ForumsQuestionsNoob?s TD calendar; Gcal; enter tasks quickly; compare w RTM
Noob?s TD calendar; Gcal; enter tasks quickly; compare w RTM
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lite1 |
I am considering moving from Remember The Milk to TD, and seems that there are some trade-offs. Love that TD staff is responsive.
1) Internal TD calendar is a plus as RTM has no internal cal. Perhaps I do not understand TD cal., but it seems that all you see as overview is how many tasks you have due with no hint as to what they are. Must click to get any information. If this is true, then it is of very limited usefulness to me. 2) TD and synch with Gcal: A) Another thread stated that TD synch but once each 24 hours with Gcal. (RTM states it synchs 4 times/day and even that I find to be annoyingly inadequate.) B) When TD does synch do you just see that you have "3 tasks due" as in the TD internal cal., or do you get to see the details? C) For TD task that you "see" in Gcal can you simply click on the task and then seamlessly move to TD to the correct task so that you can edit it? (I'm using Firefox. FYI, in RTM when you synch with Gcal you see tasks as Events when they do not have a time; and at a specific time when date/time has been filled in. Certainly hope TD works similarly.) 3) Quick task entry: Each program has some pros/cons in terms of quickly creating tasks. I have enabled keyboard shortcuts in TD but it seems that there is no shortcut for accepting/adding the task? Is that correct, and if so seems like poor choice for UI as it slows things down if you don't want to enter more than Task:Name Folder DueDate/Time you then have to tab through remainder of fields (or use mouse) to add the task. Would strongly prefer that after enter Task Name and at that point or after having tabbed to any other field that a simple Enter would add the task. I have not fully played with Multi Task option, but being able to add Tasks quickly seems to be one of the critical UI aspects of this kind of program. 4) Thanks for cutting my learning curve as I evaluate whether a switch to TD is warranted or whether I'd be trading one set of frustrations and work-arounds for a different set of pros/cons. I know that others here are considering or having recently moved from RTM to TD and any comments are welcome on that subject. Edward |
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Anders |
Hello Edward. I will try to answer what I can. I think you will find that while any system has its pros as well as its cons, Toodledo is slanted far more toward the pro side than just about anything else.
Posted by lite1: 1) Internal TD calendar is a plus as RTM has no internal cal. Perhaps I do not understand TD cal., but it seems that all you see as overview is how many tasks you have due with no hint as to what they are. Must click to get any information. If this is true, then it is of very limited usefulness to me. The onsite Toodledo calendar is a nice little feature, but is of limited usefulness in my opinion especially if you take advantage of the great gcal options. However, the fact that it is there at all gives me hope that it will grow to be something more significant. 2) TD and synch with Gcal: A) Another thread stated that TD synch but once each 24 hours with Gcal. (RTM states it synchs 4 times/day and even that I find to be annoyingly inadequate.) RTM can say what they want, but google controls when that happens, and it is the same for Toodledo as it is for RTM. Toodledo is just more honest. The fact is it does not seem to be a regular schedule at all. In general I would say it seems to happen between once and twice a day. B) When TD does synch do you just see that you have "3 tasks due" as in the TD internal cal., or do you get to see the details? C) For TD task that you "see" in Gcal can you simply click on the task and then seamlessly move to TD to the correct task so that you can edit it? (I'm using Firefox. FYI, in RTM when you synch with Gcal you see tasks as Events when they do not have a time; and at a specific time when date/time has been filled in. Certainly hope TD works similarly.) Toodledo has two separate options for integration with Google Calendar. I use both. One is a simple iCal subscription which is similar to what you describe for the RTM feature. Tasks with a due date show as all day events for that day. Tasks with a time (either start or due) show as zero length events, and tasks with a start and due time show as true events over the intervening period. With the iCal subscription, it is a one way deal, so you can't edit those events on gcal. However, there is another nifty way of using Toodledo on gcal. The Toodledo gcal gadget places check boxes on Google Calendar. Clicking on a box will give you the tasks for that day (or your hotlist if you click on todays box). Not only can you edit those tasks, but you can navigate to any list, sort and add tasks, etc. right on gcal. It is basically the Toodledo slim website in a little box. Also since you use firefox, I would definitely recommend checking out the excellent Toodledo addon which basically gives you access to the slim website in a sidebar whenever you want, and a quick task adding button you can put on any toolbar. 