Do More: Online To Do Lists Compared

tasktoy (based on GTD by David Allen) has the a mobile version which is readable on smartphones. It also allows the addition of tasks by SMS.

Thanks for the comparison.

30boxes now has taggable GTD friendly to do lists that can be filtered in 2 dimensions.

Frank,

thanks for the summary. I’ve been using RTM since it puts out iCal and Atom feeds of my tasks, but one thing I wonder about is whether these products really have a future. I mean, tasks are a natural calendaring function, one recently added by 30Boxes and, I imagine, in the works at Google. While I like the idea of a virtual PIM, the extra friction involved in using distributed solutions (email here, calendar there, task list elsewhere) seems to offset the advantages so far, esp since some things like contacts, really want to be in a central store, not duplicated in different tools.

Definately add the 30boxes one to the list, although it just came out and isn’t 100% up to par, they are consistently making it work better. It also has some neat calendar integration.

“Note: we steered clear of some of the more complex personal homepage and calendar products like Zoho Planner and Backpack to try and compare only apples to apples.”

I missed that part.. I apologize.

None of these to-do lists offer a way to sync with my laptop’s copy of Outlook. That alone is what’s keeping me from using a web2.0 to-do list!

Note that Outlook itself is indispensable to me for two major reasons - 1) the integration of email/calendar/contacts/to-do lists and 2) the easy ability to sync with my phone/PDA

I live out of Outlook, both on my phone and on my PDA, and can’t always have a web connection. So, without sync, an online list is out of the question. Which is a shame.

I enjoyed the comparison. I have become a member of Ta-da List.
Thanks Frank.

“less ia more”

i think you meant “less is more”

bah, to slow - delete these

not sure about blablalist but there are more google ads there than there is content!

Tadalist has a great interface.

And if you want to see how people are using it, you can just search for ‘tadalist’ on Bloglines and read random tadalists from random people that Bloglines is indexing and making public:

http://www.bloglines.com/searc.....q=tadalist

Read more about it:

http://www.whirlycott.com/phil.....acy-issue/

You should definitly check out PlacesTodo.com a location based to-do list. It was developed as a class project at ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Programs) a graduate program @ NYU. The project will also be featured at the ITP Spring show (http://itp.nyu.edu/show/) this Tues and Weds if your in NYC swing by booth 763 and check it out.

http://www.placestodo.com/about.php

I use Voo2do long time ago and it rules.. I can manage varios projects/views at the same time and planning everything.

Good point on the mobile list tie-in. I agree with Bryan’s comment above re Outlook tasks syncronization. For example, my wife has asked me to do something. It would be very easy for her to add it to my Ta-Da list, for example, and have it come down to my Outlook tasks for printing etc.

You’re right, Mike. As much as I love using todo lists to prioritize myself I find all these products useless because I can’t manage them from my mobile phone.

I don’t see why you think Zoho Planner and Backpack are more complicated than these other products? More limitations maybe. Personally, I demoed a number of these applications you’ve reviewed along with Zoho and Backpack. I ended up using Zoho because of the lack of limitations.

if you want to manage to-dos from your mobile phone then you should check out placestodo.com. it allows you to post and receive todos from your mobile phone. it’s still in beta but would appreciate any feed back.

Thank goodness voo2doo is “more complex.” If a simple to-do list were enough, I wouldn’t be scribbling on post-its, envelopes and napkins (yes, napkins) all day long.

Its logic corresponds to the (dis)order in my brain. Items fall into several levels — tasks form part of projects which form part of contexts — and each is prioritized. It reminds me of gmail in that items go away until I really need to look at them. I also recommend Remember the Milk, if only for the SMS reminders.

Any idea why these companies are not tackling hierarchical lists?? Something like what treepad.com offers, but usable over the web…

Ta-Da looks nice, but for a quick-and-dirty todo list, nothing beats Bla-Bla. The window may be a little small (and a little too orange), but you can re-order or edit any item with a *single* click — no extra buttons, no two-step clicks, no modal dialogs, just one click. Perfect.

None of the other products you mention can match that ease of use.

I used Ta-Da for a while then switched over to free basecamp, which lets me have separate todo lists. Much more useful since some lists are much faster than others.

Good lord, Blabla Lists don’t go too over the top with adverts do they?

