The Hit List - Another TODO Manager

    There are a lot of programs for task management for Macs, here you can find simple TODO lists and a whole range of GTD (Getting Things Done) software, from the well-known Omni Focus to the new but already popular Things.

    But recently another competitor loomed on the horizon - The Hit List (hereinafter THL). The program is still in beta testing and it does not have some important functions (for example, synchronization with iPhone), but the author promises that by the time of release everything will be in its best form.

    I would like to start comparing THL with other similar solutions, but according to the author, he began to develop it without looking at what was done by competitors and much earlier than the outwardly similar Things appeared. In addition, upon closer examination, we understand that the program is unique, because It does not impose any restrictions on the user, gives him the opportunity to formulate and perform tasks exactly as he is used to, without following any single paradigm. It organically combines a system of tags, projects, task lists and a hierarchy of subtasks.



    Organization of tasks


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    Tasks in THL can be organized:
    • By lists and group them into folders
    • By subtasks
    • By tags

    Thus, the user is given complete freedom of choice. Depending on whether you prefer to use lists / folders or tags, the left Lists panel switches between the two modes.

    In the folder mode, the Today and Upcoming sections are also available, which are formed based on the start and end dates.

    In the case of working with tags, two types of labels are available to you: ordinary and so-called areas - these are labels starting with '@'. In practice, they differ only in visual representation and color. You can mark your tasks like this: “@ work / meetings”.

    Work with individual tasks



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    The right part of the screen is a sort of lined notebook, where we record our tasks. If you click on the field to the left of the task, you can set its priority from 1 to 9. Next is the description and the list of tags, which is actually part of the description. Regular tags begin with a slash '/' and area labels begin with '@'. Right under the main description, there is a place for notes. And then three familiar columns Start, Due and Estimate.

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    The list mode is great for viewing what we have to do. But what if we want to thoughtfully work on one task, to throw notes of all sorts of ideas? Then switch to Card View mode. Here we have a large field for recording everything related to this task.

    Keyboard control


    Managing the TODO list becomes much more comfortable if you don’t have to poke the menu for a long time and set different parameters for the new task. Of course, there are shortcuts in all such programs, but THL brings them almost to perfection.
    • ↩ start writing a new task
    • 0–9 set the appropriate priority
    • ⇥ make the task nested. Further pressing toggles between the Start, Due and Estimate fields. If we are not in edit mode, we go to it.
    • ⇧⇥ if the task was nested, return to the top level
    • space is marked as completed
    • ⌘ 'go to edit notes of the current task
    • T set the start date of the task to today's date
    • F move the task to the desired list (supports auto-completion)
    • B track task execution time
    • ⌘R sets up task repetition

    We don’t need shortcuts for working with tags. any word in the description starting with '@' and '/' is considered a tag. It is also worth noting that for the Start, Due, Estimate fields, you do not need to use a calendar at all, you can simply write the date, even in free form, for example, 'tomorrow'.

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    Finally, to create a new task, it is not necessary to switch to the THL window at all. In the settings, you can set a global shortcut that calls up the window for quickly creating tasks.

    Keep track of time spent


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    If it is important for you to know exactly how much time you spent on a particular task, then THL provides a timer. Just highlight the task and press Begin to start it. In the information panel, in the actual line you can always find out how many hours / minutes the task took to complete.

    Synchronization


    IPhone users will be disappointed by the lack of a mobile client, although the author promises to write it in the very near future. Synchronization with iCal should somewhat brighten the wait, and it’s quite powerful.

    Most of all! Before setting up synchronization with iCal, archive both the iCal calendars and the THL library. I had cases when the installation of synchronization killed tasks in one of the places.

    Between two computers, synchronization can be easily configured through services such as Dropbox or iDisk. It is enough to hold ⌥ while starting THL and the program will ask you which library to use or where to create a new one. In this case, you must ensure that the program is not running on two computers at the same time.

    Conclusion


    Not without THL, of course, and without flaws. Firstly, of course, these are synchronization problems. Let's hope that they will be repaired and released by the iPhone client. In addition, the Russian interface is still missing. Finally, the price of the program is $ 49.95, for some it will seem somewhat high, however, if you are serious about productivity issues, then it's worth it. In addition, until the beta testing period ends, the program remains free.

    There is not enough karma to transfer to Apple

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