Spotlight On posts focus on Xojo community members. We’ll use this space to tell the stories of people using Xojo, share amazing Xojo-made apps and spread awareness of community resources. If you have an app, a project or a person you want to see featured in Spotlight On, tell us about it!
Stephen Dodd has been a Xojo developer since 2001. Over two decades, he’s seen Xojo evolve, and his work embodies the cross‑platform strength Xojo offers users. During his recent Xojo license renewal, he commented “See the beautiful cross platform app made with it.” We absolutely love receiving comments like this; they remind us why we do what we do and how our community uses Xojo to create remarkable projects. Immediately I shared Stephen’s app, OfficeTime, with the team and it didn’t take long before someone said “this deserves a Spotlight On!”. Fortunately, Stephen was kind enough to say yes and answer our questions.
Mac, Windows or Linux?
Mac + Windows of course. Evaluating Linux demand.
What do you wish more people would ask you about when it comes to your work? Is there an aspect of your work that people often overlook but you wish they were more curious about?
I’m passionate about the user experience. The simpler the app, the more time is needed. OfficeTime came about when the staff at the agency I was head of hated tracking their time. Everyday I’d walk by graffiti someone plastered that said “Start writing. What’s stopping you?” Coding is writing. OfficeTime is successful because I’m not ‘into’ time tracking. I’m into something that does its job and stays out of your way.
I’m fond of hiding complication until it’s needed. For example, the user can change the rate of an existing category in OfficeTime. That introduces choices for what previously tracked time is affected. We hide all that interface until the user actually starts typing a new rate. Unfortunately for the developer, the simpler you make it, the longer it takes.
What is something that has surprised you about coding in the last 5 years?
How fricking long implementing full featured, offline first cloud sync takes to get right. Cloud sync is deceptively hard. The majority of our bugs seem to revolve around timing issues of when data / UI is available or not.
Xojo isn’t the only tool in your kit. What is a piece of software more people should know about?
- OfficeTime to track my time!
- TextExpander to hot key in code snippets and customer support replies.
- Claude because it just has a more natural, intuitive output than ChatGPT or Gemini.
Which three Xojo language features or framework capabilities do you find yourself relying/using on the most?
We hammer that listbox pretty heavily. It’s core to all the views and reports.
What did you first build with Xojo? And when was that?
In the 90’s, using Xojo (then called REALbasic), I built a neural network (before AI was cool) to learn to play tic tac toe.
I originally took up Xojo because the O’REILLY book had a cheetah on it which meant it had to be fast. All the Microsoft books had bugs on them. 😉
What do you build with it now?
OfficeTime is a cross platform app to better track your time so you can bill more or be more accountable for fixed price projects. The Mac/PC side is Xojo with a few custom written controls. It syncs with an iPhone/iPad app that was written in Xcode long before Xojo offered mobile development.
Do you earn a living with Xojo?
Yes.
What’s your biggest Xojo success?
OfficeTime
If you were introducing Xojo to a friend, which three words would you use to describe it?
Easy cross platform
Thank you to Stephen Dodd for answering questions and sharing his Xojo experience with the community. If you have an app, a project or a person you want to see featured in Spotlight On, tell us about it!