More Suggestions

[Bobbd]

First off let me offer my sympathies and good wishes. Most things,
except basic survival needs, take a back seat to personal issues.

So whenever you're ready to read the rest of this...

I am a fairly new user of FocusPad. I came across the AutoFocus method
via and article in LifeHacker. That made me think about how to try out
the technique using some sort of App on the iPhone and iPad. I never
seriously considered using paper. I use Appigo's Todo as my task list,
but it doesn't lend itself to AutoFocus. I searched the AutoFocus
forum for iPhone and came across FocusPad, which of course was built
with AutoFocus in mind.

I've only used it for a week or so, but I see enormous potential, both
for the App and how I can use it. I'm not sure whether I can
completely get rid of Todo because I use it for reminders as well as a
task list. In any case, my suggestions, in no particular order:

- I second Erik's suggestion about keeping the colour of a task when
copied. I use red for priority and blue for in progress. I'd certainly
like to carry over the red.

- In Todo, I have projects that consist of many subtasks. I can group
tasks in separate Pads, but I'd like a way to link to a Pad from
within another. I can do this manually now, but a touch and go would
be nice. That way, I could choose to work on a particular project,
link to that project, do something, and then return (manually).

- I'd like to be able to dismiss to a specific day. There's already
the ability to create a tickler or reminder pad, where tasks appear on
a specific day. I'd like something similar when I dismiss a task. I'd
also like to be able to set a repeat. In other words, have a task
appear on a specific day of the week or month or every week, etc.
Maybe those options could be set in a submenu so as not to interfere
with the main options.

- And speaking of options and settings, one of the few things I
disagree with Apple about is having App settings in the Settings App.
If I want to change something in FocusPad, I'd rather not have to exit
the App, make the change, and get back in. It's not as bad now with
multi-tasking, but still...

- Thinking about repeating tasks led me to timed tasks. Tasks that
occur at a specific time. I think I'm trying to replace Todo and
that's not what this is. Timed tasks are also against the idea of
AutoFocus. So although I mentioned it, I don't expect this one in the
mainstream of FocusPad.

- Having multiple Pads allows me to segregate tasks by work and home
or locations or whatever. It would be nice to be able to show multiple
pads at once. Especially if I have projects with subtasks. For
example, I have a project to renovate a room, but the work will be
done piecemeal mixed in with other things. I want to keep all of the
tasks for that project together so I can see progress or dependencies.
But I also want to have the subtasks mixed in with the other things I
have to do. There may be better ways of doing this. Please feel free
to suggest.

- And of course, I'd like some sort of import/export. First for backup
and second so that I can share with my iPad. I'm not necessarily
asking for an actual sync between multiple sources.

I do agree with the philosophy of the product, to keep it simple. I
want to be able to create a task quickly without worrying about more
than one or two options.

That's more than enough for now. I too offer myself as a beta tester
if and when you get to that stage. I've been in the software business
for almost 40 years 9not sure if that's a recommendation or not) and
was a Palm user before the iPhone.

Best regards

Bob

[Tony Mann]

Hi Bob.

Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions. My comments are below.

- I second Erik's suggestion about keeping the colour of a task when
copied. I use red for priority and blue for in progress. I'd certainly
like to carry over the red.

Makes sense. Added to the feature request queue.

In general, the color feature has been a bit contentious, since people use it all different ways. I assumed it would be for status. So I need to think more about this.

 

- In Todo, I have projects that consist of many subtasks. I can group
tasks in separate Pads, but I'd like a way to link to a Pad from
within another. I can do this manually now, but a touch and go would
be nice. That way, I could choose to work on a particular project,
link to that project, do something, and then return (manually).

I see tremendous value in breaking larger tasks into smaller tasks. FocusPad does not support this well. Using a Pad per project is clever, but of course is a workaround. Have you tried adding the smaller tasks as notes in the larger task? Not really what you want, but it might work for many cases.

Eventually I might support subtasks in some way. In the past I have found this adds complexity to an app, but I have some ideas I am playing with.

 

- I'd like to be able to dismiss to a specific day. There's already
the ability to create a tickler or reminder pad, where tasks appear on
a specific day. I'd like something similar when I dismiss a task.

This makes sense. Added to queue.

 

I'd
also like to be able to set a repeat. In other words, have a task
appear on a specific day of the week or month or every week, etc.
Maybe those options could be set in a submenu so as not to interfere
with the main options.

This would be useful. Added to queue.

 

- And speaking of options and settings, one of the few things I
disagree with Apple about is having App settings in the Settings App.
If I want to change something in FocusPad, I'd rather not have to exit
the App, make the change, and get back in. It's not as bad now with
multi-tasking, but still...

I agree, and I already plan on changing this.

 

- Thinking about repeating tasks led me to timed tasks. Tasks that
occur at a specific time. I think I'm trying to replace Todo and
that's not what this is. Timed tasks are also against the idea of
AutoFocus. So although I mentioned it, I don't expect this one in the
mainstream of FocusPad.

Yeah, not a good fit.