3) Quick task entry: Each program has some pros/cons in terms of quickly creating tasks. I have enabled keyboard shortcuts in TD but it seems that there is no shortcut for accepting/adding the task? Is that correct, and if so seems like poor choice for UI as it slows things down if you don't want to enter more than Task:Name Folder DueDate/Time you then have to tab through remainder of fields (or use mouse) to add the task. Would strongly prefer that after enter Task Name and at that point or after having tabbed to any other field that a simple Enter would add the task. I have not fully played with Multi Task option, but being able to add Tasks quickly seems to be one of the critical UI aspects of this kind of program. I have never felt slowed down by the task entry system, but I agree that a quick add function, or at least a shortcut would be great. Add multiple tasks works very well for certain purposes. 4) Thanks for cutting my learning curve as I evaluate whether a switch to TD is warranted or whether I'd be trading one set of frustrations and work-arounds for a different set of pros/cons. I know that others here are considering or having recently moved from RTM to TD and any comments are welcome on that subject. Edward There are something like a billion former RTM people here who can't seem to stop talking about how much better Toodledo is. I tried the bovine system briefly, but not enough for a fair comparison. Still, I think you will find the cowslayer to be the better option. Have fun playing around with it and exploring the many options. Feel free to ask if more questions come up. ~Anders This message was edited May 09, 2009. |
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lite1 |
Anders . thx for informative reply.
1) Glad that TD seems to have similar functionality to RTM when synched to Gcal. Appreciate your comment that TD sayig synch happens 1/day might well be more honest than what RTM states/claims. As you say Goog controls this and it makes sense that all are treated =ly. 2) I have seen similar requests to mine for changes in features to TD internal cal. so as you say there is hope. New ? to you or anyone: RTM has what they call SmartLists but it seems that the only thing close in TD is to do an Advanced Search and Save It. If one could create a TD folder from a Saved Advanced Search this would be the same as a SmartList. TD Saved Advanced Search: 1) What is the quickest set of keyboard shortcuts or whatever to access this? 2) It seems that this is a view the results only and one cannot add new tasks. I believe this is true for TD, and makes it much less useful than a SmartList. Thx again, Edward |
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Anders |
Edaward,
Glad to see you're finding your way around the site. Saved searches are pretty incredible, but there is no way to make them into proper folders although I have seen that recently suggested. You could use Saved Searches as your main view, and just add searches for each of your folders, effectively adding all your folders to your advanced search view, but I realize that is not quite the same. 1)I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but you can hit "e" to go to the Search view, and then use numbers 1-9 to switch tabs once there. If you have not seen the full list of keyboard shortcuts, they are here: http://www.toodledo.com/info/help.php?sel=18 2)Of course you can add tasks. The add button is still there in the corner when you are in search view. Anything you add, if it meets the criteria of the saved search, will be added to that list. The one difference between this and the other views is that, if you add a task in the other views, the task entry window comes up preset with fields for the view you are in, and that does not happen in Search view, but is probably close to impossible considering the many ways of defining saved searches. ~Anders This message was edited May 09, 2009. |
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lite1 |
Anders, thank you so much - you've been great, and I see many helpful and responsive posts in the forums which is an excellent sign. I will have to play a bit more with TD, but expect that I will move from RTM which I have only been exploring for a week.
Given the number of people who are happy that they migrated from RTM, and given the very positive attitude of developer to forum community in contrast to my exp. at RTM - I expect that there will be few regrets about moving, other than perhaps the 10 hours that I invested in evaluating RTM. However I will invest a great deal of time in the software I end up with and so making the right choice is vital. Certainly expect that a Pro account will be worth it as sub-tasks is a great plus for TD. It seems like one of the major requests of TD community is to be able to edit multiple tasks in a smoother manner, but perhaps that will be solved soon. Edward |
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melchizW |
for quick entry I've found the " extra" app toodle-air to be excellent for that purpose .
