What would a hybrid of a web application, todo.txt and emacs editing style would look like?
If that sounds interesting, you should probably checkout makandra’s Holly task manager.
Holly is a web app for nerd task management -as the creators like to state- and brings the power of simple text file editing to task management.
Like the simplicity of its content, Holly manages to keep it simple everywhere. We are talking about a really light user interface which I found really pleasant and responsive, with an 8-bit goodness crawling under its looks and it requires no user registration to start using it. You just create your trees of tasks and each one gets its own web address, so you can edit it in any computer or smartphone.
Tree building is really easy to do. You just directly edit the contents of your tree, which consists of lines that can be indented to form an hierarchy, adding due dates at the beginning of each line (if needed) and tags anywhere in the line of task using the #hashtag character.
After saving the tree you can also drag and drop items to reorder them, check them done or filter by tag. Clicking on the Holly app logo at the top left will present you with a list of your trees and the ability to create new ones for other uses (something that it is not quite apparent)
Fortunately there is an explain button at the top which you can turn to when you need help with the specifics of the application.
Working with Holly
Holly supports a good deal of functions, which are probably the basics in any task management system and of course the power of hierarchical structure which gives maximum flexibility for creating groups of tasks.
Entities supported: Due dates, #tags, nested projects/tasks, blocked tasks indication.
In terms of extra functionality, one can download a tree for offline use, print directly for the browser in a functional simple format and of course search any text or tag. There are also keyboard shortcuts for all functions and if you want to share your tree you just pass the specific tree-URL to others.
Unfortunately the webapp cannot be used offline and there is no smartphone version yet, but it works well in any web browser.
In conclusion, Holly is a beautiful and simple web application for task management, bringing some good implementations from the world of text files and it is quite functional for users who prefer full control over their tasks with the ability to brainstorm and change lines quickly and easily. There could be some more functions added, but most importantly –in my opinion- off-line applications to handle existing text files and smartphone apps it’s a must.
Holly is also free.
https://hollyapp.com