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Leap 1.0: a peek under the hood

by Brett Terpstra Mar 3rd 2008 at 8:00AM

Some applications remind me of cars. For example, most Java based applications are Volkswagen Things as they're useful in certain situations, but horrifying (or hilarious) to look at. But once in a while you get a Jaguar XJS: a beautiful exterior that doesn't bely its underlying power. That, and you frequently have to spend some time at the mechanic. Leap by Ironic Software – makers of Yep – just hit 1.0 after a long stint in beta. It's my current Jag.

We covered the beta, but here's a quick review. Leap is a Spotlight interface which, once you get used to it, causes a fundamental shift in the current paradigm of file management. Prior to finding Leap, I had already been using a homegrown, Spotlight-based file management system. The strategy – based on a tagging system – requires a far smaller folder hierarchy and allows for much faster location of related files in a project. Leap both complements my system and elegantly replaces a lot of its kludgier functionality.

By combining full Spotlight search capabilities with a tagging system (that writes to Spotlight comments), Leap makes file location a breeze and allows for easy association of files within a project. It can function like Finder, showing all files in a single directory, if that's what you need at the moment. The "Go Deep" search can display every file in every sub-folder of a project. The results can be filtered by criteria such as file type, location, date, keywords and other metadata, allowing for quick searching and tagging. It can also display a traditional list format, but the icon view with Loupe function and Quick Look integration makes browsing as elegant as any program I've tried. And, of course, a tag cloud view – and the ability to choose tags from a sidebar to narrow the search – makes all that tagging work worthwhile.

All of that being said, Leap still has some bugs despite its 1.0 status. I've been subjected to freezes fairly frequently, but the random crashing that plagued the beta seems to be cured. As far as features go, I wish there were an easy way to exclude parameters from a query. I'm also wishing for the ability to select multiple file types during a search using a ?-click rather than defining custom file type groups. But the interface, as it stands, is friendly and elegant once you get the basic concepts down. And nitpicking aside, it does elegantly accomplish everything I've been doing in a more manual fashion.

Leap is now selling for $59. You can buy Leap and Yep as a bundle for $69, and previous owners of Yep can get Leap for $39. That works for people who got Yep in a bundle as well. You can download a trial copy from Ironic Software and take it for a spin.



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mark

Thanks. I believe the differing sizes are actually required, in order to call it a "cloud." :-) I like Leap, and I own a license, but think it was far more attractive, visually, prior to removing the tag cloud and the source list. I'm disappointed by those changes. And yes, I've actively been providing feedback. Thanks again.

March 04 2008 at 3:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to mark's comment
BLUEFROG

Mark:
Just wondering if you have tried NiftyBox? It's got some nice tag cloud visualizations. Nice, little known tagging app.

If you haven't, check it out at: http://www.nifty-box.com

March 07 2008 at 2:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

Thanks. I'll check it out....

March 07 2008 at 2:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

"And, of course, a tag cloud view...makes all that tagging work worthwhile."

Did the tag cloud view survive to v1.0? The developer already pointed out to me a few features that were removed (like the blue, iTunes-like, source list, featured in the demo movie).

Now I can't find the tag cloud. I've asked the developer about this, as well, but I have yet to receive a reply.

Are you seeing a tag cloud in 1.0? Or was that comment based upon using the beta?

March 03 2008 at 7:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to mark's comment
BLUEFROG

Mark:
There is still a Tag Cloud in Leap 1.0 but it is different than the demo movie. The tags are not visually distinguished by size and they are in the first pane (the Filter Pane) instead of the second one.(Using size as a marker is something that was removed fairly early in the betas.)
Join up on the support forum and make a request if you want. The developers are awesome and they keep an eye on the boards pretty regularly.

March 03 2008 at 7:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mo

I wonder if this fills the criteria of my challenge:

http://nevali.net/2007/09/wanted-a-good-mac-ui-developer/

Time to find out!

March 03 2008 at 5:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Mo's comment
Todd

It looks pretty cool; I'm not sure it's $59 cool, but I'm looking forward to playing with it a bit.

March 03 2008 at 12:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kimberly Beattie

I've been playing around with the beta of Leap and find it very useful in some circumstances. But after looking at both Leap and Yep, I am left with a question. If I have Leap, is there any need for Yep? Isn't Yep just a file specific (pdf files) version of Leap?

March 03 2008 at 11:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Kimberly Beattie's comment
BLUEFROG

Kimberly:
Yes, there is overlap between the two. In fact, Leap is born out of the thought that,"If Yep is so good with PDFs, I want Yep for all files!" I'm not privy to what the developers lifespan for Yep is (though it is under active development).
The clincher for me (I actively use both) with Yep is its internal PDF viewer. I am managing almost 3,000 PDFs all tagged and I like not having to fire up Preview or Acrobat toread them. Since PDFs are such a ubiquitous format for reference Yep seems to be perfectly suited for this niche.

March 03 2008 at 4:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ian Beck

I posted a more in-depth look at how tagging and searching works in Leap 1.0 yesterday on Tagamac if folks are interested. I agree that the price is a bit high, though.

http://tagamac.com/2008/03/leap_second_look/

March 03 2008 at 10:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Thomas

Finder would be a lot better at finding things if they allowed you to add more metadata to files as you save them. Being able to add spotlight comments and colour labels when you create a file would be a great start. If you have to save from within an app, then go to the file, then add those items, well chances are you won't. I wish more apps would somehow take advantage of colour labels, not sure how, but there must be some way to take advantage of them.

March 03 2008 at 10:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Thomas's comment
BLUEFROG

Just to add to the kudos… I've been beta testing Leap (and Yep before that) and the developers are two of the most reponsive I've ever dealt with (I beta test as a hobby.)
You're right about the paradigm shift. Leap is a new view into our files that many people may not quickly understand. 20+ years of hierarchical filing systems and a lot misinformation about tag based workflows is a huge hill to climb. But a nice thing about Leap is it accepts both methodologies. The ideal situation is hierarchical and non-hierarchical systems where they are appropriate and Leap easily allows for both.
A great piece of software (with better things to come,I'm sure!)

March 03 2008 at 10:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marco Heine

The car is spelled Volkswagen, not Volkswagon ;o)

March 03 2008 at 8:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Marco Heine's comment
Brett Terpstra

Fixed, thanks :).

March 03 2008 at 9:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vinod

$59?! - Last week I paid that amount for VMware Fusion.
Said that, Leap looks very functional and beautiful.

March 03 2008 at 8:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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