Windows Phone Thoughts: Managing Your Money: WebIS Money 1.0 Reviewed

Figure 5: Entering new transactions is cumbersome.

The part I dislike the most about WebIS Money is entering a new transaction. I don’t think the transaction panel makes for speedy transaction entry on the go, although it does have some nice elements to it. I like the way previous similar transactions are shown in the lower window.

Entering data in the date and amount fields is also a pain. Both fields force you to tap on the pop-up boxes to enter data; you can’t use any of the other Pocket PC input methods. This is fine for most things, but I found it hard to enter dates for transactions that occurred in previous months since you have to cycle through the calendar to select the correct date. This is extremely cumbersome. On the upside, I thought the Amounts pop-up box looked nice and was easy to enter amounts into, although it should also allow you to use a Pocket PC input method to type in values.


Figure 6: You must use this pop-up box to enter dates.


Figure 7: Nice looking pop-up box, but I still like to enter data using other input methods.

The other problem I had is that you can’t add a new category while entering a new transaction. First of all, there are absolutely no categories provided with WebIS Money, although you can import them using a QIF file (see below). If you realize that you need to enter a new category while you are typing in a new transaction, you have to cancel the new transaction, go to the Categories panel, enter the category, go back to the new transaction panel, and then enter everything back in. I really feel that this is poor design.


Figure 8: Default categories are not provided with WebIS Money, so you’ll have to enter your own.