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Arpas wrote: Is it possible to export Outlook calendar (.ics) to TDL?
Have you tried "Drag&Drop" form Outlook Calendar to TDL-Treeview?
Pierre
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Yes, but only you can drag&drop individual elements of calendar, not the hhole calendar.
Thanks for your feedback!
Armando
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Arpas wrote: ...not the hhole calendar.
And what's about "Tools - Import Tasks - Format: Microsoft Outlook"?
There were some discussions about ICS in the last time; but I don't know the content...
Pierre
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I saw that too, was about to say the same ... except ... he's talking calendar entries (from Outlook, imported).
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Maybe we are talking about different things, but after the first import-dialogue you get a second dialogue where you can select the "Outlook-folders" (input, sent, calendar, ..)
Pierre
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Armando, first you need to open .ics from your colleagues in your Outlook. Then try to import calendar items by "Tools - Import Tasks - Format: Microsoft Outlook" as it was mentioned by Pierre, just click "Change..." current folder and choose the one you imported .ics (another copy of Calendar I guess).
Alex
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I agree that it's about time I added an importer for .ics.
I will add it to 6.9.
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thanks Dan! it would be great!
Armando
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Arpas wrote: Moreover: what good would that TDL can have "macros"!! so that by pressing a button, you could, for example, import a specific Outlook calendar (or update one ...!)
You could try "AutoHotkey" http://www.autohotkey.com/[^]? There are users who use it with TDL.
Pierre
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I've tried time ago, but it was too difficult to me... Maybe I have to try again Thanks!
Armando
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Thx a lot for all your comments.
In summary, the messages I got were that the following aspects of TDL's UI could be off-putting:
- The plainness of its styling
- The visual complexity
- The lack of more 'goal-oriented' workflows
So now what I want are concrete suggestions in each of these 3 areas, and the format I would like in each of the areas is this:
- Images of any application interfaces (not just tasklist-related) that you find beautiful, together with a statement of why you feel they are beautiful. Windows, Mac or Linux.
I would also invite you to take a screenshot of TDL and 'make' it more beautiful by crafting bit of other apps on to it.
- Images of TDL that you have 'doctored' to make them appear less complex, including hiding features that you consider 'advanced'.
- Specific suggestions for features that are more geared to users' outcomes, various use-cases that we can incorporate into workflows. Perhaps even a completely separate and optional menu structure for newcomers.
Notes:- I know that I am entering a dangerous place in asking for opinion, but I am committed to allowing everyone to express their own views, so please feel safe about making 'out-there' suggestions.
- Please also try to avoid 'wordy' descriptions, they don't really help me
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Although I am one of those who think that TDL is ugly and am attracted to prettier programs, I would be quite cautious about making any changes to the interface. And I don't want a more goal orientated workflow.
Making a complex program look pretty while also retaining its ability to function is really tough. Firstly fashions change every few years. Secondly I can't think of an example of it being really well done.
Apple seem to have approached the problem by removing functionality of programs (eg Aperture) and now seem to have a policy of downgrading desktop apps to be the same as iOS equivalents. MS invented the ribbon (which I do think is prettier) but I now find it hard to locate many options and functions.
I can see how complex preference files are confusing and offputting to some new users - at the same time they are my preferred way of getting into something new because they usually give a very good guide to a programs functions and where to find them.
The TDL interface is very busy - but I admit to having everything showing because that works much better for me, so a lot of the business is the result of my own choice. If it can be done so that functions are as easily available but not visible that would be an improvement.
http://www.vladonai.com/allmynotes-organizer-notes-outliner-screenshots[^] I think has a pretty look (though the colours are a little bright). In practice, I've never really used it because it doesn't do enough. BTW I have never regarded MLO as prettier.
I would also note that people I have introduced to TDL have nearly always liked it once they used it and no-one has ever commented on its looks.
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Hi all,
IMHO, an example of a good UI : (smartsheet)
http://i.imgbox.com/abvopJAU.png[^]
Quote: Images of TDL that you have 'doctored' to make them appear less complex,
Many icons for the TDL use by newcomers.