I think it was in the developers section . I believe the framework is adobe-air . |
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lite1 |
Thx for suggestion melchiz1. This might address my desire for a streamlined way of entering new tasks but if I understand correctly requires one to know the email syntax for entering tasks. It is helpful tip allowing for standalone use of TD. After playing more with TD I realize while several key strokes could be cut down from the UI, it works satisfactorily.
Your suggestion is (free) Toodledo Air app and is in this thread - I have also copied parts of posts from there (hope that is OK & of some help). If I understand correctly, the Air app allows you to use Toodledo Slim on a non-mobile computer that is not web connected. I have not yet tried it. http://www.toodledo.com/forums/7/356/-1805/toodledo-air-app.html OP: "... here is a simple AIR app (just an HTML wrapper) that runs the slim version of Toodledo in a window size of 240x510. I prefer this method as I do not need Firefox running all of the time. Although memory usage is not an issue on my laptop, this simple wrapper uses less than half of what Firefox does." ======= It seems that a different (free) AIR app for TD that allows for email type quick entry is here http://www.toodledo.com/forums/7/1443/0/toodleair-20.html {1st edit: To add the 2nd AIR app and to mention email syntax. Hope above is accurate info; perhaps melchiz1 can elaborate on his post without taking this thread too far off course.} This message was edited May 10, 2009. |
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Anders |
I haven't used the AIR app yet, but I believe you still need to be connected to the internet for it to work. I am pretty sure the only means of offline task editing currently are to use Outlook with the chromatic dragon sync tool, or the various iPhone apps. Offline access is probably the most requested feature for Toodledo, and I have to believe someone is working on it somewhere. I have an iPod, but I would still love to have something for my computer in the rare instances when I am not connected to the web, even a Thunderbird sync tool would be awesome, but currently while there are a lot of desktop Toodledo apps, they all require you too be online.
Edit: Also I am not sure because as I said I have not tried the AIR apps, but I think there are actually two different ones. The one you found is basically like a mini web browser stuck on Toodledo Slim. I believe the one Melchiz1 was referring to is the other AIR app which allows you to quickly enter tasks into Toodledo by using the email syntax. I think this is the one: http://www.toodledo.com/forums/3/1444/0/new-toodleair-release.html This message was edited May 10, 2009. |
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lite1 |
Anders ... You con't to be very helpful to me, a complete noob getting up to speed. You seem active and knowledgeable with your forum posts. You try to clarify and provide accurate info. Seemingly I can't have you refer me as TD user as I've started already, but will see what I can do to get TD to reward you. Aside from TD being in many ways better than RTM from which I would migrate, your posts here and on other threads have greatly influenced me in my most likely adopting TD. So again, many thanks. Edward
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Anders |
No problem Edward. I honestly feel that by trying to help newcomers and answer questions by long time users as well, I am doing my part to make Toodledo better. You will find there are a number of very helpful, nice people here. It is a great community which I think reflects the qualities of the company that runs the site. I also feel that if I take a little time to answer what questions I can before Toodledo gets to them (Toodledo eventually gets to everything), it frees up the developers to keep working on the important stuff.
I just really like this site a lot, and want to see it grow to take over the world of productivity which I think it has the potential to do. |
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lite1 |
Anders, really appreciate your selfless attitude.
Posted by Anders: ... I honestly feel that by trying to help newcomers and answer questions by long time users as well, I am doing my part to make Toodledo better.... I also feel that if I take a little time to answer what questions I can before Toodledo gets to them (Toodledo eventually gets to everything), it frees up the developers to keep working on the important stuff....
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Sven |
I think a convenient quick task adding solution could be to have a user preference that enables the email syntax for adding tasks on the web site. By making it a preference, users who perhaps use their own syntax in tasks will not be affected by the option. This sounds like it would place the functionality of ToodleAir online, making adding tasks a lot faster.
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Proximo |
Another thing Toodledo has that other don't is "Anders" :-)
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replytoken |
Posted by Proximo:
Another thing Toodledo has that other don't is "Anders" :-) We are very fortunate, but I believe WebIS is also sharing in our good fortune as I know that Anders also uses Pocket Informat on his iPod Touch. --Ken |
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