Grouping smartlists into dropdown menus plus BONUS! =)
bzpilman says:
I've been rambling and mumbling alot about empowering smartlists and the such lately.
Finally, I structured two very simple ideas anyone can grasp, and hopefully, support.
First off, and mainly, dropdown menus.
The idea is simple enough:
• you go to Settings, then Lists.
• select a few smartlists, and click a button to create a dropdown menu for them. Optionally, name the menu.
• go back to Tasks, and those smartlists you selected will now be all occupying a single field, wich shows an arrow and the name you inputted at the time of creation.
• click the arrow, and a menu drops down, allowing you to click one of the smartlists, therefore showing you it's tasks.
Let's go for an example.
You create 3 smartlists:
short - timeEstimate:"< 11min"
mid - timeEstimate:"> 10min" AND timeEstimate:"< 46 min"
long - timeEstimate:"> 45 min"
You then go to Settings/Lists, select those three, and create a dropdown from them. Name it "Task Duration"
You now go back to tasks and see only a blue "smartlist", named Task Duration, with an arrow next to it.
Dead simple. Could go long ways.
Next on my list, and a lil'bit more advanced, is cross-matching smartlists results.
What I mean by this, is that you select two or more (let's say two) smartlists, and have only the tasks common to both smartlists show up. It's like dynamically joining two smartlists' search queries with an 'AND'.
"But why don't you just do so (put the AND) and stop bugging us", you say.
Poor little you, who skipped your math classes.
An example might again shed some light on your long lost soul:
• take the 3 smartlists from previous example.
• now add 7 smartlists for contexts (GTD).
You could want any combination of those. Long task at home, short task at errand, mid task at work, and so on..
Three times seven ? Right! Just like you fancy bicycle!
But 21 smartlists ain't fancy, no sir.
Now multiply that by four possible states of physical and mental energy. Fun little way to test RTM's infinite list limit, nonetheless.
And finally, guess what ? The two features combined would stand strong to any specialized GTD software!
These two features could be so, so, so powerful. And yet it fits educately into RTM and doesn't add anymore complexity for anyone who doesn't want it (they stand out of the way).
Think about it. Tenderly.
Finally, I structured two very simple ideas anyone can grasp, and hopefully, support.
First off, and mainly, dropdown menus.
The idea is simple enough:
• you go to Settings, then Lists.
• select a few smartlists, and click a button to create a dropdown menu for them. Optionally, name the menu.
• go back to Tasks, and those smartlists you selected will now be all occupying a single field, wich shows an arrow and the name you inputted at the time of creation.
• click the arrow, and a menu drops down, allowing you to click one of the smartlists, therefore showing you it's tasks.
Let's go for an example.
You create 3 smartlists:
short - timeEstimate:"< 11min"
mid - timeEstimate:"> 10min" AND timeEstimate:"< 46 min"
long - timeEstimate:"> 45 min"
You then go to Settings/Lists, select those three, and create a dropdown from them. Name it "Task Duration"
You now go back to tasks and see only a blue "smartlist", named Task Duration, with an arrow next to it.
Dead simple. Could go long ways.
Next on my list, and a lil'bit more advanced, is cross-matching smartlists results.
What I mean by this, is that you select two or more (let's say two) smartlists, and have only the tasks common to both smartlists show up. It's like dynamically joining two smartlists' search queries with an 'AND'.
"But why don't you just do so (put the AND) and stop bugging us", you say.
Poor little you, who skipped your math classes.
An example might again shed some light on your long lost soul:
• take the 3 smartlists from previous example.
• now add 7 smartlists for contexts (GTD).
You could want any combination of those. Long task at home, short task at errand, mid task at work, and so on..
Three times seven ? Right! Just like you fancy bicycle!
But 21 smartlists ain't fancy, no sir.
Now multiply that by four possible states of physical and mental energy. Fun little way to test RTM's infinite list limit, nonetheless.
And finally, guess what ? The two features combined would stand strong to any specialized GTD software!
These two features could be so, so, so powerful. And yet it fits educately into RTM and doesn't add anymore complexity for anyone who doesn't want it (they stand out of the way).
Think about it. Tenderly.
paul.sinclair says:
I support this suggestion. It seems to me, (hacker that I am) that there could be huge flexibility introduced with limited or no impact on other users and with a relatively small amount of effort.
angela.randall says:
This would be amazingly useful. You think like me. :)
I also agree. At times I add an extra filter to one existing smart list and end up having to do this to all my smart lists. Much better to add this filter as a separate query and refer to that query in all the smart lists. A minor change could be fixed in seconds in one place instead of in several (in the miniature field provided...)
I would think it will become necessary to be able to choose whether smart lists will be shown on screen as tabs if this becomes possible. Several smart lists will only be used as parts of more complex smart lists - no need to show the tab on screen.
I would think it will become necessary to be able to choose whether smart lists will be shown on screen as tabs if this becomes possible. Several smart lists will only be used as parts of more complex smart lists - no need to show the tab on screen.
johnfoland says:
Beautiful. Simply beautiful!
will.s.brown says:
I like it
bzpilman says:
Thinking further: The dropdown could play a parent-list role, with the smartlists under it being sublists.
There you go, another issue solved =D
There you go, another issue solved =D
bzpilman says:
Sorry for bumping this, but I really want to hear an answer from you, emily.
Not if it will or not get implemented, rather just some thoughts on these features' integrability into RTM's current interface.
Not if it will or not get implemented, rather just some thoughts on these features' integrability into RTM's current interface.
johnfoland says:
In my humble opinion, these are the two of the best ideas ever submitted on these forums, especially the dropdown menus / lists.
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
bzpilman, I really like both of these -- I love any ideas that would make RTM even more flexible, but keep the interface simple and uncluttered :)
amoslemi says:
Please, Please create this!