Is it possible to group tags in the sidebar in Taskpaper 3.5? Currently they are sorted alphabetically (tags beginning with an uppercase letter coming first, then tags beginning with an lowercase letter).
I imagine something like:
[places]
work
home
garden
[priority]
high
medium
low
(Fictional example)
CME
This isn’t possible right now, but I’ll add an issue consider it going forward
I would like to second this. I find that I am building a list of tags which have little to do with being sorted alphabetically. It would be much better for my brain if I could place similar tags closer together like the sidebar can already be customized.
I would have it be something like this:
active
holdingpattern
waiting (sent)
focus1
focus2
date
repetition
thinking
This is so important to me that I redesigned my key tags with a digit in from of each one for sorting purposes. Some of my tags are just to tweak text in certain ways and others are meant to be at a lower level as they are not of everyday importance to me (done, date, etc.) I also put in a tag with nothing but horizontal dashes and a number for visual separation.
It is great that TaskPaper shows all Projects and if expanded, all sub projects in the sidebar already. The same needs doing for the tags as they are also a vital part of my organization process. TaskPaper works really well for me showing things to click on in the sidebar as I can get very confused with too many directions to go in all at once. I need visual simplicity to stay connected to the extensive organizational capabilities that TaskPaper allows me to have.
I seriously love this. At the same time, I am trying to figure out how could this be implemented seamlessly across differently computers and sync options (dropbox, box, etc).
I have no idea how could this be done without adding additional files that need to be linked to a particular file while keeping everything in a easy to understand text file that is very agnostic by design. That is the big problem that every markup language has. How to add functions without breaking the design principles of the language.
Maybe this could be done in a preference file, where you organize tags in a Taskpaper manner of parent/child using tabs. When a new tag appears in a new file that doesn’t fit this principle; then this tag goes into an “unorganized” section. I am suggesting this, since there is already a preference file that deals with tags already.
I don’t know very much about the underlying code that Jessie used to develop TaskPaper with. I would imagine it something like this; Two separate tag areas show in the sidebar as I have illustrated.
Using a single “@” character puts the tag in group A.
Using a double “@@” character puts the tag in group B.
Perhaps if it is allowed in the code, the second @ could be stripped off before showing it in the sidebar and if so, clicking on that tag would still select all that type tag in the TaskPaper document.
On the other hand, it would be very nice if you could move the tags up and down like you can do with the Projects in the sidebar now. So if that were true I guess we are talking about tags having similar rules in the sidebar to the projects.
Or, perhaps in the style sheet there could be a sort by command of some sort that establishes the sort order of tags as they appear in the sidebar?
But, I am not qualified to make more than guesses as to what the code can actually do (and Jessie’s interest in tackling this) in this area.
I have no clue about the code either. I just know that the beauty of the Taskpaper files is that the files are readable, self-explanatory, and very program agnostic.
Doing something like what you suggested, would break those principles. I don’t think that @jessegrosjean will be willing to compromise that, and honestly, I don’t think I am down with that idea.
For that reason, all the information on the organization of the tags to accomplish what you mentioned and illustrated need to be done in a separate file, and then be linked to the file where the tags are particularly organized in one way or another.
I think that in order to move TaskPaper into more exciting and possibilities, TaskPaper will have to find a way to sync its preferences and additional file(s) information across computers. In that way, the files produced by TaskPaper remain agnostic, but those that use TaskPaper win a series of new cool “superpowers”. Maybe this is something @jessegrosjean needs to start doing in some of his other programs that use any form of markup languages too.
I think that this is a good compromise that not only allows TaskPaper to continue moving into new and exciting places, while keeping its core principle intact. I for one, would love to see something like this implemented, and then extend that idea to files within a library. Then be able to search all the files in the library, and implement a lot of ideas that come with that concept.
Something for @jessegrosjean to think about.