New theme and using description field in betaversion

[hg2581]

I am using the betaversion released today on a tablet running Android 7 and have some comments.

• The new theme seems to use space less efficiently in the list of tasks which makes the app less productive.
• The list-scroller on the left of the list is too small to use. In fact, I have not been able to use it to scroll at all.
• The priority marking to the right of the task in the list of tasks is hard to see because it is a little bit too small.
• When viewing tasks and there is a URL in the description field it seems it is no longer possible to open the link in the browser by clicking it. Instead it can be edited which is not really useful. From earlier releases I should add:
• The name of the list the task belongs to would better be in the top portion with the name of the task, the deadline etc. Similarly, the priority should be above the description. By the way, this new beta-release seems to have a very large top portion, unnecessarily so in my opinion.
• When using a browser - Firefox/Opera/Chrome - and the page is shared with OpenTasks, the URL is currently copied to the description field but it should also(?) be copied to the URL field. I put a question mark after the word also since at least in my case, my backend, Nextcloud, does not sync the URL field although the next release of the task app for Nextcloud is supposed to be able to so.
• Like in earlier version, it seems the first instance of a recurring task still shows up as an not-completed task in OpenTask. I have not figured out why though.

Finally, I should mention that I have over 100 task lists (and calendars) that are synced via Nextcloud with several computers, phones and one tablet.

Thank you for listening.

[dmfs]

thanks for the detailed report, please see my comments below

The new theme seems to use space less efficiently in the list of tasks which makes the app less productive.

I've planned a number of improvements. This is just the very first version. Among other things I'll add settings to show/hide the description preview and the check box item counts. Actually, tasks without description and check list have a more compact appearance now. This is still under development, so it will hopefully become more productive for you again. The new layout will become necessary when we start adding features like categories which wouldn't fit on the old list items.

The list-scroller on the left of the list is too small to use. In fact, I have not been able to use it to scroll at all.

I'll check that: #980

The priority marking to the right of the task in the list of tasks is hard to see because it is a little bit too small.

-> #981, please add size and resolution of your tablet

When viewing tasks and there is a URL in the description field it seems it is no longer possible to open the link in the browser by clicking it. Instead it can be edited which is not really useful.

Yep, that's known and I already have a plan on how to fix that. #982

From earlier releases I should add: The name of the list the task belongs to would better be in the top portion with the name of the task, the deadline etc. Similarly, the priority should be above the description.

I put the list name to the bottom because the list is already represented by the color. Of course that doesn't work very well when you have a very large number of lists. I'll definitely reconsider the layout once the details view gets its new design.

By the way, this new beta-release seems to have a very large top portion, unnecessarily so in my opinion.

The bar on top shouldn't have changed, actually. That might be a side effect of the new theme. I'll have a look at that.

When using a browser - Firefox/Opera/Chrome - and the page is shared with OpenTasks, the URL is currently copied to the description field but it should also(?) be copied to the URL field. I put a question mark after the word also since at least in my case, my backend, Nextcloud, does not sync the URL field although the next release of the task app for Nextcloud is supposed to be able to so.

I haven't tried sharing web pages with OpenTasks. I'll check that. #983

Like in earlier version, it seems the first instance of a recurring task still shows up as an not-completed task in OpenTask. I have not figured out why though.

I can't reproduce this with my sync app. It might be helpful to get the ICalendar data of such a task. I'm also working on a task export. That might help too.

[hg2581]

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Since I have over 100 calendars with a total of over 3000 tasks among them, this is one of the most important apps on my phone and tablet. Fortunately not all of the 3000 tasks are tasks waiting to be completed but I use the app to store information items etc etc.

For that reason, I had to revert to the previous beta-version since some of the issues are showstoppers. I did find one more, by the way, which is that recurring tasks disappear once I complete them.

For these reasons I reverted to the previous betaversion and will be looking forward to trying the next beta-release.

Finally, I do not want to come across as ungrateful but since I use OpenTasks as a working tool, I care more about the functionality of the app than eye candy. I personally have a much greater need for: (1) handling recurrent tasks fully; (2) much greater flexibility in sorting tasks and displaying them; and (3) improvement in the search function where it is currently sometimes impossible to find the needle in the haystack.

[hg2581]

I should have added that being able to attache one or more files/documents to any given task is also a high-priority feature enhancement for me.

[dmfs]

Description links will work again in the next release.

Handing of recurring tasks is fully implemented now and should work correctly (creating recurring tasks is coming next). It works correctly for me so far. If something is still broken for you we need look into it. #986 will add a way to export the data of a single task. That might help to find the culprit. Btw. do the completed recurring tasks show up as completed (when you tick the respective check box in the task list menu)? How are they synced back to the server?

[hg2581]

Great, looking forward to testing the next beta-release. As I mentioned, I had to revert back to older beta-release since Open Tasks is one of the key tools on my phones and tablets with an older version of Thunderbird (52.9.1) and the Calendar Lightning add-on used. My backend is Nextcloud and syncing between the Android devices and the backend-server is done using your CalDAV-Sync adapter. The reason I am still on an older version of TB is that the Lightning add-on is not supported in newer versions and having the Lightning add-on is the only way to avoid debilitation lock-ups by TB when - as I believe - is syncing my over 100 calendars. There must be some serious design flaws deep down in the TB software with respect to this...

A minor note, I noticed I have close to 4,000 tasks among my a little over 100 calendars. The phones and tablet handle this without any issues but TB does not do so well.

As for the recurrent tasks, I create them on TB and let them sync to the Android devices where i hit the checkmark to complete the current event and have it rolled over to the next one. I do, however, need to be able to create/edit/delete one or a series of recurrent events on the Android systems of course.

