In the midst of all this Web 2.0 crap out there, I find myself constantly frustrated at being able to find a nice and simple interface for managing notes, to-do lists, and a calendar. A lot of different solutions pop up on Lifehacker, but few of them seem to possess the nice integration of all the features that I’m looking for.

Something that I would really love would be a software application/web interface that supported the following:

  • Quick, easy notetaking. Good for just “jotting down” things that come to mind.
  • A todo-list manager that allows one to:
    • add items quickly and efficiently
    • include due dates, notes, tags, etc.
    • integrate with a calendar (preferably built-in)
  • A calendar that:
    • has quick, easy to add “command line”-like arguments
    • Nice UI, easy to move around

Now, in and of themselves, it’s pretty easy to get a nice note-taking application, a nice to-do list manager, and a great calendar application. However, it’s the integration that is always where many of the great applications I’ve encountered seem to have failed me. I’ve cycled through a LOT of different applications to solve this issue. Ironically, I probably spend more time searching for a nice productivity setup that I spend less time actually being productive. But I’m sure it’ll all be worth it in the end.

Over the course of a week or so, I’ll introduce and comment on the different applications I’ve used/am using, talk about what I thought, and identify if they might be something useful. While many people have rolled their eyes at me when I’ve shouted at them to just “use 30boxes already,” I really feel like keeping track of things, particularly on the Internet, or another remote solution, is a great way to just “do more” with your life. Keep reading for my first such review.

Tomboy

The application that really got me back into the whole “organizing your life” deal was Tomboy. As taken right from the website, Tomboy’s out there to just let you jot those little things down:

Have you ever felt the frustration at not being able to locate a website you wanted to check out, or find an email you found interesting, or remember an idea about the direction of the political landscape in post-industrial Australia? Or are you one of those desperate souls with home-made, buggy, or not-quite-perfect notes systems?

What it does:

I was first introduced to Tomboy when GNOME took it on for the release of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft). The application sits on your tool bar, and allows you quick and easy access to creating new notes. Tomboy specializes in being a small application for simply writing down things that come to mind. It’s most unique feature is probably its ability to link notes to each other through a “wikiwiki” system.

Pros:

Tomboy is actually pretty awesome. I used it a lot during fall term to keep track of my to-do list for the week. Although you’d think all editors have it, many don’t have the scratch-out ability that was particularly useful for marking items as “done.” Tomboy was also great for when I thought of something and just wanted to write it down quickly. Tomboy’s “wikified” linking system was really useful for keeping track of multiple notes. I could dedicate one note to be a Table of Contents for notes taken from various courses, for example. I don’t think there is another application that I have used out there that has this ability. Let me know if there is.

Cons:

The big problem I had with Tomboy was the fact that the data was stored locally, and I couldn’t access my notes when I wasn’t on my laptop, booted into Linux. Additionally, I couldn’t get a few of the plug-ins to work that were advertised on the website. Annoyingly enough, the version of Tomboy in the standard Ubuntu repositories were a relatively old version of the software.

Overall:

Tomboy does exactly what is aims to do: to provide an application to quickly jot and recall information quickly. If you don’t mind having your data stored locally rather than remotely or on the Internet, this might be great solution. Tomboy will work for *nix OSes, so it might even work on Mac.