RTM web application is so .. 2008 ..
arnolap says:
Hello,
just a global feedback about my experience,
About once a year, I say to myself that I should pick and use a good tool to organize myself .
I had paper, palm, and 2 years ago I decided to go to the cloud, so I reviewed the todo organizer, see how good RTM seems to be, tried it, I had an iphone so went pro, and used it for .. about 1 month.
too much counter-intuitive, too much time trying to understand how this web interface was working .. so I gave up.
Not because of the fact that I couldn't use it. Because of the fact that using it properly was taking too much time, because of the not-so-good UI.
I want to see on the screen only the informations I expect to see, matching with what I has in mind.; the kind of experience I had (and still have) on a tool like google calendar.
A week a go, I tried again, and I saw that it was worse than 2 years ago. Not that the application has become worse. But it has become worse compared to the market changes, and new expectations. From not-so-good, it has become outdated.
I looked at the blog, and I saw that they was some great improvements on Android, Iphone, Ipad .. but I don't see any blog entry for the website since .. September 8, 2009 (I'm sure that there were a lot of small changes since then, but noone worthing a blog post)
among a few things that are denying to use it properly :
- list management is awful:
* very complicated to delete/rename a list or smart list ! Why there is no "delete"/"rename" actions in context box ? Going in "configuration" ofr that is such counter-intutive ..
* very complicated and counter-intuitive to create a smart list, I couldn't find the 'save' button unless I looked for help. Look at how much better the Gmail "Create filter with this search" is, just a link at the right place and you're go !
* no way to edit a smart list ! I have to delete and to smart again, using a notepad to store parameters ..
* criterias for search/smart list are awefull to use:
* not any decent wizard to help you (the search does not provide NOT, AND , OR .. criterias, nor multiple lists .. See how it is simple on Lightroom (using the 'Alt' button, but could be an interface button) to create AND/OR/NOT conditions while staying simple to use
* no feedback if you do an error syntax ! Just " go with your results, and try to guess by yourself if you've done right or not".
* If I want to try again a smartlist, and reuse a smart list name which already existed, I excepted to have a warn window saying "to you want to overwrite , or to copy". But no, it just .. create the list with the same name, beeing a mess after that to use it and to delete the right one.
* no autosuggest ..
- The "1/2/3" keyshortcuts don't work on my french-keyboard Macbookpro. And why is the help box on shortcuts not active ? I clicked on the useless pictures "1/2/3" so many times, it would take 5 minutes to implement the links .. (even if it's not the objective of the helpbox, it would be a usefull workaround).
- The location field is not really used .. or could be used so much better. Why don't you use "browser location" services (at least on chrome), to display some smart list based on my actual locations
- It is written "You can (really) create as much list as you want". I've got a lots of lists, for sailing or skiiing holidays reminders, small checklists, ... but did you see how looks the intereface with 30 lists ?? it clutters my interface , and I don't want them to be displayed all the time.
- No drag 'n drop support, to move a task to an other list. Outdated interface, having to scroll with your mouse a lot to do an action if the task is at the bottom of the list :
- Why can't I change a due date by clicking on the date on the row , same for taks name, for notes, etc ..
and the list is long .. (no calendar pickup for date ?! come on !)
- Postponing system is useless, unless you
The fact that a guy developped a greasemonkey script to workaround some of the flaws is quite explicit : the community is here, because the product is great, but the web UI is not.
I'm not saying that RTM is a bad app. It is really good, probably the best in his kind if you consider the whole ecosystem, congrats to the whole team for achieving this ! And that is precisely why I take the time to wrote this long note.
But I say that all these kind of annoyance and bad user experience, which could very easily resolved, and hasn't been since a long time, makes me not renewing my pro subscription.
I've run several web businesses myself, and I know that if you don't go forward , you go backward. RTM webapp has become so 2008 , now ..
I can understand that a whole HTML5 offline webapp is a huge work, and IMHO I don't think it's the utmost priority there, given that most of the users , I'll bet, have a smartphone too ,and could edit their tasks offline. But instead, I'm sure only a couple of caffeine-loaded WE could improve dramatically the user experience of the webapp.
