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New Section: Habits
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AA

Posted: Feb 02, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
I'm afraid that the (pie)charts for individual Habits are off as well, not only the piechart on the Dashboard, and it's possibly also related to the "start of new week" preference.

Today is Monday, start of a new week according to my preference, so I haven't entered any value so far for most of my 80 Habits. But when I click those Habits now, the piecharts for those Habits already show me values for a new week, as if the new week already started yesterday (Sunday).

For example, for one of my Habits, its value was "65" yesterday (Sunday). The weekly chart for that Habit is now displaying "65" for the current week. The correct value should be "0", however, because I haven't entered any value for that Habit this week so far. That value, "65", belongs to last week, not this (current) week. I must fear that this means that all the other values in the "Last 52 Weeks" chart are incorrect as well, because the (pie)charts seem to be interpreting every week as starting on Sunday and ending on Saturday, despite my preference for Mondays as start of week.


This message was edited Feb 02, 2015.
AA

Posted: Feb 02, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
I'm also seeing other potential issues with calculating averages.

For example, "average time to run around the lake". :-) (There's a nice lake close to where I live, and people like jogging around it. Not me, I'm afraid.)

If you log the time it takes for you to run around the lake, and if it takes 9 minutes for you to run around it on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and only 8 minutes on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday... then what's the average weekly value for your "Run around the lake" number Habit?

I'm afraid that the charts in Toodledo Habits would currently claim that the average was "7.28 minutes". But that is clearly incorrect. In reality, I failed to run around the lake at all on Wednesday, so the correct average value would be "8.5 minutes". I'm afraid that the current (pie)charts in Toodledo Habits do not take such very realistic scenarios into account.

This is one more proof why we need more than just the two current "Inbox" and "Completed" categories in Toodledo Habits. There need to be "exempt" (or "Missed", "Failed") days in Habits, too. In the above example, one of the 7 days would be "exempt"/"Failed"/"Missed"... and thanks to that, the average weekly/monthly/annual/overall numerical value calculated in the (pie)chart would be correct for that particular Habit.

However, it's potentially even trickier than that. If I use the number habit to track the time spent reading a book, and if I read a book for two hours every day except on Wednesday, the average weekly value would still be 1.71 hours, not 2 hours as in the above "Run around the lake" example. In other words, in terms of calculating average weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual/overall values, there are two types of Missed/Failed number habits: such where a "failed" day should not be included in calculating the average value (= "Run Around the Lake", or "Your Body Weight" example), and such where a "failed" day should be included in calculating the average value (= "Time Spent Reading a Book" example). I'm well aware of this because I've been tracking my "number Habits" for years now using a self-made Excel sheet... and the Habits really need to be distinguished as belonging to one of the two basic categories in relation to "Failed" days, if you wish to arrive at correct average weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual/overall values.


This message was edited Feb 02, 2015.
shelbyp

Posted: Feb 02, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
I have a small request on the graphs. It would be nice if the y axis was scaled appropriately for the data being displayed it currently starts from 0 always. So if you are tracking weight for example then you will not be seeing the variations. Graph looks essentially like a straight line even though substantial progress may have been made e.g. 83=>80k is alot for weight but unnoticeable on the graph with the current scaling.
Phil_van_Woerden

Posted: Feb 02, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by AA:
My guess is that could be related to your "start of new week" preference. Yesterday happened to be both a Sunday and the first day of a new month, and that combination might have triggered something unusual in your Inbox. I'd expect that everything should be back to normal in your Inboxes today, Monday.

I saw an issue similar to the one you describe in my own Inbox on one of the Sundays in January, but everything was OK for me yesterday. (My "start of new week" preference is Monday.)


Everything is back to normal today, but yesterday remains empty indeed.
My settings are also Monday as first day of the week. A bit weird?
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Feb 02, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Thanks for the feedback on graphs and for reporting the bug about the 1st day of a month that starts on a Sunday when you have your day of the week set to start on a Monday. We'll get this fixed before March 1 happens.
AA

Posted: Feb 02, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by shelbyp:
I have a small request on the graphs. It would be nice if the y axis was scaled appropriately for the data being displayed it currently starts from 0 always. So if you are tracking weight for example then you will not be seeing the variations. Graph looks essentially like a straight line even though substantial progress may have been made e.g. 83=>80k is alot for weight but unnoticeable on the graph with the current scaling.

