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Show HN: NowDo – MacOS todo app for procrastinators
- zainhoda 3y agoAwesome! I've been looking for almost exactly this. The only issue is that I'm not totally comfortable installing a Mac app to try it out. I'd be happy to try it out as a web app first. When you snooze it for >=1 day, does it reappear at the time that it was snoozed or do the tasks somehow group into buckets where if you snooze all tasks that appear today for 1 day, they'll all appear tomorrow at the same time?
- sanity31415 3y ago> Awesome! I've been looking for almost exactly this. That's exactly what I was hoping people would say, thank you. > The only issue is that I'm not totally comfortable installing a Mac app to try it out. I'd be happy to try it out as a web app first. That's helpful feedback, thank you. I'll give a web app version some thought. > When you snooze it for >=1 day, does it reappear at the time that it was snoozed or do the tasks somehow group into buckets where if you snooze all tasks that appear today for 1 day, they'll all appear tomorrow at the same time? NowDo only shows one task at a time - the "current task". This will be the oldest unsnoozed not-done task. So tasks won't necessarily be seen by the user the moment their snooze expires if there are older unsnoozed not-done tasks. Does that answer your question?
- web_user62 3y ago> The only issue is that I'm not totally comfortable installing a Mac app to try it out. I'd be happy to try it out as a web app first. Hi, same concern here, would be happy to try the web version but not willing to install an app.
- sanity31415 3y agoI'll give a web version some thought - we do plan to create Windows and Linux versions but perhaps a web version should be a higher priority.
- JimRoepcke 3y agoI’m curious what causes your hesitation to install a Mac app if you run macOS? I’m not suggesting you’re wrong, just wanting to understand.
- worthless-trash 3y agoNot OP: but this is what computing is coming to. Zero installs, all web apps, where users don't control their data. The average users computer ability has no doubt dropped over time as software is catering for the lowest common denominator. As this catering becomes more popular, this is the expectation people have, only original hardware vendors will be installing native apps. Sucks, but its the graveyard that we've built.
- smusamashah 3y agoWeb app has usually the least friction, unless when it's not. For this particular app, it can be a very simple widget on the website homepage even. Shouldn't require any js framework etc and all data will be local in your browser. As a demo widget or full blown html/JS app, both can work.
- tigroferoce 3y agoThis is not necessarily true. For instance someone coming from Linux might be uncomfortable installing non open source source from not trusted origin (I.e. not the distribution package manager). Also, installing anything anywhere is potentially a huge security risk, so I see why people use browsers as convenient sandboxes for trying out software.
- worthless-trash 3y agoYeah, maybe I should have said OS vendor.
- Erratic6576 3y agoInstalling any adobe app, for example, takes control of your computer installing bloated software which remains in the background at all times. Google does similar things. Why do some apps install bloat in ~ or ~/Documents without letting me chose where ? If you want to sand box applications you need to use VM. Because some crap permeates the whole system. I’d like the OS to run a separare environment for each user or application with little to no access to my main installation.
- sanity31415 3y ago> The only issue is that I'm not totally comfortable installing a Mac app to try it out. Just on this, if it makes you feel any better the app is signed through the Apple process (which was a PITA).
- wingerlang 3y agoHighly recommend making a simple script to do this, I distribute two apps manually and all I have to do is to kick off "./distribute.sh 1.2.3" which does every step required.
- sanity31415 3y agoYes, I've wired it up to work with Github Actions so it's automatic now - but it wasn't easy.
- wingerlang 3y agoI do it locally on my laptop where I develop, for small personal projects like this I wouldn't go through the pain of a CI/CD system.
- sanity31415 3y agoThat makes sense for a solo project, but there are three of us working on this so it's helpful to use CI/CD.
- wingerlang 3y agoYes, that makes more sense.
- nojs 3y agoI think you should add some more screenshots or a small video showing how it works, so people can see without downloading.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- sanity31415 3y agoGood idea, will do.
- karolist 3y agoNow do, not later.
- mk- 3y agoyay:)
- sanity31415 3y agolol
- reactordev 3y agoThe problem with todo apps for procrastinators is that they forget or procrastinate on using a todo app to assist in their procrastination.
- xyst 3y agoJust need to install the Resolve.app in conjunction with NowDo.app ;)
- motohagiography 3y agoI was going to say, the main reason todo apps fail is because they are specifically about doing what people don't want to do. If there were a generic way to unfuck your life on the other side of it, I could see it being wildly popular. Like a linear progression in weights, or a fasting diet, or a spaced repetition scheme, but for unwinding the effects of avoidant behaviours, with progress and results, that would be valuable.
