Minor Bits of UI Feedback

Been using Everdo for a few months now and still finding it very useful. Below are just a few minor ticky things I’ve noticed from a UX perspective.

  • On the desktop when looking at your projects in the sidebar there isn’t a obvious difference between inactive projects and complete projects. They both display in a lighter gray. I can run the archive to clear out the completed projects but it would be nice if from a glance I could tell the two apart. Maybe use strikethrough on completed projects?
  • The distance between the task text on the left and the action buttons (delete, etc) on the right can be large if a large screen (desktop). If I am deleting a task I sometimes find myself double and triple-checking to make sure I am deleting the right item. If the tasks were to be zebra striped it could reduce that. It doesn’t have to be a heavy zebra-striping. Just a very light gray (almost imperceptible) every other row I think would help.
  • If I go to the “Projects” listing and sort the projects in the “Someday” category. Then switch to the “Someday” main bucket (which shows both someday tasks and projects) the list of someday projects are not in the same order. It would be nice if the sort order of these two lists were not independent. Changing the order of my someday projects in one place would change it in the other since they are really the same list.

Obviously you have done a great job making a sharp app so you have a good sense if any of these suggestions are good. Ignore them if you have better ideas to address the needs or just like the way things are. But just little minor things I’ve noticed after a few months of using the app.

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Thanks for your feedback!.

I think this is not an issue for most users because a) you mostly view inactive project in the context of a review, which is rare and b) completed projects get archived during the review, so they don’t stick around for long in the list inactive projects.

This is unlikely to be implemented as it’s too much of a styling change at this point. I imagine most users would resize the window width to avoid it being too wide.

I will create a bug ticket to check what is happening in this particular case. There could be some anomalies because of the way the global order is implemented across all the lists.

On the topic of zebra striping, maybe a more neutral styling change would be to highlight the entire row (or to place highlights on both sides) on mouse-over or selection.

For example, the row already has a green line on the left when selected - this could be mirrored on the right-hand side to ensure the right delete button is clicked.

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The green line suggestion would work although then you need to select the row first before deleting to get that indicator. Another alternative to zebra striping would be to highlight the current row on hover.

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I agree that highlighting on hover would be very valuable. I just moved to a larger monitor and now I worry about clicking delete on the wrong items.

I appreciate I could shrink my window to reduce this risk, but even still, the hover capability would be useful at any screen size.

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Ugh . Can it be agreed upon that positive UX is completely unrelated to GTD!

When positive UX is implemented in never detracts from GTD!

David Allen was not writing a book on UX. GTD is an method; which means that how one likes to interface with a piece of software to apply that method should be completely unrestricted!

I think that there is some negativity towards implementing good UX because of some fear that it would detract from David Allen and I would like to squash that fear.

We have had this discussion before. David Allen/GTD was written with a purpose and in a time that was highly indifferent to modern orthodox UX concepts.

It just seems like time and time again the issues that come up in this forum have a common theme…

U. X.

There is a reason that UX keeps popping up as an issue.

For the most part Everdo followed Nirvana’s interface which already took care of the majority of UX , being a well designed project. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining too much because there is already so much positive to say about the current state of UX in Everdo as it is.

But the thing about UX is that it has to do with the joy that users experience when they use the software. There DO EXIST places where the experience is the opposite of joyful and I am worried that the reason those issues go ignored are due to some false sense of devotion to David Allen (if we do it that way , it breaks GTD)

such as

“if you do your reviews right, you wont have that problem.”

It doesn’t have to be a review issue though. It is a perception issue. UX is a perception and processing issue. People perceive and process information differently. Mr. E_A has expressed issues which hinder the joy he feels when using Everdo not because he isn’t keeping up on reviews but because perceiving the information and processing it has become tedious to the way his psyche handles information.

Let’s be more positive about UX. It honestly makes a huge difference.
When care is given to UX, the users become actual FANS of the software and it becomes self promoting.

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I agree. UX is a big factor for me. I was a MLO user for years, but switched to Everdo in early 2019 because I liked the interface more. I switched back to MLO because of features, and have been back and forth on a yearly basis since. Currently been back in Everdo since August, and it’s because of the UX.

MLO has a lot of features that would work nicely in Everdo, but it’s a clutter monster, and due to the myriad ways you can customise it, I was getting lost in the customisation rather than actioning my tasks.

But with Everdo, it feels clean and structured. When I use it at work, where I can be working on multiple projects and then get a phone call that puts everything on hold because I have to deal with that, I trust Everdo to help me keep on track of it. That’s where the joy comes into it, because in amongst the chaos of work, I have a tool and system that helps me keep on top of it. Whereas with MLO, despite the additional useful features, using it just didn’t feel right and I lost trust in it.

It’s safe to say, I’m a fan of Everdo.

@joshuarobison
I agree. Well written!