In the Oven: Smarter Text for Quicksilver and the Inbox
The upcoming Tuesday release has new features that came together as a result of your suggestions. There is much going on that needs to be blogged (without even getting into Actionatr), so let’s begin today with this so-called smarter text for Quicksilver and the Inbox.
There are many cases where “design by committee” creates truly bland, unfocused software using yesterday’s technology for users who have already moved on. An optimization of this anti-pattern has come together several times, however, and I would like to share this example. It isn’t so much about committees and voting as it is about decentralized thinking and idea sharing.
Superimposition
There’s a joke about late 90’s Photoshop and web design in here somewhere, but I’ll try to keep this on track. Idea superimposition — let’s call it an idea mashup — can happen with anyone privileged enough to read email and feature requests from real people using their software. The trick is letting the ideas soak in and get reinforcement from other requests. Each user has their own great ideas to share. Some great ideas conflict with others. Some need polish, but it doesn’t matter. The fact that these ideas are moving through a single mental filter (even a filter as warped as mine) is where the magic comes in. Smarter text for Quicksilver and the Inbox came around in this fashion. No one idea contained all of this information, nor would I have come up with this in isolation.
Here are the ideas that were mashed together:
- Auto-complete project and context names
- Add new projects and contexts from the inbox “ninja thingie”
- Allow projects (with “>”) and contexts (with “@”) to be entered from Quicksilver
- Allow notes (with “–”) to be included with actions via Quicksilver
- Allow a new project and its first action to be created from the inbox “ninja thingie”
- Ignore case when sorting project and context names
- Don’t require the mouse while processing the inbox
The outcome? Smarter text.
New Quicksilver Textisms
- Just like before, lone items still show up in the inbox.
- Project names are proceeded with the “>” symbol.
- Context names are proceeded with the “@” symbol.
- Notes are proceeded with the “–” symbol and appear at the end.
- New projects and contexts are created on the fly if they are not found. Finding them is case-insensitive.
- Items with projects or contexts (or both) are automatically filed as actions.
- Notes can be added to projects, contexts, inbox items, or actions.
- Notes for projects or contexts that already exist will append to the existing notes.
Examples
Send an item to the Inbox (just like before):
- remember the coffee
Create a Build Flying Car project:
- > Build Flying Car
Create an @email context:
Add an action with notes for the flying car project and place it in a new context on the fly, called @calls:
- Call Bob > Build Flying Car @calls — number is 555.555.1212
Add a note for the above project:
- > Build Flying Car — new goal is Q4 2010
Better Inbox Filing
The inbox “ninja” has also received a text upgrade. Here are the details:
- No mouse required. All buttons have shortcuts.
- You can tab to the Project and Context fields.
- You can still drop down the menus for these items if you wish.
- Typing project or context names will bring up matches in real time.
- Using a new name in either field creates the project or context on the fly.
- You can skip typing the “@” if you’re in a rush. (I know, I know. Everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting on this one.)
There is a free 1.0 license waiting for the first person who emails a good replacement (that gets used) for the inbox ninja nickname. “Processor” is stale and corporate-workflow-ish. “Wizard” is scary.
simone wrote:
I would call it Majordomo…
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 4:13 pm | Permalink
Tom Lazar wrote:
How about ‘designator’ or something along those lines?
From the Oxford Dictionary:
designate verb |ˈdezigˌnāt| [ trans. ] […] officially assign a specified status or ascribe a specified name or quality to.
p.s. can’t wait til tuesday ;-) and thanks for sharing the design process.
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 4:38 pm | Permalink
umop wrote:
Yes, yes, yes!!!! Superb. If this next release were for sale, I would buy it (of course, I would have bought the last one too, but, well, I’d buy both of them =).
Okay. There is one final thing that I hope to see in this release (maybe I missed a mention to it in the notes, but if not, PLEASE PLEASE!!). I have a horrible (but uncurable) habit of writing *lines* of text per action which I’m afraid that even the introduction of notes will not help cure. I presume that there will be a per-action dialog that will show up in order to see the notes that come along with it. Is it possible to make some way of seeing the entire wrapped task name visible (ie “mention to johnathan about the flying car idea. Remember to include diagrams and your schedule for the next week, and see what kind of price we can get on jet turbines in bulk quantity@withJohnathan>flying car”) instead of just the first line?
