For current freelancers and web workers, there is certainly no shortage of options when it comes to project management tools. Choosing the tool to use can be a daunting task.

When you get down to comparing one application to another, one factor to consider is availability. If you can use a the same tool on your desktop, the web and your mobile device, then that application is a step ahead of the rest of the pack. Ubiquity is a goal that many applications are aiming for in present times.

Subernova is one such application. Available on the web, on the iPhone, and on the desktop as an Adobe AIR based client, Subernova can be used wherever you go. And with its smart looks, it’s a project management tool with flair.

Access Options

Subernova is a fully featured web application that can be accessed on any modern browser. As well, as mentioned above, Subernova can be accessed on a Mac or Windows desktop using the provided Adobe AIR client.

Available for the desktop and mobile phones.

In addition, there is an iPhone-optimized page that slims down the interface to fit the iPhone screen nicely. The application also offers push notifications by using the Prowl iPhone app.

Whatever your taste, Subernova can fit your preferences.

What You Can Do

The features of this application are fairly similar to other currently available online project management tools. When you log in, the app is broken down into 4 main sections: Projects, Milestones, Clients and Links. Each is self explanatory.

The layout of the various sections is tidy and gives you a nice high level view of your current status. Each entry in each section is laid out in a column view with a set of columns displaying various categories of information related to the item.

Projects

Creating a new project is simple — each one requires a set of fields to be filled out: project name, client, base price, start date, deadline and description are all necessary to create a new project.

Once a project is created, it is included in the grid and displays the information seen here.

A summary of your projects in a columned list.

Not only do these entries contain information, but they also offer certain functions. Each project has a timer that you can start and stop. Every time you start the timer, the project is updated and the price of the project will be update accordingly. The amount is based on your hourly rate.

As well, you can mark your projects as Quoted, Invoiced or Paid. And when marking a project as invoiced, you are given the option to send automatic reminders to the client until the invoice is paid. The application when send emails at set intervals until you update it and mark it as paid.

A helpful option for client reminders.

It should be noted here that the application does not include invoicing. These must be created and managed somewhere else, but you can link to the invoice via a web address in the auto reminders. This can be handy if you use an online invoicing tool.

What I like: The timer functionality built right into the project is helpful. Just start the time and leave it running while you work. Stop it and the time is updated, as well as the total cost of the project.

The UI is an interesting departure from the norm. One interface touch I liked was the checkbox items for each project. When selecting one of these fields (Quoted, Invoiced or Paid), rather than filling the check box with a more traditional check mark, the box is filled in with a blue colour. Visually, it still gives a clear indication of the project’s status, but it is a nice break from the more common practice.

Room for Improvement: As I noted above, the interface takes a different approach from many online project management tools. But overall, it lacks clarity. For example, when hovering the mouse over items in the list, it can be hard to differentiate between the item you are going to select and the others in the list.

The interface could be tweaked for usability in a few areas — highlighted rows are hard to pick out.

Another aspect I was not really taken with was the association of tasks with a project. There is no real way to see a good list of the tasks for each project. You can not enter tasks fora a project in the Projects section. Rather, they are entered in …

Milestones

Subernova also takes a unique approach in regards to Milestones. In tools like Basecamp, milestones are due dates of larger pieces of work and tasks are logged under each specific project. In Subernova, everything is entered in the Milestones section.

Each entry here has to be associated with a project. And each milestone entry can be given a due date or marked as a task. The difference between the two types of milestone items is then evident in the list view.

The Milestones section contains both milestones and project tasks.

What I Like: The list view here is sortable. You can click on the Milestones, Done or Days Left field to sort the list of entries.

Room for Improvement: Unfortunately, you cannot sort by project. This leaves you with no way to get a nice summary of all the tasks for a particular project. You can see them in the Milestones section, but they will be interspersed with all the tasks and milestones of the other projects.

The only spot to get all the information regarding a specific project.

The only other place to see them is in the Projects section, but the overall view is limited. You have to click on the project and the list of related milestones is included in the Project Details dialogue. It’s easy to see that any project of a larger size could be difficult to manage.

Clients

This section of the application is laid out on the same fashion as the Projects and Milestones. So it’s a nice summary of all your clients. And each entry has some helpful information included.

You can set a client rating (out of 5 stars) for each client and there is a total dollar amount that each client owes you. In addition, there is a nifty feature included that allows you to schedule an email to be sent to a client, similar to the the invoice auto reminders.

Rating your clients and scheduling emails are the highlights of this section.

What I Liked: This section is helpful to get an overview of your clients. Again, the list is sortable using the Client or Client Rating fields. And the rating feature is a nice way to make sure you are working on the tasks that will keep your best clients happy.

Room for Improvement: Overall, this section is well thought out. The only addition that I would like to see is to be able to sort the list on the money field. It would be helpful for users with a large number of clients to quickly see who owes the most money.

Links

The last main section is for links. Basically, this is a place for all reference information related to a project. You can enter in multiple link items, and they are displayed in a list as the other sections.

Room for Improvement: This section suffers as the others in the sort-ability of the list. There are four fields included: Client, Project, Link Name and Link address. The only option for sorting is the link name. Again, similar to tasks related to a project, the only way to get a concise list of all links related to a project is in the squishy confines of the Project Details dialogue.

When viewing the links in the Project Details window, the links will open in your browser window. This could work, but common sense tells me that any project with a large list of links could be difficult to manage.

Miscallaneous Items

There are a couple of other items to touch on. One is the Settings section. Similar to most web apps, this is where you set your overall options. With Subernova, the options include a currency and an hourly rate. You can also set defaults values for your email signature and the invoice reminder message.

Another global feature is the status bar that sits between the main navigational bar at the top of the page and each sections list of entries. This bar displays summary information for your account, as seen here:

Your global information is always available.

As well, there are a couple of helpful icons on the bottom right hand of the screen. One of them is a helpful link to a keyboard shortcut overlay. When hovering over the button, an attractive list of shortcuts

Form and Function

Overall, Subernova seems like a fairly robust tool. It offers many common functions that other tools do, but in a sometimes refreshingly different way. The ability to schedule emails and invoice reminders are handy features that can make your client communication more efficient.

However, there were two items that detracted from my enjoyment of the application. One was the inability to have the nicely detailed column view of each section be applied to a single project. Having to view all information for one project in the small project Detail dialogue felt too constraining. Secondly, a couple of the interface elements were interesting, but decreased the usability of the application.

In the end, this is a tool that has a lot of promise. The developers have shown that they are not afraid to stray from the norm — which is good because the web doesn’t really need any more Basecamp clones. And they have done a great job in making the application from multiple devices in attractive formats. With a few enhancements to the Projects and the interface, this app will really stand out amongst the other options available.