Hi Allison,

I think you've pushed my Pre analogy further than I'd intended it to go, and further than it can go. I'm sure you are right that there is no program out there that does exactly what ScreenSteps does any better than ScreenSteps. I haven't checked, but I know you have and I believe you. However, ScreenSteps has aspects or components that are not at all special or unique. There are many apps that allow you to annotate images, there really is nothing special about that, or about the way ScreenSteps does it. Without even thinking hard about it I can already say that ImageWell does it much better, as does Omni Graffle. Yes, Graffle does WAY WAY WAY more than annotate images, but it does let you do that.

You're also right that I left out the reason why ScreenSteps use faux-Cocoa, that's an omission on my part, I had intended to put that in, but I forgot. When developers decide to go multi-platform they can choose to be native everywhere giving everyone the best possible experience on their platform, or they can be non-standard everywhere and save themselves lots of time, and hence money. ScreenSteps chose the easy/cheap route, but that choice has consequences for their users. This is ScreenSteps' choice to make, but it's also perfectly acceptable for me to disagree with that choice.

You're right again that I didn't mention the output formats. I guess the reason is that they didn't strike me as anything special. I expect to be able to output my content in multiple formats, and ScreenSteps kindly obliges.

I strongly disagree that I didn't talk about how easy it is to take Screen Shots, I made sure to extoll the virtues of both the workflow ScreenSteps is built around, and the floating panel for taking screen-shots that facilitates that great workflow.

You may not have ever wanted groups, but I did and do, and I'm not going to apologise for that. I felt that because the items I wanted to point out were small that just numbers was not good enough. I want my instructions to be as clear as possible. We clearly have different tastes here, but it's un-fair to state as fact that my choice to want to be more explicit is wrong. I think it's important for a documentation generating tool to support multiple styles, including both your more minimal style, as well as my more explicit (and IMO clearer) style.

I also feel I was a lot more positive about the app than simply saying it works. I went to great lengths to explain the philosophy behind the app, and to point out that it's clearly well thought out and that it's a good philosophy. I also started by explaining what the app does.

I'm not prepared to lie in a review. I was disappointed by this app. I expected more from a $40 mac app. My review expresses my honest and thought-out opinions about the app, and I feel I have supported my points well. I could have done a big emotional rant-port about ScreenSteps earlier in the week while I was swearing at it, but I didn't. I gave it more time, and I spend a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to say, and whether or not I was being fair. This isn't an emotional review, it's a considered and rational one.

I know you love this app. It does exactly what you want it to do, and you really enjoy using it - that's great. I just can't say the same. You give your honest review and you recommend it to people, and I give my honest review and don't recommend it to people. That's how it should be, there's a full spectrum of opinion out there on everything, allowing people to read lots of different arguments before making up their mind.

I very much doubt we're going to see eye-to-eye on this version of ScreenSteps, but there's every reason to believe that will change in future versions. As the app matures I'm sure it will pick up more polish and pad out it's feature set some more. As that process continues I'll probably start liking the app more and more. (I also made sure to end my review on this same positive note).

Bart.