Re: Agenda in MobileOrg for Android

[Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl>]

Dnia 2013-04-07, o godz. 14:16:54
David Rogers <davidandrewrogers@gmail.com> napisał(a):

> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:
> 
> > the key seems to be "too hard to use efficiently"...  I am afraid
> > that MobileOrg for Android) is indeed much more difficult to use
> > than the Emacs version.  The strength of Org is that it is easy to
> > use (and efficient in terms of keystrokes etc.).
> >
> > I am just wondering...  What is the rationale behind all the syncing
> > stuff?  Assume that I have all my org files dropboxed - why not just
> > edit them directly in the mobile version?  I was thinking about it
> > for some time, and can't see any disadvantages with this approach.
> > In fact, since I'm considering learning to write Android apps, I am
> > very much tempted to use an "org-lite" app (say, just TODOs or
> > capture for the beginning) as my first project.
> 
> I have felt the same way. Is the reason it's not already done (and the
> pitfall for you if you take on a project like this) that "re-write
> major chunks of Emacs" is a pretty big job?

Well, it seems that it actually *is* done, though not for a
touchscreen: I hear that Vimperator supports some subset of Org's
functionality in Vim.

Remember that the purpose of something like such an app (as opposed to
Org-mode proper) would not be *editing* of text, but (primarily)
*entering* texts (and short ones, for that matter), entering
timestamps (which is quite convenient with any pointing device,
including touchscreens) and things like changing todo states and
clocking in and out - and that's basically it.  In other words, a very
small subset of Org-mode is needed here (at least for me).

> There is already Emacs ported to Android; it isn't very convenient nor
> working that well yet IMO. Maybe that project could use some help to
> make it work well enough to use for this??

I don't think so.  I'm not a usability expert, but the UI philosophies
behind a keyboard and a touchscreen seem to be so different that this
doesn't seem to make much sense.

Regards,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
Adam Mickiewicz University