Specify Open | Actionable | Closed components in terms of key functions and aesthetics

[digitalethics]

Using a view switcher to separate the app into three key functional areas Open | Actionable | Closed is already a great step forward to a user-facing application (as opposed to a developer-facing one). However, it would be great to better distinguish these key components by specifying the type of activities you are going to pursue within them.

• Specify functional key areas:

Open component:
Ideally, this should function as a dashboard or initial workspace where you create lists, add tasks, organize, categorize, tag and label items.

Actionable component:
This is the place where you take action and time yourself on a specific task. The user interface of this component should also be markedly different from the |Open| component with all possible distractions removed. For example, there is no point in adding items to this list. This is done in the |Open| component.

Closed component:
Again, there is not much visual difference to distinguish this key area from the other two. Ask yourself, what type of activities are you going to pursue within this component? Which activities do you want to pursue but which are not implemented yet? Ideally, this is the place where you review your tasks as part of an action diary, make adjustments to your workflow, and where you display and analyse statistics of your working habits, etc.

• Rename functional key areas:

Once these key areas are more distinct in terms of their actual use cases and their design, it will be necessary to rename them accordingly. I found it helpful to see them not only as distinct functional areas of the application but as different modes I will engage in as a user. The terms Open, Actionable, and Closed are developer-related terms and do not carry much weight in areas beyond that (unless you are a developer and extent this terminology into your every day life).

My suggestion here would be Plan | Work | Analyse. As activities they are much more specific and user-facing than the current ones.

[diegogangl]

I had 100% forgot about this ticket. I agree that we need better UIs for actionable and closed. I really like the idea for closed being a log though I'm not sure about the name. Also I think the Gnome HIG uses nouns for tabs.

Not sure about not allowing new tasks in Actionable. Work is often chaotic and not so neatly split. This would need testing and maybe a faster way to switch between views (for instance using ctrl+1, ctrl+2, etc)

I also wonder if we should keep the tabs as a central element of the UI, or move them to the sidebar and allow plugins to create their own views (which would probably limit what can be done in the UI).

In any case, this is a massive change that would depend on the new core landing (#553)

[nekohayo]

I think this could be considered a duplicate of #14 (comment) at this point...