- sanity31415 3y agoI certainly wouldn't claim NowDo is a silver bullet, but I think it does a better job than any other todo app at avoiding the pitfalls procrastinators fall into. For the past 2 years I've been using a prototype of NowDo on i3/Linux that I cobbled together and it had a big impact on my productivity.
- moneywoes 3y agotell me more about spaced repetition please
- benrow 3y agoHere's a fairly in-depth exploration of spaced repetition, if that's the style you prefer - https://gwern.net/spaced-repetition https://gwern.net/spaced-repetition
- sanity31415 3y agoTrue, forgetting is the reason NowDo is always-on-top on the desktop, it's a constant but unobtrusive reminder of what you should be doing. You're also right about todo apps assisting in their procrastination. That's why I kept NowDo so simple, there are no superfluous features to tinker with like labels, due dates, or categories.
- nnx 3y agoNice concept to keep it always on top! Would it be possible to have the current task show in the menu bar instead? would be even less obstrusive but still "always on top" edit: would also help not having it show in the task switcher, now it sort of annoying to have it show up when Cmd-Tab'bing... while doing the task of course ;)
- sanity31415 3y ago> Nice concept to keep it always on top! Thank you! > Would it be possible to have the current task show in the menu bar instead? This is something I thought people might want, so thank you for confirming. The reason I didn't do it because Apple's UI guidelines discourage using excessive menu-bar space, but I'm certainly open to it if there is demand. May I ask, is the issue that the UI takes up too much screen real-estate? I've been wondering whether we should make it more compact, so I'd appreciate feedback on that.
- nnx 3y agoI edited my original message probably right while you were posting this reply. Main concern with the window it not so much that it takes too much space, but that it "exists" in the task switcher, which can be distracting when Cmd-Tab'ing. Without going full menu bar way, perhaps a way to make it "transparent" to task switcher could help this - in fact maybe a mix between window (for showing current task) and menubar (for actions)
- sanity31415 3y agoAppreciate the feedback, I've added the task switcher issue to our bugtracker, will fix it ASAP.
- sanity31415 3y ago> edit: would also help not having it show in the task switcher, now it sort of annoying to have it show up when Cmd-Tab'bing... while doing the task of course ;) I've added this to our bugtracker, will get it fixed ASAP. Appreciate the feedback.
- kdtsh 3y agoThis looks neat and I hope people find it interesting. I’ve found the best todo app for me comes built into iDevices: Reminders.app. It’s got all the functions of this application, except maybe sophisticated snoozing (I haven’t tried NowDo and can’t say how good it is - snooze on Reminders.app is okay at best). For one-time tasks, you can make a reminder with an alarm. For habits/recurring tasks, set up a recurring reminder. I assume you can have Focus-oriented lists, but I haven’t looked into it. It’s well integrated into iCloud of course. Only thing it doesn’t do is give you a mail-to-task pipeline from Mail.app to Reminders.app. That’s a gap that I think needs to be filled. Edit: nevermind, for mail-to-task just select some text from an email and do the Share… function to Reminders.app, it’ll provide a link back to the email in the reminder.
- sanity31415 3y agoThank you for the feedback :) I think NowDo has quite a different philosophy to Reminders.app. I haven't tried Remoders but I've tried many others over the years. Every time the todo app itself became the distraction. Instead of doing what I'm supposed to be doing I'd be thinking about what task taxonomy I should be using or some other nonsense. IMHO the lack of features is NowDo's most important and unique feature. I spent about 2 years prototyping and worked hard to remove every feature that wasn't absolutely essential, the less features the fewer distractions. This won't be right for everyone, I have friends who couldn't live without labels and categories and other such features - but for me they just got in the way of getting stuff done.
- shikshake 3y agoYou should definitely try the default reminders app because it looks similar to yours. It’s very simple and easy to use, it’s one of my productivity tools. I don’t think I ever even open the actual app, I just ask Siri to make a reminder for me and then complete the reminder in the widget or from the notification. The only advantage I see from yours (based on the website link) is that it’s keyboard-navigable, so maybe you could emphasize that more.
- 3y ago
- lelanthran 3y agoAlways on top is a good idea, my to-do app (we all wrote one at some point) is designed to be integrated into the PS1 variable so it's always on top. Shameless plug https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIntroduction.odp https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn...
- sanity31415 3y agoThat looks nice, and definitely a similar approach. We plan to expose an API later, this would allow easy integration with apps like yours if that interested you.
