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I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

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Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#301

Post by saulpw »

mschaef wrote: post #124
throwawaylaptop wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried '4famplan4' as my password just to try it, and it said password insufficiently complex so I backed out. :(

Thanks for trying. (It expects mixed-case, which I need to actually say in the messaging.) The codebase started out as something I used entirely myself, so the aspects of the workflow that relate to new user onboarding (most important for actually getting customers) are the ones that are the weakest. So this part of the codebase is where I'm working now to clean it up and it's probably also the most rough.

Why does it require mixed-case? It's for TODOs, not healthcare. If I want to use my insecure password to try out your service, please let me! It took extra code here for you to try to be secure, when it's now generally known that password requirements are security theatre at best and anti-security at worst.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#302

Post by massysett »

btilly wrote: post #284
Igrom wrote: post #92

Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: - having your computer alert you to things that come up - being able to tag notes - being able to add events to a calendar - being able to set priority of tasks - expecting prioriti…

You give a long list of features that I don't want. And then go on to encourage everyone to switch text editors, and adopt a specific plugin that happens to work in the way that you personally like. As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect from emacs users. Honestly, I'm glad that you've found something that works well for you. But I hope that some day you internalize the fact that other people aren'…

Don’t switch text editors, and don’t use a plugin.

For a few years I used Orgmode. I didn’t use Emacs. That is, when I needed to edit text files, I used Vim or macOS TextEdit. I used Orgmode to track my tasks and keep notes. That Emacs was underneath it was purely incidental, and I didn’t use Emacs for anything else. For me, Orgmode was not a plugin. It was the primary software I used, and there was this Emacs thing under it.

Ironically, these days I do actually use Emacs, and I use OmniFocus for tasks, mostly because OmniFocus gets multi-device sync right so it’s worth the price. But don’t hesitate to use Orgmode even if you don’t want Emacs otherwise.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#303

Post by ggregoire »

I've been using the Gmail webpage for tracking my TODOs for like 20 years. The idea being, since I always have the webpage open in the first tab of my browser, and since I'm checking the webpage at least once a day, I never forget it. Every time I check my emails I also see my TODOs. And I can check/edit it from my phone when I'm not at home.

If it's a list of TODOs for the current day or week (e.g. work tasks, watering the plants, etc) I just start a draft and keep the draft open in the UI and update it regularly, then delete it when everything is done. If it's more mid-long term (let's say TODOs for the month, like buying some big stuff, etc), I usually send it to myself with "TODO [3-4 words description]" in subject and keep it in the inbox to be visible until I completed it. If I need to add something else I just reply to the same email.

I think Gmail has actually an integrated TODO widget in its webpage, but I just use emails out of habit.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#304

Post by diegobit »

I also just began experimenting with plaintext. At the moment, I create regular apple reminders when I want to receive a notification, and for everything else I keep a markdown file `quicknotes-YYYYMM.md`, which I use also for some some throwaway notes.

Every month, I duplicate the file, remove what's been completed and the things I don't want to do anymore. The file is on iCloud Drive in the obsidian folder, so I can edit it also from my phone.

An example:

# TODO - [ ] todo ...

# NOTES

multiline note 1

---

multiline note 2

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#306

Post by steezeburger »

There is definitely something to be said for simple file formats augmented with tooling like LLMs and such. I am one of the people who also ended up writing my own todo list app. It really started as a journaling system, but it was super simple to add TODOs. I basically created my own clone of Logseq if anyone is familiar with that. I've basically got what the author has got, but I've automated the part where a fresh page is created each day, and a feature to quickly move undone TODOs to any day.

Re: I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file

#308

Post by f1shy »

btilly wrote: post #284
Igrom wrote: post #92

Reading through the comments under this thread, there are many users who swear by a plain text file, but who then build quite a lot of snowflake software to regain functionality offered by more structured TODO applications. That includes: - having your computer alert you to things that come up - being able to tag notes - being able to add events to a calendar - being able to set priority of tasks - expecting prioriti…

You give a long list of features that I don't want. And then go on to encourage everyone to switch text editors, and adopt a specific plugin that happens to work in the way that you personally like. As a vim user, this is kind of what I have come to expect from emacs users. Honestly, I'm glad that you've found something that works well for you. But I hope that some day you internalize the fact that other people aren'…

I think the OP is far from saying what you are implying. He is not advocating for changing text editor or installing any plugins. Just recommends trying out org mode. I think is very valid. I’ve known many many people (in the order of hundreds) that use vi for editing in general but emacs for other tasks, e.g. org mode, sbcl repl, etc. I think the suggestion ist just to give org mode a try. No need to feel offended or pushed to leave your favorite editor. At the end, is all about personal preference.
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