Productivity Sauce

Before you choose a full-blown Web-based everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of task manager, ask yourself whether you really need all its frills and fancy trimmings. If the answer is no, then consider TaskPaper.web. Even though it's a rather bare-bones task manager, it packs a few nifty features and a sleek interface to boot.

TaskPaper.web is very easy to install. It doesn't require a database back-end, and the entire application consists of just a handful of files. Copy them into a directory on your server, and the application is ready to go. The first thing you'll notice when you open TaskPaper.web in your browser is its rather unusual way of storing and presenting to-do lists. All data is stored in a plain text file, and you manage your to-dos by simply editing the file. For example, to create a new list, enter its name followed by a colon, for example:

Install stuff:

To create a new task for the list, add a new item preceded by the - character:

- Install Puppy Linux on Eee PC

The clever part is that TaskPaper.web lets you add tags to each to-do item, for example:

- Install Puppy Linux on Eee PC @linux @eeepc @install

Then when you need to locate all tasks containing a specific tag, you can do that by clicking on the tag you want. The Select Project drop-down list lets you display tasks belonging to a particular list, and you can use the check box next to each to-do item to mark the task as completed.

Of course, TaskPaper.web is not for everyone and it does have a few limitations. It doesn't support multiple users (although you can use tags to assign tasks to a specific user, for example @dmitri), and there is no security mechanism that allows you to protect your to-do lists or hide them from the outside world. In other words, TaskPaper.web is better suited for being installed and used on a local network rather than the Web.