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Badges wha huh? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Here are the badges that show up in my Menu and in my Dock. Huh??

Obviously it's only counting the overdue ones in the overall total. But why??

And what the heck is that grey number next to "No Context"? I go to the "No Context" selection under contexts (which also has a grey badge reading "4"), and I can't see anything there.

Wha huh?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mojombo View Post
Obviously it's only counting the overdue ones in the overall total. But why??
What it does is show the count of the highest "class" of actions. So, if there are any overdue items, it shows the count of overdue items (in red). If there are no overdue items, it shows the count of due soon items (in orange), if there are any, otherwise it shows the count of items (in grey, Inbox and No Context bins only). If you don't have any overdue or due soon items, the menu bar count will be a 0 (in green) and there won't be a number on the dock icon.

On the iPhone/iPod app, the count shown by the dock icon can be configured to be the sum of any or all of the count of due soon, overdue, and flagged items. If you'd like to see this feature on the Mac app, use Help->Send Feedback to send in your request.
Quote:
And what the heck is that grey number next to "No Context"? I go to the "No Context" selection under contexts (which also has a grey badge reading "4"), and I can't see anything there.
That means you've got 4 items with no context assigned, and they aren't visible with your current view settings (for example, you are showing available actions, and they are in sequential projects where they are not the next action).
 
Thanks for your prompt and informative reply.

If indeed it does act like you say, the preference pane is quite misleading. It reads "Show Due Soon and Overdue actions:" followed by checkboxes for sidebar, dock, and menu.

To me, "Due Soon and Overdue actions" implies that I'll see the total of the Due Soon and Overdue actions.

It does not imply "show me the total Due Soon actions or total Overdue actions, depending on which is bigger."

I've taken your suggestion to send feedback. Thanks again.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mojombo View Post
If indeed it does act like you say,
It does, and you can easily demonstrate this to yourself.
Quote:
the preference pane is quite misleading. It reads "Show Due Soon and Overdue actions:" followed by checkboxes for sidebar, dock, and menu.

To me, "Due Soon and Overdue actions" implies that I'll see the total of the Due Soon and Overdue actions.
It's rare that there's enough space to fully document what an option does right next to the checkbox that controls it. This is not one of those cases. Another reasonable interpretation is that you would see separate counters for due soon and overdue actions, but again that isn't what was implemented. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see a sum of two different things, because 19 overdue actions and 1 due soon action is a completely different kettle of fish than 1 overdue action and 19 due soon actions, and just showing me a 20 doesn't give me any clue as to where in that spectrum the truth is.
Quote:
It does not imply "show me the total Due Soon actions or total Overdue actions, depending on which is bigger."
It is indeed good that it doesn't imply that, because that's not what it does. It shows the count of the actions with the highest urgency, if you will. It only shows a count of due soon actions if there aren't any overdue actions.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
19 overdue actions and 1 due soon action is a completely different kettle of fish than 1 overdue action and 19 due soon actions
If that's true for you, and the present badging system makes sense to you and works well, I guess it's all good.

For me, those kettles are darn similar. The distinction is not one I need the badge to make. I simply want the dock badge to = total program badges.

Oh well, I submitted feedback, no point in fussing over it further. Thanks.
 
I understand how it functions, how it came about, and where it might lead me astray. I don't think it is ideal, but it is what we've got at the moment. The iPhone app's badge display does work the way you request if you configure it accordingly, and allows me to work in a way that suits me as well -- I turn off the display of overdue items (I usually am quite aware of them!) and have it show me the due soon count. Once inside the application, it shows all three counts on a per-project or per-context basis.
 
I'd think that the iPhone logic would be preferable even in the Mac version.
Just my 2c
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by vegaz View Post
I'd think that the iPhone logic would be preferable even in the Mac version.
Not for me; I prefer the current logic used in OmniFocus for Mac. But I understand there are limitations in the iPhone's badging mechanism that prevent it from functioning like the Mac version.

This is not to say my preference (or yours) is necessarily better for everyone, but rather that there's a valid argument on both sides. I don't envy Omni's position of having to try to make everyone happy. I'm not sure that's even possible.

-Dennis
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toadling View Post
Not for me; I prefer the current logic used in OmniFocus for Mac. But I understand there are limitations in the iPhone's badging mechanism that prevent it from functioning like the Mac version.
Well, maybe an option to show in the dock badge the sum of all the overdue and due soon items could do the trick...
My problem with the current concept in OF for Mac is that the overdue items are not necessarily more urgent/important than some items which are still only "due soon". In my case, I have some recurring daily actions which I can sometimes skip with no big problem, but some weekly tasks, on the other side, could never be skipped or put off.
I understand, however, that making software, and especially an app with users like the average OF user, is about making compromises, so I won't complain. :-)

Last edited by vegaz; 2010-01-24 at 12:28 AM..
 
It sounds like you are diluting the meaning of "due today" by having items with due dates where you don't really mean it. Some suggestions:

Don't put due dates on if you aren't serious about getting it done by the due date. Use start dates and a "tickler" perspective to manage those daily items instead. Context mode, group by start, close the groups for anything other than starts today. Your daily repeats will show up every day, and won't clutter up the due soon/overdue displays.

If you don't trust yourself without due dates, when you miss them for the daily repeats, immediately reschedule them to the next day so they aren't hiding these more important due soon items. You might also put the daily repeats in with a later due time than the real stuff, so you can do this step easily at the end of the day in a view where you've sorted by due -- the critical stuff that you still haven't gotten done won't be intermixed with the other stuff where you're just using due dates to try to prod yourself into action. You can use Dan Byler's excellent Defer script to easily bump a collection of actions back a day.
 
 


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