Good looking list. Students should look at http://www.mynoteit.com to organize your upcoming assignments (a more specific to-do list) :p

Listpool.com is one that is pretty cool, too. It has most of the features these others have with a very clean UI. My wife and I share our grocery list with this site.

My wife and use listpool.com. We use it to share our to-do and grocery lists at work. It has a clean interface and is easy to use.

AJAX? RSS? XML? Ruby on Rails?Ridiculous. What’s wrong with a simple .txt file or a notebook? IMO this is bloated BS for a simple task.

Seriously, Web 2.0 to-do lists with AJAX? Give me a break.

voo2do.com has a nice clean user interface and a more complex project management and collaboration functionality. Definately is worth a look.

We use http://www.centraldesktop.com for group To Dos, project management and much more.

They also have a neat personal workspace area where you can manage todos, and store files as well as copies of saved web pages. I use this as my personal storage area.

I thought I’d throw in with my own open source, web-based to-do list manager: Gravity GTD. It doesn’t yet have all the features of some of these guys, but a lot of people have found it useful. http://www.gravity-gtd.ca

A timely posting as I’ve just replaced my online ToDo list from TaDa to Remember The Milk. As I’m trying to live my life online I needed to share information between one app/site and another - TaDa just didn’t cut the mustard for me.

I think, though, that I agree with Rick Gregory that ToDo lists may have a limited lifespan as calendars (Google etc etc) incorporate them and it’s all in one place. My biggest issue so far is the duplication and total non-sharing of contact info (it’s in Gmail and it ain’t going anywhere else!)

However, with the glue (iCal and RSS/Atom) I do believe that we can have distributed apps with a little effort.

I just tried remember the milk. It was a bit annoying not knowing where the edit button was. I would have liked to click right into it to be able to edit instead of looking all around for that pencil. I had to go to the faq to find out about it. I would also like to have it like the outlook task list which “sunbird” is sorely missing to where you can just enter a task and hit return. Then you can come back later to set the reminders.

I like the AIM reminder feature best and the ability to set it up almost with natural language commands.

I like tadalist the best but they dont have any reminder features and backpack has reminders but only through email.

Howdy, one more to add:

http://www.listography.com

It’s more for fun, but it’s very flexible.

-sasha

Netvibes todo list is the best, its very clean.

My biggest prob with to-do lists is that I need them to constantly stare at me on my desktop otherwise they list items never get done. Yahoo widgets has a nice calander/to-do list widget that sits on my desktop (staring at me in the face). It integrates with my calander on their web site, but I never actually go to the web site to add anything. Easy to use, nothing complicated about it.

I’m the creator/operator of Voo2do, and I’m honored to have been techcrunched. If anyone has any questions or suggestions for me, feel free to contact me at shimon@voo2do.com.

And if you’re looking for a to-do list app that’s simple but not primitive, try voo2do!

I was using Remember the Milk for awhile… it seemed too limited and clunky for me.

I’m trying voo2do and it looks like it might be more useful.

To Patrick, looking for TreePad-like functionality: try OPML Manager.

I use TiddlyWiki for task managment. It’s a powerful javascript wiki that runs self-contained in any browser. You don’t have to be online to use it. There are some Getting Things Done versions (including mine) described here.

I use Tracks on my own personal server, it can be found here:
http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/

It’s free (as in beer and as in freedom), easy to set up, and easy to use. It’s actively being developed (soon to be by me as well) so only more good things are to come.

I’ll have to take a look at these though, I didn’t know such beasts existed.

My personal favorite online to do list is http://www.netvibes.com. And I don’t mean their “to do list” module. I mean their “webnote” module.

Just add several webnotes to your netvibes page and you have the single best, most powerful, and flexible to do list manager!

Check out http://listring.com

This open-source product lets you create custom lists, including todos, contacts, bookmarks, and make them available as RSS. The UI is very simple and user friendly.

Also see http://www.jotdot.com

JotDot is more than just todo lists, but provides a social collaboration experience, allowing you to easily shares public “jots”, as well as setup tightly-knit communities around topics that you and your friends find interesting.

What’s with all this also checkout my xyz.com solution? Come on guys, lets not turn this into spam alley …

Am I to understand that since tada list uses lots of white space and big fonts they win? Is that what makes a great web 2.0 application these days?

