenu for some time; it's the best weather menu imho (even thought it's not free like meteorologist, which seems to have died) (http://www.afterten.com/products/weathermenu/).
Posted by danielgrenell at May 7, 2004 06:04 PM | Edit | Delete
i really dislike it, on first run it hung and it wasn't much better on subsequent runs.
Posted by Alexander Anderson at May 7, 2004 06:45 PM | Edit | Delete
Seems alright, doubt I'll ever run it again though. It's a very well put together app and it does look nice. But really I have no need for it, and it fading away after 2 seconds is quite annoying, especially when you are trying to see upcoming events/to do list or your latest mail.
Posted by Ben Rosenberg at May 7, 2004 06:49 PM | Edit | Delete
As far as monitoring tools go this isn't bad. I use menumeters simply because it was the best at the time that I could find. Menumeters kept itself out of the way and because I use Codeteks VD software I didn't have the problem with other monitoring tools just wanting to display themselves on one out of my 16 virtual desktops. With Stattoo one doesn't have to worry about this. It puts itself below all the other running apps which keeps it out of the way and it works perfectly with the Codetek software. If Menumeters didn't do exactly what I wanted it to do then I would gladly pay the $12.95 for this piece of software. It's a great little app.
Posted by Elliott Pogue at May 7, 2004 07:47 PM | Edit | Delete
I love this little app. It replaced Konfabulator for me. :D
Posted by mac15 at May 8, 2004 07:14 AM | Edit | Delete
Remove the app from the dock and maybe use a menu extention and it would rule :) Its a nice app though, I prefer not to use it though
Posted by Chris at May 8, 2004 09:52 AM | Edit | Delete
Wibs, you can change the process priority for iPulse, so it only eats up clock cycles when another app doesn't need them. You can also change the sampling rate to reduce CPU usage even more.
On-topic: Elliot, why did this app replace Konfabulator for you? I don't use either, but it seems to me that if you've already purchased Konfabulator, you're giving up a lot of functionality when you make the switch. I'd think there were enough widgets that you could easily replicate what Stattoo offers.
Posted by Heiesuke at May 8, 2004 10:39 AM | Edit | Delete
It's ok, but not at that price.
Posted by janeiro at May 8, 2004 01:12 PM | Edit | Delete
pretty but lack of features (even to chose the place on the desktop) and weather report doesn't work for my country (Konfabulator does). I think it's a little bit light for panic softwares to ask to pay for that soooo basic apps. It really doesn't worth it's price.
Posted by iNeusch at May 9, 2004 01:49 PM | Edit | Delete
are we still talking about this ?? ;)
Posted by Yvan at May 16, 2004 09:39 PM | Edit | Delete
The version number is wrong. It isn't version 2.1, its version 1.0, the end of URL is %201.dmg, the %20 is for the space, irrelevant to the version.
Posted by Manny Khool at May 18, 2004 09:31 PM | Edit | Delete
I must say, I'm very surprised tha Panic let this out the door - talk about damaging your brand name...
All this really does is provide some eye candy. Rather than repeating all the other negatives already stated, I will add to the list. The iCal module is limited to just one calendar, what if I have appointments in my work AND home calendars on the same day? Also, the weather module is quite slow to update and has no icons for night. This app seems like a lazy attempt to cash in on a great idea offered by Konfabulator. A bit of an insult to my intelligence really...
Posted by Frank Wanner at July 5, 2004 02:22 AM | Edit | Delete
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Posted by mesothelioma at July 24, 2004 05:02 PM | Edit | Delete
nice site i like your stuff
Posted by John Williams at September 11, 2004 01:51 PM | Edit | Delete
thanks this really agree with it