More Free Online Storage

Another online storage site, myfabrik, is offering beta users an account with 2 GB of online storage. It’s not exactly new (see TechCrunch’s August review), but if you’re signing up for all the free accounts you can find, add this one to your list. myfabrik is different, you can tell its trying to stand out from the other storage services out there. The interface is attractive — if this was an art project, I’d be impressed — but its usability ranks low for me. myfabrik is not simple and not entirely intuitive, either. For one thing, I found the font to be hard to read in many areas. Dark gray text on a gray background isn’t easy on the eyes. And the size! Squint, squint. Or am I just getting old? Buttons are tiny, too. I drag and drop a file to the recycle bin…"You are dropping 1 item to the trash," it tells me. (Yes, I know; at least in Windows, I can shut the prompting off.) The "OK" button offered is a half-a-Skittle big in a bright shade of blue. Maybe on a large monitor, the sizes are okay, but c’mon, we’re all on laptops these days aren’t we?

Mysterious icons that require mouse-hovering for explanations abound. For example, something resembling an asterisk will "generate a micro-link" when clicked. A micro-link? I’m pretty hip to the web 2.0 lingo, but this was a new one for me. Clicking a stick-figure man means "share" and on the complete opposite side of the screen is the button to tag (a luggage tag looking icon). An icon that reminds me of the MSN messenger guy takes you to "my account," but it’s not at the top of the screen, it’s off to the right, next to the scroll up/down buttons. I try to use the "move" option under the  "Organize" button (the folder icon beneath the stick figure), but I get lost. You don’t even "upload" and "download" files at myfabrik - you "import" and "export."  Hmmm. I’m not into long experimentation, so it’s time for the pink button with the black "X." (Log out).

There were some nice touches to myfabrik - pictures had rounded corners; there were lots of different views available - like a timeline view, a list, thumbnails; drag-and-dropping of files was easy; the ability to create folders to organize, instead of just tagging; and, of course, the pop-up "experiences" box at the bottom of the screen that lets you label your files with words & icons like "love",  "friends", "event", etc. That was different. And you have to hand it to them, the price isn’t bad either - 2 free GBs, then $0.49 per extra gig per month.

Me, though? I’m going to wait for GDrive.