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DAN: I think this is a very very good UI to take as example:
PLEASE take a look:
https://asana.com/get_started[^]
DAN: definitely: You have to see and explore this page. I have no doubt that this is an "ideal" for TDL style.
Note: in order to "test" the program (which works only "online") you have to register. Worth.
Armando
modified 23-Nov-13 14:23pm.
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(Please pardon the length, I guess there's a bit of passion coming out, here.)
For me TDL is beat, out of the box, for reasons that have very little to do with the program itself:
- it's intimidating, or, as some say, busy
- for some reason I can't fathom, the concept of sub-tasks is difficult / non-intuitive to understand for the phone / tablet generation. This is the only reason I can think of as to why every task manager on the planet doesn't have the concept of sub-tasks baked into the very premise of the effort. How can the concept of grocery list not have inherently required a Meat subsection, is beyond me.(Just try transforming a recommended daily allowances / food guide on top of a grocery list, and not have to try and figure out do you have enough portions for X number of meals for Y number of people, across Z number of days, broken down by food group! Sadly, neither beer nor desert classify as food groups. Sub-groups, or contexts ... arguable.)
- Palm (I'll guess) made the PIM popular. Tasks (TDL) are the least favourite cousin of the PIM, especially if you try to define a line between event calendar entries (pick up milk), project planning (go shopping), and todo's, some of which are context and time sensitive. (You have a task list of which some portion of entries have corresponding contextual calendar entries. OK, I'm getting groceries, and there's a pharmacy in the same mall. And bring home pizza.)
- it's the ecosystem that surrounds TDL more than TDL itself. Aside from the PIM / calendaring aspects, where is the user community (the user community, not the programmer or geek community), mutual support, documentation, and so on. i.e. All the things that cost money that Dan.G's not interested in (nor should he be, if coding is his thing) - except, wait for it, it's a free program. There's no wonder this isn't as around or as pretty as other -commercial- products. Nor should it be. But the ecosystem lack holds TDL back. pbworks nothwithstanding - which for years I've seen hasn't been touched in years. (Working on this, now.)
- so, for TDL to be more successful, at least at an introductory / superficial level, it must integrate into other PIMs out there. [Don't even mention Outlook - I will not ever own it.] If Palm introduced and made popular the PIM, then the world spun backwards when it introduced Android. No PIM, local sync., all of that rich, good, user happy stuff, got left by the wayside. Google calendar is a joke (can't even tick off a task as being completed), Google tasks is even worse - so many attributes missing and anyone thinking Google will ever do anything with it is fantasizing somewhere I don't want to be near. Even ToodleDo, apparently reasonably popuplar (and 'pretty', vis a vis TDL, but not MLO), is able to get away with subtasks that aren't. For money even. Summary: There is no PIM ecosystem out there for TDL to integrate into. There's only the web 2.0 app nonsense that has lost local storage of my own data, tight / easy to use interfaces, keystroke oriented.
- What is TDL? It's a project manager (ick, intimidating), no, wait, it's a list manager (less intimidating), no it's a life manager, it's a goal roadmap, it's a todo list keeper, it's a tasklist manager (never mind the apparently intellectual exercise necessary to understand that tasks are todos and vice versa), it's a GTD system (a wha?), it's a ... WHAT THE HECK IS IT??? It's all of those things, in a generic, universal interface. Which makes it hard to suck up and realize I want to spend many hours here because IT WILL MAKE MY LIFE BETTER!
- Dropbox coming along, and Android app., since (see, world moving along), has brought me back to TDL. So, I have a way to keep (cross-platform and cross-computer, because of external forces), share with my TEAM, and some of the ecosystem misses in today's world are now present. To TDL's benefit! And all beyond the control, and necessary expenditure of effort, of TDL. So leverage / publicize it - 'it fits within your current workflow and makes your life better! Buy today! Quantities are limited! Comes in chocolate too!)
Having said this, some easy things to do:
- start a google group, or something. Better with a wiki. pbworks appears nice enough at start, but is missing lots. More user driven than not - Dan.G. need not watch it every other second. [Note: This is not in place of this forum. Or pbworks, or at least not yet.] Start pulling together the rich user community experience to leverage off each other - particularly the non-geeks and coders. Google todolist and you'll find references on all sorts of web sites - instead of one major one-stop shopping TDL info central.
