iCal 2.0 feature requests
I see iCal as a time-mangement app, not simply for calendaring.
With the release of MS Office 2004, Entourage now has best of class Project Management features that are encouraging many (including myself) to consider abandoning the Address Book/iCal/Mail combo for an integrated app.
It dawned on me that iCal wouldn't have far to go to challenge Entourage, though.
When iCal was introduced, Steve called it the best way to "manage all the calendars in your life." Why wasn't this enlightened approach taken with the To Do portion of the program as well?
I want iCal 2.0 to "manage all the Tasks/Projects in my life" as well.
Same iCal interface, with an entirely separate "To Do" view, where individual tasks can be grouped by Project.
For example, my Household grouping would contain sub-headings like 'mow the lawn' or 'paint the living room'. I could also have groupings for handling client projects at work. Maybe a way to append a Call Client tag, so I can print a daily list of calls I need to make at the start of each day.
If I could pull up a client's Address Book info, meeting dates in iCal, and send emails and check old messages from inside this view, I wouldn't complain either.
Maybe Project List view in iCal 2.0 would look like Omni Outliner with an Apple touch.
What do you think? Is this maybe better handled by another new iApp or should Apple leave this category to third parties?
With the release of MS Office 2004, Entourage now has best of class Project Management features that are encouraging many (including myself) to consider abandoning the Address Book/iCal/Mail combo for an integrated app.
It dawned on me that iCal wouldn't have far to go to challenge Entourage, though.
When iCal was introduced, Steve called it the best way to "manage all the calendars in your life." Why wasn't this enlightened approach taken with the To Do portion of the program as well?
I want iCal 2.0 to "manage all the Tasks/Projects in my life" as well.
Same iCal interface, with an entirely separate "To Do" view, where individual tasks can be grouped by Project.
For example, my Household grouping would contain sub-headings like 'mow the lawn' or 'paint the living room'. I could also have groupings for handling client projects at work. Maybe a way to append a Call Client tag, so I can print a daily list of calls I need to make at the start of each day.
If I could pull up a client's Address Book info, meeting dates in iCal, and send emails and check old messages from inside this view, I wouldn't complain either.
Maybe Project List view in iCal 2.0 would look like Omni Outliner with an Apple touch.
What do you think? Is this maybe better handled by another new iApp or should Apple leave this category to third parties?
Comments
I want a really simple addition... a black bar that moves down the current day as the time marches on. A quick down and dirty "this is the current time" marker.
Automatically add an alarm to all events I create. Allow me to set a default in the prefs and then change it later if I want. I almost always add a 15 minute alarm to my events, but I have to do this manually each time.
Make the different calendars act like layers in Photoshop. I have a calendar that is the Mets 2004 season, but every time I try and create an event that overlaps the Mets' game it selects the game. I would love it if the calendar stays in the background unless I select it from the source list.
Last thing I can think of right now is a text popup with the contents of the event even if it's not selected. The way iCal handles text makes it difficult to read what the event is so the popup would be great. I know that there is a specific GUI term for that, but I can't remember it right now.
Originally posted by Kickaha
I want a really simple addition... a black bar that moves down the current day as the time marches on. A quick down and dirty "this is the current time" marker.
I want the exact same thing. In fact, I sent that in as a suggestion a while back.
I think it would be very slick and quite helpful, especially on a busy day when you need to be very aware of upcoming tasks.
Apple's Apps Winners:
Better Threaded Views
Address Book Photos Linked throughout OS
Published Calendars
Overall application/OS integration
Searching (contacts, calendar, e-mail) done better/faster
iSync, iSync, and iSync (with .Mac account) is simply the best way to stay organized EVERYWHERE
Entourage 2004 Winners
Date sorted e-mails (today, yesterday, last week etc.)
Better e-mail view (preview pane on right)
Singe App for Calendar, Contacts etc.; True PIM
Create/send HTML e-mail
Universal connect (sends and recieves .Mac, MSN, Corporate etc. e-mail)
Can Send invites to PC users
But, Entourage doesn't iSync. AND most importantly, is a buggy Crash-prone, problem ridden P.O.S. in its current form (see my post on this issue).
Help Apple. Entourage has some nice features. Help me stay away.
This is a must. I need to be able to connect to my school's Exchange server, and use my Exchange Calendar and Tasks, but I can only do it using Entourage. Address Book got very nice Exchange support in Panther (via iSync), and iCal really needs the same thing. Mail also has Exchange support, so iCal is the only thing out of the Exchange loop now.
Dynamic Birthday Calendar
Pretty self-explanatory. It would be nice to have iCal automatically create a Birthdays Calendar without using some 3rd-party app.
Year View
A Year View would be nice, in addition to Day, Week and Month.
Print Options
Someone options for printing would be very welcomed. Particularly what will be printed, without having to change all your views/preferences around.
FTP Calendar Publishing
It'd be nice to be able to publish my iCal on FTP in HTML format.
(When I say "my calendar", I mean the same composite, color-coded, all-at-glance collection of calendars that I see when I look at iCal itself.
I DO NOT mean the current calendar sharing and publishing features -- for those tempted to chime in that "iCal already does that.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
If you aren't satisfied with the current iCal, you don't know how to use it.
It's a great little app for the single user with simple to do lists.
It fails pretty quickly as usable past that.
Originally posted by Kickaha
I want a really simple addition... a black bar that moves down the current day as the time marches on. A quick down and dirty "this is the current time" marker.
?or for more Aqua gooey fun subtly ghost or shade the past time , and highlight the current time lightly either in 1/4 increments or to fit the current scheduled event.
I still think iCal needs the ability to call out conflicting appointments, not including all-day events of course. The overlap is supposed to help in this regard, but I wonder if for more important events (perhaps rated 4-5 stars or something?), a specific alert would be helpful. Obviously, since this is intrusive behavior, I would make this a preference.
Originally posted by Kickaha
It's a great little app for the single user with simple to do lists.
It fails pretty quickly as usable past that.
Don't feed the trolls, Kick.
Ignore them.
Also there should be a way to have an event repeat on, say, the 2nd, 4th and 5th Saturdays (if there is a 5th Saturday).
Can you currently do either of these?
Originally posted by Frank777
Don't feed the trolls, Kick.
Ignore them.
Who said he is feeding the trolls? He is right. We do not have to praise every little thing Apple does. iCal does need some work, and polish but it has amazing potential. It would be nice if there was a Cal Pro for business/enterprise, maybe in competition to Exchange?
Also, .Mac users would use iCal a lot more if they could access the published calendars from their .Mac homepage or Apple's .Mac sign-in. Right now, they're sort of out in the ether when you publish them and you have to remember and forward the address around or elde you can't find them with your other stuff.
Originally posted by Kickaha
...I want a really simple addition... a black bar that moves down the current day as the time marches on. A quick down and dirty "this is the current time" marker.
oh yes, and than make the current day a tearable object and make it an floating window over any other window.
OR let the current day dissolve more and more, - did i mention "transparency"?
Make it like a calendar that displays on the menu bar like the clock. It will be easily accessible every time I want to look up the calendar.
You can use Menu Calendar to do this: displays the date in your menu bar as an iCal icon, opens up to give a small, square overview of the month, and clicking on days, weeks or months opens iCal for the specified period. It's pretty neat, and free.