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Author	Message
chrisj	Posted Feb 23, 2010 in: Tasks vs Calender events Score: 0 chrisj Posted: Feb 23, 2010 Score: 0 I agree with Judson. There were multiple products in the '90s that allowed you to have to-do items integrated with your calendar (including floating forward until completion), even before the Palm desktop program became widespread. I remember using DayMaker happily for many years back in the Mac OS7 days. Unfortunately, PIM software actually seems to have regressed over the last 10-15 years. I think a lot of the blame falls to MS Outlook, which (A) never integrated these functions, and (B) came to dominate corporate offices by default. Still, I'm also disappointed with Apple, whose iCal program is a pale shadow of what it ought to be. (And not only in this regard: with "calendars" equal to "categories," you can never assign multiple categories to an event. It's absurd.) But I digress. Full-featured as ToodleDo and various other task managers are, I'd much rather have it all integrated in a single interface. It's ironic that PocketInformant may come closer to giving me that on my phone than anything does on my desktop...
chrisj	Posted Feb 22, 2010 in: Please hire a UI Designer Score: -1 chrisj Posted: Feb 22, 2010 Score: -1 Just another new user weighing in to say, yeah, the ToodleDo UI is godawful. (Which is not to say that any other particular program is necessarily better, contra some other posts. I've been comparing a lot of Mac-based task management programs lately, both desktop and online, and IMHO the RTM experience (for example) is even less intuitive than this one. By far.) Instead of just griping, let me offer some specific examples: * Folders & Contexts should NOT be combined on a single line in the collapsible sidebar * If they're over there, then Tags should be over there too. IOW, all the obvious tools for how to arrange and manage your tasks should be available in one unified place. * Many of the items that are prominent in the sidebar are just single-use items of information (e.g., "Scheduler"), and have no business being someplace so prominent. * The "add task" button is all but hidden in the upper right-hand corner. * It took me forever to figure out how to adjust my column widths so they'd all fit on my screen -- the tiny "customize" icons off on the right are absurdly easy to miss. (And this is functionality that's a complete no-brainer in almost every other column-using product you'll find on a computer screen.) * The "Help" page appears to be very useful. God knows how I found it, though (and I bookmarked it as soon as I did), because it's not linked in any obvious place on the home page. I could go on. The functionality here looks really impressive, and the price is right, and the choice of syncable iPhone apps is appealing... but I'm asking the PTB, whoever they are: please, PLEASE have someone familiar with UI standards redesign this site into something more elegant and intuitive. (There would, inevitably, be some resistance from folks who have put time and effort into climbing the learning curve of the current version. Give 'em something clearly better, though, and I think that would subside quickly... and be drowned out by the gratitude from newer users.)

Author

Message

chrisj

Posted Feb 23, 2010 in: Tasks vs Calender events

Score: 0

chrisj
Posted: Feb 23, 2010
Score: 0

I agree with Judson. There were multiple products in the '90s that allowed you to have to-do items integrated with your calendar (including floating forward until completion), even before the Palm desktop program became widespread. I remember using DayMaker happily for many years back in the Mac OS7 days.

Unfortunately, PIM software actually seems to have *regressed* over the last 10-15 years. I think a lot of the blame falls to MS Outlook, which (A) never integrated these functions, and (B) came to dominate corporate offices by default. Still, I'm also disappointed with Apple, whose iCal program is a pale shadow of what it ought to be. (And not only in this regard: with "calendars" equal to "categories," you can never assign multiple categories to an event. It's absurd.)

But I digress. Full-featured as ToodleDo and various other task managers are, I'd much rather have it all integrated in a single interface. It's ironic that PocketInformant may come closer to giving me that on my *phone* than anything does on my desktop...

chrisj

Posted Feb 22, 2010 in: Please hire a UI Designer

Score: -1

chrisj
Posted: Feb 22, 2010
Score: -1

Just another new user weighing in to say, yeah, the ToodleDo UI is godawful.

(Which is not to say that any other particular program is necessarily better, contra some other posts. I've been comparing a lot of Mac-based task management programs lately, both desktop and online, and IMHO the RTM experience (for example) is even less intuitive than this one. By far.)

Instead of just griping, let me offer some specific examples:
* Folders & Contexts should NOT be combined on a single line in the collapsible sidebar
* If they're over there, then Tags should be over there too. IOW, all the obvious tools for how to arrange and manage your tasks should be available in one unified place.
* Many of the items that *are* prominent in the sidebar are just single-use items of information (e.g., "Scheduler"), and have no business being someplace so prominent.
* The "add task" button is all but hidden in the upper right-hand corner.
* It took me forever to figure out how to adjust my column widths so they'd all fit on my screen -- the tiny "customize" icons off on the right are absurdly easy to miss. (And this is functionality that's a complete no-brainer in almost every other column-using product you'll find on a computer screen.)
* The "Help" page appears to be very useful. God knows how I found it, though (and I bookmarked it as soon as I did), because it's not linked in any obvious place on the home page.

I could go on. The functionality here looks really impressive, and the price is right, and the choice of syncable iPhone apps is appealing... but I'm asking the PTB, whoever they are: please, PLEASE have someone familiar with UI standards redesign this site into something more elegant and intuitive.

(There would, inevitably, be some resistance from folks who have put time and effort into climbing the learning curve of the current version. Give 'em something clearly better, though, and I think that would subside quickly... and be drowned out by the gratitude from newer users.)