I'd be happy then to be a pro member again ! (or most probably, I'll wait for my future iPad3 , will forget about the web UI, and will become a pro member eventually)
- Arnaud
just a global feedback about my experience,
About once a year, I say to myself that I should pick and use a good tool to organize myself .
I had paper, palm, and 2 years ago I decided to go to the cloud, so I reviewed the todo organizer, see how good RTM seems to be, tried it, I had an iphone so went pro, and used it for .. about 1 month.
too much counter-intuitive, too much time trying to understand how this web interface was working .. so I gave up.
Not because of the fact that I couldn't use it. Because of the fact that using it properly was taking too much time, because of the not-so-good UI.
I want to see on the screen only the informations I expect to see, matching with what I has in mind.; the kind of experience I had (and still have) on a tool like google calendar.
A week a go, I tried again, and I saw that it was worse than 2 years ago. Not that the application has become worse. But it has become worse compared to the market changes, and new expectations. From not-so-good, it has become outdated.
I looked at the blog, and I saw that they was some great improvements on Android, Iphone, Ipad .. but I don't see any blog entry for the website since .. September 8, 2009 (I'm sure that there were a lot of small changes since then, but noone worthing a blog post)
among a few things that are denying to use it properly :
- list management is awful:
* very complicated to delete/rename a list or smart list ! Why there is no "delete"/"rename" actions in context box ? Going in "configuration" ofr that is such counter-intutive ..
* very complicated and counter-intuitive to create a smart list, I couldn't find the 'save' button unless I looked for help. Look at how much better the Gmail "Create filter with this search" is, just a link at the right place and you're go !
* no way to edit a smart list ! I have to delete and to smart again, using a notepad to store parameters ..
* criterias for search/smart list are awefull to use:
* not any decent wizard to help you (the search does not provide NOT, AND , OR .. criterias, nor multiple lists .. See how it is simple on Lightroom (using the 'Alt' button, but could be an interface button) to create AND/OR/NOT conditions while staying simple to use
* no feedback if you do an error syntax ! Just " go with your results, and try to guess by yourself if you've done right or not".
* If I want to try again a smartlist, and reuse a smart list name which already existed, I excepted to have a warn window saying "to you want to overwrite , or to copy". But no, it just .. create the list with the same name, beeing a mess after that to use it and to delete the right one.
* no autosuggest ..
- The "1/2/3" keyshortcuts don't work on my french-keyboard Macbookpro. And why is the help box on shortcuts not active ? I clicked on the useless pictures "1/2/3" so many times, it would take 5 minutes to implement the links .. (even if it's not the objective of the helpbox, it would be a usefull workaround).
- The location field is not really used .. or could be used so much better. Why don't you use "browser location" services (at least on chrome), to display some smart list based on my actual locations
- It is written "You can (really) create as much list as you want". I've got a lots of lists, for sailing or skiiing holidays reminders, small checklists, ... but did you see how looks the intereface with 30 lists ?? it clutters my interface , and I don't want them to be displayed all the time.
- No drag 'n drop support, to move a task to an other list. Outdated interface, having to scroll with your mouse a lot to do an action if the task is at the bottom of the list :
- Why can't I change a due date by clicking on the date on the row , same for taks name, for notes, etc ..
and the list is long .. (no calendar pickup for date ?! come on !)
- Postponing system is useless, unless you
The fact that a guy developped a greasemonkey script to workaround some of the flaws is quite explicit : the community is here, because the product is great, but the web UI is not.
I'm not saying that RTM is a bad app. It is really good, probably the best in his kind if you consider the whole ecosystem, congrats to the whole team for achieving this ! And that is precisely why I take the time to wrote this long note.
But I say that all these kind of annoyance and bad user experience, which could very easily resolved, and hasn't been since a long time, makes me not renewing my pro subscription.
I've run several web businesses myself, and I know that if you don't go forward , you go backward. RTM webapp has become so 2008 , now ..
I can understand that a whole HTML5 offline webapp is a huge work, and IMHO I don't think it's the utmost priority there, given that most of the users , I'll bet, have a smartphone too ,and could edit their tasks offline. But instead, I'm sure only a couple of caffeine-loaded WE could improve dramatically the user experience of the webapp.
I'd be happy then to be a pro member again ! (or most probably, I'll wait for my future iPad3 , will forget about the web UI, and will become a pro member eventually)
- Arnaud