Does tada list have keyboard short cuts? Drag and drop for reordering? Date recognition like “due next friday”? Shareable lists? How do these features compare with the other applications? I don’t understand how you came to your conclusion based on the little information you provided in the review.

I second the votes for TiddlyWiki. Fast, portable, functional, lets you enter and process your todo info and otherwise stays out of your way.

And, it still works when you’re offline, or using a USB stick in a web cafe in Cambodia. Sweeet.

I use mytodos.com. It’s a free version of tudu lists above.

I’ve been a big fan of remember the milk for a few months now. It’s feature-set and ease-of-use are huge advantages over the other services. My brief review of the service is at http://lifev20.blogspot.com/

thanks for the breakdown! I just tried tadalist the other day for my shopping lists and they were decently viewable in my windows mobile powered phone and I was able to view and check them off while shopping. I totally agree about the mobileness.

Wait a month. I’m developing something similar that will knock your pants off. If you’d like to say informed, drop me a line at: info [at] oscaralexander.com

for freedom

welcome to http://zyzg.org

for freedom

@ Mike who said

“What’s with all this also checkout my xyz.com solution? Come on guys, lets not turn this into spam alley …”

I strongly disagree. On these sort of review posts, I almost always get more from the suggested sites in the comments than from the review.

Similar to the RSS reader post, I believe the best products aren’t included in the review.

I believe that “MOST” of the suggestions are just from enthusiatic users of alternate prodcuts.

I actually like the to do-list that 30 Boxes have recently implemented. It’s simple and tag-able, which means I can easily pick all my to-do-lists tagged “friday meeting”, print them and bring them to the table come Friday, instead of a worn post-it-note.

And if I want to turn a to do-item into a calendar-item, I just right-click it and do so. See the linked URL for a screenshot example.

I am essentially repeating comment 58.
Does the move from desktop to the web means we get primitive apps with large fonts? There are better ways to achieve simplicity than stripping out capabilities.
Otherwise web apps will remain toys for techies and 37s funs.

Some thoughts here:
http://blog.startup.gr/blog/_a.....34407.html

Good point about mobile access.
However, Ta-Da does already have mobile acces - just add /mob to the end of your personal url. I use this alot and with Opera mobile works fine.

Nothing will beat a pen and paper diary with daily written to do lists. It just works.

I agree, I’ve tried many and all these solutions pale in comparison to paper and pen.

Very primitive solutions. I’ll stick with a textpad file or a draft email held in gmail.

Take a look at gootodo.com. Very cool idea that you can send yourself a task from Outlook by forwarding an email to a special address. It then posts the task to the correct date. And when you don’t complete a task, it automatically rolls it forward to the next date. I’ve been using it for a month now and like it a lot. Its real focus is not sharing your list or anything too fancy - just trying to keep your email inbox clean.

Here’s another vote for the pen and paper.

You forgot to review http://www.toodledo.com. Thats the one that I use.

Wow, thanks for covering this very important technology! Here’s my first list I made using Ta-Da:

- Get some paper
- Get a pen
- Write down lists of to do’s using paper and pen

So useful! How have I managed without it?

I wonder if Google is planning to add a to-do list capability to Google Calendar…Can you please inquire?
Thanks,

I’ve been using Voo2Do as a to-do list/project management tool to run a magazine, write a novel, do home improvements, take on freelance work, and keep track of Christmas presents since last fall, and I love it. It’s more than just a “buy cat litter” to-do list; I use the new 30boxes to-do for the simple one-shot stuff.

I absolutely agree about pen and paper still being the best thing for mobility.

for more complex on the go prioritization i use Projekt for symbian phones — it outlines, does status percentage, and best of all exports to OPML that you can email yourself from the phone itself. projekt rocks.

Web apps for todo lists are cool in some ways. But a lot of people are talking about wanting online and offline, integration with Outlook or other PIMs, syncing to your PDA cell phone to be useful.

I’ll make a shameless plug here because that’s what http://www.accomplice.com does. Accomplice offers the only “Activity Management” system that works on- and off-line, integrates with Outlook & PDAs (but only if you want it to), and lets you share and delegate activities (todos and goals) with anyone. It’s in beta, so you can signup now. It’s simple yet powerful for you, and let’s you share with others across a peer-to-peer network. It’s getting great reviews, and yes, it’s free!