- dwilding 3y agoI love the idea of interoperability between homegrown task managers. Another shameless plug: https://frogtab.com https://frogtab.com, which I’ve been building, following similar ideas of minimalism. I’m definitely going to check out your app when I’m at my macbook - and would be super interested in exploring integration!
- sanity31415 3y agoNice, frogtab looks interesting, is there any documentation for it?
- dwilding 3y agoThanks! Yep, there are full docs at https://frogtab.com/help https://frogtab.com/help
- sanity31415 3y agoNice, quite a similar philosophy.
- lelanthran 3y agoI am interested in interoperability :) My project is a library first with two applications built against the API ... A command line one that is also used for the PS1 variable and a gui app for when a visual exploration of the tree is needed.
- pankajrefyne 3y agothis looks pretty good. I would be interested in looking at a demo
- sanity31415 3y agoYou can download the app for free, I also plan to add more screenshots to the website.
- DeathArrow 3y agoWow, a free Mac app. I just recently bought a MacBook and I discovered that even for the most basic ones which are free on Windows and Linux, you have to pay.
- shikshake 3y agoThere are plenty of free mac apps, most just aren’t on the official Mac App Store because it requires a paid license. I use mac exclusively and I pretty much only use free productivity and development apps.
- DeathArrow 3y agoPerhaps. But while on other systems people use mostly free apps, on macs people use mostly payed apps.
- ostensible 3y ago[dead]
- wingerlang 3y agoWhat are some apps with basic functionality where you could not find a free alternative on macOS? In my experience there is always a free alternative.
- sanity31415 3y agoAll the functionality of the current app will remain free, so you can try it without worrying about a bait-and-switch. Note also that the app has full task import/export to CSV, so there is no lock-in. Your todo app should not cause you stress. To pay the bills we plan to offer a paid service that will provide cloud backup and cross-device synchronization, but that's a few months away. I'd appreciate any feedback on this as a revenue stream.
- tigroferoce 3y agoI (and I think many people here) would be more than happy to pay a reasonable price for a reasonable product (haven’t tried yet this, but I think anything between 2$ and 10$ would be fine). I know that software is not free to build, so I don’t expect it’s free to use. If you want to keep the product free, you can always add a Donate me button, to let people show their appreciation. Kudos to you for letting us know what is the way you expect to make money. I try to never use software or services where the “making money” part is not clear. I wouldn’t probably pay for a service, but I might be happy to pay a one time fee for a function that dumps the todo file (I understand it’s a csv) every time there is an update so I can integrate that on some other workflow (like committing to git, or importing into obsidian). Another thing I might pay for is a iPhone app so I can mark todos completed on the go, but it’s probably very difficult to to a always on window there.
- ganisgan 3y agoThanks! Will try out. Few feature ideas that I would personally like to have: 1. Time tracker, so we know how much time was spent on a particular task. And, a daily review section where we can see what was worked on the day and the time taken. 2. Ability to add tasks based on projects. Possibly, the ability to color code projects. 3. A tab/screen to manage projects, where we can add tasks and set the priority as 1, 2, 3, etc. 1 would show up on the NowDo screen.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dpoljak 3y agoNot op but seems like an overkill for this app. Maybe you'd be better served by something like Toggl? You can create projects and really finely track time in it. Also the web ui gives you option to export a nice report on any given period for your tracked time.
- ganisgan 3y ago[flagged]
- sanity31415 3y agoSorry to hear that, could you elaborate on what bugs you encountered or what else made it unusable? > Can't see where the task goes once added! The task is added to a task queue, the displayed task is the oldest unsnoozed not-done tasks. Is this a problem with the UI not giving better confirmation that the task has been added?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- account-5 3y agoCame here to say thank you for adding "(macOS)" to the title. Nothing more frustrating that clicking on an interesting Show HN, read comments that make you even more interested, and only then finding out the software is for an OS you never use.
- sanity31415 3y agoNo problem, support for other operating systems is on the roadmap, Windows/Linux/Android/iOS etc.
- hasty_pudding 3y agoIs the name from Always Sunny in Philadelphia??
- ShamelessC 3y agoWouldn’t that be “SoDo”? I agree it has a similar style to it however.
- hasty_pudding 3y agoHaha yes! Good point. Forgetting my Charlie speak.
- sanity31415 3y agoDay man, fighter of the night man... Actually I'm not aware of the Always Sunny reference for NowDo - what is it?
- hasty_pudding 3y agoThat's my bad. Should be SoDo. It's a great opportunity to change the name though! https://youtu.be/Ekqm-EUItGE?si=37Ab4hSZeDEqYsla https://youtu.be/Ekqm-EUItGE?si=37Ab4hSZeDEqYsla
- sanity31415 3y agoHah, that can be the back-up name.
