Alysson's dashboard

I can see that the todos page has been worked on. However, the fundamental problem hasn't been fixed. Emmadad is right.

Problem #1 & #2

The fundamental problem is that the "sort=date" option is flawed. It EXCLUDES unscheduled items. (Items without a date) This must be fixed. It also EXCLUDES @done items, but this might be intentional behavior. (It might be intentional that using the option "sort=date" by itself exclude @done items. However, the current behavior where "sort=date&done=1" doesn't display any @done items is probably an additional bug.)

The "sort=status" option works correctly and INCLUDES unscheduled items and INCLUDES @done items. (Unless there is an additional constraint such as "done=0".)

The primary bug is that the "sort=date" option should NOT EXCLUDE items without a date. It should GROUP items without a date at the end of the list.

The "sort=date" filter also has a second bug in it. It should not permanently exclude @done items. (i.e. using "done=1&sort=date" should make a list with @done items visible in it. Currently this doesn't work.)

Side note: Currently, the "sort=status" option has default behavior to make @done items be visible. (Emmadad's second example, using both "done=1&sort=status" states this option explicitly. For right now the "done=1" is not actually necessary.)

As far as I can tell the "sort=status" option FIRST sorts by the todo status (i.e. @done), and SECOND it sorts by date. The result is a list containing 1) older, undone items (overdue items), then 2) future undone items, then 3) undone items without a date. Then it transitions to the @done items and lists 4) the past done items, then 5) future done items, then 6) done items without a date. The key point here is that "sort=status" explicitly separates all @done items from undone items and puts the @done items at the end of the list.

I think that "sort=date" is supposed to be the easier version of "sort=status". It's not supposed to sort by @done at all. So, the result should be that @done items are listed along with undone items. Items with the two status types will be intermingled in the list.

"done=1&sort=date" should return a list mixed with @done and undone items.

Also, I think that if everything worked correctly, the two sort options could be made equivalent by simply excluding all @done items. "sort=date&done=0" is equal to "sort=status&done=0"

Again, the problem right now is that the "sort=date" option has a bug/hack in it so that it will EXCLUDE items without a date. It will also ALWAYS exclude @done items. Using "done=1" will not make the done items appear.

Problem #3

Either the "sort=date" links are wrong, or the "todos?done=1" link is wrong.

The correct links in the todo page really depend on which sorting method you want to use.

The easy case is to assume that Sandy's helpers want to group all @done items at the end of the list. That is, when @done items are even visible. If I'm right, then all uses of the "sort=date" option when displaying the todos pages are errors.

The "Hide past" link
Wrong: http://www.iwantsandy.com/todos?past=...
Right: http://www.iwantsandy.com/todos?past=0

The "Next" page link
Wrong: http://www.iwantsandy.com/todos?page=...
Right: http://www.iwantsandy.com/todos?page=2

However, I might be wrong and Sandy's helpers might want the @done items intermixed with the undone items and the whole lot sorted by date. (i.e. The correct thing to do would be to add "done=1" to whatever the current URL is. Resulting in something like "sort=date&page=3&done=1&past=0")

The problem with this is that currently the "sort=date" option has a bug in it so that "sort=date&done=1" does not display any @done items.

Due to this bug, I understand the decision to make the "Show done todos" link be non-standard. Instead of being relative and add "done=1" to the other options in the URL, instead it always points to the same place iwantsandy.com/todos?done=1"

Rael,

Thanks for checking back. You have indeed fixed the problem with the Done items, but the list is still not quite right.

What's missing now, if I select You Stuff/Todos and then a tag, is all the todo items that don't have a reminder associated with them.

This is what I get following the above steps:
http://www.iwantsandy.com/list?sort=d...

Compare that with the following (url from Kevin1 comments above):
http://www.iwantsandy.com/list?done=1...

The first URL lists only todos marked @home with remind dates/times. The second list everything marked @home and @todo (i.e. stuff created with "Remember...").

Digging a little further, even if I don't select home (just Your Stuff/Todos), I see this behavior.

I'm just wondering how things are going with making this happen? Right now I've got a semester's worth of classes set up for the fall and I'd rather not have to go in and archive over 12 items if I don't have to.

Howdy, folks.

Please can you give things another whirl and see if they're working as you'd expect them to. I fixed a bunch of these issues in today's release [http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...] and believe I took care of all you were describing above. That said, if I've still missed one, please do let me know.

—Rael

Jaclyn: I believe you'll like the changes prompted by your, Trevor's, and Waffles's comments in http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy/topics/update_for_may_12th_2008. – Rael Dornfest, about 19 hours ago

"If I have access to email or web, why would I choose to use a third-party service to communicate with Sandy? - I can do it directly." Good point. – Eugene T.S. Wong, about 21 hours ago

If I have access to email or web, why would I choose to use a third-party service to communicate with Sandy? - I can do it directly.

Flurry might be a great service - but would you really email Flurry in order to tell Sandy something, when you could email Sandy without the extra step?

It is being able to use Sandy through sms which makes it different from dozens of other on-line calendar apps. It's that facility which makes it useful for me - and, I suspect, for many others. Groups? - yes, that would be nice - but absolutely not as useful as sms accessibility.

You can still use Flurry via web, mobile web, or email. You aren't restricted to using it via 1 method only. – Eugene T.S. Wong, 1 day ago

Actually, I find that (at least for me) Stikkit works better for storing some information - e.g. contacts.

It turns out that for flurry, if you want to use SMS, you have to use it to send an email

Yep, that's exactly why it wouldn't work for me and lots of other people. Twitter is, as far as I know, the only service of its sort which offers so many ways to communicate with it (web, mobile web, sms etc) - which leaves it the most suitable service for Sandy to use. As I said, I'd have no problem with Sandy *adding* other services of this type - but no "instead of", please! :-)

Yes, I understand that some people receive SMS for free. I have a pay-as-you-go, as well. It seems that I made a mistake regarding SMS. It turns out that for flurry, if you want to use SMS, you have to use it to send an email which is quite different, because you are sending it via your service provider, as opposed to Flurry's number. – Eugene T.S. Wong, 2 days ago

It is not true that sending email is similarly-priced to text for most people - certainly not in the UK. I have 500 sms included in my monthly plan. My son, who uses pay-as-you-go, buys an add-on which means that each sms he sends costs less than 2 pence. Receiving sms costs nothing for either of us. Email, on the other hand, would cost each of us up to an extra £30 per month. My partner also has a pay-as-you-go phone, but with no sms allowance - and can receive numerous reminder from Sandy (via twitter) in a day at no cost whatsoever. Again, email - not free. – notsheep, 2 days ago

Well, that is mostly true. If you want to use the entire web site on your cell phone, then yes, you do need data allowance. However, if you want to just send messages, then you don't. For most people, sending and receiving email is almost the same price as sending text. For others, receiving text is cheaper. The FAQ also says, "We recommend a data plan allowing for at least 5 megabytes of data transfer per month and a text messaging plan allowing for at least 200 messages per month.". I've gotten by without data transfer, and I haven't sent any messages to them.

Ditto!

From Flurry's FAQ: "In order to use flurry you need to make sure you have an internet data plan on your cell phone."

Not everyone using Sandy has a data allowance on their plan - in fact I suspect a lot of UK users are using pay-as-you-go, which allows free receipt and cheap sending of sms.

So "as well as twitter", okay - but "instead of"? No, thanks.

good to know!