Add pomodoro timer to actionable viewer component

[digitalethics]

The Actionable component in the view switcher indicates actionable items without providing the most important element of any productivity workflow: timing yourself when working on a specific task.

The visual implementation offered by Go For It! is not ideal but it demonstrates the general idea:

[nekohayo]

I'd say this would be a great candidate for a plugin ;) the question is also whether this should be within the UI itself, or if it should simply integrate/interact with a timer app like, for example, GNOME Clocks, Workrave, RSIBreak, etc. over DBus or something.

[aimproxy]

I suggest that when adding a task make it possible to add a predicted time to execute a task and after that make possible to mark a task as started and then the pomodoro starts. And application could notify if the estimated time to accomplishing that task has already been exceeded. I will summarize this in a few points:

• [ ] Add a button with a clock icon to add a expected time to execute the task
• [ ] On each row add a button to start, pause and stop the pomodoro
• [ ] Alert the user if the expected time to finish the task has exceeded
• [ ] Add an icon on 'Quickly create task here' to define a pomodoro
• [ ] Add into the sidebar a list with all the task defined with an expected time

I think that's it for now but I would like collaborate with @digitalethics to work on this plugin. In my point view I agree that is a great candidate for a plugin and it makes more sense to integrate with Gnome Clocks over DBus.

[diegogangl]

Some thoughts on this:

• The Quick Add shouldn't have any more buttons. The pomodoro setting could be defined with a text key, the way we do tags and other things. Something like "Walk the dog tags:life,pets pomodoro:45"
• The plugin data should be stored in a separate XML file in the data directory. Tasks and tags should be referenced by ID, this might need to wait until the new file format lands
• Add an extra list to the sidebar might have to wait until the new sidebar too
• "Adding a button with a clock icon". I'd rather add this to the hamburger (AKA main) menu so the headerbar doesn't too crowded
• "On each row add a button to start/pause/stop". This might have to wait for the port to lists, though it might be possible in Gtk.TreeViews (just annoying to write). That said we should also consider the visual clutter of having 3 buttons repeated over and over. Maybe if they are only available in the selected task.

I think the best first approach would to write a simple plugin with a button in the menu that pops a window with a timer like the one in the screenshot. Then we can keep adding more features like counting up, linking to tasks, statistics, etc.

Sorry to be so negative about this :P, but we are still in the middle of massive changes and it's better to take baby steps.

[digitalethics]

Thanks for all of your feedback and I'm happy to work with @aimproxy on this. I think it'll be important that the pomodoro functionality is fully agnostic and would work when running GTG on other desktop environments. Technically, why would you prefer it to be a plugin? What would be the advantages of this?

[diegogangl]

Technically, why would you prefer it to be a plugin? What would be the advantages of this?

Not everyone needs or wants a timer, some people use GTG more as a regular todo list. Some people might have their own timers they want to use. So it's better if this remains an optional feature.