After some wrangling, I've corrected the handle alignment for sub-projects, cleaned up (mostly) the leading (can't call it "line-height" folks, this isn't CSS), and tweaked the font rendering for each variant (light vs. dark).
The only question that remains is do you prefer:
a) the larger "group" heading (in Helvetica Neue Light)
b) the smaller version in the same weight as sub-projects,
c) or both?
Thanks John/Dean, much appreciated — the top version(s) have always been the core theme, it just occurred to me tonight that some folks might feel they are too distracting, hence the bottom option.
@Jesse: TaskPaper seems to automatically adjust the opacity of the handles (arrow icons), as they *should* be the same color as the text, but clearly aren't in either version...
@Krystyn: I can hide the arrows, but they allow users to click "into" each project (e.g. only show the tasks below that main heading); keyboard shortcuts would be the only way to do the same without the arrow.
Good to know my gut was on track with the smaller group heading option, I think I'll just release them all and let people choose :)
Copy the theme(s) of your choice into that folder, then quit and launch TaskPaper again, and select the theme from Theme Options in the Preferences window.
After trying out all four themes with my existing to-do lists, I have two recommendations:
1. On the dark to-do lists, make the grays a bit lighter. As it is, you can't really read @done notes and related items.
2. The larger headings are a little too large while the smaller headings are way too small. I'd try to find a happy medium between the two, as the small group headings makes it difficult to read at a glance and the large headings make lengthy group headings take up too much vertical space on an app that generally is kept no bigger than an IM window on an external monitor.
That's my 2¢. Hopefully that helps.
(Note: I'm going to keep using the Larger sized headings, though, because it is still the best TaskPaper theme I've seen so far besides the default. I may get used to the really big headings in the long run.)
1. The grays are very low-contrast on purpose (especially for the @done styles) so they aren't quite invisible, but easy to ignore completely unless you want to view them (when I want to read a @done item, I just un-@done-it, read it, then mark it as @done again, which is how that came to be). That said, I'll play around with the exact value, as I know it might be *completely* invisible depending on the monitor/brightness/etc.
2. The large size is based solely on my personal preference for larger type — I also have TaskPaper's window quite large (about 50% of the width of my MBP's screen) so the wrapping hadn't occurred to me (oops :)
As for the smaller group headings being too small, I completely agree (I don't like them that way) but after trying a few different proportional sizes in between, none of them felt right, so I left it as-is. Will see what other feedback trickles in on that one, but do remember you can dig in and edit the size of those headings yourself (or any of the other settings) if it helps make the theme work better for your particular setup :)
Dan, I'm giving these a spin and I think they look great overall! Like you, I keep the window open rather large, so I also prefer the larger headings. There are few things I'd like to see, though:
1) A different color treatment for tasks tagged with @today or @important or @priority - that's become indispensable to me when scanning my whole todo list without having it filtered by a tag.
2) A bit of transparency applied to the backgrounds - something in the neighborhood of 95% opaque. This is really a matter of personal preference, as I enjoy not having a bright white background searing my retinas!
@Michael: Glad you like them, and thanks for the suggestions.
1. One of my goals for the themes was a very Swiss-feeling color scheme, hence the red/white/black. Grey is only used to help things recede, which I felt was in keeping with the main goal. From the threads I've read about TaskPaper themes (there are a ton on Google Groups) it seems folks are split on color-coding certain tags, and I wouldn't want to add them in by default as it's my preference not to see them — however, I'd love to see your take on the color treatments for those tags, it's pretty easy to change colors in the theme ... you could even post it as a rebound shot here! :)
2. I nearly adjusted the white background on the light theme, was going to go for 97-99% grey, but it ended up not feeling as "pure" and Swiss as I felt it should (that said, the dark theme doesn't use 100% white or black, but it works there for some reason). As with the color-coding, I'd still love to see your take on it, so dive in and change it and rebound me :)
You got it, Dan. For highlighting prioritized tasks, this paler hue of the red-orange header does the trick for me in both instances. I also added just a touch of transparency to both backgrounds—95% opaque for the dark grey, 98% for the white. What's your thought on this?
So interesting to see this new influx of guys using TaskPaper. It's like after everyone tried the other "top-of-the-line" GTD apps, they realized they liked a simpler, streamlined app better… :)
I have to say Thank You Dan. These are amazing. I had bought TaskPaper.app before and never really tried it, but this is quite delightful. Thank you for turning me on to such a great app!
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24 responses
After some wrangling, I've corrected the handle alignment for sub-projects, cleaned up (mostly) the leading (can't call it "line-height" folks, this isn't CSS), and tweaked the font rendering for each variant (light vs. dark).
The only question that remains is do you prefer:
a) the larger "group" heading (in Helvetica Neue Light)
b) the smaller version in the same weight as sub-projects,
c) or both?
5 months ago
Both, but I think option one works better.
5 months ago
I agree with John, both options work but option one has a clearer hierarchy
5 months ago
Thanks John/Dean, much appreciated — the top version(s) have always been the core theme, it just occurred to me tonight that some folks might feel they are too distracting, hence the bottom option.
5 months ago
Very nice! I'd brighten the colour of the (->) arrows in the darker version though.
5 months ago
I prefer the lighter option too, it just feels cleaner.