I encourage you to check it out, signup if you like - http://www.accomplice.com .

These solutions are very cool. I have tested http://www.voo2do.com and http://www.tasktoy.com They are not primitive programs.

However, whenever I see this kind of sites I wonder “what’s the point?”

Many people (myself included) need to keep their task lists with them all the time. Imagine you’re downtown because something happened and you needed to get there. You remember you have 4-5 tasks to do there.. but wait, the task list is in a Web 2.0 application! So you don’t have it with you.

In my opinion, a serious personal time management solution is either a PDA or a paper planner. The paper planner sucks, I have tried it a lot and it doesn’t fit my style, I need to have all the files in My Documents with me, so I chose the PDA (I use a HTC Universal and I’m very pleased).

Most of the solutions described here don’t have a version which can be accessed by Pocket Internet Explorer, so they’re useless to PDA users.

Also, none of them sync with a PDA.

These are things to keep in mind when adding features to a Web 2.0 to-do list.

I wrote about to-do lists some time ago on my blog, and compared Ta-da List, Bla-bla List, Remember The Milk an voo2do. I came to the conclusion it was best to use Remember The Milk, because it has an extensive feature set and is still easy-to-use. Ta-da List seemed a bit too easy to use, it doesn’t even have due dates!
You can read the post at http://jw.clawz.com/blog/2006/.....-do-lists/

totally agree with comments 58 & 71…

I just finished trying tadalist…

what a stripped down to-do list… there’s nothing really useful there that a simple text document or pen/paper can’t achieve.

and the company that makes it even admits that it sucks, by telling you, in their FAQ, that they hope you upgrade to their paid version for actual features/benefits…

Check out Posticky.com We have a unique solution to Frank’s following comment “One feature that I think all of the competition should look into is mobile-accessible to-do lists because, unless you print your lists for on-the-go use, the traditional paper- written to-do list still could trump all of these products.”

I just checked out Posticky.com and you are right it does offer a great solution for the “on-the-go” to-do list. Thanks for the suggestion!

Check out http://www.posticky.com/index.php offers nice tools.

Excellect comparison here.

Good article, one you missed is

http://www.e2doList.com

Free and simple to use.

A little more full-featured than a list editor, but we’ve just launched the 2006 version of Copper Project (designed for creative studios).

Come and check it out at http://www.copperproject.com and email me directly if you have any questions (ben@copperproject.com). Cheers!

Hello

You don’t know me at all, but this is simply to notify you that your site, TechCrunch » Blog Archive » Do More Online To Do Lists Compared, located at http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....-compared/, has been picked as one of Mac’s Picks of the Week for one week, starting today. You are invited to have a look at my site, located at http://www.upnrunning.com.au/picks/ and see what I said about your site. With a hit rate approximating 400 people per day on my site, you may see an increase in visitors to your site.

My site is a labour of love, and simply points folk on the net around the world to sites I find that are family friendly, useful, enjoyable, and I feel are deserving of mention. Your site fits that category admirably, and I am pleased to award you with my award. You may take either of the award banners displayed on the bottom of the “Why and How Info” page, located at http://www.upnrunning.com.au/misc/info.html and display it on your rewards or recognition page. You may also resize either image to suit your requirements.

You can, if you wish, also have a link back to my site, but there is absolutely NO obligation to do so. You didn’t know you would be picked or indeed, even considered, as a Pick of the Week, so though I appreciate any links to my site, there is absolutely no obligation on your part to make one. You are, and will remain, one of Mac’s Picks of the Week for this week, and in my appropriate archive page for one year. *smile*

Thank you for the time taken in maintaining your site, and may your fortunes increase and your web presence grow.

All the best

Mac McLellan
Mac’s Picks of the Week
http://www.upnrunning.com.au/picks/

How do these companies make any money? What is the business model? Adsense? I dont see it - sorry. I would be very interested to hear about how these companies plan on making a business out of what they have here.

Great work on website. http://tdweb.fnal.gov/CIS/Members/de/poker-24.htm

Live blog: NZ Fashion Week 2006 http://Live-blog.ppc-se.com

… Her blog will be updated after every show. … It’s not a catwalk display per se, more like a giant sunglasses display. The event kicks off in half an hour. …

Hi,

For some types of users I think that a purely online to-do list can be a useful thing. Having said that, I genuinely don’t think that is where the future lies in this market.