Yup... I made this request a month ago, see #11 in the list here: http://www.toodledo.com/forums/1/19956/-92276/read.html#jump

As you say, it's most noticable for a weight graph, but also for financial categories, etc. If you track your "overall income", "net worth", etc., etc., you're unlikely to be anywhere close to zero in those categories (well, let's hope so!), and then, all that range from "0" to the neighbourhood of thousands or wherever your numeric value might curently be, is displayed quite unnecessarily in the charts, making actual day-to-day variations in the values next to invisible.

Besides the scaling of the Y axis, I'd welcome if exact numeric values were shown in a little pop-up if you hovered your mouse over any point in the chart. Finally, it would be fantastic if there was an "Export Data" button below any chart; pushing that button would allow you to download the exact numeric data from that particular chart in a CSV file.


This message was edited Feb 02, 2015.
AA

Posted: Feb 04, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
The scaling of the Y axis now automatically works in the "Last 30 Days" chart, and it looks fantastic. Many thanks! Please add it also to the "Last 12 Months" and "Last 52 Weeks" charts. :-)
AA

Posted: Feb 11, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
I can see the new option to "fail" a checkbox habit now. Thank you.

However, we absolutely also need the ability to fail a number or rating habit, too. Please add these options as well. Otherwise, the Inbox still remains cluttered...

Thank you.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Feb 11, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
We are still working on that. Our initial thought was that to fail a number habit you would enter the value of 0. To fail a rating habit you would give it a rating of 1 star, but we are working on a more sophisticated system.

This message was edited Feb 11, 2015.
AA

Posted: Feb 11, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Jake:
We are still working on that.

Thank you.

Our initial thought was that to fail a number habit you would enter the value of 0.

That won't do, as explained, for example, in this post: http://www.toodledo.com/forums/1/19956/-93222/read.html#jump

To illustrate further: for some of my Habits, a zero (0) really is my target = the direct opposite of a failure. For those particular Habits, I typically enter negative numeric values every day, but whenever I enter a zero, that means I fully accomplished that particular Habit on that day. So, a zero can't really be used to denote a failed numeric Habit, because a zero may, in fact, denote ultimate success for some numeric Habits. :-)

Or, let's take the "Body Weight" example. What if you have no access to a body scale on a particular day? You can hardly enter "0" to denote your weight on that day, can you? And, just leaving the field empty won't do, either, because then the "Body Weight" habit would remain sticking in the Inbox, cluttering it unnecessarily.

To fail a rating habit you would give it a rating of 1 star

Oops! That's a definite no-go to me... Let's take the "Be Kind to Co-Workers" habit as an example. If I'm away on vacation for two weeks, and have no contact whatsoever with my co-workers during that time, you can hardly expect me to rate myself "1 star" in that Habit for 14 straight days! :-o Because that would mean I had been absolutely beastly to my co-workers for 2 straight weeks... ;-) It would totally distort my long-term average rating for that particular Habit, etc.

Nope, the reality is that during those 2 weeks of vacation, I simply got no opportunity to be kind to co-workers, because during those 2 weeks, there were no co-workers for me to interact with. That deserves neither 1 star, nor 3 stars, nor 5 stars... For days like that, the "Be Kind to Co-Workers" rating habit should simply be discarded as irrelevant.

(Which is why I proposed the "Missed" label, perhaps, instead of the harsher-sounding "Failed" label; it's not really a "failure" for me to go on 2 weeks of vacation, after all, temporarily losing contact to my co-workers; I simply missed rating that particular Habit during those 2 weeks – that's all. It implies neither "failure" nor "success".)


This message was edited Feb 11, 2015.
huwevans projecthelm.com

Posted: Feb 12, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Just discovered this feature - must be a slow learner :)

Couple of questions, is there a way to setup a habit for certain days a week - eg. only on weekdays, or every two days?

Also, any way to enter data more than three weeks old. I've been tracking in another app, but that's just stopped working - I have my data from Jan 1st and it would be nice to enter here.