5 months ago
@Jesse: TaskPaper seems to automatically adjust the opacity of the handles (arrow icons), as they *should* be the same color as the text, but clearly aren't in either version...
5 months ago
I prefer the smaller headings, and the white background.
If you go with the larger headings, I don't think you need the arrow to the left of them (but it sounds like maybe that isn't an editable option.)
5 months ago
@Krystyn: I can hide the arrows, but they allow users to click "into" each project (e.g. only show the tasks below that main heading); keyboard shortcuts would be the only way to do the same without the arrow.
Good to know my gut was on track with the smaller group heading option, I think I'll just release them all and let people choose :)
5 months ago
HelvetiPaper is now ready for testing, so Dribbblers get the first crack:
http://github.com/danrubin/HelvetiPaper/zipball/master
This will download a ZIP archive with the two themes (light and dark) and each theme's alternate version (with smaller group headings).
To install, open TaskPaper, select Preferences, and then choose "Open Themes Folder" from the Theme Options select menu, or navigate to:
/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/TaskPaper/Themes
Copy the theme(s) of your choice into that folder, then quit and launch TaskPaper again, and select the theme from Theme Options in the Preferences window.
5 months ago
Yep, it's a lot easier to digest when the list headings are smaller :-D — i like it
5 months ago
Nice, thanks Dan. Going to give it a whirl.
5 months ago
After trying out all four themes with my existing to-do lists, I have two recommendations:
1. On the dark to-do lists, make the grays a bit lighter. As it is, you can't really read @done notes and related items.
2. The larger headings are a little too large while the smaller headings are way too small. I'd try to find a happy medium between the two, as the small group headings makes it difficult to read at a glance and the large headings make lengthy group headings take up too much vertical space on an app that generally is kept no bigger than an IM window on an external monitor.
That's my 2¢. Hopefully that helps.
(Note: I'm going to keep using the Larger sized headings, though, because it is still the best TaskPaper theme I've seen so far besides the default. I may get used to the really big headings in the long run.)
5 months ago
@Michael: Thanks for the feedback, very useful.
1. The grays are very low-contrast on purpose (especially for the @done styles) so they aren't quite invisible, but easy to ignore completely unless you want to view them (when I want to read a @done item, I just un-@done-it, read it, then mark it as @done again, which is how that came to be). That said, I'll play around with the exact value, as I know it might be *completely* invisible depending on the monitor/brightness/etc.
2. The large size is based solely on my personal preference for larger type — I also have TaskPaper's window quite large (about 50% of the width of my MBP's screen) so the wrapping hadn't occurred to me (oops :)
As for the smaller group headings being too small, I completely agree (I don't like them that way) but after trying a few different proportional sizes in between, none of them felt right, so I left it as-is. Will see what other feedback trickles in on that one, but do remember you can dig in and edit the size of those headings yourself (or any of the other settings) if it helps make the theme work better for your particular setup :)
5 months ago
Using Helvetilight right now. I like how subtle the completed tasks look now.
5 months ago
Dan, I'm giving these a spin and I think they look great overall! Like you, I keep the window open rather large, so I also prefer the larger headings. There are few things I'd like to see, though:
1) A different color treatment for tasks tagged with @today or @important or @priority - that's become indispensable to me when scanning my whole todo list without having it filtered by a tag.
2) A bit of transparency applied to the backgrounds - something in the neighborhood of 95% opaque. This is really a matter of personal preference, as I enjoy not having a bright white background searing my retinas!
5 months ago
@Michael: Glad you like them, and thanks for the suggestions.
1. One of my goals for the themes was a very Swiss-feeling color scheme, hence the red/white/black. Grey is only used to help things recede, which I felt was in keeping with the main goal. From the threads I've read about TaskPaper themes (there are a ton on Google Groups) it seems folks are split on color-coding certain tags, and I wouldn't want to add them in by default as it's my preference not to see them — however, I'd love to see your take on the color treatments for those tags, it's pretty easy to change colors in the theme ... you could even post it as a rebound shot here! :)
2. I nearly adjusted the white background on the light theme, was going to go for 97-99% grey, but it ended up not feeling as "pure" and Swiss as I felt it should (that said, the dark theme doesn't use 100% white or black, but it works there for some reason). As with the color-coding, I'd still love to see your take on it, so dive in and change it and rebound me :)
5 months ago
Dig these! I'm using HelvetiPaper Light (with the smaller headings).
5 months ago
@Keeg(an): ^_^
5 months ago
Rebound
HelvetiPaper Redux
March 25, 2010
You got it, Dan. For highlighting prioritized tasks, this paler hue of the red-orange header does the trick for me in both instances. I also added just a touch of transparency to both backgrounds—95% opaque for the dark grey, 98% for the white. What's your thought on this?
5 months ago
So interesting to see this new influx of guys using TaskPaper. It's like after everyone tried the other "top-of-the-line" GTD apps, they realized they liked a simpler, streamlined app better… :)
Great theme Dan! Thank you ;)
5 months ago
I'm really digging Taskpaper now that I've installed your HelvetiPaper themes. Nice work.
5 months ago
Nice! Now I can save paper *and* create better looking to-do lists. Thanks for sharing. ;)
5 months ago
I have to say Thank You Dan. These are amazing. I had bought TaskPaper.app before and never really tried it, but this is quite delightful. Thank you for turning me on to such a great app!
5 months ago