Users manual

This page is intended to be a “how to get this thing up and running if You have no idea what You are doing” description. I found this sort of document necessary and, though looking proverbially hi and low, found it to be non-existent … yet. No, it’s not for Programmers, except possibly as a way of saying, “Hey, can You make this just a little more intuitive here and there?” Instead, it’s for the common Shmo like Me, thinking Tracks is really neat but would like to know exactly what I do with it.

Now, I don’t know about You but My time is very valuable to Me. While knowing all the step by step of what I can (or need to) install and configure and tweak and shuffle and puree and mix into My coffee is nice, really, I have too many other things to do than sit around hoping I typed a file correctly for the application to work. I just want to get in, to get out, and to have Gotten Things Done. (Does that need to be marked as a trademark or copyrighted? I don’t know. But if You are using Tracks, You probably know what “GTD”, “Get Things Done”, or “David Allen is a Genius” is all about. Like I said, “time is very valuable”. So, Let’s just skip it for right now.)

First, installation: Go with the Bitnami installation unless You know exactly what You are doing or are looking for something You simply cannot get with that particular installation package. If You do know are doing, great! Enjoy! When finished, consider partaking in some of Your favorite beverage and/or snack. Me, however, I don’t know nearly as much as I feel I should to do any of this by Myself. So, save Yourself time, which (in My arrogant opinion) is Your most important resource. Well, unless You count air. Because, when You can’t breathe, nothing else matters.

Second, when installing, the Bitnami package insists on You supplying a User name which is all lowercase. Is this also a requirement of Tracks? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter enough to Me to dig thru the code and find out and I really hope, for Most of You reading this, it’s not a big enough concern of Yours to search either. So, for right now, I just sucked it up and dealt. (Any Programmer’s out there wanting to know, knock Yourselves out in happy exploration, though.)

So, go ahead and log-in. BTW, make sure You read everything You see on the screen. Programmers don’t just throw up a bunch of text because They have nothing better to do. (Except for this 1 Guy I know, Jamie. But, We won’t go there.) Really, read everything. Even stuff which seems mundane like the little portion at the bottom of this wiki page which says “Script Executed in 0.1279 seconds”. Come to think of it, not too shabby a load time. ;-)

Projects are projects like in GTD. Contexts are like contexts in GTD. The Tickler is a sensitive subject like in GTD.

On the right of the home page, You’ll see a black boxy form. Here is where You enter new actions. It’s where You unload Your thoughts of “OMG, I need to do xyz, p.d.q.!” When You put things here, You need to give a context, even if You don’t mention a project to go with the action. If You want to ‘cheat’, You could always have a context of “none”, though, to Me, having such a context of “none” sounds kind of trippy. But, hey, if it works for You, what do I care?

Move Your pointer around and see what tool-tips (the yellowish boxes) pop up. You’ll have to place it over a graphic and hold it there for a few seconds for it to appear, if it appears at all.

Something You’ll notice next to action items in the lists and might cause You to ask Yourself, “What the —?” is the green and red buttons. It’s small type but they say (green) “+1” and (red) “+7”. What does this mean? I am glad You asked. It means, if You click on the particular button, Tracks will delay the day upon which You should focus on the action by 1 or 7 days, respectively. Granted, if You gave the action a due date and that delay would cause You to not get the action done by the due date, Tracks is nice enough to say, “Yo, You can’t due that because You will miss the deadline.”

More to come … ?