- renewiltord 3y agoAnother tool in this space is https://sindresorhus.com/one-thing https://sindresorhus.com/one-thing
- mofle 3y agoAlso One Task: https://sindresorhus.com/one-task https://sindresorhus.com/one-task
- ShamelessC 3y agoAre there not thousands upon thousands of other similar apps?
- sanity31415 3y agoThere are, what makes NowDo unique is that I've whittled the feature set down to an absolute minimum - based on over 2 years of prototyping and usage. With NowDo the lack of features is its most important feature.
- ShamelessC 3y agoThat’s great yeah, looks awesome. Sorry if it seemed like I was poo-pooing on it. Mostly meant that if everyone were to list their personal favorite todo app the thread would never end ha.
- sanity31415 3y agoNot at all, I appreciate the feedback :)
- sanity31415 3y agoThere was a tool called "OneTask" about a decade ago that I really liked and which served as a lot of the inspiration for NowDo. Unfortunately its creators fell into the trap of adding a bunch of features which ruined it IMHO. It's not clear whether this is related to that, it doesn't look like it is.
- qainsights 3y agoI really enjoyed using this simple and clean app. I have a few suggestions: 1. The default message "nothing to do" shouldn't be automatically added to the tasks every time. 2. It would be great if, after snoozing, we could see the top "n" tasks in the main app itself. 3. Please add a feature to select multiple tasks at once. 4. Instead of a subscription, it would be better to have a one-time payment for the premium pricing. Thank you!
- sanity31415 3y agoReally appreciate the feedback: > The default message "nothing to do" shouldn't be automatically added to the tasks every time. This is only shown if there are no unsnoozed not-done tasks, would you prefer if it was left blank in this scenario? We wanted to provide a hint to user's about what they can do in this scenario. > It would be great if, after snoozing, we could see the top "n" tasks in the main app itself. There is an option to see all tasks in the menu, the decision to only show one task at a time was deliberate as the hope is to encourage the user either to focus on this task or snooze it. May I ask why it would be useful to see the top "n" tasks on the main UI? > Please add a feature to select multiple tasks at once Should be able to do this, is there something in particular you want to do to multiple tasks at once - like snoozing or marking them "done"? > Instead of a subscription, it would be better to have a one-time payment for the premium pricing. This is helpful. Our idea was that people would pay for cloud backup and synchronization - since the cost to operate the servers is ongoing I think this would need to be a recurring charge or we could end up spending more than we're making. But if we identified other premium features that didn't require a cloud service then we could have a premium version with a one-time purchase. Are there any features in particular that you'd be willing to pay for? Many thanks!
- qainsights 3y agoThank you for reviewing my inputs. 1. A simple placeholder will suffice; there is no need for additional text. 2. Don't want to press Cmd+T to see the tasks:) 3. Delete in bulk, specifically. 4. You could integrate Google Drive or OneDrive syncing instead of handling the syncing through your servers for a single fee.
- vaxman 3y agoYou’ve gone out of your way to be anonymous to your users, so you’ll only attract naive/ignorant/reckless users to let your code on their Mac, which might be enough for your purposes.
- sanity31415 3y agoNot trying to be anonymous, the app is digitally signed and verified by Apple.
- slater 3y agoWhy does your app need to phone home? From Little Snitch: IP Address 185.199.108.153 Reverse DNS Name cdn-185-199-108-153.github.com Established by /Applications/NowDo.app/Contents/MacOS/NowDo Process ID 86223 Code Signature Signed by [redacted] User [me] I'm guessing for update reasons, though how many updates are you planning? :D Also, it'd be nice to be able to put it on my second monitor
- sanity31415 3y agoYes, we have a mechanism to notify the user of updates and other important messages - they just show up like a special type of task (which can be marked done, or snoozed). It's checking this URL: https://nowdo.org/msg.json https://nowdo.org/msg.json We don't want to expand the feature set much beyond what it already is - since the lack of features is a feature - but we'll probably create a "premium" version to help us pay the bills. We needed a way to inform users about such updates, but we plan to use it very sparingly (perhaps a few times per year once NowDo is out of beta). > Also, it'd be nice to be able to put it on my second monitor Thanks for the suggestion - can you just drag it over, or is the issue that a second monitor isn't always connected?
- slater 3y agoIt won't drag over to the secondary monitor, it's blocked at the edge of my main screen (M2 Air)
- sanity31415 3y agoThat's not good, will investigate - thank you.
