Cheddar (cheddarapp.com)

125 points by samsoffes ↗ HN
A new simple to do list that instantly pushes changes to all of your devices. Cheddar supports Markdown and has tags. A free universal iPhone/iPad app and web app were just released.

149 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 231 ms ] thread
A web interface? Hurrah! I don't like typing on my iPhone but find it handy for storing information (eg: shopping lists) and when I went through trying to find apps I couldn't locate any with a web interface so I would have to type on my phone... I eventually gave up trying to find one.

Feedback specific to the website: If a user hasn't downloaded one of the apps yet have the "apps" link from the footer in a more prominent place. I didn't notice it at first and wondered how to find the app links.

Also the ability to login via the website would nice, so after logging in I scan a QR code and it logs me in on my phone too, typing out my password on my phone is an annoyance.

If you view the page on iOS 6 beta, an app banner appears at the top of the page, linking to the app store.
Looks really great. I love the idea behind instantly keeping things up to date on all devices.

I can't wait to try the Mac App mentioned on the Support page - https://cheddarapp.com/support. I hope it fits in a small horizontal space, so that it can be always open (much like a Twitter client).

Good looking stuff. Excited to see if I can incorporate it into my workflow.

+1 on the Mac App.

Looks like Cheddar is going to replace Wunderlist for me. 6Wunderkinder haven't updated their iPad app in ages, and the non-retina graphics makes their product unattractive.

No trademark issues with CheddarGetter?
Maybe tweak volume on video? (cant hear it)
Dear God no, yet another pimped-up todo list? What does it do that the others don’t?
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When pg used a todo list as an example app to challenge email, this was to be expected. A million todo apps everywhere. People have so little imagination.
He (PG) was talking about a new protocol that allow people to share tasks and control how many tasks they can have. Not a simple TODO list though.

I don't think this is suppose to be an email killer. If they are doing this because of what PG said then I am afraid they might misunderstood him.

Apparently the author turned down a job offer to work on this full time:

http://samsoff.es/posts/staying-strong

I applaud the effort and entrepreneurial spirit and even the quality of the UI work. I'd question the judgement when there are so many to-do apps out there already.

I am agree with this... It's great staying strong in the things that you believe. I am not sure about questioning him though. Starting in a dense market is not an excuse for failure. There were too many "searching engines" back in the day and that wasn't a problem for Google.

Also, companies often evolve in different directions from where they start. Take Instagram for instance, they evolved from a social network and in the middle decided to take another path.

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I don't think pg is to blame for this... todo list apps are inherently simple to design and build. If anything, they're a great 'first app' for new or aspiring developers, so a marketplace flooded with (many shitty) todo apps is not surprising.
Indeed.

And the second is a Time Tracking app followed by a Project Management app.

Markdown, for one.
So thats the reason why all other Todo apps get abandoned after the first week? I don't ever remember lack of formatting being the reason why Things or Wunderlust never worked for me.
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I must have tried over 10 different apps for keeping track of simple notes and tasks. I finally landed on Evernote (and emailing myself) mostly due to the sync issues across multiple devices. If this works similarly without all of the extra whistles and bells, I'd be pretty happy. The nice clean interface is encouraging.
How many task manager apps do we need? I've seen a huge influx of these apps recently. Nevertheless great UI!
Totally agree -- it'd be great to get a product comparison on the site to see some feature differentiation laid out. Except for the nice UI, it looks like just another to-do app.
Looks simple and clean but I already use "remember the milk" to do the same thing. The landing page doesn't give enough convincing arguments to pull me away.
Exactly what I was going to say. RTM has been around for a while and integrates with a lot more devices, they are committed to maintaining their Apps and provide much more functionality for power users with saved searches etc.

Link: https://www.rememberthemilk.com/

I'm a happy RTM user as well. This doesn't look like it does anything better, although I guess for people who don't need the more advanced features of RTM it's a good alternative.
They're only undercutting RTM my $5/year, which doesn't seem likely to be incentive enough for many people.

Remember the Milk also has better device support.

I'm pretty unclear on the value prop.