- right-click a task and post to my google calendar - equivalent to 'share as' present in Android - both TDL and MLO. I say Google only because it has become ubiquitous, no matter how bad the functionality is. (Go figure.) Which is to say, anything that comes out on a go forward basis is going to be Google aware - or that anything else is going to go nowhere. Anything more can come elsewhen - (storage in google docs, etc., as present, is wonderful - except the Android app says it can't save to docs, only Dropbox). Storage is NOT PIM integration. So Google Calendar and Tasks integration (you'd be the first app I know of to integrate what should never have been separate in the first place - Google subtasks with dated items appearing in the calendar simultaneously.) Why does this matter? Because everything else in the world is now keying off Google (only thing out there). Be it colours, presentation, alerts, widgets, sharing - you name it. And TDL would come along for the ride. (Heck, integrate / merge with Pimlical - subtasks are the only thing it's missing. Not saying Pimlical is all there yet, but their history shows they know what's what and are actively working towards where the world already was - in Palm, that disappeared with Android and Google. Just, like TDL, there's only so many programmers available and hours in a day.
- change preferences to have one (left) line (tab?) per right-window. It took me far too long to realize when I clicked on the 2nd left line I was still in the same window on the right as when I was on the top line. When I first encountered this years ago, my gut started telling me I wasn't in a program I wanted to spend hours of my life in. It all makes sense once you're used to it, but it's not intuitive / consistent with other software, even it is easier to program - and having encountered it, one starts looking askance at every other aspect of the program. Just about the first thing I do with any new piece of software is look at the preferences.
- change the default view at first open to maximized with notes, checkbox and title only. Take the intimidation factor away. Let them sink into that much of TDL before going deeper. Anyone looking for more will have seen the possibilities in screenshots or wherever, and know it's in there, they just have to turn something on - or they wouldn't be trying TDL in the first place. Include an initial popup of 'press Esc for detailed view' or something.
- here's an idea just thought of, see if it resonates. One comes to TDL looking for 'a something', to solve a need - not a Swiss Army knife of incredible functionality and flexibility. Don't want to call this themeing, but, what if an initial (install?) dialogue asked what you're initially looking to do with TDL? If it's 'todo/list/task manager' set some default preferences / initial views appropriately. e.g. Little or no date columns, maximized with notes view, etc. If it's 'project management' then a different initial view results, with many date fields visible. No doubt there are others, but can the extraneous, intimidating, 'not what I'm here for' aspects of "I'm trying this software because" aspects be removed - at least long enough to get comfortable and realize, YES, this IS where I really want to be.
- I hesitate to say this, in this so called paperless age, but could a print (output) wizard be created? a la Report Writers. (Custom headers, templates, etc. Think old dBase 3, or even LibreOffice Base.) No man lives alone, and one doesn't come to such software as TDL if they're not working with others, really. So, in some fashion I'm going to share with someone this is my list, or this is some wonderful software I'm using ... see? And every time someone shows such to someone else, they're starting to evaluate whether or not TDL would be useful to them. If that demonstration looks tightly applicable, clean and easily integrates into their own current workflow, to their particular use case, then you've just acquired another user. But I won't even show it to you if ... (and the word on the wonderfulness of TDL doesn't get spread around as much as it otherwise might).
The program is solid, its GUTS are magnificent. It's interface is clean and simple, which REALLY attracts me to it and keeps me coming back. But software does not live by code alone - it must integrate with the rest of one's life, including calendars. And that is a continuously moving target - witness today's prevalence of Android and Google. Neither of which were predictable in Palm's heydey. And somehow the world went backwards, post-Palm, losing established functionality in Google, yet somehow being so successful as to have become ubiquitous. I believe the era of standalone non-integrated software is gone. And web 2.0 apps (read, subscription revenue for program development costs) becoming all pervasive - sadly. The latter also meaning it is no longer sufficient to code well only - one must have graphics artists, marketers, and support contributors surrounding them. Even if I only want to code, and there already aren't enough hours in the day.
Thank you again, Dan. G., for being here!
