Why I built et al.

I built et al. because I read a lot online and kept losing the parts that mattered to me. A lot of that reading happened while I was working on my PhD, going through article after article, and I never had a tool that let me mark things up and find them again the way I wanted. I tried plenty of reference managers and highlighters over the years, but they did more than I needed, asked me to create an account, or kept my notes on their own servers. I just wanted to highlight a passage, write a quick note, and find it again later, with everything staying on my Mac. So I decided to make it myself.

et al. is made by et al Labs, a small independent studio I run in Baltimore. I have a PhD in human-centered computing and over ten years of experience in UX design, research, and product management, so I think a lot about how software should feel to use. et al. is the tool I use every day, and I built it for the kind of slow, careful reading that matters to me.

If you read and want to save what matters, et al. is for you. I made it with researchers, students, and writers in mind, but it fits anyone who wants to come back to what they read.

A few things I built in from the start: there’s no account, I don’t collect anything about you, and your highlights and notes stay on your Mac. When et al. reaches the App Store it will be a single purchase, not a subscription. And if you write to me, you’ll hear back from me.

et al. is about saving and returning to what you read and research online, and keeping all of it on your Mac. That is part of a bigger goal for et al Labs: to build tools that help people think, learn, and create, without giving up their privacy. et al. is the first one.