Doris Blog

Mac users please upgrade to the latest version of DorisDesktop

Download the latest version of DorisDesktop

This release includes many improvements and bugfixes.

Improvements:

• You can now reassign tasks to new groups with drag and drop
• Groups can be reordered with drag and drop

Bugfixes:

• Fixed bug where currently selected task could scroll out of view
• Fixed group deletion
• Fixed wrong task and group selection after actions
• Fixed drag and drop for reordering tasks

See the CHANGELOG for the list of changes.

Thanks to a patch issued earlier today by @Perspx whose library I use to get the nice group counts, DorisDesktop is now working fine for Snow Leopard and Leopard!

Download the latest version of DorisDesktop

Also fixed a bug where the wrong group would be selected after you added/deleted tasks.

Check out the latest version of DorisDesktop – I’ve done a complete UI overhaul and it’s much more pleasant to use.  UI improvements include:

• Apple Mail like interface with task counts per group
• date creation and update times in collapsible panel
• better keyboard controls:
  • use <command> N for new Task
  • use <command> G for new Group
  • <spacebar> to toggle completed Task (Full Keyboard Access must be enabled in system prefs)
  • <del> key to delete any selected Group or Task
  • <esc> to dismiss any panel
• much better speed/performance than all other versions
• see the CHANGELOG for the list of changes

The last vital features that’s missing is the ability to drag tasks between groups, this will be implemented in the next release.

NB: There is a problem with one of the new components so this release only works on Snow Leopard, this should be fixed by next release.

Give this early beta a try while it’s still free and please send any comments, all feedback appreciated!

As a result of the last web update a week or so ago, new users who signed up were not getting the Today group with some sample items in it.

This is now fixed.  If you registered recently and have this problem, simply:

• create a group called Today manually
• get in touch and I will make the required update to your account

Thanks for the feedback on Uservoice and sorry for the inconvenience!

This is a minor update to the app, however all users are recommended to upgrade.

Download the latest version here.

This update includes

• the ability to mark tasks as completed (hit the refresh button to clear)
• some updates to keyboard controls:
  • use <command N> to create a new task
  • use <spacebar> to toggle its completed state (Full Keyboard Access must be enabled in system prefs)
• minor UI tweaks
• see the CHANGELOG for the list of changes

After quite a bit of work a new version of DorisDesktop is ready, you can download it here.  While in beta the app will be free.  My plan is to make the desktop version of Doris the most full-featured of all the ways of accessing Doris, it’s where all the new ideas and feature requests will be tested out.

In general I’ve become a bit fed up with web apps, mainly because you have to learn substantially different interfaces with each one.  Desktop apps, especially on the Mac, not only get around this shortcoming, they also allow you to link in directly to some rich resources you use every day:

• your Calendar
• the Address Book
• your Email
• photos and docs

Managing these items on the web is possible, but it’s always more painful.  A desktop app provides the best experience and can sync with the cloud and be just a single click away.

What is DorisDesktop?

It’s just a desktop app that provides an additional, hopefully easier way to get to all the tasks stored in your online Doris account.  It’s main advantages are:

• it launches fast
• it runs in the background and is only one click away
• being on the desktop, you’ll be able to better integrate task management into your existing workflow

What’s new in this version of DorisDesktop

• drag and drop to re-order tasks now works properly (same for groups coming soon)
• you can easily add notes to your tasks
• you can drag URLs from your browser into DorisDesktop and they becomes tasks
• security is improved with passwords now saved to the Keychain
• the login workflow is improved
• the app is globally available from its icon in the menu bar
• interface improvements for adding and deleting tasks
• see the CHANGELOG for the full list of changes, and note the API has been updated

What’s not working yet

• currently you can’t drag & drop to re-order groups
• nor can you drag tasks into different groups, this is planned for the next release
• one-click access to bring DorisDesktop to the foreground no matter what you’re doing – to get this working I need to do some more work to be able to record keyboard shortcuts

Bugs

One bug I’ve discovered is if you drag to re-order, and in the process drag your task outside the task list, eg, into the groups list, the app thinks it’s a URL, I’ll fix this for the next release.  Also, in some cases the task list and note description doesn’t update properly, this will be fixed.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are supported for all the basic features:

• <spacebar> to add a new task to the current group
• <enter> to edit the current task
• <backspace> to delete the current task
• <cmd> , to launch Doris’ prefs, currently where your can login

Feedback

As always I’d love to hear your feedback, either here in the comments, at Uservoice, or just shoot me an email to support@dorisapp.com.  I’ve updated the Doris Uservoice account with the tasks that have been completed.  According to their overview my feedback isn’t looking too bad.

Thanks to a friend was just turned me on to Quantified Self, a site dedicate to exploring tools and technologies for tracking your activity, goals and productivity.

Colin Schiller – Time Management Experiments from Steve Dean on Vimeo.

Peter Robinett – Quantifiying productivity from Quantified Self Amsterdam on Vimeo.

I’ve also made some good progress on the next update to DorisDesktop. You can now drag and drop URLs to your task list, and re-ordering tasks is almost done. A new release will be ready within a week or 2.

By way of an early Christmas present, please check out DorisDesktop, a Mac desktop version of Doris.  The main selling point is it’s much faster than all the other clients, around 10x faster.  So if you have a huge todo list, DorisDesktop is for you.

This is a very early version so only basic functionality is available for now, more features planned soon.

Please download the app and give it a try, and let me know what you think.

This version is only for Mac users I’m afraid.

Recommended reading

• What’s your coding APM? – amix.dk – Again my bias for programming is coming out, but this is a really neat OS X app for capturing your actions/min
• Make Your Business Card Stand Out – Forbes.com – Don Crowther thinks you should put your picture on your business card. Not only that, but he wants you to include a mini-résumé, your Twitter handle and some sort of special offer that entices each recipient to get in touch
• 10 Tricks for Improving Your Memory – One of the keys to productivity is in fact a good memory – here are some interesting tips, but take the girlfriend talk with a grain of salt 😉

I thought this was a great visualisation of a day’s activities, what do you think?

via Journalism in the Age of Data