Since Mailbox will be sunset in a couple of months, I am looking for an alternate iOS email client.
One of the must-have features that I needed was the possibility to snooze emails, which became an important part of my email workflow.
Right now I am evaluating Inbox by Gmail and here are the first impressions after more than one week of using it.

Pros

– snooze to location
– integrated reminders (with snooze functionality)
– undo action
– nice compose interface
– as expected, excellent search functionality
– auto responses

Cons

– even after disabling the bundles, it still puts certain emails in the Google Plus circles, skipping the inbox
– the ‘Snooze until…’ interface has a lot of room for improvement, I almost always have to tap more times until I find the right time/place
– the ‘pin’ functionality is useless
– swiping a snoozed email archives it instead of putting it in the inbox as expected (this is related to the previous remark)
– boring interface when you reach Inbox-0, no incentive to get there nor the possibility to customize
– bundles enabled by default, but that can be easily disabled

I’m always surprised by the fact that a considerable number of people in our field don’t really know how to make the best use of their tools. I’ll try to put together a set of good practices and possible improvements.

1. Hardware

Display: Know what type of monitor is better for your job (designer vs developer). Know the difference between IPS and TN panels, between fps and refresh rate, between LCD and LED technologies. If you are using a dual monitor configuration, know what is the set up that works best for your workflow. On the same page, you need to know how to sit correctly (or maybe stand?) and about the…
Ambient light: know what temperature of light is fit for what purpose (TL;DR: warm white for relaxation, cool white for work). Use f.lux to automatically adjust the screen color temperature according to the time of the day. Know that a dark color scheme is easier on the eyes compared to a light one.
Keyboard: Here the most important part is not the keyboard itself, but the way you type. Touch typing is mandatory at this level. If you don’t master it yet, get on it now.
I personally prefer this keyboard because it’s classic, it has a great touch feeling and – as a bonus – has separate multimedia keys that work with Spotify 🙂
Mouse/trackpad: no matter which one you use, it should allow you to be fast. In my experience the mouse is always faster on a day-to-day use, but if you are mostly browsing/reading and you need less pointing precision then the trackpad is probably enough. Just know how to use 2-fingers scroll and stuff like that. I personally use this mouse, after using 3 or 4 pieces from the older generation. After 8 years of using them I settled for the following configuration:
– button next to the wheel – middle click (=closing tabs)
– left/right wheel buttons – volume down/up
– left button 1 – minimize window
– left button 2 – mute toggle
Almost 2 years later, the mapping changed:
– button next to the wheel – middle click (=closing tabs)
– left/right wheel buttons – ctrl+shift+tab/ctrl+tab (switching tabs)
– left button 1 – ctrl+t (new tab)
– left button 2 – minimize window

Headphones (for music or conference): Ideally you would like to have some headphones with noise cancellation, but if you are video-conferencing a lot then you need to have some headphones with a good microphone.

2. Software

Here the motto is Learn the shortcuts. Since I am mostly using Windows, the tips below concern that operating system, but some of them are more general.

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1. A few things about yum:

– yum plugins
– yum update openssl package (heartbleed anyone?)

Info about yum and openssl packages:
yum info yum
yum info openssl

Run yum without plugins:
yum --noplugins

Update openssl package:
yum update openssl

To check that a certain CVE (common vulnerability and exposure) is fixed in the current installation:
rpm -q --changelog openssl | grep CVE-2014-0224

To check openssl version:
openssl version -a

2. vi quick commands:

– insert to start editing
– escape to stop editing
– :x to save and exit (in view mode)
– u to undo (in view mode)

3. SFTP Sublime Text plugin is awesome

And it’s only $20