CDN$0.02
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I agree with much of what you say. Although some of this blurs the look and feel of TDL, with its functionality and that of its interface. Something I have struggled with.
I agree re the PIM thing. I also find it crazy that tasks and calendars are separate (and I never used Palm). I have been using a hard-copy diary to achieve this! By the way, I have started putting some ideas down for a 'day-view', which is essentially a PIM in disguise. Hopefully will send this through to Dan soonish.
I also wonder at the simplification that Google promotes. So many task managers with a single level if tasks. Do people not want this? Google has removed functionality from its own software many times, with the excuse that it was not used enough - so it is lowest common denominator stuff.
But as you say, aligning with Google is smart, as it is everywhere. Being able to pull calendar info from Google calendar into TDL would be great. The only issue is they reserve the right (and exercise it) to change functionality and services any time...
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zajchapp wrote:
I agree with much of what you say. Although some of this blurs the look and feel of TDL, with its functionality and that of its interface. Something I have struggled with.
Yep - tdl is a task manager, not a calendar. Problem is ... once a task has a date ... one probably would like to see it on their calendar - which is a separate program. Let alone, if that date has passed or the task is completed. The first suggests either a moving calendar entry date or an overdue task, the second suggests communications between disparate programs to say check off that task and assign a date (today?) to the next in the sequence. (Assuming dependency between tasks. And now we're into something a la MS Project.)
I agree re the PIM thing. I also find it crazy that tasks and calendars are separate (and I never used Palm). I have been using a hard-copy diary to achieve this! By the way, I have started putting some ideas down for a 'day-view', which is essentially a PIM in disguise. Hopefully will send this through to Dan soonish.
It makes sense depending upon where you're coming from. Once a task has a date, it makes sense that there be a calendar entry. The reverse not so - an undated calendar entry? When the very nature of a calendar is to plunk the item into a date slot? Otherwise one my put in to the empty space before the 1st of a month (on that fridge calendar) [do soon, this month, ?] - but at that point it's really just an undated task. On a calendar. And we're back to the blur between calendars and tasks - and tdl is ostensibly a task manager, not a calendar/diary. Arrgghh! What's a poor programmer (Dan) to do?
I also wonder at the simplification that Google promotes. So many task managers with a single level if tasks. Do people not want this?
Evidently not. Or, probably most importantly - not that they're willing to pay for. Even $2 in play.google. There are few commercial consumer level products - even. Also, being fair, ultimately such functionality requires a database, and until recently very few lightweight (cross-platform) databases have been available. Be it sqlite, firebird (which requires running a server if on a network), or even xml - relatively recent concepts, not well known, and not cross-platform / universal.
And the world keeps moving - google having since come along, and ... wherefore btree? (Long ago / DOS single file database routines.)
Google has removed functionality from its own software many times, with the excuse that it was not used enough - so it is lowest common denominator stuff.
The boggling thing is twofold: Google Tasks have sub-tasks, wonderful - but Tasks/Calendar not 'well' integrated and going nowhere. And google tasks not expanding with necessary attributes to completely correlate with task managers (like TDL). (Let alone Google Calendar going nowhere - witness, inability to check off 'done' on calendar.)
But as you say, aligning with Google is smart, as it is everywhere. Being able to pull calendar info from Google calendar into TDL would be great. The only issue is they reserve the right (and exercise it) to change functionality and services any time...
Fair enough, but probably not likely - how much less functionality can they put into either, at this point. Let alone if the world ecosystem has meshed with google, 'great unhappiness in the world' if/when then change things. I suspect, thought, that the underlying api calls wouldn't likely change. Even if a particular call becomes deprecated, or functionality added doesn't make it into that deprecated call.
It gets worse ... contexts. So you have work and home, and you change something on one side or the other. Complexity. Let alone (as I just learned from wiki best practices article) TDL supports multiple contexts. (Work@Home, and most context aware task managers have a limited number of contexts, unlike TDL.) So, dated, context tasks, need to go into a unique (personal) calendar [Home, vs work] - tough for the user to manage superficially. Most merely have 'stuff' to do.
GTD suggesting @Shopping contexts, PDA's typical use-case being google calendar, and ... it's all a mess.
