Dissecting Drop.io

A new file sharing web app has recently been released called drop.io and it is very cool to say the least. The concept is as simple as the page's design: Upload any file(s) you want and it will give you a URL to a page listing the files you upload. The attention to detail in their app's design doesn't miss a beat. I'll run you through the process, pointing out the intricate details you may might have missed.

Adding Files
When you visit http://drop.io you're presented with a page containing an Add Files button. When you click the button you're presented with the file selection dialog familiar to you from when you've clicked the "Browse..." button on other pages. But this dialog is different. You can select multiple files at once. This is done with some Flex trickery, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Once you've selected your files and close the dialog, the progress bar updates to show how much of your 100mb limit has been used. The text below the progress bar tells you how much data is waiting to be uploaded. Another neat trick. You can upload any type of file. Drop.io will generate previews for pictures, mp3s, PDFs and most types of video.

Droptions (Cute, huh? Came up with that all by myself.)
You specify a name for your drop. This name is used for the URL you can use to access your drop in the future. A random, default URL is generated for you but you can give it something a little friendlier. If you specify a password for your drop, anyone visiting your drop's URL will have to enter that password to access the site.

Next, you specify when you want your drop to expire. Your drop expiration can be anywhere from one day to an entire year. When your drop expires, all your files will be removed from the drop.io server. Although you might think, "I might as well set this to a year just in case", setting an earlier expiration date increases the security of your information by limiting the amount of time someone has to compromise it. If you near that expiration date and you're still not done with your drop, you can always "renew" the drop before it expires.

You next specify what access "others" have. Essentially, these are the permissions given to anyone who accesses your drop via its URL. This is a much more powerful feature than it may initially appear.

Allowing others to "View Only" is useful for one-way sharing - such as uploading a file or files you commonly email to clients as an attachment, or sharing a collection of full-sized images from the last expo you visited with your blog viewers.

Allowing others to only "View & Add Notes" is useful for one-way sharing with feedback - such as sharing the photos from your kid's last birthday and allowing your family members to comment on them, or sending mock-ups to a group of clients for review and discussion.

Allowing others to "View, Add Notes & Files" is useful for collaboration - such as working on a project with people in different geographical locations, or collecting photos this holiday from all your family members.

You then hit the "Drop it." button and your files are uploaded. As each file uploads, the progress bar shows how far along that upload is.

Admin Password
Once your files are uploaded you're redirected to your drop's URL. You're given the option of specifying an Admin password. If you specify one, you (or anyone else who has it) can use it to gain full write permissions to the drop. Also, you need to specify an admin password if you want to be able to add time to the expiration later on. But, you can always add an Admin password later on, as we'll see further down this article.

One of the most innovative features of drop.io is that through all of this, you never give your email address and you never have to set up an account on their service. This is a paradigm shift from other apps: taking authentication and putting it directly into the hands of the user. You determine whom you wish to give the address to, thus deciding who has access to your drop.

Your Drop's Page
Your drop has 3 different views: Chronological, Media and Interactive. Chronological View breaks down your dropped items according to when they occurred, grouping newer items by day and older items by week, month or year. Media View (the default) groups your items by type: Notes, Links, Pictures, Videos, Audio, Documents, and Other.

Interactive View is sort of like filmstrip view in Windows Explorer. To the right you have thumbnails of all your various media, with the larger "preview" view of the selected item opening in the middle of your screen. By default all previewable items are displayed, sorted Newest First but you can change what types of items are displayed and in what order using the drop-downs above the thumbnails.

Admin Options
Clicking the black Admin link to the left (assuming you have admin privileges) brings you to the Admin page. The initial view displays the current settings and statistics for your drop. From the menu at the left you can do several things:

• Destroy Drop: If you wish to permanently delete your drop before the expiration date.
• Change Drop Address: Move your drop to a different address.
• Change User Password: If you've set a user password, you can change it or remove it here. If you haven't set one, you can add one here. Changing the user password could also allow you to block everyone out if your drop fell into the wrong hands.
  
• Change Admin Password: It's never too late to add
  
• Change Drop Expiration: Add time to your drop before it expires.
• Other Users Can Add: Specify the permissions for those who visit your drop but don't have Admin privileges.
• Other Users Can Delete Media: Here's something we haven't seen before. You can allow other users to delete files from your drop using this option.
• First Page Displayed: Media View is the default view when you first visit your drop. This lets you change it to Chronological View or Interactive View.
• Upgrade Drop to Premium: Drop.io's business model is to keep these Basic accounts (limited to 100mb drops) free. Once they get out of Alpha (or perhaps Beta) release, they'll make their money by selling Premium accounts with upped upload limitations.

Emailing Your Drop
The name you gave your drop isn't only used for its web address. Your drop also has an email address which adds a whole 'nother level of interoperability to your drop. Your drop's email address is dropname@drop.io (where dropname is the name you gave your drop.) If you email your drop without an attachment, the text of the email will be added as a note on your drop. If your email contains one or more attachments, those attachments will be uploaded to your drop. What can be added to your drop is dependent upon what permissions you've selected for Others to have. It doesn't care if you have Admin privileges when you email it because it doesn't know your email address from Adam's.



This drop.io thing, in my opinion, does its job in the best possible way. The next step is to open it up a little to allow people to develop their own applications that utilize it. Email support is a great big step in that direction. With it you can already do things like send text messages and pics to your drop from your cellphone. And all an application really needs to do is be able to email to add something to your drop. So, drop.io folks - When's the API come out that lets us interface with our drop to read info from it?