
Ask HN: Please review my Mac App - nrj
http://goto11.net/oneway
======
nrj
Hello HN,

In my limited spare time I have been working on a small side project, it is an
application for Mac OS X called OneWay. To sum it up, it is a contextual FTP,
SFTP uploader (upload only) that integrates into the Finder's Context Menu. It
allows you to upload any files and folders in your Finder simply by selecting
them and right-clicking. You can also easily add frequently used locations to
your context menu for future use! _And You don't even need the application
open!_

Basically my goal was to create the easiest possible uploading solution that
is light-weight and doesn't require me to open a Terminal. While applications
like Cyberduck and Transmit are great, they really offer way more
functionality than I need. I found that 90% of the time when I use FTP/SFTP I
am only uploading, and secondly I find that I am often uploading to the same
places (host, directory).

Of course, there are bugs... But how will I find them if I don't push it out
the door already! With that said here are some helpful things to keep in mind.

#10.5 (Leopard) Users#

Unfortunately there are a few known issues for you. Firstly, it is out of my
control but your contextual menu items will be added to your Finder under the
"More -> OneWay" menu. If you do NOT see them there at all for some reason,
please try restarting your Finder. You can do this by opening a Terminal, and
typing `killall Finder`.

#10.6 (Snow Leopard) Users#

Your contextual menu items will live in the top level of your Finder menu!
Though please note that in order to SEE the menu items you MUST have at least
1 file or folder selected. Also note, that if you add enough menu items, OSX
will group them all under the "Services" menu instead of in the top level.

Thanks for checking out my app guys. Please post any feedback or bugs that you
find.

Nick

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onewland
I'm sure those example files were legally obtained if you're posting them
publicly :)

~~~
nrj
Of course! :)

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naish
Nice! This is a perfect little utility for uploading files to a backup server.
I regularly post family photos to a remote server via sftp. ExpanDrive has
been my goto solution for ease of use, but OneWay presents even less friction.
When my needs are a little more complex I tend to hit the command line.

~~~
nrj
I use it for this as well. I've also been thinking about adding support for a
one-directional rsync.

~~~
noonespecial
If you were to add a "rsync to" context item to a folders ctrl-click, you'd
officially be my hero.

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juliend2
I tried your app -- nice app. I like the idea.

A suggestion: One thing would be nice is the ability to have the url of the
file copied into the clipboard once the file is uploaded. Like with TinyGrab,
when you take a screenshot and it uploads the image. It would probably mean
adding a new textfield (for the base url) in the form for adding a new
bookmark. Might be useful for sharing files that you just uploaded.

Edit: i didn't think about when you upload multiple files, though. Maybe it
would be the last file uploaded?

~~~
nrj
Yea, I have been thinking about how to do this right. It would be easy to
allow a user to optionally add a "Public Base URL" for a bookmark that you
upload to, but like you said, that would really only work if you are uploading
1 file.

Definitely open to suggestions on this one.

~~~
Pheter
Automatically copying the URL to the clipboard could irritate some users. They
may be using the clipboard for something else. A couple of alternatives:

* Right click on an item in the list and have an option to 'Copy URL'?

* Hover over an item in the list and a 'Copy URL' button appears? (Similar to how more information is provided when you hover over a youtube comment.)

~~~
nrj
>> Right click on an item in the list and have an option to 'Copy URL'?

This is precisely what I was thinking, but how does this work if you have
uploaded a folder containing 100 files? Or 100 individual files. I really
would like to implement this feature I'm just not sure the best way to deal
with multi-file uploads.

~~~
Pheter
I havent tried the app so I'm not entirely familiar with how it works, but
surely right clicking on the folder and coping will copy a link to that
folder. If however, you right click on one of the files within that folder and
select 'copy url' then it will copy the url that points directly to that file.

It sounds like it should be fairly simple to design.

------
pclark
Neat idea. Honestly? I'd find it more valuable to have a "copy to dropbox
public folder & copy public url" shortcut.

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slig
Thanks for making it open source! I'm learning iPhone dev and this small app
will be great to me to jump on OS X dev later on.

------
TheKid
Very nice and Lifehacker picked up your app via the One Thing Well blog.
Congrats!

[http://lifehacker.com/5537304/oneway-puts-ftp-uploads-in-
you...](http://lifehacker.com/5537304/oneway-puts-ftp-uploads-in-your-
right+click-menu)

<http://onethingwell.org/post/592716083/oneway>

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anotherperson
For those who have just purchased Transmit 4, it has been overhauled with many
Applescript additions. Using that on Snow Leopard, it would be very easy to
create your own contextual items with Automator.

That being said, if I didn’t already have a nice FTP solution, this would be a
great little app.

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weaksauce
Good show mate. I was using cyberduck for something just like this usecase and
was getting annoyed at how many clicks it took to upload a couple files many
times and thinking to myself I should fork it and add in my usecase to
cyberduck. I will be watching this.

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magic5227
One suggestion, an option to use it like tinygrab. Right click, 1) it uploads
the file 2) Moves it to trash 3) copies a bit.ly URL to the file

Like TinyGrab for files, this would make large file sharing much easier

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miles
Very nice app, nrj!

Windows users can use WinSCP for similar functionality:

[http://tinyapps.org/blog/windows/200710220700_send_to_sftp.h...](http://tinyapps.org/blog/windows/200710220700_send_to_sftp.html)

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bdittmer
I've been thinking about building something like this for years, I have just
never had the bandwidth to get around to it. Thank you for doing it for me!

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csytan
Somewhat off topic CSS suggestion. Add this to your header :)

    
    
       border-bottom: 1px solid #C7C9CB;

~~~
nrj
Nice, I like it. A couple friends have pointed out some design oddities..
definitely where my skills are lacking.

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nostromo
This is cool, thanks! I wish it supported Amazon's S3 -- the tool I'm
currently using is terrible. :-)

~~~
nrj
Be sure to "Check for Updates" in the "OneWay" menu. Amazon S3, and SCP will
be coming soon.

~~~
notmyname
Looks like a great app. I'm a dev for Rackspace Cloud Files, and I'd love to
see Cloud Files support in OneWay. Let me know how I can help. My email
address is in my profile.

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acid_bath
I will definitely use this. Going to install it when I get home [no Mac at
work :( ].

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eande
tried OneWay out, works great, really easy to use. Great work. Thank you.

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clammer
I'm not a mac user, but I really think this is a great idea. Your website does
a good job at informing the visitor about the software and I think the benefit
is clear to the right visitors.

Good luck.

