I suppose my preference for using the hierarchical file system comes from the way I’ve had to organize my computer files at work, where every project must be kept separate from the others. Here’s my standard hierarchy:

Within my home folder is a folder named projects. Within projects is a folder for each project. Within each project folder are folders for correspondence, photographs, reports, drawings, design standards, product manuals, etc. Within the Photos folder are folders for every day I took project photographs.

I guess Apple would prefer me to put all my projects folders in Documents, but I’ve always thought the Documents folder is a waste of a directory level—just about every file I create is a document.

This arrangement works for me because everything I need to work on a particular project is in that project’s folder. Where are the photos I took? In the Photos folder. Where’s my report? In the report folder. And if I need something—an ASTM standard, say—for more than one project, I copy it into both folders. Disk space is cheap.

This organization of digital files is mimicked in the organization of paper files. A portion of a file drawer is set aside for the project; within that section are folders for paper correspondence, printed photographs, handwritten notes, and so on. By keeping things consistent from project to project, I reduce the amount of thinking I have to do about purely clerical matters, and I make it easy to find what I need when I need it.

Since the digital and paper organization is about the same from project to project, I’m able to script the creation of all the necessary directories and folder labels. When I open a new project, I get a project name and number from my companies central database. I then run a script on my computer called newproject, which

1. Prompts me for all the required information.
2. Creates the directory hierarchy under the ~/projects directory.
3. Adds an entry to my project list file (discussed in this post from a couple of years ago).
4. Prints out the necessary file folder labels for organizing the paperwork.

I’ve used newproject for ten years or more, which is why it’s written in Perl. Here’s the source code:

perl:
 1:  #!/usr/bin/perl
 2:
 3:  # collect required info from user
 4:  print "\n";
 5:  print "3[1mProject name:         3[22m";  # the escape codes
 6:  chomp($name = <>);
 7:  print "3[1mProject number:       3[22m";  # in these lines
 8:  chomp($number = <>);
 9:  print "3[1mClient name:          3[22m";  # turn bold text on
10:  chomp($client = <>);
11:  print "3[1mClient reference:     3[22m";  # for the prompts and
12:  chomp($ref = <>);
13:  print "3[1mSubdirectory:         3[22m";  # off for the responses
14:  chomp($dir = <>);
15:  print "3[1mPhotos?[y/n]:         3[22m";
16:  chomp($photos = <>);
17:  print "3[1mSmall project?[y/n]:  3[22m";
18:  chomp($small = <>);
19:  print "3[1mLabel position [r,c]: 3[22m";
20:  chomp($rc = <>);
21:  print "\n";
22:
23:  # append info to project list file
24:  open PL, ">> $ENV{'HOME'}/Dropbox/pl" or die "Couldn't open project list";
25:  select PL;
26:  print "$name|$number|$client|$ref|$dir|\n";
27:
28:  # make directory for project files
29:  # return error message if problem
30:  print `mkdir $ENV{'HOME'}/projects/$dir`;
31:
32:  # make correspondence directory
33:  # return error message if problem
34:  print `mkdir $ENV{'HOME'}/projects/$dir/corr`;
35:
36:  # make directory for project photos if wanted
37:  # return error message if problem
38:  if ($photos =~ /^y/i) {
39:    print `mkdir $ENV{'HOME'}/projects/$dir/Photos`;
40:  }
41:
42:  # make file folder labels and send to the printer
43:  ($row,$col) = split(/,/, $rc);
44:  $labeldata = "#$name|$number\n  \n\n";
45:  unless ($row==0 or $col==0) {
46:    if ($small =~ /^y/i) {
47:      $labeldata .= "Notes, photographs, report\n";
48:    } else {
49:      $labeldata .= "\Correspondence\n\nNotes\n";
50:      $labeldata .= "\nPhotographs\n" if $photos =~ /^y/i;
51:      $labeldata .= "\n#\0\0\0$name|$number\0\0\0\n";   # narrower for the tab insert
52:    }
53:
54:    open LABELPRINT, "|pflabels -r$row -c$col";
55:    print LABELPRINT $labeldata;
56:    # print $labeldata;
57:  }

Lines 4-21 include terminal escape codes to get the prompts to print in bold. Extra spaces are printed out after each prompt so my responses all line up.

Lines 23-26 add the entry to the project list file, a simple database I use to keep track of all my projects, past and present.

Lines 28-40 create the directories. The Photos directory is created only if I answered yes to that question.

Lines 42-57 generate the labels for the physical file folders. If I know at the outset that a project will be small and short-lived, all the paperwork can go in a single folder. The label data follows the format required for my pflabels script, and the data is piped to that script in Lines 54-55. The necessary labels are then printed on Avery 5161 1″×4″ labels.

Line 51 uses special troff codes to make one label narrow enough to fit on a 3½ inch tab insert. I stick the label on the cardboard insert, cut off the overhang, and use the tab insert in a hanging folder to separate projects in my file drawers. It takes longer to describe than to do.

Jon’s starred items in Google Reader

Bruce Houghton / hypebot:
Amazon Beats Apple, Google With Launch Of Unlicensed Cloud Music Locker & Player  —  (UPDATED) Overnight Amazon beat both Google and Apple to market with the launch of a freemium cloud based digital media locker and robust integrated music player that accesses stored tracks across multiple computers and Android devices.

Jon’s starred items in Google Reader

Apple made more than Microsoft during the last calendar quarter with a .34 billion quarter, as it announced last week, while Microsoft announced its total of only .20 billion just today. It’s still a record quarter for Microsoft, up 25 percent from last year, and Microsoft  has higher profit margins because it remains a software-focused company, but the achievement is noteworthy nonetheless.

It’s the first time Apple has beaten Microsoft in revenue in its history, so I’m sure Ballmer and Co. are taking note. The margin by which Apple won is a big one, too, and though many predicted Cupertino would make more than Redmond at some point this year, few anticipated such a large gap so early.

Will new products like Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect help Microsoft regain some of that ground? Time will tell, but Apple’s lead may already be insurmountable.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories
• HTML5’s a Game-Changer for Web Apps
• Can Anyone Really Compete With the iPad?

Jon’s starred items in Google Reader

Big problem because I wear them like 6 hours a day for increased focus and less interruptions.

So I went to best buy and picked up a pair of beats by dre ($325)

After being used to the comfort of my Bose…  apparently I was spoiled.

Although the sound was great.

Better Lows and louder at a lower volume settings…  (the sound was comparable to my Bose On ears.

So I ordered a pair of Bose quiet comfort 3 in hopes that they would be superior to my old Bose.

The qc3s get 2 thumbs down to me because you cannot listen to music unless the noise cancelling is turned on.

This means that if your battery dies… You are screwed!

So… I have to “worry” about keeping a battery charged!!!

No way dude

Not tiki friendly. Too much stress.

So the surprising winner for me right now….

My old Bose on-ears that you can buy at Target do like $180