Thanks for the feedback! @jessegrosjean’s ideas are great, and very aligned with my goals. The goal is not to replace the TaskPaper app, but to complement it. In fact: I forgot to mention DropBox sync in my introduction here, but it was already mentioned as TODO #1 in the README).
However, I don’t think it is feasible to focus on the TaskPaper data model instead of the text format:
First, as a poor PC user, I can’t use the TaskPaper Mac app. I currently manage my taskpaper files from gVim…
More importantly: DropBox synchronizes at the file level so it makes synchronizing at the task/item level of the data model difficult, if not impossible. I actually ran into this problem with my POC when trying to sync birch-outline with CodeMirror. I opened an issue here that goes into more detail.
Do you have any suggestions for how to implement DropBox sync with regard to the issues above?
I surveyed a bunch of JS calendar/scheduler components last week.
My top choice was Extensible. However, the developer stopped development so I was investigating if it was possible to use the very similar ExtJS Calendar component (licensing issues, and don’t want entire ExtJS framework).
I remember seeing https://fullcalendar.io, but can’t remember why I didn’t choose it. If it’s still actively maintained, it might be a better choice. I’ll take another look!
Yes, but even so on PC you can use Atom or Sublime … none of which are quite the same as TaskPaper for Mac, but all of which are really solid editors with big existing user bases. It would take quite a bit of effort to create something that more then a few people would rather use I think.
If you wanted to work on editor more another project might be to see if you can integrate birch-outline with one of those existing projects to create a richer set of commands. To this point I think those other editors are mostly syntax highlighters with respect to TaskPaper, though with lots of other own powerful editing functions.
Anyway, I just say this because I think presenting a TaskPaper file as a calendar (or another custom view) is a very doable side project that would provide immediate value. While building an editor good enough to attract other users is a life long project of sorts
@leftium nice work! the app looks great. like you said, “browser was an even more ubiquitous platform” than the CLI and works with mac/pc/mobile/desktop. i have been curious to build something like this and perhaps wrap it in native wrappers like electron to make it work on the desktop.
while the app is really nice and promising, i was rather disheartened to see that the actual core value proposition (imo) of taskpaper was never implemented — focusing specific projects. it’s what makes taskpaper so useful, the ability to infinitely focus into specific contexts.
it mentions it will be “@available(soon)” as of ~7 years ago. have you made any progress on this? i would love to use your app if that was available!
Indeed, one of the innovations of my Todo.taskpaper app was the different simultaneous “views” of the same document. Focusing was simply a matter of opening another “view” with that project at the root. I even considered taking it to the extreme where different taskpaper documents are just subprojects of a single virtual taskpaper document.
Perhaps I should archive this project… While I am still working on a taskpaper-inspired information manager, it will probably diverge and not be compatible with the taskpaper format/experience.
One of my more recent experiments is here. It was born out of the frustration of not being able to view my taskpaper notes on my friend’s Windows TV/computer to discuss our trip to Patagonia.
the views vision is fantastic. it sounds like views based on specific items (focused views) are unlikely to be implemented in Todo.taskpaper so i will assume that project is permanently stale now
your new app looks great, since it seems to have support for filtering which could allude to the possible development of specific focused views, the core functionality i am interested in.
however, it seems to be in readonly mode, and whether editing in focused/filtered views will be possible remains open.
the crux of my concern, and the reason this thread is so inspiring, is because i am trying to forecast the shelf life of taskpaper. i am heavily invested in this outline-txt format and want to build a contingency plan in case TaskPaper is no longer maintained in the future, such as when i upgrade my mac to the latest OS in the next few years. i’d be curious if @jessegrosjean has any comments on how long taskpaper will be maintained with certainty.
Here’s more info on the current evolution of my todo.taskpaper. It will probably be closer to nvAlt or SimpleNote with taskpaper-style tags and plaintext-based editing: HckrWeb
Auto-sorting tasks by “effective priority” has been one of the main features driving the development of this project since it was todo.txt or even just an excel file. Or actual paper document.
I tried making a taskpaper editor, but it was hard to combine with auto-sorting tasks. (And just writing an editor is a tough task on its own!) The nvAlt/SimpleNote UI is a better fit with auto-sorting. And perhaps because of lack of good taskpaper support on Windows/web, I find myself using SimpleNote more than taskpaper.
understood; you have your own vision. i also started with nvAlt, then migrated to SimpleNote, then migrated to my own system using TaskPaper as a conduit.
I’d like to follow the development of your work and what you eventually end up creating, along with everything in its wake. what’s the best singular place to follow your work?
Hello,
I have been reading this post carefully, maybe there are many things I don’t understand, but today I have asked in the following post: “Web implementation”, the need I have to publish/share via web one of my lists or taskpaper file.
Do you think that with plaintext-press I can do just what I need?
How: simply prepend https://plaintext-press.leftium.com/ to the URL of any publicly accessible taskpaper file like https://www.dropbox.com/s/1g5qrmfinno8a5j/patagonia.taskpaper
If there is interest, it shouldn’t take too much effort to add (read-only) taskpaper support to one of my other projects: https://gg.leftium.com/pretty (Google Forms prettifier + no-code site builder)
It would look better on mobile than plain-text press above. Example with markdown: Markdown Reference/Examples
I currently manage my taskpaper files from gVim…