OmniFocus, Things: You're On The Hit List
December 22, 2008 at 6:14 AM by EsquireMac 
There's a new player on the field in the game of awesome-GTD-apps-for-the-Mac-...uh...-ball. It's called The Hit List, and it's made by the Potion Factory - the same folks who brought you Tangerine! and Voice Candy. I learned about this exciting new app from this article atThe Unofficial Apple Weblog. Not being able to control myself, I immediately applied for the private beta, promising Andy Kim, the developer, that I would put it through its paces and give him some feedback. Later that same night, I received my invitation and downloaded it immediately.
The beta download was version 0.9, indicating a more or less mature app. In fact, Andy Kim has stated that while he is very interested in hearing new feature requests, he is trying to get version 1.0 out the door quickly, and will give greater weight to feature requests in future versions. Thus, the 0.9 beta version I'm playing with is essentially feature-complete.
The Hit List is set to compete directly with OmniFocus and Things. You may recall that I compared the two and came out heavily in favor of Things.
I am impressed with The Hit List. This is one heck of a task management application. Of course, it has all of the basics you'd expect a competent GTD app to have: tags, contexts, quick entry method. Beyond the basics, The Hit List has a lot of polish and is very well thought out.
Check out this screen shot (click to enlarge):
Some of my favorite features:
Quick Entry with system-wide keyboard shortcut
Like Things, The Hit List gives you the ability to assign a system-wide hot key to call up a Quick Entry window so that you can quickly and easily enter a task without the need to leave whatever application you're working on and call The Hit List into focus.
Start Date, Due Date, Estimated Time
When adding a task, you can specify a start date, due date, and the kicker is that you can enter an estimate for the time it will take you to complete the task. This will help you plan your activity for the day a little better.
Tabs
The interface exists in one main window, with the ability to have multiple tabs. This works much like a standard web browser, and you have the ability to drag the tabs around to re-order them.
Sub-Tasks
While other GTD apps allow you to have at least one or two levels of sub-tasks, The Hit List offers virtually unlimited sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks, etc. I actually got bored creating nested tasks before it ever stopped me. (click to enlarge)
iPhone version
Evidently, an iPhone version that syncs with the desktop version is on the way:
No annoying floating palettes
One of my main complaints about OmniFocus was the annoying floating palettes. As I recall, I said:
The other big pain I found about OmniFocus was the inspector window that always hangs around. That does not make for a clutter-free desktop environment. [rant warning] I know you can get rid of it, but so much of your necessary and mundane functionality is in the inspector window that you can hardly do anything without it open. To me, the inspector window is like using footnotes in legal writing: Sometimes they’re great to use, but for the most part, you should say what you need to say in the body of your work. If it’s important, don’t bury it in a footnote. OmniFocus, to me, feels like a brief that is written with 30% of the text in the main body and 70% in the footnotes.
Timer (one exception to the no floating palettes)
You can click on a task and type "B" or just hit the begin button, and a timer window will pop up. Handy if you want to track your time on a particular task.
Keyboard navigation
Virtually every control necessary to use The Hit List has an intuitive keyboard shortcut - even things you might ordinarily drag and drop. Some people will use this, some people will not. For myself, the longer I use a computer, the more I find myself using keyboard shortcuts. Being that I have used a laptop as my full-time computer for the last 6 years now, I think using a traditional mouse is a huge drag (no pun intended), and much prefer the convenience of a trackpad right below the keyboard. Even so, I often find keyboard shortcuts to save time even as compared to the relatively short venture down to the trackpad.
/Tags, @Contexts
Of course, no GTD or task management application would be complete without contexts and tags. The Hit List makes tagging and context-ing dead simple. To start tagging, just type the "/" key and type whatever tag you wish to assign. The Hit List will automatically predict what tag you are trying to type. To assign a context, just type the "@" key and it will similarly start automatically predicting the context you are trying to type. Even cooler than that is The Hit List's predictive tagging and contexts. As you type out the task you are entering, The Hit List predicts based on your prior entries what tags and/or contexts to assign to the task. This is done before ever stroking the / or @ keys. Way cool!
Ultra-Customizable iCal syncing
The Hit List allows you to sync specific iCal calendars with tasks marked with specific tags and/or contexts. I imagine this could come in handy.