This kind of thing would be useful in both the inbox-ninja and the filed action.
The only other thing that I can think of is that a new context or project should have some kind of alert before it’s created in case the user made a typo (a good way to implement this is to have a drop down of all contexts, in case the user misspelled the context, the default being the new context). I remember dealing with this in the Advanced kGTD QS Action where such integration wasn’t really easy to do.
Thanks,
Eric
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 5:49 pm | Permalink
Reinier Meenhorst wrote:
Assistent
InBoxer
NoBrainer
Helper
Grabber
Streamer
Actioneer
QuickFiler
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 5:59 pm | Permalink
Thorsten Löw wrote:
Well Actually turn the Ninja a »butler« is y suggestion, cause he does a butler like job, Ok he doesn serve Earl grey, hot, yet
One Other thing i d like to ask: Would it be possible to make the Preferences in such a way, that the user can decide, what contexts start with, waht Notes start with and what projects begin with…
And being german, i would like to enter Dates in the german format…
Ok if need be, i will help translating the software…
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 6:18 pm | Permalink
scralpha wrote:
Ideas for an ‘inbox ninja’ name:
Incubator
ActionTasker
Classificator
Contextify/Contextifier
Task-o-matic
File-o-tron
The Secretary
Blanche
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 6:52 pm | Permalink
scralpha wrote:
One more:
Zero
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 6:53 pm | Permalink
justin wrote:
inbox ninja suggestions
grinder
meat grinder
action factory
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 7:24 pm | Permalink
Michael B wrote:
David Allen talks early in the book about “the Transformation of ‘Stuff’”, so why not just call it the Transformer…
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 9:14 pm | Permalink
chris wrote:
here are a few off the top of my head:
inbox dash
inbox sprint
commit
Director
Commander
The Decider (!)
Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 9:24 pm | Permalink
Ton wrote:
I would just call it: (the) Filer.
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 2:06 am | Permalink
Romel wrote:
What about the “In-Boxer”?
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 2:37 am | Permalink
Brab wrote:
This looks great. Do you allow for partial names for projects, or do I have to type the whole thing?
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:01 am | Permalink
Dragos Roua wrote:
How about the “stuffer”? It’s about stuff, right? Or maybe: the oven? ;-)
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:38 am | Permalink
Andrew wrote:
Actionizer
QuickAction
Zen
Conductor
Collatr (Collate)
The Well
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:40 am | Permalink
TubbyMike wrote:
How about “gopher”? It gets the job done. No more; no less…
Or, possibly, the “porter”?
There’s my 2 cents.
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 7:27 am | Permalink
Omar wrote:
How about:
Inbox Vacuum
Inbox Funnel
Inbox Parser
Inbox Filter
Inbox Dicer
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 7:36 am | Permalink
pacheco wrote:
I apologize if I repeat any:
The Operator
The Switchboard
The Sifter
The Refinery
The Delegator
The Cabinet
The Governator (or just Governor)
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 7:56 am | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@Everyone:
Thank you for the ideas. I am filing them all in a safe place along with the email suggestions and will let them soak in for a bit before picking the name. Once a new nickname is picked, you’ll hear about it on this blog.
@Brab:
The inbox [pick-a-name] allows partial matches, but the Quicksilver trigger does not. I’ll get to work on changing that.
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 8:12 am | Permalink
Danny Zacharias wrote:
Great work! Can’t wait for the next update.
As to a name, if you watch the 43Folders video with Merlin Mann interviewing David Allen, Allen always uses the phrase “cranking widgets” to refer to the GTD process.
So how about
“The Crank”, or “Cranker”
And the file button can say
“Crank it!”
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 8:15 am | Permalink
owen wrote:
The Juggernaut!…mmm no, seriously though: ‘Synthesize’ or ‘Synthesizer’ (i.e. by definition: to create something, such as chemicals in the body, from simpler, raw materials).
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 8:16 am | Permalink
Uno wrote:
Mender?
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 8:18 am | Permalink
eDragonu - the choice of a personal path wrote:
Actiontastic goes online with Actionatr…
The author of the mac-based GTD productivity application …
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 8:25 am | Permalink
steve brown wrote:
I like “Filer” and “Designator” (from previous suggestions).
Very “Finder” -like, and not to distractingly cute like some of the “Super Get-er-Done Machine” names.
apart from that, I got nothin…
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:13 pm | Permalink
Mike wrote:
I kind of like Ninjas, so I would just leave it. Those other names are all lame.
