Using text to manage tasks

Posted by MadaboutDana
Oct 15, 2012 at 02:22 PM

In response to a query by Dr. Andus:

Well, I did play with text-based methods of task management (including e.g. TaskPaper for iPad), but didn’t find anything that really pressed my buttons. But what most people don’t realise is that task management is built into Alfons Schmid’s Notebooks - it has a fairly sophisticated task management facility that is substantially duplicated (albeit with much less sophistication) by the desktop client. You can exchange info between the iOS device and your PC by the simple expedient of Dropbox (or any WebDAV server). Notebooks also supports (and allows you to view) all kinds of attachments, from MS Office files to images to videos. It also supports plain text, Markdown and HTML - making it very versatile if you’re in a hurry or only have access to your Dropbox account via e.g. a web browser.

I also use Awesome Note on my iPad, mainly as a journal and appointment (events) minder - that’s because it integrates with (a) Calendar (which I can sync to my Android mobile very easily using various Android utilities that interface with iCloud), (b) Evernote, which is convenient, although I rarely use Evernote, and (c) GoogleDocs. The latest version has some nice enhancements, including checkboxes (if you like that kind of thing), extensive support for attachments, and a much faster, smoother interface. Awesome Notes only supports plain text, but does clever things with interpreted text, too. I’ve not played with it in any detail, mind! Oh, and it supports tags, too, which Notebooks doesn’t (yet) do.

So having played with a vast number of task/project management tools on iOS, I’m back with two of the very first applications I ever purchased. Hm. I’m sure there’s some kind of moral to that tale… I do also think that a nice, simple, powerful cross-platform task/note/media management app would make an amazing killing. And no, I don’t mean one of the many web-based platforms. They’re okay, I suppose, but none of them (with the possible exception of Podio) has made me leap up and down with joy (no, not even RTM or its very close clone Doit.im). The only one that gives me a bit of a warm, fuzzy glow is Workflowy (especially now that the iPad version supports landscape) - but the warm fuzziness tends to vanish when I look at their pricing. The idea is fantastic, but if you want an almost equally effective outliner use something like Cotton Notes, JOutliner, Carbonfin Outliner or OmniOutliner.

Having wittered on about everything but text, I have been experimenting with CintaNotes as the equivalent of a tag-based text outliner. The thing is, it should - in principle - be reasonably straightforward to build suitable editors for the relatively simple XML files produced by CintaNotes. This would give you a very powerful cross-platform solution based on hierarchical tagging, a concept that has not yet, I feel, been explored in sufficient depth - although users of ConnectedText might disagree ;-)

But then there’s the whole issue of calendar integration…

Just a few rather hurried thoughts!

Cheers,
Bill