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I'm a big RTM fan myself, although I'm honestly not too pleased with their latest UI update on the iPhone. It's prettier, but not as snappy.
I agree about the UI update. It looks nice but feels clunky and I get disoriented with all the swiping. It's too "swipey".
Exactly. Having to swipe to get my list back on screen is less than ideal.
Google Tasks has covered this piece for some time? Not much recent development there it's true - hash tags would be a nice (and obvious) addition. Does anyone know if Google has forgotten about this useful application?
This looks great. Will try it out for iphone.
There is much incentive for you to make an Android version of Cheddar, too. The reason why is there's already plenty of similar task apps for iOS, but good task management apps are lacking on Android.
Is there any way to add a date or deadline to a task? I've been having issues with Wunderlist syncing between devices, but due dates are key.
Small nit: on the bottom phone, the text "Simple, just text" is horribly kerned. Otherwise, the product page looks great!
And randomly a different serif font. The line-height on the actual app's UIToolbar title is a bit too much too, should be slightly higher up, imo.
> <strong>pushes to all of your devices</strong>

iDevices you mean.

There's never any Windows Phone love...

sigh...

There's never any NetBSD clients for the apps I like...

sigh

... and what about palm pilot (or zaurus, n900)
>zaurus

Brings back memories. I used to work on some of these devices for desktop sync. (With Schedule+ no less. Damn, that dates me)

I have seen some Japan only devices with fabulous color screens. They were way ahead of their time.

Hear, hear. No love for my toaster.
No. Cheddar also works in browsers, so any device with a browser can run cheddar and it pushes it to ALL your devices.
it's cute how they pretend Android and WP don't exist.
This is nothing new, there are a ton of good task syncing apps. What makes this apple-specific app so much better? Oh, wait.
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If any app category needed a parody video and site, it's to-do lists and productivity.

Time to charge the camera batteries.

I'll add it to Yellow Yellow's TODO list for when they come out of double stealth: http://doublestealth.blogspot.com
+++ That article is absolutely hilarious
"Currently we're in double stealth mode (the public doesn't know what we're building and neither do we)."

Fun read.

While it's always nice to have a pretty frontend, why not use Google Apps or Exchange reminders as a backend? Yet another account, yet another site, disconnected and needing individual management. I use Exchange reminders, to set it up I just add my Exchange account to my iPhone or Outlook and it's done. It's not pretty but I don't have to remember another site
Seems almost identical to Fetchnotes, but with worse device support.
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Another TODO list app? When I looked at the website it seemed like the main value proposition was that my TODO list will be everywhere. Countless apps already do this though so I don't understand how this one is better.
Hackers love to make todo lists. It's like some musicians' work remixing pop songs.
Ironically I've yet to find an online todo list I like. My favorite todo list is a pad and a pen, next to my computer. I've not found a feature set in an online tool that works better for me.
After too many years typing I can barely write, so it's Notepad or Wordpad for me.
They're basically just Hello World apps for persistent data.
Only allows me the ability to create two lists for free? I'm not going to pay for a service that can be replaced by Post-Its and the bevy of other services/apps that do the same thing. Inability to sync lists with other users is another reason. Friendly UI but that's about it.

Additionally -

Product Marketing 101: If you're competing in a space with [hundreds of] others just like you, you need to have a shortlist of reasons why to choose yours over the others before just dropping people into it.

You should also account for the amount of people visiting your site when you launch so it isn't crawling when people try to sign up for it. I'm trying to traverse the site right now to find where I can see a compare-and-contrast of similar tools and it is useless.

Also just noticed the icon is basically Clear's -- another list/to-do app -- is that intentional? Surely we can find better ways of illustrating lists than using a checkmark so people don't get confused.

Plus, Reminders with its default list on (free) iCloud "magically" syncs with all your (Apple) devices. Reminders adds geo fencing, recurrence, and other great features. It's a surprisingly well designed competitor in this space.

Couple that with Fantastical on the Mac menu bar which now shows those same iCloud Reminders and you have a slick solution.

+1 for delicious cheese.
Let me guess, you're American.

Not that cheddar can't be a good cheese, but on the other side of the pond, cheddar is really the most basic cheese.

I'm from the UK, and good, mature cheddar is wonderful cheese, 'basic' or not. :P
I did wonder why the app was orange, though, so I assume that's a symptom of the American cheese gap.
We here on this side are unfortunately accustomed to cheese far more basic than cheddar (some of which are arguably even cheese at all)...

But superlative or not, I do greatly enjoy a quality sharp cheddar.