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:15 pm | Permalink
steve brown wrote:
one more thing! “Filer” or “Designator”,
but not “Filr” or “Designatr”
:-D
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 4:17 pm | Permalink
KaBlog / In the Oven: Mail Integration and the Anti-Drawer wrote:
[…] Just yesterday, the idea mashup was discussed and this is yet another case. There are very few applications with drawers that don’t make me cringe. TextMate is one of them. Feeder is another. I know many of you feel the same way. Without getting into any drawer holy wars, I can say that I wasn’t happy with the design of the current drawer but had some reservation about using panels or a standard three-paned window. […]
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 5:46 pm | Permalink
Mark wrote:
I’d call it a parser, since that’s really what it is … albeit a very cool one. How about:
Smart Parser
Thought Parser
Idea Parser
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 6:37 pm | Permalink
umop wrote:
No, no, no …
Sorter … Inbox Sorter.
Or Sort-di-cator
Sortinator
“That-thing-which-makes-things-sorted”
Or, since Wizard isn’t a viable option … (drum roll) …
The “Sortcerer”
Posted on 26-Feb-07 at 10:38 pm | Permalink
Reuben wrote:
I would call in the Drill, Driller or Inbox Drill/Driller because you drill down through items.
Posted on 27-Feb-07 at 2:07 pm | Permalink
lakshmivyas wrote:
Mouth (File It -> Eat It)
Goalie/Glove/Net (File It -> Catch It)
Pocket(File It -> Drop In)
Packet(File It-> Transmit)
Posted on 27-Feb-07 at 8:34 pm | Permalink
KaBlog / RELEASE: Actiontastic 0.9.2 wrote:
[…] The new Actiontastic release is out, and with it comes a serious set of upgrades. Over the last few days, I have blogged about the new Quicksilver and Inbox bling, plus the new Mail and Anti-Drawer upgrades. On top of this, there is another feature that is just for the productivity black belts out there. […]
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 12:35 am | Permalink
Eric G. wrote:
Allen always says the point is to get your “Inbox to Empty.” How about
-In2Empty
-IntoEmpty
-In2EmptyNow
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 2:12 am | Permalink
wdiadamo wrote:
I like “sort” or “sorter” mentioned above; however, in the interests of variety, I offer the following:
triage
systemize
classify
categorize
order
I know these are primarily verbs, but I think this may be more appropriate, and having a verb menu command is certainly acceptable.
If you need a noun to describe the thing that is doing the action, you could nounize the above (i.e. triager, systematizer, classifier), although those seem rather clunky. (I think “nounize is a word.)
All in all, I think “triage” (a noun) or “triager” is probably the best in terms of description (triage is defined as “the action of sorting according to quality.” The problem is that it is not an everyday word, and might be too confusing.
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 10:21 am | Permalink
Tom S wrote:
Co-pilot
Synapse
Cloverleaf
Cortex
Agent
Companion
LOVE this APP!
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 10:22 am | Permalink
Les Brown wrote:
How about:
ActionBlaster or just Blaster
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 12:44 pm | Permalink
jeremy l wrote:
Hey the update was great! the new features rock!
I just had one point I thought needed to be brought up…
Shouldn’t the actions that are sent to iCal be the next actions of the current projects? or at least the next actions and not all the current actions… because as I see it, you export your next action tasks to iCal and then have a running list of NA to print or to put on your PDA.
Thanks, great work keeping this project up and running
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 5:30 pm | Permalink
Yorkali wrote:
I most of the above are pretty cool. But I think it should mesh with your brand easily. So how howsabout:
KaDash
Net, snappy blends the Kaboomerang brand with a popular GTD phrase.
Hope you like it,
Yorkali
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 7:41 pm | Permalink
jeremy l wrote:
also the new version on my computer still has problems keeping the order of actions in projects: most of the order is altered in most projects
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 10:26 pm | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@jeremy l:
Making the sync of all vs. NA a preference in the 1.0 release is under consideration. If you don’t mind sending me an email of the steps to reproduce the ordering issue that you mention, I would love to troubleshoot it with you. Thanks!
