[Tb] Re: structuring a to do list

Richard Chamberlain wrote:
> ... Firstly if I gather To Dos using an agent I can lose
> important contextual information, in this example I'd get 'Add contact
> information' in my to do list but without knowing that the parent was
> 'Help File'.

I've run into the same problem myself, and my first attempts to solve
the problem with more agents and aliases got out of hand very quickly.
If my to-do list is any more complicated than a piece of paper, I
probably won't bother to use it.

What I've found to work for me is to keep several different views open
at once, or to just keep using cmd-R to jump from the agent back into
the outline for context. Also, I find it's easy to forget that
Tinderbox is a tool for *hypertext*. Adding lots of links can provide
context in a way that doesn't just come from location. Color is helpful
too; all my to-do "categories" get different colors.

<wish list>
Of course, what would be *really* cool would be to take advantage of
the spatial nature of maps using agents and HTML export commands.
Commands like "isNear" and "isTouching" might have some fun uses. It
ought to be feasible, right? The map coordinates for each note are
saved in the XML....
</wish list>

> I think obviously that the trick is just to play with something and
> beat
> it into a shape that I find most usable.

That sounds about right. If I wanted to put my to-do list in a
database, I'd have to figure out my schema before I started doing any
real work. Tinderbox lets us get to work right away and lets the
structural stuff happen later, as it's needed. This also encourages the
spirit of "Do The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work".

  -scott
Received on Wed Apr 14 11:25:12 2004