How does this compare with TaskPaper, like https://guide.taskpaper.com/getting-started/? TaskPaper is sophisticated enough that OmniFocus can use it as a serialization format.
A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
11–20 of 115 posts
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#12Obsidian has this built-in. [ ] turns into a checkbox and supports sub-tasks/lists
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#13I am just getting more and more convinced that any personal todo list is useless. Most useless part is priorities on personal list. If something like utility invoice is to be paid - just do it. If it is something like "read Anna Karenina" it is not getting any priority ever it is just something I would like to do in my life. So stuff that really needs to be done I will deal with without any todo list I will just reme…
My problem is that I'll never remember to do those things on my own. I have repeating items for things that seem obvious but that life experience has demonstrated that I just can't track on my own. I wish I could remember to order flowers for my wife in time for them to be delivered before our anniversary, but I won't. A todo app for me is a lifesaver: instead of being all stressed out that I'm forgetting something important, I can get all that stuff out of my head and concentrate on other things.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#14I like this a bunch. I've used `-` to represent at task that isn't done and `+` to represent a task that is done, optionally with a time estimate in front of them. I might switch over to this since it's just a bit more descriptive and defined.
I do exactly the same, and also use a tilda for tasks in progress, and 2 periods for those that are blocked. Sometimes simpler is better.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#15No way to create subitems i.e. when the subitems are completed, the parent item is completed? The main thing I need out of a task manager is for it to allow me to decompose and refine tasks, and to keep track of that stuff as it gets complicated. If the data format doesn't even allow for subtasks, that seems impossible without abusing tags. edit: I now see that it's the top issue on your bugtracker.
For reference, this is the discussion around subitems / nesting: https://github.com/jotaen/xit/discussions/2
As mentioned in that ticket, I’m still reluctant to add this to the [x]it! file specification. On the one hand it seems like an obvious and useful feature, but on the other hand it’s unfortunately pretty difficult to implement in tooling. For example, I tried to add experimental support for nested subitems in the Sublime Text plugin, but I eventually had to give up, just because the syntax highlighting engine is so limited in regards to recursion. It’s the same – or much worse – for other editors.
At the end of the day, I feel that it doesn’t help to add such a feature to the file format, if tools then cannot deal with it properly. Right now, the spec is so simple that it can be implemented in maybe a day or so. I see a great deal of value in keeping the hurdle for tool creators small. But it’s a pretty tricky balancing act in the end.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#16I am just getting more and more convinced that any personal todo list is useless. Most useless part is priorities on personal list. If something like utility invoice is to be paid - just do it. If it is something like "read Anna Karenina" it is not getting any priority ever it is just something I would like to do in my life. So stuff that really needs to be done I will deal with without any todo list I will just reme…
> So stuff that really needs to be done I will deal with without any todo list I will just remember it or deal with it right away.
Just remember. That's exactly the thing I (for example) am not capable of. I keep forgetting everything. Every time I have some spare time, I am checking my todo first if there's something I need/want/can do.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#17I am just getting more and more convinced that any personal todo list is useless. Most useless part is priorities on personal list. If something like utility invoice is to be paid - just do it. If it is something like "read Anna Karenina" it is not getting any priority ever it is just something I would like to do in my life. So stuff that really needs to be done I will deal with without any todo list I will just reme…
something to consider is that certain todo's require the right location or context, for example if I'm at the office and it occurs to me to pay the utility bill, that would go on a "home" todo list.
Additionally, some todo's have different timeframes than others. I try to think of things as short term/immediate, medium term/this week, and long term/nextweek-before I die.
I'll occasionally pick things of the long term list and cut them down into an action I could do immediate or this week, for example, get Anna karenina from the library.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#18I am just getting more and more convinced that any personal todo list is useless. Most useless part is priorities on personal list. If something like utility invoice is to be paid - just do it. If it is something like "read Anna Karenina" it is not getting any priority ever it is just something I would like to do in my life. So stuff that really needs to be done I will deal with without any todo list I will just reme…
My experience is that physical to-do lists are great for sitting down, surveying what needs doing, and deciding what you’re going to do today. Including decisions like “I did not read any of Anna Karenina yesterday but I still want to do this so I am putting it on today’s list, and while I am thinking about this I took 5s to take it off the shelf and put it by the comfy reading chair”. And things like “laundry is gonna eat 2h of my day today but I need some clean clothes ffs”. And “I have six important work projects and only 3h of actual productive time between meetings, I am going to work on projects X and Z today unless someone comes and screams about the other projects”.
Digital to-do lists are where tasks go to die.
I just keep on coming back to a nice notebook, a nice pen, and my variant of the Pomodoro method.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#19I am just getting more and more convinced that any personal todo list is useless. Most useless part is priorities on personal list. If something like utility invoice is to be paid - just do it. If it is something like "read Anna Karenina" it is not getting any priority ever it is just something I would like to do in my life. So stuff that really needs to be done I will deal with without any todo list I will just reme…
Normal human brain can’t remember that much. It also helps to write down everything that needs to get done first, so that you can prioritize between them.
Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists
#20Why use this over orgmode?
do you use orgmode outside of emacs? I tried a port to vscode once and it was not usable.