Sort of why I suggest a meld with Pimlical makes a certain amount of intuitive sense.
In the mean time, a direct if I put a date on a task, post it to the calendar, would be useful. If limited.It'd be start.
Problem is - pull that string, and a great whacking amount of other string is going to come with it. (People wanting calendar entries to dynamically change with each task change - not through some sort of global sync process at TDL start / stop.)
I don't much wonder why the functionality isn't there - but I still want it.
Answer: TDL has to reverse takeover the world, becoming the new Google.
Get on that Dan, would you please? (-:
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Bill
If you want to be yet more useful to me/TDL (and I'm not suggesting that you do ), you could take this big conversation (which is already somewhat overwhelming me with possibilities) and put it on the wiki, distilled into more manageable pieces.
Most people probably think that writing TDL is all about coding, yet for me 'thinking' is the more important activity, and I find that my thinking can get bogged down in too much information, hence the desire to have other help out in this area.
ps. As an aside, you might also be interested in this conversation[^] too which occurred just before you came onboard.
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.dan.g. wrote:
If you want to be yet more useful to me/TDL (and I'm not suggesting that you do ), you could take this big conversation (which is already somewhat overwhelming me with possibilities) and put it on the wiki, distilled into more manageable pieces.
Only just saw this now. I hear you. Except ... my mind sort of blows up trying to grapple with how to approach / organize / lay out. If something occurs to me, I'll give it a whirl.
But this also shows how some additional facility of some sort would be useful. (Not tracs, but perhaps that sort of thing. If sf were it, it would be more used than it is.) Feature requests, voting? / prioritization with effort estimates, bug reports, discussion threads? Even a wiki? [As in self-signup. Not that I have any idea how you avoid spam.]
Most people probably think that writing TDL is all about coding, yet for me 'thinking' is the more important activity, and I find that my thinking can get bogged down in too much information, hence the desire to have other help out in this area.
Fair enough. Probably because you are the apparent single face of all things TDL. I sure get the one has to wrap their mind about a beastie, an approach, and how to integrate with what's already there, before coding can even start. Then there's the which, next, question.
ps. As an aside, you might also be interested in this conversation[^] too which occurred just before you came onboard.
10-4. Didn't mean to be making feature requests. Was intending more towards trying to throw out spit balls for reaction vis a vis what might be quickly / easily done to make TDL 'prettier'. I know / knew the whole calendar thang was / is something people have wanted even before stuff comes out of beta. And if it were easy, it would already be there. Let alone, the world has been a moving target - the lack of Android, or a local Android sync, let alone an on-board native database?, meant anyone wishing to do sync had to reinvent the wheel on their own. == non-trivial. Only to have the rug pulled out from under their design feet within a couple of years.
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Quote: But software does not live by code alone - it must integrate with the rest of one's life, including calendars.
Yes, I like this.
I share many things in your post. Even though escaping, or goes beyond, the order of Dan ("TDL is ugly?")
I highlight only one aspect:
I think this is what we all want: to integrate the different parts of our lives (mails, tasks, events, scheduling meetings), not repeat or duplicate efforts.
But TDL can not do all (emails, etc). But can keep trying to integrate even better with other programs (Outlook, google calendar and other big). IMHO I think this will be the key to the future success of TDL.
I speak in my reality:
Outlook is a program that has sought to integrate all this. But it has many shortcomings (especially task management. Calendar is every day more interesting).
Everyone has their way of working ... and organize your life.
In my case, I would be satisfied if I could get TDL and better integrate Outlook.
I think others will want to integrate with TDL alia: Google calendar, etc..
Dan, you have something very important in hand. TDL has great potential. I am a great software tester and I have tried many! Go ahead!
Armando
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Came across this, some interesting points.
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/ym_57dou36s/Q4AwqpraqsEJ
"One thing that TDL does better is providing a rich text mode of the comment area. One thing that does it worse is the filtering. Though TDL has list and tree views/tabs, they use the same filtering rules. And I always confuse the controls for filtering with those for editing, as they look similar. In MLO the filtering is nicely tucked away into views. Having to manually set filters is cumbersome and error-prone. The principle of MLO of having views/tabs on the same data with different, customizable filtering rules is much better. By the way, that's one thing that many other task management tools get wrong."
