30 Boxes doesn’t do it for me

I’m starting to feel like the only person that doesn’t like 30 Boxes. Nik Cubrilovic recently wrote a post entitled 30 Boxes Ready To Take Out Online Calendar Space, for Techcrunch. His conclusion:

It was a combination of the nice interface, usability and these simple features that have made 30 Boxes my default calendar now.

That last point I can get behind. It does have simple features – Using natural language for schedule additions is hot.

The first two… That’s where we part ways. The UI drives me mad.

Any date box with an event in it will display a popup box as soon as the mouse enters it and will remove the popup as soon as your mouse leaves. With a reasonable number of events in the calendar, moving the mouse across the page results in a fireworks display of information.

The instant hover popup is also used for the “View, Find, Help” menu in the upper-mid left hand side. Rather than activate it with a click, a menu drops down as soon as your mouse touches any of the items.

The first time I used 30 Boxes, I inadvertently stopped my mouse on “Help” when trying to move it off the sample calendar. I was attempting to get an unobstructed by popups view. Instead I had some other box sitting over my calendar info. I didn’t notice the menu (it is styled in black, with no underline). I had to figure out why I was looking at a box full of links (and how to make it go away) rather than looking at the information I wanted to see.

When it comes to managing my time, I do want something light. The current online calendar market is definitely overlooking this. The thing is, I also want to feel in control of the process. With 30 Boxes, I don’t.