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.

With the recent harddrive crash in my Powerbook, I had to reinstall all my applications (or at least restore them from my backup). So, in the dreadful case that it happens again, I'm going to make a list of all the software I need to reinstall. This isn’t a “best applications for OS X” post, but rather a “best applications for Bill” post. If I don’t use these programs daily, I use them weekly.

Since my recent backup literally saved everything important, I'm now backing up at least weekly, and trying to more often. I'm still working on the best solution for this, but when I do get my backup system how I like it, I'll probably put something up explaining what I do. It saved me some headaches, so I'm sure others may benefit too.

So, on with the software list…

Productivity:

• Microsoft Office [$]
• Apple iWork [$] – still learning these apps
• Quicksilver – I still mainly use this as a launcher, but occasionally use the other features
• OmniGraffle Pro & OmniOutliner Pro [$] – flowchart and outliner apps on crack
• CopyWrite – sadly neglected writing application

Communications:

• AdiumX – multi-network IM client
• Colloquy – IRC client
• Transmit [$] – excellent FTP & SFTP client

Financial:

• Quicken [$] – keeping our personal finances in check
• QuickBooks Pro [$] – keeping my self-employed finances in check

Development:

• TextMate [$] – best text editor, ever
• MySQL
• entropy.ch’s PHP Apache Module – why compile PHP yourself, when this one has everything
• YourSQL – GUI frontend for MySQL
• Paparazzi! – simple website screenshot maker
• SvnX – decent GUI for subversion source control

Graphics & multimedia:

• Adobe Photoshop CS2 & Illustrator CS2 [$] – essential graphics programs
• VideoLan Client – multi-format video player
• Flip4mac – lets WindowsMedia files play in QuickTime

Assorted add-ons:

• Growl – transparent message notice windows that ties into many apps
• GMail Notifier – menubar notification of new GMail
• GMail + Growl – adds Growl support for GMail Notifier
• growliChat – adds Growl support to iChat
• iMote – nice menubar app for many iTunes shortcuts
• iScrobbler – posts my listening to last.fm
• MenuMeters – keep track of your system resources
• 1001 – updates me with new friends' photos on Flickr
• CandyBar [$] – change system and application icons, easily

I've gone and switched weblog software again. This time around it’s Drupal that I'm going to use. It’s quite like WordPress in many ways, but it just had a little something extra under the hood for me to play with. We'll see how long this infatuation lasts.

If you're subscribed to one of my feeds, you should still get all the content, but I've changed the feed URL so many times over the last couple of years, I have many hacks to keep the old feed URLs pointing to the new ones. So, I may just kill all the old feed URLs and only let these two survive (for now):

If you want to read only the posts from brilliantcorners.org (this site), then you might want to change whatever you currently have, to this (RSS 2.0): http://brilliantcorners.org/node/feed

Or, if you like getting my photos and del.icio.us links as well, then you'll want this one (also RSS 2.0): http://feeds.feedburner.com/brilliantcorners

This ends this public service announcement. And please bear with me as I nail down a layout that I'm happy with.

Based on some recommendations, I tried out the 1.5 Beta of Firefox. While the improved Mac support was nice, there were too many bugs getting in the way of making the Beta useful. So, I'm switching back to 1.0.7.

And, since I always have to search all over the ‘net for what files you need to keep and which extensions it was that I really liked (since, of course, I never make a list before wiping the previous profile), I'm making this list of what I need to save and what I need to reinstall. Here are the steps (as I do them):

1. Shut down Firefox if it’s running

2. Save a copy of these files from your Firefox profile directory:

cert8.db
cookies.txt
formhistory.dat
history.dat
hostperm.1
key3.db
secmod.db
signons.txt

3. Delete the old profile directory (not always necessary, but I do anyway)

4. Install the new Firefox (or old, as in my case) you've downloaded

5. Copy the files you saved above (in #2) to the newly created profile directory

6. List of extensions I use (and need to reinstall):

• About This Site
• AdBlock
• ChatZilla (on my Windows PC)
• GreaseMonkey
• IE View (on my Windows PC)
• Link Toolbar
• Tab Mix Plus
• Translate
• View Cookies
• Web Developer

7. Restart Firefox for the extensions to install

And that’s pretty much it, although I'm sure I'll think of something else later. These are the basics that I need to get things back up and running like it was. Whew!