Vista List Public Beta: User’s Guide
We have been working hard over the past 6 months to create a new, simple To-Do List application that helps people become more productive and motivated. We are happy to share with everyone today that we have been approved by Apple and have released our iOS application in Apple’s Test Flight store, a place for people to launch Beta versions of their app for all users to easily download and provide feedback.
Vista List aims to be a simple To-Do list application to take over your traditional note pad, sticky note or pen and paper To Do List. This application aims to provide simple, but effective features to make sure you get things done. Below are some of the core features and highlights of Vista List. We hope you find the application interesting and encourage you to visit www.vistalist.co to sign-up for the Beta!
Vista List Logic
Groups: Groups are the highest level of logic in Vista List. This is where you break apart your Projects and Tasks. All Projects and Tasks must be associated with a group. The default groups are :
Personal: For all of the things going on in your personal life
Work: For everything going on in your work life
Events: Any event going on in your life, put it here
Vista List allows you to delete, edit and change groups so you don’t have to stick with what we provide.
Projects: Projects are for long- term items. As stated above, these need to be associated with a Group. You can choose to add a due date to a Project and Vista List will automatically create a countdown. Tasks can be added to an individual Project as well.
For Example: Hiking Trip to Yosemite Park
Tasks: Tasks can be long-term or short-term items. Tasks do not need to be associated with a Project but need to be associated with a Group. Sub-Tasks can also be added to Tasks. Due dates are optional when adding a Task.
For Example: Purchase hiking gear
Sub-Tasks: These are smaller to-dos that are associated with Tasks. They function the same as Tasks, but are just a sub part of a Task. Due dates are optional when adding a Sub-Task.
For Example: Hiking books, hydration pack, socks
Note: Projects, Tasks and Sub-Tasks will be referred to as ‘Items’ in this post.
Getting Started
Getting started with Vista List is simple. When you first open up the application, sign-up with your e-mail address and password of choice. We will be implementing Sign-In with Facebook and Google soon, which you will easily be able to port over your accounts.
Once signed in, Vista List provides a sample on-boarding project to help you get started and to familiarize you with the app and its functions. If this is confusing, please send any feedback to info@vistalist.co.
Creating a Project or Task
Regardless of where you are in the app, click the ‘+’ at the bottom of the screen. If you want to create a new Project, select ‘Add Project’. If you want to add a Task, select ‘Add Task’. Note: Sub-Tasks and Tasks are added the same way. When you select a category, putting that task underneath another task is what creates the ‘sub-task’.
You are required to complete 2 things before you can add a Task or Project.
1) Name. Keep it short and simple, you can always add notes to it.
2) Category. Either select a Group, Project or Task to associate the new item with
Note: When you are in a Project and select ‘Add Task’ the Task is automatically associated with that Project, making it quicker to add multiple Tasks. When you are inside of a Project, pressing the ‘+’ automatically defaults to ‘Add Task’.
When complete, the ‘Add’ button will appear. Select that and your Project or Task will be added.
Optional:
1. Due Date. Select the calendar icon and choose a due date. This is what creates the countdown. Without a due date, Vista List can not create a countdown.
2. Recurring Task. When you select a due date, click the icon in the center to create a recurring Task. This can be changed by editing the Project / Task and selecting the ‘X’ button.
3. Reminder. Set a reminder for your Project or Task and Vista List will automatically send you a notification at that time. If you have a recurring Task or project, the reminder will recur with it.
Home View
Home View (aka Overview) is the first thing you will always see when you open Vista List. This view gives you an insight to what items are due the soonest. It will show 3 Projects / Tasks per group that have due dates associated with them. If you did not set a due date, you will not see that Project or Task in the Home View. For that, you will need to click into that Project or Task, or slide your finger from the left of the screen over to the right and select your Group.
Navigation
There are a two ways to navigate within Vista List. When you are on any screen, you can slide your finger from the left edge of the screen over to the Right and the Navigation Menu will appear. Here, you can choose to go back to your overview screen or select a group of interest.
The second way is when you click into a Project or Task, an arrow will appear at the top left of the screen. Select that and it will take you back where you came from.
Depending where you are within the application, you can click on an item and it will take you to the next level of detail. If you are in the Overview Screen and select a Project, Vista List will take you to the details where you can edit the item and see all the other items associated with it. Click on an item again, and it takes you a level deeper. To get back, simply click the arrow in the top left.
Lost? The easiest thing to do is swipe from the left to the right on the screen and select ‘Overview’. This will get you back to the main screen.
Swiping
If you are inside a Project or Task, you can swipe right on an item to see how much time is left on the countdown (Due date needed) or you can swipe left to quickly add time, delete the item or mark it as being complete.
Progress Bar
Vista List also lets you know how much progress you have made on your Project or Task. When a Project or Task has multiple items associated with it, a Progress Bar appears. When you select an item to be complete, the Progress Bar advances by a certain percentage based on the number of items and the number of items complete.
Task Bar
Similar to other To-Do List applications, once you are in the Project or Task, there are more things you can do. Every Project, Task and Sub-Task has a Task Bar assigned to it.
The icons explained below are listed left to right:
- Notes. Need to provide more information than the name of your Project or Task? Click on the Notes icon and type away.
2. Quick Add Time. Need more time? Select this icon and quickly add weeks, days, hours or minutes. Add time by tapping the boxes. Note: The time is added to the current amount of time left on the Project or Task. If the item is overdue, Quick Add Time adds from 0 time.
For Example: If your task is overdue by 4 hours and you add 1 hour, the countdown will begin to countdown from 1 hour.
3. Edit. Select the Edit icon to edit the name, change / add a due date, change / add a reminder or move the item to another place. Note: Same screen as when an item is first added.
4. Delete. Don’t want to see it anymore? Select the Delete icon.
5. Show / Un-show completed items. If you have a long list of completed items and want to show them again, select the Show Icon. When you don’t want to see them any longer, select it again and they will disappear.
6. Complete. When you are completed with the Project or Task, select the Checkmark.
Vista List Colors
Vista List uses three color schemes to represent the ‘state’ of your Projects and Tasks. Note: Only used when you have a due date associated with the Project or Task.
1. Transparent. This means you have more than 24 hours left to complete your Project or Task.
2. Orange. The countdown will turn Orange when there is less than 24 hours left to complete your Project or Task. This is used a warning and to create awareness around that specific Project or Task. It will remain orange until it reached zero.
3. Red. This means your Project or Task is overdue. Vista List will continue to decrease the time, letting you know exactly how much time you are overdue
Settings
Settings are easy and straight forward in Vista List. To get there, navigate to the Overview Screen and select the gear icon in the top right corner.
The following screen will appear and you are able to do the following:
- Manage Groups. With Vista List, you are able to add and delete Groups. Select ‘Manage Groups’. To delete a group, swipe right to left and the Red ‘Delete’ icon will appear. Note: If you delete a group, the items that were associated with that group will also be deleted.
To add, simply select the ‘+’ and then add the name of the Group you desire.
2. Edit Profile. Change your name and tagline here. You can also select your profile image here. Note: Change password feature is not working just yet — stay tuned. If you need to recover your password or change it, contact support@vistalist.co
3. Help. Having issues with the App? Contact support@vistalist.co
4. About. General information about Vista List and another way to contact us.
To Sign-Out, select Log Out at the bottom of the Settings Screen.
We hope that you found this overview of Vista List useful. If you have any feedback, please contact us at info@vistalist.co or support@vistalist.co. Again, thank you for taking the time to read through this article and be a Beta Tester for Vista List! If you are not a Beta Tester and would like to be, visit www.vistalist.co to sign-up.
