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Time Visualization and Calendar Preference Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
my vote also for time visualisation. I don't want 60+ tasks in one day couse i know that can't be done in a work i do.
 
Contributor ptone wrote an applescript that uses iCal to partially achieve what this thread seems to want:

Script to create a calendar view of your frontmost OmniFocus window (in iCal)
 
May I reiterate the need to visualise tasks in a timeline. I'm doing a phd and need to manage my own research project. Omniplan is too feature rich for me as I only have myself to manage but I do need to be able to see how all my tasks fit together and allocate time accordingly (something that can be done in omniplan). There are fields for start and end time and duration, surely these could be translated into a simple timeline (not in ical). Something similar to what can be seen in the image under the "visual timelines" heading in the omniplan webpage. The ability to edit the start and end times from the visual timeline window would also be great.
It's great to dump all your tasks into the program but the ability to visualise/time them is essential.
Could someone from omni please comment on this feature request. This thread is already 3 pages long.
 
Absolutely. OF is excellent in so many respects, but after months using it, in beta and since, this is one of the two lacks that just get more and more frustrating. The other is the inability to assign tasks to more than one context. Both are matters that have led to long threads on the forum. Lengthy use has only confirmed to me the pressing need for both. I’m a huge fan of Omni and all its works - to me they are true stars in the Mac firmament. But there appears to be a curious dogmatism attached to OF, due unfortunately to its partial inspiration by GTD, which is a useful technique but for many seems to have acquired the status of a quasi religion. Adherents argues that if you want a graphic timeline, then you don’t understand what a GTD app is and really want a fullscale, big-bucks project planner, and that multiple contexts violate the sacred principle of cramming each topic into only one. Crazy, and extremely frustrating to many of us to see the potential of such a great app limited in these ways, but it seems to be the way thinking is at the moment...
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcoad View Post
OF is excellent in so many respects, but after months using it, in beta and since, this is one of the two lacks that just get more and more frustrating. The other is the inability to assign tasks to more than one context. Both are matters that have led to long threads on the forum. Lengthy use has only confirmed to me the pressing need for both.
Just to offer a differing perspective, I've also been using OmniFocus for many months, but I don't particularly miss either of these features (time visualization or multiple contexts). That's not to say they wouldn't be fine additions to an already excellent application, but rather that I don't think they're glaring omissions.

I'm certainly not a GTD zealot, but in following true GTD-style, I use very few due dates. So time visualization would probably offer me little.

As for multiple contexts, I've encounter a small number of situations where it would have been useful. But I've generally been satisfied with the simplicity of just choosing the single, most appropriate context and then displaying multiple contexts in Context mode to broaden my scope.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in v1.5 and v2.0. Maybe these features will be added and I'll look back and wonder how I ever managed to get along without them. ;-)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by williamjwoodward View Post
Could someone from omni please comment on this feature request. This thread is already 3 pages long.
I think the only thing we can say is that we've heard the request, but we don't know how we'll ultimately respond to it. Some folks find timelines essential; others don't.

Adding features that some folks use is good for those folks, but is a net loss for folks that don't use the feature - it's more complexity to wade through to find/use the features that they want.

I can't tell you whether we'll ever do this; plans change over time. I *can* say that there are other features - machine or phone synching, for example - that we think more of our users would get value from, so we're working on those right now. Down the line, anything's possible.
 
Visualizing a project time line is a feature that is offered by all project management applications, and I would suggest that you look to these sorts of applications for immediate relief. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but at least a solution is available. Omni will point you to OmniPlan (which I use and like), but there are other alternatives if you google around.

Likewise, if you can't live without context tagging, you should checkout Things . . . apologies in advance if I've got the apps name wrong.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by yucca View Post
Visualizing a project time line is a feature that is offered by all project management applications, and I would suggest that you look to these sorts of applications for immediate relief...

Likewise, if you can't live without context tagging, you should checkout Things . . . apologies in advance if I've got the apps name wrong.
Thanks, yucca. You’re right, these are the alternatives, but at the risk of repeating what’s already been said ad infinitum in this and other threads, this is just the problem. Those of us asking for a timeline are always recommended to go to OmniPlan or similar. Our point is that these are total overkill for what we need, which is the simple ability to see tasks and dates set out graphically in a basic timeline to see at a glance how they all jive together and thus organize time better (ie get things done). We don’t need the bells and whistles of a full-scale, multi-person project planner (never mind the far bigger bucks for the myriad other features we would never use). This feature would be a natural addition to the app, fully in keeping with its lean style and philosophy, and far from bloat.

As for Things, well, yes, I’ve looked at that and personally find it cluttered and plain awkward compared with the smoothness and clarity of OF. Actually, you can already tag in OF, kind of, by using the notes feature. For tagging on a grand scale, Things may be the way to go, but what I and others have been asking for is not that but the simple ability to assign a task to more than one context. This would help organization and getting things done greatly in many circumstances, but it offends the most rigid interpretation of GTD (not David Allen’s own, it should be said) which insists that all tasks must be given one context and one context alone. The fact that it would be perfectly possible for those holding this view to continue doing this cuts no ice, as doctrine insists that we must all tow the line for our own good. Unfortunately, despite the brilliance and vision that generally characterizes the Omni folks, this appears to be orthodoxy among them too, so for now at least we are stuck.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcoad View Post
Unfortunately, despite the brilliance and vision that generally characterizes the Omni folks, this appears to be orthodoxy among them too, so for now at least we are stuck.
I can't speak to the reasons why OmniFocus works the way that it does, but it's safe to say that characterizing motives here doesn't actually help your cause.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
I can't speak to the reasons why OmniFocus works the way that it does, but it's safe to say that characterizing motives here doesn't actually help your cause.
Hi Brian. Point taken, and I’m sorry that’s how my comments came over to you. I’ve always made it clear what an admirer I am of Omni and its products (I use most of them) and, if you go to Version Tracker, you’ll find that I wrote the most enthusiastic early review for OF as well as recommending in the entry for a certain other app that its frustrated users emigrate to OF forthwith. However, as you know there’s been a very long discussion of multiple contexts on the forum and the truth is that the only argument against the idea has been the one I mention: that a single context is best GTD practice and that we should all therefore learn to be satisfied with it. There hasn’t been much participation by the Omni folks themselves in the discussion, but to the best of my recollection, this was the true of them too. Apologies if I’m misrepresenting you and I know that you have many feature suggestions to consider and juggle. But this one is widely desired, so it would be good to know if there is a chance of it being considered in the future or whether you truly do rule it out on conceptual grounds.

Last edited by mcoad; 2008-04-21 at 05:26 PM.. Reason: Correct typo
 
 


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