Web App Review: Toodledo

With the iPhone's lack of a built-in task list, the world of iPhone users have come to rely on web-based task solutions. For the most part these solutions fulfill on their promise; a web-based task list with iPhone optimization. For this week's review I have decided to look at Toodledo (http://www.toodledo.com/slim) for the iPhone.

Toodledo is a task management system with ideas taken from David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology. If you don't know what that is, you can use Toodledo as a conventional task list. Toodledo for iPhone is a companion to its big brother on the web. The web application is free but there is also a pro account available if you want additional features. Everything in this review is based off of the free account. Toodledo organizes your tasks into different areas. We will take a look at these different areas and what they do.

Hotlist

The Toodledo Hotlist contains tasks that are due soon. By tapping on this link, you can easily see what is due in a running list. Depending on how you configure Toodledo, this list also tells you the priorities of these tasks and their due dates.

Folders

I akin folders to categories. They are simply an area for you to organize your tasks into meaningful groupings. Some typical examples of folders might be Home, Work or School. When you are looking at the lit of folders, there is a number at the end of the folder name. This number tells you how many tasks you have in that folder. There is even a "No Folder" folder, in case you forget to add task to one.

Due Dates

This list shows your tasks by their due date. I really like how Toodledo organizes the due date options. The top tier is Overdue, followed by Today, Tomorrow and so on, down to This Month and No Due Date. Tapping on a choice takes you to that dates grouping of tasks.

Priorities

Toodledo organizes Priorities into several categories, these include: Top, High, Medium, Low and Negative (you know, for that stuff you really don't want to do, but have to do). These priorities are also given a number from 3 to -1, respectively. Just like with Folders, Priorities tell you how many tasks are marked a certain priority at the end of the priority name.

Recently Completed

This choice gives you a list of the tasks you have most recently completed. Not much else to say about that...

Settings

Settings allows you to choose what your default page will be. Perhaps instead of getting a list of choices such as Hotlist, Folders, etc, you prefer to log into Due Dates immediately. You can set this default option here.

Conclusion

There are plenty of other reasons to enjoy Toodledo beyond your iPhone. Some of these benefits include: iCal support, Twitter integration, Jottintegration, a FireFox Add-in, RSS subscriptions, SMS and email reminders and the list goes on. You can also customize what you see on the desktop version of Toodledo. For example, if you adhere to the GTD methodology, you can also ad Contexts, for example. Those Contexts will then appear on the iPhone version of Toodledo.

I also recommend Remember the Milk (RTM). It is a little fancier than Toodledo, has a lot of AJAX flying around, but in the end I like Toodledo's simpler, more direct approach better. Also, RTM charges you for their iPhone web app! It just does not get any better if you are looking for a simple yet robust way to manage your tasks!... well, at least until the SDK comes, but that is another review.

Ratings (out of 5)

  • Look and Feel: 4
  • Navigation: 5
  • Features: 5
  • Reliability: 5
  • Overall: 4.75

Pros:

  • Highly customizable
  • Can be used without desktop version
  • Free! (With optional paid pro account)

Cons:

  • On EDGE, loading Toodledo can be a somewhat painful experience

Software trainer, blogger and mobile technology enthusiast living in the suburban Midwest.