[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by jdh

Likewise, typing in "Next Friday" should normally mean the Friday of next week (ie, not this Friday, but the next Friday). Right now, it does the same thing as just typing in "Friday" so there's really no point.

I agree that dates should always default to the future. I also agree that "Next Friday" is 9 days away as I type this. Note that you can enter "+1w Friday" to get the Friday of next week. That's a format that only a programmer could love, but then, I'm a programmer! :-)

[brianogilvie]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

I agree that dates should always default to the future. I also agree that "Next Friday" is 9 days away as I type this. Note that you can enter "+1w Friday" to get the Friday of next week. That's a format that only a programmer could love, but then, I'm a programmer! :-)

I also think "next Friday" is nine days away, but I run across enough people who think it's two days away that I try to avoid the phrase and say things like "Friday of next week."

You can also use "fri+7" to get Friday of the next week.

I recently sent in feedback requesting that start and due dates default to the future but completion dates to the past. (Sometimes I realize that I forgot to mark a task complete, and that for reporting reasons I need to note when I actually completed it, so I'll enter the completion date in the past instead of just checking it off.)

[jasong]

I'm one of those for whom "next friday" is context dependent, based on today's date and who I'm talking with. "Next friday" today, Wedneday, is "the friday following the one coming up in two days"; on Sunday or Monday, it would be "friday coming up".

I try to avoid it....

[MacBerry]

How about syncing of start dates? Why bother I hear you ask, when iCal can't display them, but the point is that sync services does, and iCal is NOT the only sync services client out there.

For example, the Missing Sync reads and writes start dates to the truth via sync services, which means if OmniFocus did, it'd integrate with my Windows Mobile device beautifully.

Mark

[coconino]

Originally Posted by jasong

I'm one of those for whom "next friday" is context dependent, based on today's date and who I'm talking with. "Next friday" today, Wedneday, is "the friday following the one coming up in two days"; on Sunday or Monday, it would be "friday coming up".

What you have there is this Friday, or Friday coming (or simply Friday), as opposed to next Friday. Next Friday is also known here as Friday week, and the one after that is Friday fortnight, with the one after that known as next Friday fortnight or two-weeks-next-Friday. There's nothing context-dependent about it; it's all very precise and unambiguous. Nobody I know would, on a Sunday or Monday, regard the following Friday as next Friday.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by coconino

Nobody I know would, on a Sunday or Monday, regard the following Friday as next Friday.

You should meet some more folks! I have many here who in fact consider Friday 30 to be "next friday" when asked today, Sunday 25.

That's why I say it's context dependent. In your context of "friday week" and "fortnights", you have no problem. In my context, I have to be more clear and not assume the meaning.

[coconino]

Originally Posted by jasong

You should meet some more folks!

I meet plenty of folks, and I'm pleased to say that those I meet seem to have more common sense than those you meet!

Joking, of course, and I take your point, but in my experience here in the UK the problem you cite wouldn't arise.

[MacBerry]

Originally Posted by coconino

I meet plenty of folks, and I'm pleased to say that those I meet seem to have more common sense than those you meet!

Joking, of course, and I take your point, but in my experience here in the UK the problem you cite wouldn't arise.

I'm afraid I don't agree at all (I'm in the UK). While your meaning is correct, it's far from universally used. As Jasong says, it's very context dependant.

Today is Sunday, and I just asked my wife "which Friday is next Friday?". She was very clear that next Friday was Friday this week, and that confirmed my own use. She agreed that by Wednesday or Thursday though, "next Friday" would start to mean Friday next week.

I think it's largely due to proximity. On Sunday, just saying "Friday" can all too easily mean "the day before yesterday", while by the time we get to Wednesday it automatically means "the day after tomorrow", last Friday is referred to as just that, and "next Friday" starts to mean Friday next week!

And this interpretation comes just as much from common sense as yours does. "Next Friday" differentiates it from "last Friday". Yes it's inconsistent, but that's language for you. "Your" system is just as "incorrect" logically, as the day you are describing as "next Friday" is NOT the next Friday on the calendar.

I'll bet you think everyone you know uses it the way you describe, because the context usually sorts it out for you. I hardly ever find any confusion, even though some people use your system, and some don't, simply because the context makes it obvious anyway. But as a date system in software you lose the context, and it simply won't work for those that don't naturally use the method adopted by the programmers.

Mark

[zackayak]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

I agree that dates should always default to the future. I also agree that "Next Friday" is 9 days away as I type this. Note that you can enter "+1w Friday" to get the Friday of next week. That's a format that only a programmer could love, but then, I'm a programmer! :-)

Cool - defaulting dates to the future has been discussed at length!

I looking forward to typing "4/16" and getting the next future 4/16.

I'm not looking forward to typing any spreadsheet formula looking dates. I'm happy that you all are working this out.

Thanks,
Zack

[bchadwick]

I haven't gone through all 7 pages of comments, but I like to enter my dates as "30 June 2007" and such. My version of OF doesn't take it, although "June 30 2007" works fine. It's a small change but it would be nice to have 30 June 2007 supported too.

Also, on quick entry, it would be nice to have a command line option that recognizes the words "start" and "end" or "due," so you could type "start Dec 10 2008 due Dec 25 2008".

This last one could cause confusion on relative dates, but you could also have the code 's' for start 'd' for due ('e' for end) and 't' for today, so that "due s+2d" would mean "due two days after start". "start d-1w" would mean "start one week before due", etc.

That last stuff is the least important, of the list, but I added it for fun.