What's the use of Column View?

What's the use of Column View?

[Leo]

Hi there,

Any one find the column view feature of any use?

1. It reduced the readability of .org files. I think the syntax of the
file should be kept as close as possible to plain text file.

2. It barely has a role in any GTD work flow.

All in all, I fail to understand this feature.

Best,
-- 
.:  Leo  :.  [ sdl.web AT gmail.com ]  .:  [ GPG Key: 9283AA3F ]  :.

          Use the best OS -- http://www.fedoraproject.org/

Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Phil Jackson]

Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:

> Any one find the column view feature of any use?

Yes, I use it all the time. My main application of it being a (gpg'd)
passwords file. Column view makes it very easy to scan and edit.

I also use it to maintain a small, high level log of my business
accounts.

> 1. It reduced the readability of .org files. I think the syntax of the
> file should be kept as close as possible to plain text file.

But you don't have to use it *and* it's all plain text.

> 2. It barely has a role in any GTD work flow.

Org mode isn't just about GTD.

Cheers,
Phil
-- 
 Phil Jackson
 http://www.shellarchive.co.uk

Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Eddward DeVilla]

On Jan 15, 2008 1:11 PM, Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> Any one find the column view feature of any use?

I intend to use it when I get to emacs 22.  I store reading lists and
other wishlist type things in tables right now, but the comment column
is huge.  I'd like to make it a set of outline items that I will
usually view as a table.  I may switch to using fewer checkbox lists
inside projects and instead use todo items that I'll view as a table.
I like tables, but verbose information doesn't belong in them.
Especially when you can't line-wrap inside a cell.

Edd

Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Bastien]

Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:

> Any one find the column view feature of any use?

Yes!  I do love the column view feature.

For example, when I want to add milestones to tasks.  My project gets a
:MILESTONE: property, accepting :MILESTONE_ALL: 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2, etc.

Then being able to see the different milestones just by switching to the
column view is great.  It helps reorder the tasks - among other things.

But this is just one small example, I guess many people will use the
column view in many other ways.

> 1. It reduced the readability of .org files. 

For me it doesn't reduce the readability.  You can always pick up other
faces that look less intrusive to your eyes, or not use this feature at
all (if you don't like it.)

> I think the syntax of the file should be kept as close as possible to
> plain text file.

What is a "plain text file"?  If you mean: a "plain text file, as it is
displayed in Emacs' text-mode", then I think that :

1) It has always been the philosophy behind org-mode (as far as it makes
   sense...)

2) a mode is a toolbox helping the user to interact with a file: Org is
   an Emacs tool that helps people using "text" files to store notes and
   do some planning - in this context, the column view is just a feature
   of the tool itself, not a property of the file

3) the only syntactic notion involved behind the curtain of the column
   view is that of _properties_.  But this notion is so deeply rooted in
   org-mode that I don't think it makes sense discussing it...

> 2. It barely has a role in any GTD work flow.

AFAICT org-mode itself is - hopefully - not limited to the GTD
methodology.

> All in all, I fail to understand this feature.

Don't try to understand it, try to *use* it :)  

Hints on deciding whether this can be useful for you:

1. are you using properties?
2. is there a property that you are using *often*?
3. is there a property that you are often searching by?
4. is there a property that you are often changing?
5. is there a property you need to view your file is folded?

If you replied "yes" to one of these, chances are that you might be a
happy column-view user in a near future :)

-- 
Bastien

Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Russell Adams]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 01:39:38AM +0000, Bastien wrote:
> 
> For example, when I want to add milestones to tasks.  My project gets a
> :MILESTONE: property, accepting :MILESTONE_ALL: 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2, etc.
> 
> Then being able to see the different milestones just by switching to the
> column view is great.  It helps reorder the tasks - among other things.

Do you have an example you could share?

The only think I've looked at column view for is duration of items and
summation.

Thanks.


------------------------------------------------------------------
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RE: What's the use of Column View?

