I’m about as absent-minded as anyone I know, so I was pretty interested when I got the opportunity to review First Things First, a reminder/time management/clock utility from Visionary Software. Carrying a full class load, being involved with SMUG, and always on the lookout for arcane late-night TV events to tape, there are just too many things in my life for my feeble memory circuits to deal with. I hoped FTF’s reminder and prioritization system would help ensure that never again would I forget to tape Monster Truck Mud Wrestling, complete that review of Vette!, or, less importantly, get that major class project done on time.
Basically, FTF is a clock that resides on your desktop or menu bar. Double-clicking the clock brings up a dialog box where you can create Reminders and Things To Do. Reminders can be categorized, in an apparently infinite (memory willing) number of user-defined categories, and Things To Do can be both categorized and prioritized. These Reminders and Things To Do can be viewed by any combination of categories and scheduled completion dates. Anything you can view you can also print, in the font and type size of your choice.
Reminders can be configured to appear and recur at almost any interval imaginable. Reminders can be set for specific dates, or for the same day each month (e.g., 2nd Wednesday of each month for SMUG meetings). At the scheduled time, an “In Box” icon with a flashing arrow appears at the bottom of your desktop (floating over any window you may have open), accompanied by a chime, if you configure it so. Robert Eckhardt, in his review of FTF (MacWorld April ’92), reported that FTF “freezes the Mac for several seconds before and after the alarm.” I tried to replicate this anomaly, but it didn’t happen to me. At any rate, clicking on the In Box icon brings up a reminder dialog box which displays the time your Reminder was set for, the text you entered when you created the Reminder, and button options to Acknowledge Reminder (which closes the dialog box), Edit Reminder (which takes you back to the main FTF window), or Snooze Reminder (which brings up a Snooze Alarm dialog box). Whatever you do, the In Box icon disappears until it is scheduled to recur.
The Thing To Do dialog box is much like the one for Reminders, except that you must choose the “Remind Me” button, if you wish to be reminded. The Thing To Do box also allows you to prioritize your Thing, with buttons numbered 1 to 4. Option clicking on the FTF clock will pop a list of your top 20 scheduled Priority 1 items. (If I had 20 Priority 1 items in my life, I’d implode.)
Both Reminders and Things To Do can be viewed by Custom Range and Group (any start and end date, any combination of categories and/or priorities). Any and all listings can be printed, also using Custom Range and Group. FTF can also be accessed by a user-definable Hot Key, and all operations have keyboard shortcuts, which are listed in the back of the manual.
So how does it work? Like any reminder system, if you remember to set a reminder, it works pretty well. I used FTF during the last quarter, when I had many projects due at roughly the same times. (I also used it to remind me to set my VCR for many totally excellent TV viewing ops!) It was certainly prompt. If you don’t happen to boot up the old Mac on the day a reminder was due, it’s waiting for you the next time. Which is OK, as long as the next time isn’t AFTER your Important-To-Your-GPA assignment was supposed to be polished off. You still have to use your head.
My only complaint is that the icons that differentiate Reminders and Things To Do are very small and hard to read. The manual is also not exactly a model of clarity. FTF doesn’t have the elegance of the calendar views in CE Software’s Alarming Events (or the especially versatile and handsome Now Up-To-Date), but it is very easy to install and use, and its low price makes it a pretty good value.
Requires: Mac Plus or higher with at least 1 meg RAM, System 6.0.4 or later
System 7 Savvy (Balloon help); 1991 “Utility of the Year,” MUG News Service
Street price: $45 (Mac Warehouse)
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The article above is reprinted from Mac Monitor, the newsletter of The Savannah Macintosh Users Group. It may be reprinted in a single issue of newsletters published by non-profit user groups. Payment shall consist of a single issue of the newsletter in which the article appears, sent to the following address:
