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A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

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Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

#91

Post by hboon »

I have been abusing a convoluted version of Markdown for this:

::ProjectA

---

@@@Things to do

    @@@Sub-tasks
@@Things to do, but not right away

* Things done

::ProjectB

---

@@@Another thing

Easy to search for things like:

"@@@" for the current TODO (and also show it in the menu bar with SwiftBar)

"::ProjectName" to look for projects

"* " to keep in a date-stamped file. I have kept such files since 2009.

gist that preserves formatting: https://gist.github.com/hboon/2684da05fe6c5d7afbcbaa4d847824...

Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

#94

Post by Last5Digits »

kidsil wrote: post #93

Why not Orgmode? I've been using it on multiple devices without any problems. I still occasionally edit it as text (when I'm on a machine without Emacs/Orgzly).

Have you found a good way to use org-mode on your phone? I remember trying to find a suitable app for weeks, but without any success.

Even simple things, like following links into other files, were not possible.

Edit: Ah, I missed you mentioning Orgzly. Last time I used it, I had a lot of trouble with syncing due to its way of storing files in a notebook. Everytime I deleted a file on any other device, Orgzly would just recreate the file and sync it back to all other devices. And when I tried it, it didn't support links to org-IDs.

Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

#96

Post by jotaen »

Kalanos wrote: post #95

In my experience, your titles need to be more visually distinct for when lists get long `====== MORNING ERRANDS ======` Is it good at indented text wrapping?

You’d be free to format your titles like that, if you prefer. The only restriction for titles is that the line cannot start with whitespace or `[`.

Not sure what you mean by the text wrapping bit, but I think that appropriate/pleasant text wrapping would be a concern of an editor.

Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

#98

Post by imomochi »

parski wrote: post #97

Why pad priority with dots? Why pad priority at all? The date format will allow bad clients to do the American yyyy-dd-mm thing, using a standard would make it unambiguous.

> Why pad priority with dots? Why pad priority at all?

It's optional, so I'd assume it's for people who want to start the sentence from same aligned column.

> The date format will allow bad clients to do the American yyyy-dd-mm thing, using a standard would make it unambiguous.

Isn't 2022-08-23 the standard format; ISO 8601?

Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

#99

Post by jotaen »

imomochi wrote: post #98
parski wrote: post #97

Why pad priority with dots? Why pad priority at all? The date format will allow bad clients to do the American yyyy-dd-mm thing, using a standard would make it unambiguous.

> Why pad priority with dots? Why pad priority at all? It's optional, so I'd assume it's for people who want to start the sentence from same aligned column. > The date format will allow bad clients to do the American yyyy-dd-mm thing, using a standard would make it unambiguous. Isn't 2022-08-23 the standard format; ISO 8601?

> It's optional, so I'd assume it's for people who want to start the sentence from same aligned column.

Yes, visual alignment is the first purpose; the other is if you want to sort your lines lexically (as described elsewhere in this discussion), then the dots enable deterministic ordering, because exclamation marks sort before dots.

> The date format will allow bad clients to do the American yyyy-dd-mm thing, using a standard would make it unambiguous.

The format for dates is a subset of ISO-8601, except for the slashed variant (2020/12/31) that’s there for convenience, and the notation for quarters (2022-Q1).

Re: A plain-text file format for todos and check lists

#100

Post by dumpsterlid »

Last5Digits wrote: post #94
kidsil wrote: post #93

Why not Orgmode? I've been using it on multiple devices without any problems. I still occasionally edit it as text (when I'm on a machine without Emacs/Orgzly).

Have you found a good way to use org-mode on your phone? I remember trying to find a suitable app for weeks, but without any success. Even simple things, like following links into other files, were not possible. Edit: Ah, I missed you mentioning Orgzly. Last time I used it, I had a lot of trouble with syncing due to its way of storing files in a notebook. Everytime I deleted a file on any other device, Orgzly would j…

I like orgzly but in my opinion orgro is even better. I think a critical point of usability with mobile has been met with org mode.
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