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Apologies for the length... Some ideas for your consideration.
I will put aesthetics largely aside, as has been mentioned above, they are dictated by fashion. And the look, while quite 'stand-alone' application is fine in my opinion. However, I like an interface that can be configured to the way I work, presents the information in a logical, tidy, consistent fashion without visual clutter, and is efficient to use. Pretty comes second to that, but is nice when it can be achieved.
I have several suggestions for improving the TDL interface below. Some blur between UI usability and application functionality, but I am not sure that can be helped.
Visible information
Some of the visible items in the interface aren't always needed. It would be useful to be able to hide them when not needed. I personally find the filter bar superfluous most of the time. I am not really sure of the purpose of the Project edit box – could the tab name be directly editable? If in-grid editing was possible, could hide the edit bar also. I would hide these either in a column to the left of the tasklist (like All-in-one sidebar in Firefox), or at the top, in place of the filter-bar.
Further, I think it would be useful to hide the tasklist tabs that you won't use for a particular tasklist (e.g. Calendar).
Two examples: http://i.imgur.com/cirIzeK.png[^] and http://i.imgur.com/W2Zhmt4.png[^]
'Views'
TDL could be provided with 3 default views, that are easily swapped between. The user could choose which to start with. These views would control the visible columns, tabs, toolbars and probably menu items. There could be a global view preference, but each tasklist could have its own view. My suggestions:
- Simple: Totally lite, for the android generation. Mimic many of the current task managers. Listview only, no hierarchy, Task title, due date, priority, reminder., maybe flag and category. Ability to sort by fields, or by manually dragging. Has comments. Reduce menu options to cover the above. Maybe allow for say 4 priorities, indicated by the colour of the task
Example: http://i.imgur.com/JfHM13q.png[^]
- Basic: For the mid-range user. Add the tree view, and the ability to nest tasks. Ability to add any of the other columns and functionality? Or leave off Gantt, Stats, custom fields for instance. Initial view is as for the Introduction.tdl. Not entirely sure of where best to pitch this though... Or maybe MLO like. Not so many columns, but icons instead..
- Expert: The full experience for the real taskers and project managers. All features exposed.
This could also be used for setting up TDL for specific uses (mentioned by _BS_). For instance, I have a set up for notetaking, that mimics many of the hierarchical notetaking apps (e.g. Keynote). Currently I run this is a separate version of TDL, due to the width of the comments affecting all tasklists. Only really need Task tree. Note: It would be useful for the comments width to be tasklist specific.
Notebook view: http://i.imgur.com/8nRTC0F.png[^]
To push this boat out still further, I think it would be useful to allow the user to define their own views. This would enable the user to work with a tasklist in a visually simple way, but then quickly switch to a more complex view for more intensive / detailed work.
Text Formatting
I agree with Alex. Being able to visually distinguish certain types of task by the text format would be useful. For me the following would be useful:
Definable font formatting for Tasks based on Level
Definable fonts based on an attribute value (e.g. Tag - could be complex)
- Definable fonts for attribute columns
- The possibility to display icons instead of text in the attribute columns (this is now partly possible for the user defined icon based attributes. Would be nice to do this for some of the in-built ones, as they are better integrated in the application than the user defined ones.
Some things for 'ease of use' – but these are features as much as UI / Workflow enhancement:
Grouping of tasks in Listview
I still think it is a major thing, to be able to group tasks by one or more attributes in Listview.
User defined sorts and groups
We have user defined filtering, and that is great. Would be useful to be able to do this for (multi) Sorting. And if implemented, grouping.
Separate Filtering and Sorting for different Tabs
I still think it would be able to be able to de-couple the filtering for the different tabs (perhaps by preference).
Rules builder
Being able to set up rules that change attributes, based on what happens to other attributes could be nice for efficency. Would be useful for integrating user defined attributes into the application better. But this has been discussed before.
Finally, I would also counsel caution in making changes, and to be clear why you want to. Is the point having a task list that is everything to everyone?
zajchap
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