The Now, Later, Done system described previously on this list by Mimi appears to be a great way for organizing daily routines according to the time axis. However, some of the items encountered in the course of daily routines relate to other important items already in our mental database and it may nice to allow for depicting these relationships as well in another plane. This is of course why the TuxCards cactus tree system seems to be getting good reviews. However, the two organizational systems might be merged to allow for even greater functionality for managing information.
Previously, I had mentioned that some items in the cactus tree classification system may be time dependent items that could be viewed along the time axis from within the Datebook application. It may also be possible to view the time dependent items with a filter that could be applied to the cactus tree layout. When this filter is selected, the title bars of those items in the cactus that are due say within the next 24 hours may be indicated with a dark shade of red, those items due say within the next week may be indicated with a lighter shade of red, those items due within the next month may be indicated with an even lighter shade of red. Of course the color that is selected for the hue gradient classification of time dependent items in the cactus may be changed by the user. In addition to the gradient hue system, further visual cues may be offered by allowing for a three D view of the cactus where those items due within the next 24 hours may be depicted as being raised above the desktop more with a greater drop shadow. Those items due within the next week would then have a lighter hue and would be raised less above the desktop with a smaller drop shadow. Those items due in the next month would have an even lighter hue and be raised even less above the desktop with an even smaller drop shadow. Those items in the cactus that are not time dependent but can now be considered to be in the Done category could be at the level of the desktop with no drop shadow. Optionally, another filter may be offered for viewing the cactus layout as well which depicts items according to the Now, Later, Done system. When this filter is selected, the title bars of those items in the Now category could be presented in the same color the user has selected for his Now Box items. The title bars of these items could also be presented as being furthest raised above the desktop with the largest drop shadow. The tiles of those items that are in the cactus and have been assigned to the Later Box can be presented in the same color as that the user selected for his Later Box and can be depicted with a smaller drop shadow. All other items in the cactus may essentially be considered as Done Box items and hence could be presented in the same color as the Done Box and with no drop shadow. To help integrate the spatial axis for classification of items with the time dependent Now, Later, Done axis, it may be useful to add two buttons to the floating / dockable launch bar for Chandlers subapplications. One button, perhaps with a T symbol could be used for the Triage app for Now, Later, Done view. In this view, one could see a list of all items that have been assigned to each of these boxes. Another button in the launch bar, perhaps with a C symbol could be used for the Cactus app where users could then organize those items that they encounter in their daily routines that somehow relate to other items in their mental database. For example, say one encounters an email that then becomes a task to be assigned to the Later Box. The title bar of the email could then be dragged to the T button of the launch bar to place it in the Later Box. On the other hand, say one is working on a Writer document that is also a Task with a due date. The Writer document may be a subject within another larger heading within the users own mental database. Hence, the Writer documents title bar may be dragged into the C button on the launch bar to open up the Cactus view and then place the document in the right position in the users personal classification system. Then, by right clicking the title bar of the Writer document in the cactus, a contextual menu could include the option to assign the item to the Now / Later / Done box organizational axis. Hence, the Writer document can then be assigned, in this case, to the Later box and this would then change the color of the title bar to that of the Later Box items and raise the title bar above the desktop with drop shadow height assigned for all Later Box items in the cactus. When the N-L-D filter is turned on, any items in the cactus that have not been actively assigned to the Now, Later, Done axis could, by default, be presented as a Done type item where the title bar is the same color as the Done box items and is at the level of the desktop with no drop shadow. Hence, the cactus view would essentially compliment the Now, Later, Done system allowing for users to organize their life with graphically in three dimensions. --Selva __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Open Source Applications Foundation "Design" mailing list http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/design