 

- Having multiple Pads allows me to segregate tasks by work and home
or locations or whatever. It would be nice to be able to show multiple
pads at once. Especially if I have projects with subtasks. For
example, I have a project to renovate a room, but the work will be
done piecemeal mixed in with other things. I want to keep all of the
tasks for that project together so I can see progress or dependencies.
But I also want to have the subtasks mixed in with the other things I
have to do. There may be better ways of doing this. Please feel free
to suggest.

I think you really want support for subtasks.

 

- And of course, I'd like some sort of import/export. First for backup
and second so that I can share with my iPad. I'm not necessarily
asking for an actual sync between multiple sources.

Already in the queue, thanks to Tijl. Note that you can backup via web site if you sync with it.

 

That's more than enough for now. I too offer myself as a beta tester
if and when you get to that stage. I've been in the software business
for almost 40 years 9not sure if that's a recommendation or not) and
was a Palm user before the iPhone.

Sounds great! If the beta test starts again I will invite you.

 

..tony..

[Bobbd]

There is one more that I thought of in terms of projects -
dependencies. I haven't looked at the Auto Focus forums to see what
they do about that. Maybe in FocusPad, there might be a way to have
one task depend on another. Until the first task is completed, the
dependent tasks are hidden, or in a separate special pad. There would
need to be some way of linking the tasks. When the first task is
completed, any hidden tasks directly dependent on the completed task
are unhidden and added to the end of the pad where the just completed
task was.

What do you think?

Best regards for the holiday season and hope for a healthy and happy
New Year.

Bob

[Filippo Salustri]

Let me endorse the idea of task dependencies.  I've been looking for that kind of functionality for a long time and never found it.  Could be a nice way to make FocusPad stand out too.

While I do appreciate the minimalism of AF, I think it was designed to work best on paper.  Given the possibilities in digital media, I don't think its disrespectful to Mark Forster to add functions that aren't necessarily in regular AF.

Cheers.

Fil

[Tijl Kindt]

True enough. The one thing you have to be careful with is that in my opinion Focuspad should not try to become a replacement for full-fledged to-do systems like 2Do or other stuff like that. That is just not possible with a 1-man team. I think Focuspad should fill the niche of people who are looking for very simple (but useable!) to-do applications in which they can organize their to do's in an AF way or similar ways.

Nevertheless, I also have been looking for ways to do projects in Focuspad. I was thinking that you could have separate pads for projects and that you could copy tasks from your project pad to your AF pad where the project title would be incorporated in the task when copied to another pad. As soon as Tony has GetSatisfaction running (or something else), I'll post some ideas on there where it can be viewed and commented on in a more transparent way than you can here in google groups. I've got more than a handful ideas written down already (sidebar with your pads a la 2Do, different background colors for tasks, a dump button to add tasks to your default dump pad,...), so GetSatisfaction will be useful :).

Regards,

Tijl

--
Tijl Kindt
Rooseveltstraat 7A
2321BK Leiden • The Netherlands
+31-(0)6-1033-9865 • ti...@kindt.me • http://tijl.kindt.me

[Filippo Salustri]

Agreed.  It's not reasonable to have FocusPad compete with 2do.  In any case, the whole point of AF-based apps is to be extremely lightweight, so it shouldn't ever become as complex as 2do or other GTD-ish apps.

Cheers.

Fil

[Tony Mann]

Hi Bob.

There have been similar requests before. I have played around with some ideas. One possibility is that you would be able to treat any given task as a "goal", and then enter in at least one next action for that goal. The next action would show on one line with the goal on the second line. When you complete the action, the goal/task would be duplicated for further action.

While I like this idea, I have not decided if more "advanced" features like this are appropriate for FocusPad or not. I will continue to ponder this.

..tony..

[Tijl Kindt]

Hey guys!

Tony has set up a site for Focuspad at getsatisfaction: http://getsatisfaction.com/7actions

There you can post all your bug reports, questions, ideas and praise.

It would be very helpful if you could confirm problems or bugs, and let Tony know your opinions about ideas posted by other users.

Regards,

Tijl Kindt

--
Tijl Kindt
Rooseveltstraat 7A
2321BK Leiden • The Netherlands
+31-(0)6-1033-9865 • ti...@kindt.me • http://tijl.kindt.me

[Tony Mann]

Don't get too excited about getsatisfaction yet. The free account I am using does not include any way of changing the status of your posts! So I cannot mark when one is solved, rejected, etc. That is, it is basically useless unless you cough up $20 a month. And so far  it does not seem worth that to me.

I am committed to providing some type of open forum, but it may or may not be getsatisfaction.

All this said, I will absolutely commit to moving everyone's getsatisfaction posts over to whatever system I settle on, so your requests, bug reports, etc. will not be lost.

..tony..

[Tijl Kindt]

Mm... I didn't realize that those features required paying. But anyway... at least now there is a place where problems and ideas can be posted in a well-organized way.

Posted 5 problems and 7 ideas now ;). I hope it's somewhat useful...

Cheers,

Tijl

--
Tijl Kindt
Rooseveltstraat 7A
2321BK Leiden • The Netherlands
+31-(0)6-1033-9865 • ti...@kindt.me • http://tijl.kindt.me