Posted on 28-Feb-07 at 11:17 pm | Permalink
Andy wrote:
Trying to get my head around this (after a break from Actiontastic), it says above do this: -
Add an action with notes for the flying car project and place it in a new context on the fly, called @calls:
. Call Bob > Build Flying Car @calls — number is 555.555.1212
All this seems to do is add a new context called Calls - number is 555.555.1212
Then it goes on to say: -
Add a note for the above project:
. > Build Flying Car — new goal is Q4 2010
All I get is a new project called Build Flying Car — new goal is Q4 2010
I am obviously doing something dim here. What is it?
Thanks a lot
Andy
OSX 10.4 Mac Powerbook with UK keyboard
Posted on 01-Mar-07 at 5:38 am | Permalink
Jon wrote:
@Andy:
The font above doesn’t make this clear, but that dash before the notes field is actually two hyphens.
Posted on 01-Mar-07 at 7:40 am | Permalink
Andy wrote:
Perfect - Thanks Jon. I had tried just about everything else!!
Posted on 01-Mar-07 at 7:47 am | Permalink
d wrote:
i’m keen to Inbox Ninja as well- that would be the name of choice for me- but if you really wanted to change it up, how bout
- A** Kickr??
hmmm…
or not-
Thanks for the time you’ve spent on this app!! Great Job!
Posted on 01-Mar-07 at 7:54 am | Permalink
Andrae wrote:
Instead of Inbox Ninja try:
Inbox Genie
Posted on 01-Mar-07 at 2:30 pm | Permalink
romans wrote:
muncher
Posted on 03-Mar-07 at 12:00 pm | Permalink
Kim Slawson wrote:
Ninjas are cool, according to 50% of the Internet (the other half thinks pirates are cooler, but since Actiontastic’s window doesn’t sail ships, acquire booty, or wear an eye-patch, I’d say go with the ninja).
All the other things so far sound too ho-hum, corporate, or bland to me. You’ve got a great app, loyal users, and a neat concept (the inbox ninja). Keep the unique name; I’d pick a Inbox Ninja over a wizard/assistant/filer/pirate any day.
Posted on 03-Mar-07 at 1:00 pm | Permalink
Circle Six Blog » Blog Archive » Circle Six GTD Redux wrote:
[…] Overall, though, I really like Actiontastic and the way it syncs with iCal and my iPod. I get a good idea of my Next Actions, and adding to the inbox is a cinch. The new version even lets you specify context and project when adding through Quicksilver. Quicksilver probably deserves it’s own separate mention, but I’m under the assumption that most of you have it and use it regularly. If you don’t, just go get it. You won’t regret it, I swear. […]
Posted on 03-Mar-07 at 1:02 pm | Permalink
Kim Slawson wrote:
I just blogged about Actiontastic and Actionatr, drumming up more support for the Inbox Ninja, when I had the following inspiration: If development time allows, you should utilize Core Animation to make the Play button produce a dashing ninja silhouette (ala Bond movie intro) that springs forth (maybe from behind the Actiontastic window) and delivers the “choose wisely” sheet. Also, should that sheet have a cancel button (I know the escape key cancels it).
Thanks for a wonderful application.
Posted on 03-Mar-07 at 1:56 pm | Permalink
Trix180’s Blog » Archive » links for 2007-03-02 wrote:
[…] Actionastic: Smarter Text for Quicksilver and the Inbox (tags: quicksilver GTD actionastic) […]
Posted on 04-Mar-07 at 1:36 pm | Permalink
leafnstone wrote:
I think of it as the Action Turnstile, directing the inbox items to their proper destinations. Actiontastic makes GTD actually doable for me. I’ve got a lot of projects and contexts and sometimes I wish I could give them different colors as a labeling system. But, as it is, it would be worth purchasing in its present version.
Posted on 06-Mar-07 at 10:41 pm | Permalink
Jürgen Groth wrote:
I have a large desire: As in the software ThinkingRock I would have
arranged gladly an outline of current functions (today, one week, two
weeks…), in the functions from all projects to be listed. And they
should be sorted according to date. Well more waer it also, if a date
is automatically visibly noted, when the function was completed.
With cordial greeting Juergen Groth
Ich habe einen großen Wunsch: Wie in der Software ThinkingRock gestaltet hätte ich gerne eine Übersicht über aktuelle Aufgaben (Heute, eine Woche, zwei Wochen…), in der Aufgaben aus allen Projekten aufgelistet werden. Und sie sollten nach Datum sortiert sein. Gut wär es auch, wenn ein Datum automatisch sichtbar notiert wird, wann die Aufgabe erledigt wurde.