It is certainly (in my humble opinion) not the best solution for people who have stressful and multijuggling office jobs and these are the people who need a powerful to-do list the most.

Let me give you my view of a what are the three of the most important features that you need from a to-do list when organizing your work:

1. It must be extremely quick to access…
This is the number one pit fall of 95% of all computer based to-do list software. Whether they are desk top products or online tools (as per the review above). This is the absolute main reason why paper based to-do lists stand head and shoulders above many fancy software products in this area.

2. It must be extremely quick to access…
If you read one of the best books on the market “Getting things done” by David Allen you will find that he continously stresses that unless you put ALL of your work in one consolidated place, you will not have faith in that your list is a complete reflection of what you need to do.

Now what does that mean. Well, it means that you have to have it so easily accessible that when you are on the phone or working on something else you can without even thinking (distracting you) throw in a new task in your list. In fact… you shouldn’t even have to OPEN your list in order to add a task.

3. Well I think you can guess what the third one is… ;o)

Now as you can see from my above argument, the “pure” online to-do list is not going to be the solution. Why? Simply because it has to run in your browser and that is not a good suitable for this type of tool.

Don’t beleive me? Ok, for you who use one of the online tools. Stop reading RIGHT NOW and create a task called “Call mum”. and then return to this text. I’m back, it took me 2-3 seconds including the typing. And rest assured… I’m not using a web based to-do list… ;o)

So where is the future for to-do list software?

Well, it is certainly web based because of the sharing capabilities. However, I think it will be a hybrid between a desktop application and a web based tool. More along the Web2 philosophy in other words.

I myself along with a friend have as a hobby been working on a to-do list software for about 2 years now. We are both software managers in our real jobs and after having tried numerous to-do lists, we simply gave up and decided that “Well, if it doesn’t exist, I guess we will have to roll up our sleeves and create one one!”.

Now if you were to spend a few minutes looking at this tool (Allontheball to-do list) and imagine such a tool with a “mirrored” web based counter part you will find the best of both worlds. This is our road map for Allontheball.

In other words, you will have extremely quick access. AND Web portability (shareability). We are also looking at the third piece of the puzzle and that is Outlook integration, which in extention means pda/cell phone portability.

As I mentioned, we have not reached our goal yet, but it certainly is our direction. If you would like to take a peek, go to:

http://www.allontheball.com/ and take it for a test drive.

If you are a good programmer and would like to join us (as a hobby), let me know. The sooner we can reach the vision I described above, the better. ;o)

Kind regards,

Chris

Hi,

Let me start by agreeing with those that claim that on-line lists cannot completely replace the paper ones.

However, paper lists would find it difficult compete with with the on-line when it comes to the Collaboration (i.e. sharing lists with others) and Longevity features.

http://listigator.com takes a more generic approach towards online lists (i.e. not just for managing to-dos).

You are all invited to give it a try.

Regards

Uri

http://aimbo.com - another online ajax task list manager

I’ve been playing with many of these. I hadn’t yet run across “Remember The Milk” yet. And it is actually the closest thing to what I want, but none of them are perfect. I basically want del.icio.us + todos. In other words, extremely simple entry of todos with tags and a list of tags to click on to view them by tag. “Remember the Milk” is close, they’d be there if they’d just add a tag list. Tada List has the simplicity but no tags. I thought you had to have tags to be considered “Web 2.0″

Oh well I’m sure one of them will come around. When they do, hopefully they’ll be bought by Google so I can use one account

Frank

I love the article, it really helped me decide what to use. I have been using a PDA for many years, but it broke recently, and i have been absent of a way to store my tasks.

One thing though, I found that you only really reviewed some of the more simple to-do managers, so I got inspired and wrote my own article. Reviews some of the same to-do lists, but also Wallnote, Toodledo, and Orchestrate.

http://www.gearfire.net/?p=64

Thought it would be helpful, coming from an avid to-do list user, who requires advanced features and flawless design.

Wishing you the best of luck, and a Merry Christmas!

Geoff Ruddock

Good article, one you missed is

http://w4vb.com

A bit late on the thread but I find another new site - http://www.tweeto.com - very simple and easy to use. Other sites have been a real chore for me to use, but this one has got me addicted to planning my day!