Attach files and emails by drag-and-drop
One of the greatest and most essential features I love about Things is its ability to attach files and emails to tasks by dragging and dropping them (sometimes awesomely referred to as "dragon drop"). The Hit List features this functionality as well, however, in this Beta version, there are a few bugs. Don't worry, Andy, I'm sending in those bug reports!
Conclusion
With The Hit List, the Potion Factory has taken the best features of OmniFocus and Things, learned from their mistakes, and added some great new features and interface and usability enhancements to come up with a task management app that is truly a step ahead of the competition. The Hit List will set the new standard for task management applications for the Mac. I share in TUAW's prediction that The Hit List will "storm the gates."
Potion Factory announced the private beta of The Hit List here. Unfortunately for those eager to try out The Hit List, at just over 300 beta testers, Andy has closed the door for the time being, but has indicated he may approve more people as needed.
How will The Hit List be priced? The Potion Factory is shooting for a $70 price target. This places them on the higher end between Things ($49) and OmniFocus ($79.95). It is my opinion, so far, that The Hit List outperforms both Things and OmniFocus and is the best looking and easiest to use of the trio. I consider the $70 price point to be very competitive in light of the quality of the app.
Reader Comments (15)
I am testing the beta, and it is really beautiful. One problem is that it won't sync with my iCal (the pane is grayed out in the preferences). Aside from that, it is incredible, and much better than Things!
I won't be using it, though, because I can't afford to spend $70 on a piece of software.
In my eyes this is a total rip off from "Things"...
Personally, I think the interface is near-hideous. Looks very messy and difficult to look at. The look of the tabs confined by the title bar make it look like someone didn't know what they wanted.
Then again, all my complaints right now are strictly UI-related, which is important, but not the only thing that matters.
Agree with martin. Took the best parts of things? More like took things and added a few changes. Amazing the author didn't realize this.
Thanks for the review. I've tried 'em all, yet this is much closer to what I need (the timer won me over). Any ETA?
I love THL and I just bought it!. OmniFocus might have more features but new features are coming to THL all the time. The look and feel of OmniFocus was just to microsofty for me, it felt industrial and boring. THL on the other hand is pure love. Can't wait until the iPhone app is coming. Oh wait, do I have to get an iPhone first?
To be fair, this looks like a lot of mac programs that long predated things. I think you are giving things too much credit. There are several other pre-things GTD apps that this looks more like than Things.
I really like what I see so far with the Hit List . . . some things I would like (or maybe exist but have not figured out yet) but I am going to switch now. I am a paid owner of OF and things. I gave up on OF because I also hate the inspector and no tags.
I am giving up on Things because of two reasons - no nesting (they say it is coming) and quite honestly I think the program has only moved backwards since the iphone version came out. I suspect the Hit List might do the same when they start to work on an iphone version. I wish these people (and this is in many areas) realized that not everyone has or wants an iphone. The paid version of things is more beta than the beta and it is just not moving forward.
Hi - I have downloaded the THL and am playing with it - and liking it a lot so far. I just bought MacHeist 3 Bundle so I hope THL will be mine soon! Anyway - I have been beta-testing some iPhone apps and wanted to offer to do the same for THL when you are ready for that.......
Are you skipping 2.2 and developing for 3.0? That would make sense......
After purchasing the #MacHeist 3 Bundle, I downloaded THL and have been getting organized with it. I don't have much experience with GTD apps, but I must say that this seems very intuitive, even to me. I can see where this may keep my adult ADD in check. I'm delighted at the inclusion of THL in the MH3 bundle as I bought the bundle mainly for some other apps, this is just gravy, and I LOVE it.
What a deal for 13 apps for $39 MacHeist Rocks - http://www.macheist.com/bundle/u/53490/
Loving it and may indeed leave OmniFocus for it!
I quite liked Things - i've been using the demo for 14 days. The real pity is that their technical support is non-existant. I've been trying to get a single query answered for 10 days now and they just don't respond. At all. It means that in my GTD review for my company I've had to recommend against using Things, and I'd say the same to other users considering it. Perhaps their support department need a better GTD programme! Anyway, after reading this I will try the Hit List - it sounds great.
i am selling my license of The Hit List because I switched over to Things. If anyone would like to buy it (for less than 50 bucks), please drop a message to darth.grader@gmail.com.
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