ForumsThird-Party ApplicationsWhat's the interest in a full desktop client for ToodleDo?

What's the interest in a full desktop client for ToodleDo?

Author	Message
rogerhersey	Posted: Sep 17, 2010 Score: 0 Reference rogerhersey Posted: Sep 17, 2010 Score: 0 Reference Posted by murrycamper: I am currently working on a desktop app that syncs with Toodledo that allows you to view your tasks and drag them onto a calendar to schedule out your days and weeks. It is based on block scheduling. Any interest? you would make countless people very very happy if you did this for Evernote.
lgeorge	Posted: Sep 19, 2010 Score: 0 Reference lgeorge Posted: Sep 19, 2010 Score: 0 Reference I'd actually love a version of something for a mac desktop that would mimic and sync with toodledo. I don't need something as complex as Evernote -- just a place to enter, review, and sort next actions by goal and project essentially. I use taskjot and do all this entering and reviewing and sorting on my blackberry but I'd also like to have a way to do this on my mac when my mac is offline. I'd certainly be willing to pay for an application that would help me do this.
Dave	Posted: Sep 21, 2010 Score: 0 Reference Dave Posted: Sep 21, 2010 Score: 0 Reference Just another comment of support. Happy to test it on MBP (2010) as well.
Peter	Posted: Oct 12, 2010 Score: 0 Reference Peter Posted: Oct 12, 2010 Score: 0 Reference There is definitely a lot of interest in an offline app, which answered my topic post! There have been a number of great suggestions by folks who filled in the survey as well. My development of the app is on hold though, due to lack of time. I've been watching other similar efforts though, and have much more detail in a blog post I just wrote. Details here: http://peter.mangiafico.org/toodledo-desktop-application-update/
pengpeng.black	Post deleted
brooks.mervine	Posted: Mar 01, 2011 Score: 0 Reference brooks.mervine Posted: Mar 01, 2011 Score: 0 Reference A key feature missing from TD is desktop alerts. I'm a Mac user ad have searched a while for something leveraging Growl but no luck. Toodledo says in an earlier post: "Toodledo would still need to send a notification of some sort to Growl, but someone could stitch this together with our API. Our current notification system works well, so we aren't looking for a third-party alternative." "Our current notification system works well" only applies to the phone app. Not really productive. Anyone else come across a solution short of a full-blown client?
Peter	Posted: Mar 07, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Peter Posted: Mar 07, 2011 Score: 0 Reference I don't know of any such notification that exists right now ... a full-blown client would seem to be the only option. ToodleDo is correct in that it is theoretically possible to build a Growl client that would work as long as you are connected to the Internet.
Chris McKay	Posted: Mar 07, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris McKay Posted: Mar 07, 2011 Score: 0 Reference I've got a desktop client for ToodleDo called "Due Today". It has desktop alerts, a daily overdue reminder and you can enter tasks from any window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T (as long as the program is running, of course). You can find out more here: http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/products/windows/DueToday
AJS	Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference AJS Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Posted by chris: I've got a desktop client for ToodleDo called "Due Today". It has desktop alerts, a daily overdue reminder and you can enter tasks from any window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T (as long as the program is running, of course). You can find out more here: http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/products/windows/DueToday That looks just the job. Shame this wasn't available a few days ago, I could have saved $20 on another programme which doesn't appear to have the ability to hide future start dates while this one does. The UI looks great too. I'll give it a whirl on the trial anyway.
Chris McKay	Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris McKay Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Ironically it was available a few days ago. It was just released last week. Oh well. I'm sorry for both of us that I didn't here sooner.
AJS	Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference AJS Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris, There doesn't seem to be any help file or tutorial available. There are few things which I find confusing, like why I have tasks in my inbox which have been assigned contexts. Or how I can set a task in the future so it won't show up until the start date. I tried to set up what seemed the obvious filter rules but either only future tasks showed up or none. Also the programme doesn't seem that stable yet as it crashed when I tried to close it first time, although subsequently it seemed ok.
Chris McKay	Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris McKay Posted: Mar 08, 2011 Score: 0 Reference The contexts in the inbox is a bug that's getting a fix for tonight. As for "future" tasks, if you set a start date of tomorrow or later it will not appear in the "Today" view. If you're looking in "All Tasks" or the individual contexts you will need to use the filter "Start Date is on or before today" and "Due Date is on or before today" (with "All conditions" being selected). The help file got messed up so I pulled it in the last build (I had to put out a quick build because I had a sync problem), but I'll work on the fixes for tonight's build. As for the crash, I think I know what's going on there. But, just to be sure, I'm adding a crash tracker so that you can report those to me so that I can get them fixed ASAP.
brooks.mervine	Posted: Mar 15, 2011 Score: 0 Reference brooks.mervine Posted: Mar 15, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris - Nice start on a desktop app that syncs with TD. The "floating" option is great since I have a few tasks that I have to continually maintain in TD. Any plans to createrelease a version that runs on a Mac?
Chris McKay	Posted: Mar 15, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris McKay Posted: Mar 15, 2011 Score: 0 Reference If there's enough interest, then yes. Right now, I'm seeing very little interest in the desktop side and a whole lot more interest in the Android client. So, I haven't decided what to do just yet.
AJS	Posted: Mar 16, 2011 Score: 0 Reference AJS Posted: Mar 16, 2011 Score: 0 Reference I think there's plenty of interest in the desktop client, just there hasn't been a polished enough version delivered at this stage which will persuade enough people to pay for it. Some of the UI's are not very user friendly and look amateurish at best.
