Sponsored Post: To-do List
This post is an experiment for me; I’m doing a paid review through ReviewMe, which is a new service that matches up advertisers with bloggers that write in appropriate genres. Let me know if this is a huge turn off (like “I’m going to unsubscribe, you capitalist pig”), or if you find it interesting. My plan is to only accept reviews for products that I find interesting enough to write about genuinely. Since ReviewMe does not put any restrictions on the opinions expressed, I also plan to be completely honest about what I do or don’t like about the products I review.
When I first read the offer to review To-do List, I visited the site, and I was taken aback by the simplicity of the screenshots they showed. To-do List is a very simple task tracker, and once I got past the initial surprise, I found myself kind of liking the idea of a very simplified to-do list program.
Of course, simplicity isn’t enough, and if you’re going to sell software based on simplicity, it had better be well designed. And, luckily, To-do List is actually very well designed. The graphics are unobtrusive, but the icon meanings are very obvious and the program is made to be small and out of the way, but always present. In fact, it launches in always-on-top mode, and while this is a configurable option that you could turn off, on even a moderately large screen (resolutions higher than 1024×768) I imagine you’d want to take advantage of having your todo list always present.
Using To-do List couldn’t be more simple. Just click on the Add icon, and start typing tasks that you want to track. Hitting Enter will save the current task you’re entering, and leave the Add Tasks dialog open so that you can continue adding tasks. Hitting escape or the Close button will close the Add Tasks dialog. To edit a task you’ve already entered, simply double-click it, and it will open in an Edit This Task dialog that is identical to the Add Tasks dialog.
Marking tasks as complete works exactly as you’d expect; simply click the check box to put a check mark there. There’s a button that allows you to delete all checked tasks, which cleans up your task list to only the things that still have not been completed.
While To-do List is a very solid little application, it’s probably not appropriate for people who need to group their tasks in hierarchies or follow a regimented productivity system like Getting Things Done or Franklin Covey. Those systems require quite a bit of task management in terms of grouping, sorting and filtering, which To-do list doesn’t offer. But, if you’ve tried any of those systems and found them overwhelming or found that they simply got in the way of actually getting your stuff done, To-do List offers an alternative, and very simple approach.
According to their site, To-do List is currently US$14.95 to purchase, and they offer a generous 60 day trial period.
