(Approx. 800 words)

Get Organized Now!!
By Sandy Berger, CompuKISS
www.compukiss.com
sandy(at)compukiss.com
Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

With today’s complex world and multi-tasking, it is not surprising that we all seem to have too much to remember. The time-honored “to-do list” is still a suitable way to keep all of your tasks remembered and organized. Now the to-do list has gone high tech with Gubb an online list-maker. 

Gubb is simple, effective, and free. Just surf over to www.gubb.net and click on the large Start Here button. Enter your email address and the username and password that you want to use. Gubb will present you with preformatted lists or you can create your own from scratch. Each list can have a different background color or you can make them all the same. 

Gubb made PC Magazine’s list of the 10 worst application names, but don’t let the name throw you. Gubb is a winner despite its name. Gubb’s clean and simple interface makes it easy to create lists and to add, edit, or delete items.  Important items can have one, two, or three stars. You can sort items by priority, date due, completed items, or alphabetically. Especially useful is the ability to rearrange items in a list by dragging and dropping them. You can also drag and drop the lists themselves to position them on your screen. If your lists get too long, you can collapse them so you see only the title, opening them to full length as you need them. 

If crossing items off your list as you complete them gives you a sense of satisfaction, Gubb will let you perform that task quite easily. Just click in the check box next to each item and Gubb puts a line through the item and marks it as completed. Gubb can also move the item to a completed list automatically or you can set it up so that you can archive your completed items at the end of the day, or any time of your choosing. If at anytime you need to see if, or when, you completed a task, you simply click on the name of the list to look at all the completed items and the time and date that you marked them complete. 

These features alone make this Web service worthwhile, but there is more. You can share your lists with others. You can email or text message items right into your lists. You can have any of your lists emailed to yourself or to others. If you have an Internet-connected cell phone, lists can also be sent to your phone. So if you were in a grocery store and needed your shopping list, with the right equipment, you could access it from Gubb on your cell phone. All this may sound a bit complicated, but Gubb has done an exemplary job of keeping all these tasks easy to do.  

My husband and I have each created multiple lists. We also have several lists that we share. Since we work together, this has really helped keep us organized both at home and at work. He can add items to my office or home lists and I can add anything I like to his office or home “honey-do” list. Gubb is helping us keep synchronized as well as organized.  

Gubb is not perfect, but it is close. My complaints are pretty minor. I would love the ability to create several categories within each list. I would also like to be able to easily see if my husband added something to my list or vise versa. The program offers 3 shades of each of the following colors: blue, red, yellow, green, orange, pink, and gray. That’s 21 colors to choose from so I am really being picky when I say I would like to be able to use purple, turquoise blue, and lime green for my lists. Okay, I know I am being hard to please, but maybe the Gubb creators will accommodate my wishes. 

A recent survey showed that 25% of New Year resolutions are completely forgotten, but now you can use Gubb to resurrect your “I am going to be more organized.” resolution. Sometimes getting organized means buying shelves, bins, baskets, and folders, but if you have an Internet-connected computer, Gubb will help you get organized without any expense.  Go ahead. Do it. It will feel great to get all those scraps of paper and to-do notes off your desk and to get all those to do items off your mind. I know, because Gubb has helped me do just that!

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).