Carsten Dominik <address@hidden> writes:
On Feb 28, 2008, at 3:05 AM, Wanrong Lin wrote:
For SCHEDULED and plain active time stamp, I don't think we need to
have a default ahead notification setting as with deadlines, but it
would really be nice to support the <..... -3d> format. It would be
even nicer to have a new keyword (like "SCHEDULED@") that indicates
a strictly scheduled item (just a fancy term for "appointment") and
hence a default ahead notification setting can be applied. The lack
of real appointment support in org-mode in fact is a little bit
puzzling to me, since SCHEDULED item may or may not be strictly
scheduled, while plain time stamp item may or may not be something
that needs to take actions on (as it could be just an event).
Hmmm, lets discuss this for a while.
It looks like there are two questions here: whether we should have a
dedicated syntax for appointments, distinct from active timestamps,
and
whether we should allow warnings on other timestamps than deadline
ones.
(Maybe a good thing to keep these issue separate as long as possible.)
I don't feel the need of a new APPOINTMENT keyword, or a SCHEDULED@
one,
because I'm using timestamps like this:
- active timestamps for appointments;
- SCHEDULED timestamps for items that (1) need to remain in the agenda
when they are not DONE, and (2) I don't need to be warned about;
- DEADLINE for everything else that I need to attach a date with.
I guess this setup is somewhat counter-intuitive for newcomers, since
the semantic of SCHEDULED makes you believe this is what you need for
most tasks. But I think this semantic is somewhat misleading.
With the setup above, I tend to use more and more active timestamps
and
deadlines. The need for a scheduled item is very rare, since the two
specific features of SCHEDULED is that I won't be warned about such
tasks and I will be able to find them with `org-check-before-date'...
So, rather than introducing a new keyword, I'd better get rid of them
and redefine timestamps like this:
[2008-02-28 jeu] Inactive timestamp
<2008-02-28 jeu> Active timestamp
{2008-02-28 jeu} Interactive timestamp
By "interactive", I mean that those timestamps would be aware of
`org-deadline-warning-days' and other variables like this one, or be
able to stay in the agenda if the associated task is not DONE, etc.
For exemple:
{2008-02-28 jeu -10d}
=> Warn 10 days before
{2008-02-28 jeu -10d--+2d}
=> Warn 10 days before and 2 days after, if not DONE
Active timestamp would also use this syntax, but for the purpose of
defining *time spans*, not pre- and post-reminders.
For example:
<2008-02-18 jeu +3d>
=> Define an appointment for a meeting between
2008-02-28 and 2008-02-21.
I'm aware that this change would require a careful redefinition of the
use of "scheduled" and "deadline" in variable names and in the manual,
but I think that it would finally help simplifying things a bit.
In a sense, relying spontaneous understanding that people have of the
words "SCHEDULED" and "DEADLINE" can be a bit dangerous -- or simply
assumes too much about the normal use of those kinds of timestamps.
--
Bastien