Keep it simple!
You have an excellent product that is fast and simple to use. Everyone will have different ideas on how to improve it (time tracking/project management etc) and I hope these get added but please make sure that at it's heart the product remains a fast and simple way to administer hierarchical lists. I have rejected so many other products because they take so long to do simple tasks which is where your product excels! Keep up the good work!
Dear Adrian, thanks for giving your vote to this issue! We’ll try hard to keep the user interface simple – promise!
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Adminsashika (Admin, Checkvist) commented
I believe, this new feature is totally about simplicity --
Open your list, press 'om' and see what happens :)Looks nice in the Darkula mode, too ;)
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@Marica Thanks for the suggestion. If it would not be possible to take votes back and vote for another request - this would make more sense. People are free to decide what to use their votes for.
At the moment Checkvist is not that simple as we want it to be and having a permanent reminder of that on the top of UserVoice is not a bad thing :) And yes, we have plans to make the situation better, though it is a tough task.
Thanks again,
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ento commented
While I can see the value of having a way of expressing the reasons why Checkvist is great and giving feedback to the team, I wonder if this suggestion should be closed. "Keep it simple" will be never be considered _done_, and being one of the top most-voted suggestions, it'll continue accumulating votes which could've been spent on other suggestions to provide prioritization hints.
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chris commented
Although all is said already:
There is no way around being "KISS enough" to be flexible to any future changes.
I vote for a focus on improvement of solid baseline requirements:- usability: easy edit
- mobile: you have to
- clear and capable object model
- standards; provide OPML (or else) for others to create views in an ecosystem. -
Mario T. Lanza commented
I agree with James' sentiment. Checkvist is a cut above other outliners. It's elegant, useful, and fast. Speed always ranks near the top in providing a pleasant user experience so great job in providing exactly that!
And yet, I read lots of requests here for different views of the data. Some want to see their outlines as mind maps, some as Kanban boards, some in Gantt charts, etc. The sentiment is that users sometimes want different views of their data, which I get and completely concur with. As an I.T. guy myself I have long been contemplating how to address this kind of issue and I've arrived at a reasonable solution, though it does involve some coordination with other parties.
It starts with Dropbox or some other data host. Right now, I believe, Checkvist hosts the user data and backs up data to third parties like Dropbox. Thus, Dropbox owns a secondary copy, not a primary copy of the data.
If the primary copy were owned by the third party and Checkvist merely provided the application for viewing and manipulating outline data files, we'd be one step closer to my proposed solution. (I once used Fargo, an outliner, that takes exactly this approach.)
The second step is finding an ubiquitous format for outline data such as OPML. I know relatively nothing about the OPML spec other than it attempts to standardize outline data.
What I don't know is how well third party tools like Checkvist are at utilizing the spec in a way that permits features beyond those envisioned by the authorities that oversee OPML. For example, you can export an Excel spreadsheet to CSV but this will cause a loss of features on import. I don't know how well Checkvist could function using the "ubiquitous file format" whatever it may be. Likewise, I don't know how well other apps like mind maps and Gantt charts could function using the ubiquitous file format, but that's the key and I think you can see where I'm going.
If user data is hosted elsewhere and if various vendors can access and manipulate it while adding their own custom attributes and not interfering with the custom attributes of other vendors, we arrive at the happy place where Checkvist can remain simple and users have a potentially unlimited number of ways to view and manipulate their data.
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Adminsashika (Admin, Checkvist) commented
One more step towards simpler UI, http://checkvist.tumblr.com/post/103063656668/cleaner-and-faster
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Kimon commented
I'll second this. Checkvist’s minimalistic interface is, hands down, what sets it apart from every other outliner out there.
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Gordie Sands commented
Simple is good; less is more. Workflowy has a much nice interface, if we're being honest -- clean, spare, without extra text and icons on-screen to detract or distract from the actual list items themselves. Too many features just get in the way of real and true productivity. I like the extra features, but if they get in the way of usability, then, well, they don't get used. 100% support for the keyboard interface is key for this reason: it implements the feature set without complicating the look/feel of the UI. Keep it up! Many thanks.
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Adminsashika (Admin, Checkvist) commented
@James Thanks a lot for your words! We're adding new features (http://checkvist.tumblr.com/post/25495058618/attachments-beta-preview) but still saving on buttons and toolbar space :)
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James S commented
please do this. i have tried *every* to-do list manager out there and you guys have nailed it. quick, simple, keyboard shortcuts, with hierarchical lists the you can collaborate on. it's absolute genius so don't kill it for glossy features (not saying you will, but always a risk..)
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@Jonathan, thanks!
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Jonathan Kolodner commented
Agreed- this is a great simple way to manage tasks- the issue is extending capability without changing the interface. Don't add features, add to core function.
We don't need a blasted ribbon bar, or more tertiary options, we just need our primary tools to be more available (more devices and integrations into things like gmail calendar, offline mode) and consistent (same color-setup on tags on published lists as when you view them when you're logged in, for example).
Keep up the good work!
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netaisllc commented
@sashika, isn't that what you get paid to do??? :)
Seriously, you two are doing an awesome job evolving Vist. Many thanks. -
Thank you all! We're trying to do our best to keep Checkvist simple but powerful.
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Alcides commented
I agree. I have experience in the development of this kind of solutions (SaaS on Web 2.0) and the risk of loosing the focus is always present. Please KEEP IT SIMPLE! :) Thank you for the excellent product.
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dashakol commented
I'm 100% agree. In fact I believe that optimizing the simplicity is the most important factor that determines the usability.
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Raj Patel commented
I completely agree. I would love to see many of these features implemented, but none are a deal-breaker. I spend several months trying to find a good task organization app, gave up and started to build my own. That stopped once I found Checkvist and I am sure that I've found the best way to keep myself organized.