Is The Hit List better than Things? (GTD App)
First of all, this might not make many fans of Things very happy, I’m referring to those who had already bought Things as their GTD application (including myself). If you don’t want to feel the tinge of regret, navigate away from this page, otherwise read on to discover this great app with me.
The Hit List is a to-do list application that works very much like Things except with a few more perks. If you’re a shortcut fan, loving the keyboard more than the mouse, you’re in luck.
The app comes with a slew of keyboard shortcuts you can use. Entering a new to-do item means hitting the “return” key. Set priority of the item by pressing 1 through 9. Spacebar to mark the task complete. Set context or tag by pressing “@” or “/” key. Hitting “T” to set an item as “Today”. These are only a few of them.
The Hit List offers almost everything you would expect from Things, and here’s more:
Drag and Drop Files
Essentially, dragging and dropping files into your items creates an alias to the original file, double clicking opens the file. You can also add notes along side it.
Time your tasks with a Timer
Never imagined this on a GTD application. Start timing your task by hitting “b” on your keyboard. A lovely counter timer will appear timing the time taken to complete your task.
Create Tabs
The Hit List lets you create and delete tabs based on your most important or frequently used list.
Create Sub Lists
Create sub lists by hitting “tab” after creating an item. The previous item before you hit tab will become the main item for the rest of the sub list. Marking the “main” list item as done will mark all the sub items as done although you can also mark as done the individual sub items.
Lovely Chime
This might not be a core feature, but marking an item as done sparks a lovely chime that makes you feel even better about getting a task done.
Sync with iCal
I love the ability to sync ALL my list respectively with ALL my iCal calendars! Something that you can’t expect from Things, maybe not yet? I think this feature is the most important to me.
Sync with iPhone
This feature is still in the works. Once the native iPhone app is done, The Hit List will certainly attract more GTD fans on top of its elegance, ease of use and functionality.
The Hit List is still in beta, there’s still some kinks to be sort out, for example when I create an item on the app, the item immediately syncs with my iCal, when I try to delete the item, it doesn’t let me unless I delete the item from iCal first.
Otherwise, a Things and Omnifocus killer?
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Wow! This is looking quite nice. Makes me wish I was a Mac guy. I am really impressed with the design. it looks very strait forward and like an application that someone would actually use! I hope it gains some market share quickly!
Troy Malone
Pelotonics
Exactly! Looks straightforward but packs a punch. Pretty too. :)
For implementing GTD you can use this web-based application:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.
Amazing, the list of GTD apps for the Mac never stops growing. I never gave Things a serious try because it lacked nested lists. So I’ve been stuck with OmniFocus, which works well but is kind of crowded, feature-wise.
I’ll definitely give THL a try – thanks for the post!
Hi Tom, you’re welcome! THL is just like Things but it packs more punch, there’s nested list as well, but I didn’t switch to THL as there were still some bugs that needs to be squashed with regards to syncing with iCal and the iPhone app isn’t released yet. I’m using RememberTheMilk now as I really need a GTD app that can sync with the iPhone app in the cloud, like Evernote for instance.
I bet there are 28 items in Today if you expand the task titled “The Essentials”. Just because you can’t see the subtasks on your screen doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Thanks for spotting that Grant. Removed the last screenshot. A lot more work has been put into The Hit List since this review and I’m sure most of the other bugs are sorted.
I’m a huge fan and user of The Hit List. Being a TV producer, I have to have my todos on the road, and the lack of an iPhone app has been killing me. However, today a new iPhone app, 2Do, was released, and it works perfectly with my Hit List workflow. Tasks are syncing and keeping their contexts! It’s great. Blogged about it here:
Blogged about it here.
Really happy, and feel like this is a great stop-gap (or even a replacement solution) for the lack of an iPhone app for The Hit List.
As Biagio said, I’ve been using 2Do with my iPhone and The Hit List in my macbook and the truth is that it works. Having a very similar interface (in 2Do you can mod the tab colours) I find it very pleasant and it helps me to have everything together in one place.
I haven’t found the level of integration that The Hit List and 2Do for iPhone have, not even in Things. I’ve been giving away 2Do apps this week and I’ve received very good comments.
Are you not concerned that we are now in 2011 and you wrote this article in 2009 and The Hit List still hasn’t been released? That’s well over 2 years. How long does it take? How long will the iPhone app take?
I’ve been using most of the task management programmes and find Things rather good actually. The failings you highlighted have all been addressed now in Things, making it every bit as good as THL and better in my opinion as it has an iPhone app.
The only app equally as good as Things is Taskpaper as it’s phenomenally flexible.
@Simon,
The development of The Hit List seems abandoned now that you mentioned. I’ve forgotten all about it. I’m using OmniFocus now though I may switch to Things once Cloud Sync is launched.
Does this app sync with iPhone or iPad, over the cloud. Or planning o be? This would make me switch from Things.
Mike -yes, an iPhone app is being reviewed by Apple, should be released shortly. It has a custom cloud syncing service that costs $20/year, however. (I think Things’ cloud syncing will also cost money.)
YES. THL is out of Beta and the iPhone app is out with the iPad app in the works. I’ve waited for two years but it was worth it. I love it and I think THL is the best GTD system out there. Sync is very fast and it works seamlessly.
I really like The Hit List. Now I have a question regarding THL. Can someone explain to me, or send me a link to, how to go about syncing with iCal. Somehow I am not understanding it right.
iCal syncing is in the Preferences… got to the menu bar and select The Hit List -> Preferences, I believe one of the tabs in the Preferences window is for iCal syncing.
Grant, yes, I know that there is a preference called iCal Sync. I am not sure what to do once I choose that preference. I know that I have to choose one calendar to a list. Not sure what to do afterwards.
Okay, so after you’ve turned on sync, do you not see your tasks in iCal? You might need to turn on the sidebar in iCal that displays tasks. If you are in Lion, go to View -> Show Reminders. Here’s what they look like in my calendar, see the sidebar: http://cl.ly/8uWV I’m not sure if there’s a different menu option for pre-Lion operating systems.
Grant, Thanks, that helped. Not all of my tasks are showing at the moment, but I am sure that now that I know the fundamentals, I can figure it out. If I need more help, I know the guy to come to. Thanks again.