Since I reverted to the previous beta-release I cannot investigate recurring tasks on the current release except, as I noted, they disappeared completely - no next event showing up. This was corrected when I rolled back so it may be a display issue. But, on the previous beta-release I have an issue where the first event of a recurring event is still visible...

[dmfs]

I see. I'll probably need the iCalendar data of a task which shows the problematic behavior when completed with the new version.

as I noted, they disappeared completely - no next event showing up. This was corrected when I rolled back so it may be a display issue.

That's interesting. It's probably more of an issue with the instances table. The instances table contains the instances to show. In fact the major thing that has changed between 1.2.x and 1.3 is how the entries of the instances table are generated. The new version is supposed to honor existing overrides (which 1.2.x didn't do correctly).

Tthe eye candy is part of a big picture. There are more aspects to it than just a nicer look:

• this was done while switching to the Material Base Theme, this is actually important because many other UI components depend on that and we couldn't use them otherwise. For instance, the recurrence picker I'd like to use doesn't work right now because the task editor is still using the the old base theme.
• this was also done in preparation of dark theme support. In the early days we didn't really pay much attention on best practices for theming and the result is something which can't support a dark theme that easily
• the list items used to be of fixed height. They were quite compact but also had limited space available. We'll need more space for many of the planned features like categories and attachments. The idea is to make the list items customizable though. So in its most compact form (just the title), the list items are now more compact than before.
• lastly a little bit of eye candy can help to attract more users which in turn might help to attract more contributors.

[dmfs]

Some of the issue should be fixed with version 1.3.1.

[hg2581]

Thank you, will try on one of the phones tomorrow and get back to you.

[hg2581]

I tried the latest beta but again reverted back to the latest release prior to the new theme for a couple of reasons:

• The new theme is visually very unappealing and distracting. The list of tasks it now an assault in colors akin to a kid's game, not what I need like to see in a productivity app.
• While it is now possible to open a link in a task, I now have to confirm opening it. Twice as many key presses as before and therefore not an improvement in usability.
• The bug where recurrent tasks disappear after being completed is still there.
• The scroll bar on the left is still not usable.
• When using the app on a tablet in portrait mode, the floating button to add a new task is not visible, The tablet needs to be reoriented to landscape mode for it be visible. Why not place the button in the lower right area as on many other apps rather than wasting space on the right.

Again, from my perspective, the development effort would have been better spent on productivity features rather than UI, the changes to the latter not being an improvement in usability.

Some of my priorities are:

• Full ability to create/edit/delete recurring tasks.
• Greater flexibility in sorting tasks in the different types of lists
• Better search capabilities, the current one finds too much irrelevant tasks.
• Better handling of tasks edited which are not yet synchronized with the backend. As it is now, editing a task that is not yet synchronized with the backend results in new edits disappearing and the backend version showing up. The best way to handle this is what Thunderbird does, ie warning the user that the task is not synchronized and giving the user the choice between editing the newer version or forcing the new edits to the server version.
• Being able to attach files etc. to individual tasks.

I know I have raised these issues over the last several years.

[dmfs]

Thanks for your feedback. Please see my comments below:

The new theme is visually very unappealing and distracting. The list of tasks it now an assault in colors akin to a kid's game, not what I need like to see in a productivity app.

Design is a rather subjective issue. I like the new design, apparently (otherwise I wouldn't have done it that way). However, I recognize that the bold colors are a bit too much for some users. #1001 takes care of that.

While it is now possible to open a link in a task, I now have to confirm opening it. Twice as many key presses as before and therefore not an improvement in usability.

The improvements are

1. the description can be edited in the details view (just like the check list items)
2. links in the check list items can be opened too now

I've added this "confirmation" step to support editing texts with clickable links. If the links would be opened directly you wouldn't be able to edit them, because every time you tap on a link, it would be opened and you wouldn't be able to place a cursor.

The bug where recurrent tasks disappear after being completed is still there.

I don't have a test case to reproduce this, which makes it difficult to fix it. Ideally you can provide me with a sanitized iCalendar file of a task which shows this behavior. The instructions for how to create such a task might help too.

The scroll bar on the left is still not usable.

I'll look into this again: #980

When using the app on a tablet in portrait mode, the floating button to add a new task is not visible, The tablet needs to be reoriented to landscape mode for it be visible. Why not place the button in the lower right area as on many other apps rather than wasting space on the right.

Apparently there already is an issue for that: #661 I'll look into that.

---

On the issue of design vs. functionality:

I totally understand your perspective and your functional requirements. On the other hand, I draw a lot of motivation from building an app that also looks pretty. I don't see work on the design as time wasted or time that could be spent better. It's not so much fun to create something I don't really like. In addition, the UI has built up some technical debt, which needs to be fixed to implement other features (as mentioned above). The design itself is just a small part of the work that was done. However, at present I'm trying to deliver both, a bit of design and a bit of functionality with every release. The next major release will provide the functionality to create task with simple recurrence patterns and a few design changes.

[wired2051]

I can understand that you have to like your app and its design. But I have to agree with the others. For me too, this is one of the most important apps on my phone, so it needs to work effectively.

• please less wasted space between tasks.

• please only 1-2 lines per task. For example, I find the information of how many completed and unfinished sub-tasks are included not important, that's what the progress view is for.

• Please show the color of the calendar more unobtrusive.

Maybe you could make the display adjustable in the options?

[hg2581]

I finally installed the latest beta. Although the coloring of the tasks is much improved, the other bugs remain. A key bug is that completing a recurring task makes it disappear completely, in this case it is a daily task that no longer shows up. It still exists when using the old betas before the UI changes and is properly advanced etc. The other bugs/complaints I have mentioned also remain.