Brilliant Corners

Whether you want to call it “Getting Things Done” or call it keeping a list of Things That Need To Be Done, there are many applications out there to help you out. I've tried out several of these applications, as well as several web-based ones (like Ta-da List). I think I'm finally ready to give up with all the fancy solutions, and have returned to a simple one: the plain (though lightly-formatted) text file.

The first of the applications I tried was OmniOutliner-based KinklessGTD system primarily because of Merlin Mann’s review and recommendation. It worked pretty well, but I'd occasionally get frustrated with how the system worked (with the rebuilding and whatnot). Then I tried iGTD and that also worked well, but something about the app’s layout and icons eventually turned me off it (free or not). When The Omni Group announced the OmniFocus alpha testing, I thought I'd go ahead and try that one as well. I've been using that up until early this week. It’s worked the best of all the options I had tried so far, but still it seemed to be too much work for keeping a todo list.

More recently I've seen some posts about YAGTDA (Yet Another Getting Things Done Application) called Things. It certainly looks pretty and I was enthused enough about the application and hype to sign up for access to the beta. I haven’t received an email with info on how to get the beta, but I don’t think it'll matter. I think I've moved on from the big (and not cheap) applications for my todo lists. I haven’t stuck completely to the GTD philosophy (or theory or implementation or whatever) so I'm not sure I ever really needed one of the heavyweight apps in the first place.

Today, when looking for something simpler I came across a couple of TextMate bundles that are more along the lines of what I need, especially since most of my day is spent in TextMate anyway. I first found Henrik Nyh’s Tasks bundle, which in turn pointed to Sven Fuchs' Taskmate bundle, which is based off of Tasks, but is a little more functional. And it’s exactly what I need (for now). It uses a simple text file as the base with some minimal formatting (colons and dashes) to mark up your task/todo list. This is more like it. Not jmuch effort needed and it does exactly what I need.

I did have to make a few changes to Taskmate for it to work for me. I like using the Quicksilver “Append to” command, but it only allows appending text to files ending with the “.txt” extension. After adding the Taskmate bundle, I opened up Textmate’s Bundle Editor and changed the following info:

fileTypes = ( 'todo' );

to

fileTypes = ( 'txt' );

so that it will recognize .txt files instead of .todo files. In order to avoid issues with other basic text files, I added another line to make sure it’s working with Taskmate files:

firstLineMatch = 'Todo List';

Now, in order for Taskmate to work, the file must have a “.txt” file extension, and the first line of the file must be “Todo List”. Of course, if you're reading this and would like to use your own qualifier, just make the necessary changes. I did make this solution a little more complicated than the default installation, but once these things are set, you don’t have to think about it again.