[Egli Christian (KIRO 41)]

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Hi Leo

> Any one find the column view feature of any use?

I use it quite a bit. Let me show you a simple use case:

If I plan a simple project I quickly write down all the tasks that I
have to do. Let's say I want to create a new web site.

 

In order to plan it I need to make some time estimates, i.e. I need an
effort attribute for all my tasks. I add a properties drawer that
defines the columns of the column view. Note that the '{+}' will cause
column view to automatically calculate the sum of the subtasks.

 

Now that I've defined the columns I can go into column view to fill in
my effort estimates. Type C-c C-x C-c. This brings me into column view
where I have a tabular view of all the tasks and the estimated efforts.

I fill in all the estimates by moving to the right row/column and edit
the values by pressing 'e' and entering the value at the prompt. As the
values are entered the sum is automatically calculated and filled for
the "Implementation" and for the top row. Once I've filled in all the
values I'm basically done with the column view. I quit the view by
pressing 'q'.

 

Now, say I want to export the project plan to HTML so I can send it to
my client. For that I add a dynamic block. Press C-c C-x r. Make sure
the cursor right below the main header as below. 

 

This will insert a table outlining your tasks and the estimated efforts
ready for export to HTML as shown below

 

There you go! A quick and simple way to get an overview. The power of
column view stems from the fact that it lets you quickly and simply
define hierarchical structures and then combine them with a tabular
overview.

Hope this helps

Christian


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Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Bernt Hansen]

"Egli Christian (KIRO 41)" <christian.egli@credit-suisse.com> writes:

> There you go! A quick and simple way to get an overview. The power of column view stems from the fact that it lets you quickly and simply
> define hierarchical structures and then combine them with a tabular overview.
>
> Hope this helps
>

Thanks Christian!  I haven't played with column view much yet but this
is a great application I can use immediately.

Since you're posting estimated times on your tasks I'm wondering if
there's a way to get the clocked summary times for each task in the
column view table as well (same values as C-c C-x C-d display).

I'd _love_ to see my estimate task times and actual times side by side
in the column view per task.  That will help me tune my estimates much
faster.

This would be very useful for me to check how my estimates are doing
compared to actual time spent on tasks.  Is there some magical
incantation to do this?  :)

Thanks,
Bernt

Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Carsten Dominik]

On Jan 17, 2008, at 1:59 AM, Bernt Hansen wrote:

> "Egli Christian (KIRO 41)" <christian.egli@credit-suisse.com> writes:
>
>> There you go! A quick and simple way to get an overview. The power  
>> of column view stems from the fact that it lets you quickly and  
>> simply
>> define hierarchical structures and then combine them with a tabular  
>> overview.
>>
>> Hope this helps
>>
>
> Thanks Christian!  I haven't played with column view much yet but this
> is a great application I can use immediately.
>
> Since you're posting estimated times on your tasks I'm wondering if
> there's a way to get the clocked summary times for each task in the
> column view table as well (same values as C-c C-x C-d display).
>
> I'd _love_ to see my estimate task times and actual times side by side
> in the column view per task.  That will help me tune my estimates much
> faster.
>
> This would be very useful for me to check how my estimates are doing
> compared to actual time spent on tasks.  Is there some magical
> incantation to do this?  :)

In 5.19 you will be able to use a special read-only column CLOCKSUM that
will contain the total time spent in a subtree.

- Carsten

Re: What's the use of Column View?

[Bernt Hansen]

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> On Jan 17, 2008, at 1:59 AM, Bernt Hansen wrote:
>
>> I'd _love_ to see my estimate task times and actual times side by side
>> in the column view per task.  That will help me tune my estimates much
>> faster.
>>
>> This would be very useful for me to check how my estimates are doing
>> compared to actual time spent on tasks.  Is there some magical
>> incantation to do this?  :)
>
> In 5.19 you will be able to use a special read-only column CLOCKSUM that
> will contain the total time spent in a subtree.

Awesome!  Thanks so much Carsten!

Bernt