Mit herzlichen Grüßen
Jürgen Groth
Posted on 07-Mar-07 at 12:56 am | Permalink
James wrote:
Some suggestions:
Flunky, Page, Retainer, Scullion, Minion, Henchman, Footman…
or Steve.
Posted on 07-Mar-07 at 9:35 am | Permalink
Nick Valvo wrote:
whew.
I had Andy’s problem with the hyphen/n-dash/m-dash/two hyphens syntax. Perhaps noting that up in the entry would save people like me five minutes.
I’m excited to try out your app. Looks pretty rad.
Thanks!
nv
Posted on 17-Mar-07 at 5:32 pm | Permalink
Nick Valvo wrote:
One more thing/feature request:
What if the Actiontastic database was navigable/editable with Quicksilver? I.e., what if you could call Actiontastic, hit the right arrow, and navigate your todo lists like that?
Or this would be rad: an action that would display some portion of the your todo list for some context in the Large Text QS uses. Because then we could all make triggers, and just see what our next thing was without needing to always mess with the app itself.
Just a thought.
Posted on 17-Mar-07 at 5:36 pm | Permalink
yann wrote:
If I start typing a project name, the auto-complete feature is definitely case sensitive, at least for the first letter of the project. Unless I misunderstood something, I thought it shouldn’t be (which I like…)
Posted on 19-Mar-07 at 11:21 am | Permalink
My GTD System (March 2007) - Daily Process « Setting Contexts wrote:
[…] I use (mostly) Actiontastic’s integration with Quicksilver to get things into the Inbox. I’ll go into how I use Quicksilver (my favorite Mac app) in a separate post, but I use the Quicksilver=>Actiontastic Inbox throughout the day. […]
Posted on 24-Mar-07 at 11:38 pm | Permalink
haleonearth wrote:
“designator” carries some semblance of sense, but doesn’t quite ring; which is why I graduate it to “danzig” lol
Posted on 28-Mar-07 at 4:42 am | Permalink
haleonearth wrote:
Since it’s all ultimately about actualization, maybe it could be dubbed the actualizer panel, or just actualizer as in,
“… when ready to process the contents of your inbox, click the arrow button in the lower left-hand corner to toggle the actualizer…”
Posted on 28-Mar-07 at 4:48 am | Permalink
haleonearth wrote:
Thirdly but not least :D, the ability to toggle a floating HUD that displays current actions (or whatever) would be a delight! Especially if it utilized that sexy translucent black aesthetic I’ve enjoyed in other apps like Motion, Scrivener, etc.
Posted on 28-Mar-07 at 4:57 am | Permalink
Rob Record wrote:
I like these suggestions:
haleonearth: HUD display - YES!! could be integrated with:
Nick Valvo: quicksilver navigation & large text display
leafnstone: ability to label with colors. ThinkingRock has these, but sometimes I find just one category is not enough, sometimes and action/project serves more than one category/goal. Tagging, anyone? with colours? :)
My own suggestions: raw text import, like ThinkingRock.
Another suggestion that takes things up to the level of Steve Pavlina/Hyrum Smith/Stephen Covey with a “top down” approach. Filed away would be a list of life-long goals that you could match up the projects to. I don’t know how useful this would be to everyone, but it would definately be useful for me. :)
I like the Filer for a name. It files. :) but it’s also an assistant - Filing Assistant?
Posted on 29-Mar-07 at 5:20 am | Permalink
Toon Bouman wrote:
I would like the program to use a smart way of pasting text. For example if you paste a large chunk of text in the first line, the program devides the text in two parts. One part that is just big enough to show in the line discribing the aktion and the rest in the ‘note’ field. In this way you kan quickly dumb info you want to proces in actiontastik
Posted on 30-Mar-07 at 1:29 pm | Permalink
spicy wrote:
i think ninjas r wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than pirates ’cause pirates r just drunk sailors, and ninjas kill people silently and stealthily. they can also talk to eachother through their head and they have great modeling skills and great hair
Posted on 24-Apr-07 at 7:36 pm | Permalink
a hott person wrote:
i totally think that person is right!!!! ^
ninjas have way more skills than that,but i cant tell u what
Posted on 24-Apr-07 at 7:38 pm | Permalink