PeterW	Posted: Mar 17, 2011 Score: 0 Reference PeterW Posted: Mar 17, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Posted by AJS: I think there's plenty of interest in the desktop client, just there hasn't been a polished enough version delivered at this stage which will persuade enough people to pay for it. Some of the UI's are not very user friendly and look amateurish at best. Agreed. And these apps also make assumptions, e.g. navigation folders based on the status field. I don't use the status field so this imposes a design that doesn't match the way I've set Toodledo up to work for me.
Chris McKay	Posted: Mar 17, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris McKay Posted: Mar 17, 2011 Score: 0 Reference OK, to that end, what can I do to make Due Today better suited for your needs?
PeterW	Posted: Mar 17, 2011 Score: 0 Reference PeterW Posted: Mar 17, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris, I've configured Toodledo so that folders represent my GTD lists. They are named Next, Projects, Waiting for and Someday. Given that they also indicate status for the tasks within those folders, I don't need the status field and have turned it off. The Hotlist (where I spend most of my time) is configured to show tasks that are due today or are starred. I follow GTD so I only put due dates on tasks when they are needed (i.e. I don't use 'soft' due dates) so I star tasks that I want to do ASAP. So given the above, Due Today has the following problems for my implementation: 1. 'Today' doesn't include starred items. I need a unified Hotlist showing both. 2. Next, Someday and Waiting aren't needed (and are empty). 3. Folders (my GTD lists) are named Projects. For me, projects are parent tasks with subtasks. So this is confusing (it assumes that folders are used for projects). Other general comments issues: There seems to be no way to collapse subtasks under the parent task. This can make the main task window more difficult to use. I don't like the main task window design. I guess it's meant to look a bit like 'Things'? It looks kinda messy to me especially when there are subtasks. Showing the background color doesn't look neat. The background of subtasks is whiter so they stand out more than the parent task and there is no divider between subtasks. I think I'd prefer a simpler main task window, maybe more like a regular database or spreadsheet list with faint dotted lines between tasks. Subtasks still need to be indented but I don't like seeing the background for indented subtasks. I think I'd also prefer to see 'no date' on undated tasks so that the context and tag fields line up nicely. The combination of seeing these staggered fields with the subtask offset on the left make the whole window a mess to look at (in my opinion). Things I like: a. You can hide the priority field and set a default to remove the purple color from the checkbox. b. The 'This Week' view is really cool. c. The general design of the left navi with the task counts. I think you've made a great start. I guess for me the design needs to improve and it needs to be more flexible to handle the situation where the status field is not used, folders are not projects, etc.
Chris McKay	Posted: Mar 18, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Chris McKay Posted: Mar 18, 2011 Score: 0 Reference OK, those are some really good suggestions. Thanks. I'll admit, I used some screenshots of Things and Omnifocus for inspiration, but the main functionality was designed to fit my Android app. So, first off, here's my reasoning behind the projects/subtasks difference. When I first started writing the app, I actually had no idea that ToodleDo even existed. So, I created projects to be collections of tasks with the ability to have unlimited nested subprojects. I didn't even have subtasks as an option Then, during my beta period (this is for the Android app since it came first) many people started asking for ToodleDo support. When that was added I got requests for subtasks. So, projects were mapped to folders and subtasks were added. Hence why there is some ambiguity. Personally, after using ToodleDo, this was the best fit since even they recommend using folders as projects (as do several websites that discuss how to use ToodleDo). And, since I didn't want to force users to purchase a ToodleDo pro account (though it is beneficial for the subtask support), the present situation with those is what I ended up with. So, here's what I'm thinking of doing. I have had a few requests to allow the user to create custom views. And, in my Android app you can switch the builtin views off. So, what I think I'll do is port that ability over and add the ability to define your own view. That way, you can use it either the way I've designed it or you can create your own view based on the criteria you're looking for. I'll also make this available on the Android version. As for the status field, that was a late comer and is why there is now a Someday and Waiting view in my app (those are based entirely on the status field. The Next view, not so much). I'll add the option to turn off the status, just like I do with the priority (with an option to set the default status). Subtask collapsing has been requested, but I haven't added it because I'd have to add it to the Android version as well. And that would take a re-engineering of the app. However, the suggestion is not off the table as I'm looking at ways to implement it without breaking the existing functionality (many, many people like it the way it is right now). I'll line up the items into columns. Again, this was just designed based on the layout of my Android design and with the idea of not directly copying OmniFocus and Things. How would you change the background color of the tasks? I'll add a separator line between each subtask. I'll add an option to include "no date". But it will be off by default (I originally had this, but nearly everyone complained about it).
PeterW	Posted: Mar 19, 2011 Score: 0 Reference PeterW Posted: Mar 19, 2011 Score: 0 Reference Thanks Chris. Re: background color of tasks... I probably wasn't clear, but there were two issues for me. a. The background color of the parent tasks looks a bit darker than the background color of the subtasks. The latter seems whiter/brighter and therefore the subtasks stand out more than the parent. I'd prefer them to have the same background color. b. I'm not a fan of seeing the underlying task window color (the dark gray) which is visible because of the way the subtasks are indented. I'd prefer the entire task window to be a single pale color with the tasks on top. But these are just my opinions. Many others may disagree entirely with what I've said about the look/feel. The custom views sound like a good idea.