I like to keep a reasonably short list of main “projects” (or whatever the top nodes represent) in the left menu, because this gives me a sense of overview, and also I do not need to scroll the menu. Thanks to GTDNext’s flexible hierarchy this is perfectly possible
I also like clicking on those items. Then I get a scroll-safe version of the long All Projects list - very good for systematically reviewing one “top node” at a time without ever scrolling too far or losing view of it
Idea:
What would probably be quite handy from time to time, in addition to this, would be if when I hover with the mouse over one of those “top nodes” in the left menu it would open up and show the next level of parent nodes, if any (i.e. “subprojects” etc), and let me select one, or continue and hover even further down.
This would allow me to keep the left menu fully collapsed automatically, and still be able to drill down very exactly, without a lot of clicking, to the project, subproject, subsubproject etc I want to review (or perhaps drag a task into from the inbox view etc).
(Not a top priority, but a neat part of the final finish.)
Personally, I would prefer to be able to manually show/hide levels of each project in the left-hand menu. Perhaps with simple + and - icons to the left of each level that contains sub-levels. The same logic could be applied to folders if they were to be introduced as containers for projects.
An option to “Show/Hide All” would then be useful in conjunction with the project hierarchy on the left.
I suppose one could imagine a user preference for this “Automatically show/hide additional project levels in the project hierarchy navigator”. If un-checked, you would need to manually show/hide sub-levels (or click “Show/hide all”).
I see your point. I agree that a non-volatile setting, like you suggest, has its uses, e.g. to keep some of the hot projects a bit more expanded permanently while they are hot.
I think none of these two approaches would necessarily exclude the other, would they? If you click + or - you change it and it stays, but if you hover over a collapsed heading it opens temporarily and automatically closes when you’re done. Wouldn’t that be both possible and convenient?
For me personally the automatic collapsing is very important, because I am often too lazy or forgetful and often do not click and close them after I am done, and therefore I inadvertently create a long mess, and then gradually get more and more fed up with this mess, and have to tidy or restart the whole thing. Automatic expansion is important because it means I can conveniently drag things straight to the right place without having to first click to open the intermediate nodes, and I save clicks even I don’t drag - if just want to view or set the scope etc.
But I certainly would not mind at all to have both of these capabilities. I would use both.
We actually have been working on a different way to solve this problem. Please take a look at the new zoom feature that was introduced today in 1.3.13. View full screen here.
Excellent, useful. Nice with the breadcrumbs, too.
And the three different fonts (top, intermediate. action) really make a nice difference. More “life” and easier to read and find your way
I am not sure, though, to what extent the new feature addresses the original question? I think Elurven’s problem was keeping part of the tree open for easy frequent repeated access during the day. And mine was being able to drag items into a neatly collapsed tree without having to pave the way by opening all the nodes first (or using the main outline view, which is also possible, of course - will collapsed nodes open there automatically when you drag?).
Is any of that doable with the new version? I tried pressing ctrl wile dragging, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. Nevermind, this is just a nice-to-have, not a dealbreaker. What you did was nice.
I suppose if you have a task in the Inbox and want to place it deep down in some tree, you first drag it to the main heading in the left menu, then click that heading, expand the relevant subnodes, and drag the task into place. Or what will be the easiest way? Scroll-drag straight down in the total outline view, and drop it temporarily when you get near and then expand any desired nodes that are collapsed, ant then continue dragging? We’ll see. Not a big issue. I enter most of my tasks with the keyboard in the right place straight from the outset.
Probably not completely. The problem we were trying to solve was helping people get to a more focused version of their projects quickly. That is what the left menu does for top level projects, but not for sub-projects or individual tasks. I think the title of “expansion of projects in Left menu” is what made me think this would be a good thread to talk about the new feature. We will do some thinking on the other two problems mentioned. Thanks!
Thanks! It’s one my new favorite features as well!
