In the post you're replying to I said: "I also live with a software developer who helped bail me out from time to time", and I linked to the html5helicopter.com page which links to that blog post. I wasn't trying to hide anything and didn't mean to be misleading. I'm sorry if I caused any confusion. Nathan helped teach me to code, but DailyDo.it is my own creation.
I've had some thought on this. The issue that I see with auto-focusing is people who use backspace to go back in the browser. If I steal focus then they're just stuck there, mashing on backspace.
As a compromise I implemented arrow key functionality. The down arrow focuses the input field when you're on the Daily tab. The left and right keys also scroll between days/months. I realize that at this point there is absolutely no indication of those features on the site, so consider it an Easter Egg for now. :)
I had it like that for a while, but ran into problems once I introduced the double-click-to-edit functionality. Thanks for the suggestion though; I'm still working on improving the user experience. :)
Not quite zero. This past semester I took a course in MATLAB which was fairly unrelated, but definitely helped me get comfortable with programming a real project (we did bridge design in the course). I also live with a software developer who helped bail me out from time to time. DailyDo.it was started on April 29th, and I worked long days since then to get it up to what you see now. During the weekend before that I made http://html5helicopter.com to get familiar with JS. I've played around with HTML and CSS before, but always found the process frustrating and overwhelming when trying to make a whole website from scratch; this time I started with a micro-framework that helped me focus on the actual app.
As for anyone who was in my position (limited coding knowledge and not a pro-designer) I would definitely recommend starting from a cheap themeforest design and building up on that. Also, start small and focus. The idea of DailyDo.it was actually conceived last year, but I tried to do way too much with it, and ultimately it amounted to nothing of value. Just piles of bad designs and funky, non-functioning UI, never mind getting to code. This summer I started from scratch (which cleared my mind up), plus I was able to focus on it full-time, and everything just kind of clicked.
I think I just used the word "focus" three times in this post. That's the key. :)
Haha I originally added that as a joke but it grew on me. I'm glad you liked it! I appreciate your kind comment, and I've always felt the same way about to-do lists: they never get done. I hope that my app can help people be productive. :)
I am at a loss for words. Thanks so much for your kind comment; it is inspiring and motivating. When I posted this on HN I really wasn't expecting such overwhelmingly positive feedback from so many great people! In a few short weeks I've found that the internet can be a very rewarding place. I'm not sure where I'll end up at this point, but for now I'm enjoying web development very much. Thanks again! :)
Hah, I hadn't thought of that. I agree though, it needs to be much more obvious if I'm expecting people to actually find it! I'll play around with it, thanks :)
That's a really good point - I'd like to add that. For now, today should be faintly highlighted on the calendar popup, but I agree that a more obvious "today" button would make it easier. You can also carry forward all unfinished tasks to today on the Monthly view, if that's your intention.
Thanks, I'll take these suggestions into consideration. One of the hardest parts about putting together the app was finding a balance between power usage and first impressions. Having used it for the past few days while developing it, I've found the add-task at the bottom to be effective, but it's great to hear other opinions from people who aren't as accustomed to the app as I am.
Thanks! The design started as a themeforest template, but at this point it has been very heavily modified. I used PHP and MySQL for the backend, and jQuery for the UI interaction.
I'm a chemistry major spending the summer learning to code, so this is all a learning experience. It's only been about 3 weeks so I'm happy to have gotten something functional out of it. I'm really hoping to get some good feedback from HN.
The about page on DailyDo.it genuinely describes what I set out to make. I have spent 3 years in university trying to keep track of everything I have to do; the result is usually a big mess of tasks on notepaper, my whiteboard, post-it notes, etc. I've tried using online versions, but they all seem so complicated and messy, which is the opposite of what I want. DailyDo.it is meant to be as simple as possible - the challenge of maintaining simplicity was certainly a surprise, but I think it worked out well enough.
As for the next steps, I'm aiming to have the team version (http://dailydo.it/about/team) up and running very soon. This will be a paid service that allows teams of people to share and collaborate on their tasks.
I'm currently trying to keep the app simple and clutter-free, so it's been a challenge not to pack it full of every feature that comes to mind. Sublists would definitely make it onto the feature-list; I think they're handy and my first prototype had infinite sublists. At this point, I'm not sure how I could integrate that in, but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for your comment!
(Also, left/right arrows allow you to traverse days or months, and the down arrow focuses the add-task field.)
Thanks for taking the time to check out the app and give feedback!
Tasks should have persisted across sessions, but when I changed from the "beta" to "live" URL I forgot to update the cookie settings. It should work now.
I had thought about using local storage, but opted instead for a "guest key" stored as a cookie that ties to the tasks in the database. It's definitely important for tasks to never disappear, one way or another.