- brailsafe 3y agoI find it a little odd tbat people would prefer a web interface for a todo app. Considering that the most likely source of my productivity being interrupted is... the web, I'm quite happy to see it as a mac native app.
- itake 3y agoi like having my todos sync'd to my phone so I can use track my shopping list or see what tasks I need to do today when I am away from my computer.
- brailsafe 3y agoI get that, but it seems like that would be a deliberately unfocused type of usage. Todo lists can take any form and there's no shortage of apps or services that do exactly that, but they don't all necessarily set out to do anything more than be a list of arbitrary stuff. If I wasn't at my computer grinding through a list of computer work, checking a list would not help me focus on stuff I can't act on. If I needed a general list, I'd choose a product that aimed to be something like you describe.
- Gelob 3y agoI dont like that i can't see all the tasks at once somewhere
- renegadus 3y agoYou can - click "All Tasks" under the File menu or press CMD+T when the app is focused.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoCan you do/consider the following: 1. totally encrypted/syncing etc (iOS in the roadmap ;) 2. Infinite nesting (indenting/outdenting) 3. Swipe to indent/de-indent 4. Drag and drop rearranging 5. KeePass type standard that is "portable" in the sense your data is always soverign and extensible or whatevr 6. Purchaseable/One-Time Large payment like $50-100 with abillity to tip or however one wants to supplement if they wish to support dev 7. Customizable font/ui text and display size. This is important, a lot of apps that offer these features in various mixed bags are usually annoyingly ant-sized and non-customizable I would love to see a Strongbox equivalent of Todo/Tasks. The world needs this. Enough of Todoist's monopoly on outliney/todos
- sanity31415 3y agoThank you so much for the feedback and suggestions: > 1. totally encrypted/syncing etc (iOS in the roadmap ;) We're considering offering an encrypted cloud service, or alternatively, integrating with Dropbox/Google Drive. Details are still being worked out but data sovereignty is very important to me so that will be an important design consideration whichever approach we choose. > 2. Infinite nesting (indenting/outdenting) While I understand the utility, this feature might detract from NowDo's core philosophy of simplicity. Our aim is to avoid complexity that might distract from task execution, though I'm always open to re-evaluating features that could enhance user experience without compromising simplicity. > KeePass type standard that is "portable" in the sense your data is always soverign and extensible or whatevr We're currently using a universal CSV format for easy import/export of tasks. Does this align with your expectations, or were you thinking of something different? > Purchaseable/One-Time Large payment like $50-100 with abillity to tip or however one wants to supplement if they wish to support dev Your suggestion for a one-time fee in the $50-$100 range, with optional tipping, is intriguing. Our initial thought was a lower price point ($10-$15), but we're open to exploring different models. The balance between accessibility and sustainability is key for us. > Customizable font/ui text and display size. This is important, a lot of apps that offer these features in various mixed bags are usually annoyingly ant-sized and non-customizable Excessive customization can sometimes detract from usability and design coherence. However, your point about text/display size is well taken, especially for accessibility reasons. We’ll consider this feedback carefully. Could you share if you find the current UI size too big, too small, or are you highlighting a general need for adaptability? Again, really appreciate your feedback.
- luvata 3y agoThank you for this nice app. The default shortcut conflicts with my window manager, so I cannot use it. Please add a way to customize shortcuts. Also for the UI, if there is a mode that when the app is unfocus then the UI will hide all other text buttons, which I think will make it looks less distract. Really nice and clean app btw!
- sanity31415 3y ago> The default shortcut conflicts with my window manager, so I cannot use it. Ah, interesting - may I ask what window manager you use? Is it the combination of CTRL+OPT that causes the conflict? We can make the shortcuts configurable, I've added an issue to our tracker. > Also for the UI, if there is a mode that when the app is unfocus then the UI will hide all other text buttons, which I think will make it looks less distract. This is something I've considered, perhaps a configuration option to hide the buttons when the app isn't focused. They serve the purpose of acting as a reminder about the keyboard shortcuts but experienced users shouldn't need that. I'll add it to our issue tracker. > Really nice and clean app btw! Thank you, and thank you also for the suggestions :)
- luvata 3y agoMine is not quite a window manager, I use Hammerspoon bindings. For example, Ctrl+Option+H/L moves the focused window left/right. I think mine only conflicts with Ctrl Opt H, so it's still usable by clicking on the buttons
- luvata 3y agoone more thing, for the Cmd-T to show all tasks, I wish to have a way to change the priority order of tasks that I've listed there.
- punchclockhero 3y agoCtrl + Opt + D also conflicts with Rectangle, which is a more popular MacOS window manager.
- 3y ago