Small peeves - buckets, etc

[mcoad]

Sorry folks, these aren’t the greatest issues at stake, but:

• Is anyone else driven bonkers by that bucket icon? I‘m pained at having to drop my oh-so-important standalone items into this receptacle. I use a bucket for such purposes as washing the wheels, gathering garbage, sluicing the floor, feeding the pigs (well not really, not me personally, but you get what I mean). I’ll stop there, but it gets worse. Ever so humble my singletons may be, but some respect, please. Even a shoebox would be better. (Maybe we could have a choice in Prefs, in case some really go for buckets.)

• Likewise - unless I’m missing something - not being able to get rid of the In Box and Library icons when I’m focusing on a single folder or project. When I focus, I really want to focus, guys. The last thing I want is the darned In Box eyeballing me all the time. The less said about the “Library“ in general the better, but same goes.

`Tis still a lovely app, though.

[SpiralOcean]

I like the bucket... although your images and metaphors are all very good points.

Buckets can contain a great deal of good things...
art supplies
sand castle tools
sand

It reminds me of being a kid and just tossing stuff into the bucket.
I imagine that was the purpose of it... a metaphor for something that you toss another thing into, without any necessary order.

[mcoad]

Thanks, SpiralOcean, I’ll hold on to that when next tossing a singleton. You’re right, of course, but.... Actually, though, there’s a fairly serious design point there, that such metaphors mean different things to different people, at least until consensus has built up. Oddly, I really find this one offputting - must be some Freudian reason. I wish we had a choice of icons.

More seriously though, why do we need a bucket at all? I’d prefer just to see my single ideas as such under the main folder heading. But it seems that GTD orthodoxy demands grouping - no task without a project, or a bucket. Don’t see it myself.

[knight777]

"The bucket" reminds me too much of a "trash" icon and its the first thing I think of every time the app opens. I think the shape plus its location at the bottom of the list that does it.

[mcoad]

"The bucket" reminds me too much of a "trash" icon and its the first thing I think of every time the app opens. I think the shape plus its location at the bottom of the list that does it.

Good point. A good icon shouldn’t be so multi-interpretable, I reckon, nor cause the eye to pause and blink. Pause and enjoy, yes - good, transparent aesthetics is part of the joy of the Mac and really helps get things done (ahem). But not pause and say, what the heck do they mean by that?

Now here’s a thought. If a bucket, why not a barrel? Just as logical, and far more pleasing associations... Just kidding.

The darn thing doesn’t always appear at the bottom of the list, though. It depends on how you add your single actions, or whether you turn a project into a group of single actions, or whatever. All too complicated, IMHO. What’s wrong with loose tasks on their own if that’s what floats your boat?

[davisre]

I like the bucket... although your images and metaphors are all very good points.

Buckets can contain a great deal of good things...
art supplies
sand castle tools
sand

It reminds me of being a kid and just tossing stuff into the bucket.
I imagine that was the purpose of it... a metaphor for something that you toss another thing into, without any necessary order.


To quote a new movie (http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thebucketlist/): they're things to do before you kick the bucket.

I too thought it was a trash can at first. I wonder if I'd have figured out the actual purpose if I hadn't read this forum?

[mcoad]

Jeepers, I think you’ve cracked it, davisre! But keep those ideas rolling in. How about a Golden Bucket award for the best one, courtesy of OmniGroup, natch?

[curt.clifton]

The darn thing doesn’t always appear at the bottom of the list, though. It depends on how you add your single actions, or whether you turn a project into a group of single actions, or whatever. All too complicated, IMHO. What’s wrong with loose tasks on their own if that’s what floats your boat?

Probably the longest thread on the entire forum was a months long argument about this (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=4098&highlight=singleton) starting last summer. Another argument about the icon (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=4541&highlight=singleton) coincided with its arrival in August.

[mcoad]

Yes, apologies for the repetition. Bound to happen, I guess, when new users are constantly joining such an active forum. I found the first thread you mention but not the second.

Certainly looks as if the bucket is there to stay. Hope never dies, but I’ll just have to get to work in my iconographic associations. Buckets are good, buckets are good, they are, yes really...

[Tim Wood]

Not to feed the flames, but a 'shoebox' icon went around in email @ Omni yesterday, or maybe Monday. It's all a blur =)

[mcoad]

You mean there’s hope? An anti-bucket mole at HQ...?

Good to know even a mini-thread gets attention from you guys, though...

[mcoad]

First log-in at the forum after weeks away travelling - and the bucket has gone!! The shoebox came through! Who says the gods don’t listen...?

[SpiralOcean]

Personally... I didn't mind the bucket... but I like the shoebox better. :-)
It's a great improvement.

[Toadling]

I agree with SpiralOcean. The shoebox has really grown on me.