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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

#521

Post by dtkav »

> “But what about collaboration?” - I use work tools for work. This is for my life.

I'm working on local-first collaboration for Obsidian (https://relay.md), and there's something so nice about editors and then collaboration as layers of "progressive enhancement" over files on my own machine.

I want me-centric software that treats life and work as just folders on my device. IMO git/github is a model experience for this kind of thing.

It's great to have text files that I can use vim, rg, fzf, etc on my laptop, then switch to use the best writing tool (Obsidian IMO) on any of my devices, and then sync the content and collaborate in-real time with my team.

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

#523

Post by tbbfjotllf »

krwang4094 wrote: post #261
tbbfjotllf wrote: post #96

Sounds to me like you need something simple and quick. If the current system works for you I would suggest to keep using it. If you ever feel like you need something better I would recommend trying microsoft todo or google tasks. Google Tasks syncs with your google calendar so it's a bit more powerful. Apart from them both a pretty simple. If you are looking for something even simpler take a look at google keep. This…

Especially for Android users, Google Tasks is dead simple to use and works seamlessly with voice prompting. The less I have to manually write or type out my reminders, the better.

My oldest todo app that I can think of was just a microsoft sticky note[1] on my desktop. It always stayed on my desktop. It lacked sync between other devices so that sucked but my pc was the only device I had at that time so it worked for me. After I got a phone; google keep has kept me company. It's dead simple, cross platform, and gets work done. The only fault? It's by google, and they have a long history of killing products.

[1] https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nblggh4qghw

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

#524

Post by bariswheel »

Similar to this idea to increase accessibility:

Just use tasks.google.com

Add your todos, when finished, type DONE in front of it, this way it' a journal and you get to feel good about all the things you've done since you're always looking at your list. Anything without a DONE needs to be done. You can write details in each entry, too.

No subscriptions, no fees, accessible from your phone, computer. etc. Keep it simple, folks.

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

#526

Post by spauldo »

jorvi wrote: post #420
reddit_clone wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Org-mode is the most appropriate answer. It is as simple or as sophisticated as we want it to be. Obviously one needs to be an Emacs user first

> Obviously one needs to be an Emacs user first This makes it so infuriating that the top comment on Todo systems is almost invariably "just org-mode lol". Same as remote editing "just TRAMP lol". I am not going to completely change my editor and rebuild two decades of optimization just to use two Emacs tools. On-topic: TickTick or Todoist with a slimmed-down "Getting Things Done" system works really well. Almost no…

Agreed on TRAMP. It's great and all, but not worth abandoning your toolong.

org-mode though... It's called Emacs' killer app for a reason. Even if I only used Emacs for org-mode it'd be worth it. And I don't even use the productivity features.

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

#527

Post by spauldo »

nosianu wrote: post #121
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…

> - having your computer alert you to things that come up If my own experience is a valid example, alerts are overrated. They don't work for long. I hate getting interrupted by something that actually does not need my attention at that precise moment. I would disable those alerts in no time. I prefer leaving physical cues in the real world. I think screens are bad UI unless you already spend way too much time in fron…

I think the key part is to use alerts for stuff you can't ignore. Time to pick up the kids, fifteen minutes to get ready for a meeting, your compile just failed, etc.

Unfortunately every piece of software seems to think its message about some new feature you don't care about and will never use is worth crapping all the main premise of what alerts are for.

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

#528

Post by BLKNSLVR »

I use the same application for my to-do list as I use for my "scattered everything" documentation: Noteself[0] (not affiliated, just a happy user for many years). It's a modification to TiddlyWiki that allows for the use of couchDB for essentially 'cloud hosting' (which I self-host).

I have a Calendar for appointments, which provides reminders as notifications and or email. That's outside my scope for a to-do app, although it's complementary.

I have two 'tiddlers' that open up front by default, one is the regular weekly schedule of things (with some calendar overlap) and the other is my (now very long) bullet pointed to-do list. It doesn't matter (to me) how long the to-do list is because the more important things are very near the top - merely by the passage of time if they haven't been done yet then they weren't important enough. But I keep them on the list as reminders of things I wanted to do and may still pursue at some point in the future (retirement perhaps?).

It's essentially a text file, but I can access the current version from any browser anywhere in the world (maybe not China) as long as I remember the URL, username and password. (It's more like multiple organised text files)

[0]: https://noteself.org/

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

#529

Post by spauldo »

btilly wrote: post #511
massysett wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And now you encounter the issue of, "a long list of features that I don't want". It is hard to sell someone on a solution to a problem that they don't have.

org-mode is basically better Markdown with a bunch of automated things that don't get in your way unless you specifically put them in there.

The only unwanted feature you're likely to encounter is automatic sub/superscript conversion, and that's documented and easy to turn off.

I'm not recommending org-mode. I personally don't care if you use org-mode or not. I never understood that mentality. But the type of software you're describing is crap, and org-mode doesn't fall into that category.

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

#530

Post by BLKNSLVR »

jader201 wrote: post #513

I’ve dabbled with todo lists in the past, and keep coming back to — doing nothing. At least with todo list apps specifically. I have a pretty bad memory, so I’m the target audience for todo lists. But I think what’s worked for me has been a combination of: - Keeping things simple. At work I try to only focus on one thing at a time. I have a bug tracker that’s used to track larger items (everyone uses the same tool),…

I think I could also survive in a similar way.

My to-do list just helps a bit with my ability to be productive. If I'm at a loose end, I can refer to it and remind myself of X, Y, or Z that either should be done or that I'd like to have a bash at.

Without it, I'd 'float unproductively' more.

(And it's not necessarily about productivity, more about purpose, where I'll feel much better having completed a task that I'd previously set myself - like mulching the dead leaves or tidying the study or weeding the vege patch that I'd otherwise have not done in favour of 'floating' scrolling HN or whatever).

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