[version 1.0]
I think Taskpaper is a great idea coupled with expert execution and a great understanding of the iPhone UI: your tasks are kept in simple plain text bullet points, but the app can display and manipulate them in varioucs ways based on a set of dead simple text tags.
For example, any time you type the @done tag in-line beside text, Taskpaper will show the task as if it were crossed off with a pen. Actually physically swiping across a task will achieve the same effect (and add the @done tag automatically).
This brilliant overlaying of simple gestures over plain text is something that stays consistent throughout all of Taskpaper ‘s UI, and it ‘s ultimately what makes this task management app such an absolute pleasure to use.
[mouse over a picture to see the title, click on one to maximize the gallery]
Dead Simple
You can add due dates to your tasks, but I haven ‘t really bothered with this because there are no alarms or calendars within Taskpaper. It ‘s all just text, and you can test this by opening up your .taskpaper file with Notepad on the PC or TextEdit on the Mac.
Surprisingly Powerful
However, just because Taskpaper is simple, that doesn ‘t mean it isn ‘t robust enough to handle your everyday to do lists. Unlike most other task management applications, which keep your tasks in proprietary libraries, each .taskpaper file is essentially a library, and you can have as many of them as you want to. You can create separate files for different kinds of lists (movies, yardwork, etc.), or keep all of you tasks in one giant list.
Text: Projects, Tasks, Tags, and Notes
Keeping all of my various personal, writing lists in one file sounds daunting and messy, but it ‘s all made very manageable thanks to the various kinds of text in Taskpaper: projects, tasks, and notes. Projects are the equivalent of categories in most other task managers and are displayed in bold. Tasks are pretty self-explanatory, and notes are shown in a faded, gray text.
You can toggle between the three kinds of text by simply pressing enter on the iPhone ‘s keyboard, and the spacebar can act as the Tab button if you haven ‘t typed anything.
You can choose to create tags and append them to any kind of text by simply typing the @ symbol and then the desired tag name (@jaib, for example). Similarly, you can cross off text by simply swiping across it ” this works for any text, even text that isn ‘t technically a task. While this does sound confusing (you could theoretically tag a note as @done), Taskpaper simply requires you to use the same common sense that guides you to write between the lines on a piece of paper. You could write on the lines, but why would you?
Search and the bottom bar
All of your tasks lists are fully searchable, but Taskpaper ‘s bottom bar takes this a step further. The project and tag buttons along the bottom are essentially saved searches that are updated on the fly, but they do a great job of making even a gigantic task list feel like something you can navigate. Tapping on a project will show all of the text under that project header, and filtering by tag simply shows all text with the associated tag, and nothing else. Clearing your search or filters is as simple as pressing the ‘search ‘ (magnifying glass) button at the bottom of the screen. One tap and you ‘re suddenly viewing all of your projects and lists starting from the top. It ‘s simply the fastest navigation I ‘ve seen in any task management app, even the lightning fast 2Do.
Great Controls
Taskpaper isn ‘t Jesse Grosjean ‘s first foray into iPhone development, but I think Taskpaper beats the pants off of his WriteRoom app (which I also use). That ‘s because, although Taskpaper can take a little bit of getting used to, it features a truly inspired interface. Once you ‘re in the task view, you ‘ll never have to move to any other screen to carry out further actions. The menus at the top and bottom of the screens are simply pop-ups (like the ones on the iPad, actually), and editing text is as simple as double-tapping on it. You can tap and hold on a project to move it (and all of its sub-text) up and down in the list, and multi-selection is activated by holding one finger on the bottom bar while using another to select items. Completed tasks are sent to a special Archive project that is placed at the bottom of your list.
To put it simply, the controls within Taskpaper leave nothing to be desired — the app even supports full landscape mode in 1.0.
Syncing with Taskpaper on the Mac
Taskpaper syncs with Simpletext.ws (see my write-up on that here, which also interfaces with the Taskpaper app for the Mac. Unfortunately, I ‘d have to say that this is the weakest point of the app.
Simpletext.ws does have the major advantage of being an OTA solution that can sync over any connection (unlike Things), but there are just too many little problems that keep this from feeling like a smooth solution. Despite some very recent updates to the Simpletext and Taskpaper Mac applications, I think it still takes far too much manual input to get syncing to ‘just work ‘.
The only way you can get the Mac to notice a sync is to press a button in the menu bar (no keyboard shortcut for this right now), and the Taskpaper Mac app doesn ‘t always behave the same way when you trigger a sync.
For one thing, any changes made on the Mac are supposed to auto-save every five seconds, but I still see a lot of save prompts when I try to close the window down. The loaded .taskpaper file is also supposed to just update itself before your eyes with whatever new text you may have added on the iPhone. However, lately I ‘ve been seeing some Taskpaper Mac dialogues telling me that changes have been made, but that I have to choose between the changes I ‘ve made on the Mac, or the incoming changes from the updated iPhone file.
This doesn ‘t seem right, since Simpletext.ws (which both Taskpaper apps sync through) features some very good redundancy tolerance. I ‘ve tried asking Jesse about this on Twitter, and although I have received some very rapid responses, I still haven ‘t been able to figure out this curious behaviour.
I ‘m still on the trial of Taskpaper Mac, and I don ‘t think I ‘ll be buying it until the syncing feels more seamless. I love the iPhone side of things, but in an app landscape where Evernote, Things, and 2Do handle syncing almost seamlessly, syncing with the Mac client of Taskpaper just feels like too much trouble. My personal preference would be to have the Mac client update more like Notational Velocity does and updated the loaded file instantly upon syncing changes from my iPhone, but I just might have a different vision of what syncing should be like.
Conclusion
I ‘ve had a lot of geeky fun playing with Taskpaper and thinking about how it manipulates plain text. It ‘s a lot like looking at one of those transparent escalators or computer cases and seeing all of the moving parts inside. I realize that all of the applications I use come down to code, but there ‘s something about the way that Taskpaper ‘s minimal and explicit presentation that I find really fascinating.
It also helps that Taskpaper a great task management app — one of the best I’ve ever used on any platform. You won ‘t find calendars or repeating tasks here, but I think that users of apps like Things or 2Do, as well as the minimalist junkies that keep their ToDo ‘s in .txt files, will find plenty to like in the ‘surprisingly adept ‘ Taskpaper.
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Taskpaper is available for $4.99 on the App Store.
The app was purchased by Just Another iPhone Blog for review. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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TAGS: task management, tasks, to do list