Thanks.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Feb 12, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Neither of those ideas are possible yet, but they are planned for a future update.
Kirk Matthew True

Posted: Feb 12, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Not sure if this has been suggested already, but I'd love the ability to reorder my habits. I have several habits that I track and have them sorted by time of day (vs. create order or alphabetical). Thanks!
AA

Posted: Feb 12, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Custom order of habits was among the first requests made. I found a workaround for it, though. I currently have 80 habits: 23 morning habits, 8 afternoon habits, 10 evening habits and 39 bedtime habits. If you prefix the habit name with a letter and a number, then you get your desired order of habits. I use "R" for morning habits, "S" for afternoon habits, "V" for evening habits and "Z" for bedtime habits. So, if you name your habits using a scheme like this:

R-01 Habit name
R-02 Habit name
R-03 Habit name
R-04 Habit name
S-01 Habit name
S-02 Habit name
V-01 Habit name
V-02 Habit name
V-03 Habit name
V-04 Habit name
Z-01 Habit name
Z-02 Habit name
Z-03 Habit name
etc.

then you get the sequence of habits as you're supposed to do them in the course of a typical day. This is why the improvement introduced 2 days ago is so essential – you can now remove habits you failed to perform from your Inbox. If it's already afternoon and I failed to perform some of the "R" (= morning) habits, it's now possible to send them from the Inbox to the Failed/Missed section. (But we need to be able to do that with the number and rating habits as well, not only the checkbox habits.)


This message was edited Feb 12, 2015.
shelbyp

Posted: Feb 14, 2015
Score: 1 Reference
Posted by AA:
Custom order of habits was among the first requests made. I found a workaround for it, though. I currently have 80 habits: 23 morning habits, 8 afternoon habits, 10 evening habits and 39 bedtime habits. If you prefix the habit name with a letter and a number, then you get your desired order of habits. I use "R" for morning habits, "S" for afternoon habits, "V" for evening habits and "Z" for bedtime habits. So, if you name your habits using a scheme like this:


Very clever +1, I will be reordering like this very soon!

Many thanks for the graph scaling and the failing, these are huge improvements!
AA

Posted: Feb 14, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Here is one more piece of evidence I have noticed over the last few days as to why a number habit cannot really be "failed/missed" with a zero (0) value, and why a star habit cannot really be "failed/missed" with a 1-star rating:

Whenever you do that, then such a number/rating habit gets moved from your "Inbox" to the green "Completed" section, and the chain is interpreted as unbroken.

That is incorrect, of course. "Failing/Missing" any habit should break the chain and move it from your "Inbox" to the red "Missed/Failed" section, not the green "Completed".

So, zeroes and 1-star ratings cannot be used for failing/missing habits. (Especially because there may be legitimate zeroes and 1-star ratings that should not break the chain.) We need an "X" for each number and rating habit, too, just like there already is an "X" next to each checkbox habit.

To me, the current "X" next to each checkbox habit is too prominent, perhaps, possibly suggesting a "negative attitude" (like the "Failed" instead of the milder "Missed" nomenclature). I would keep the current ("positive") check symbols as large as they are, but I'd prefer smaller, less distinct "X" buttons, perhaps only (clearly) visible upon mouse-over or some such gesture (faded otherwise), and the "X" might be of equally small size for each type of habit: checkbox, number, and rating. The small "X" might perhaps be located in the upper-right corner of the field containing the check symbol/number field/star symbols?


This message was edited Feb 14, 2015.
Peter Henderson

Posted: Feb 15, 2015
Score: 2 Reference
I'm loving the new habits feature. Thanks for the great work so far!

One small tweak that would make it easier to use on Android: for "number" habits, please pop up the number keyboard instead of the normal keyboard. I believe this is done by setting the text field's input type to number instead of text.

I really appreciate the constant stream of updates and bug fixes since the feature came out. Keep it up!
j.darwin

Posted: Feb 17, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
I like the addition of habits--

I am wondering if habits can be synced with goals like tasks are.

Thanks.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Feb 17, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
Not yet, but thats on our todo list
Christoph Dollis

Posted: Feb 19, 2015
Score: 0 Reference
I'm loving the new habits feature. Thanks for the great work so far!


Ditto.

One small tweak that would make it easier to use on Android: for "number" habits, please pop up the number keyboard instead of the normal keyboard. I believe this is done by setting the text field's input type to number instead of text.


Ditto for iOS.
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