If I were to say that there is a dearth of good to-do list services, it won’t be an under-statement. I tried my logic on answering the question as to why there is a dearth of such services. I think the most possible reason should be the fact that a to-do list kind of application has more relevance and presence as a desktop application (desktop gadgets). Two, this kind of service comes integrated with online task-managers and organizers and not as a stand alone service.

Now that I am done with my undeniable logic and quenched my thirst of reasoning, let’s look at the various services and identify the most pronounced and distinguishing feature of each of them.

Please note that we’ll not be covering the desktop based application nor the complete planner/organizer based online services (of which to-do list is a sub-service). The very reason is because each of them require an exhaustive review and hence  deserve a complete post. We’ll be soon doing a post on each of them so keep visiting TNerd.

I won’t make a distinction by sorting them in any fashion. So let me begin with the most technologically sophisticated service.

1. OrchestrateHQ – Manage Yourself

This one has an amazingly web 2.0 interface. OrchestrateHQ is highly Ajax based and one of the most simple interface. It might get a little intimidating initially to get used to the interface, but once you do, it’s has the most simple interface compared to it’s counterparts. Just to capture the effects, I have done a screencast to show you how to use Orchestrate to create to-do list.

Looks pretty nifty! Now let’s see what makes it so web 2.0. Coming to the technology part, OrchestrateHQ. OrchestrateHQ uses script.aculo.us and prototype javascript libraries which is pretty advanced. So technology wise the service is pretty advanced but the folks at OrchestrateHQ haven’t unleashed the power of the technology to pimp up the service with more of features. Overall the service is very basic with great scope of improvement over others.

2. Roughunderbelly

Roughunderbelly is another promising service. As the description goes is currently a free (and unsupported) service of the Topfunky Corporation and is used by permission from the Printable CEO. Very basic but the plus part of this service is it has the feature of tracking progress as it allows you to give yourself points for completing a task. You can create a task with a measure of importance and see how many you can complete in a day. This keeps you motivated to finish tasks so you can brag about collecting and breaking records.

Technology wise this one is again advanced. It runs on Ruby on Rails framework (Ruby on Rails is an open-source web framework that is optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity). Uses both script.aculo.us and prototype javascript libraries along with lightbox widget.

3. Blablalist

Now that we have seen two decent services which boast of having fantastic technology to back them, do you think they live up to the philosophy of Web 2.0. My answer would be a straight NO. One of the most important philosophy of web 2.0 is collaboration and sharing. the above 2 services do not have this feature. But the services we are going to explore now live by this philosophy. A counter argument would be why do I need to share my to-do list with someone and the answer is you don’t have to. But if you had that option available (whether you use it or not), wouldn’t it be great.

Blabla list (I don’t know who came up with a name like that ), promises a very simple interface to create and manage to-do lists and importantly you can share your list. However, it’s not the greatest service technology wise. It’s still using basic javascript like the good old sites of 1990’s.

4. Tadalist

This service boasts of "4,000,000 to-do’s created!". A very simple yet powerful interface. Two great features, one being sharing of your to-do list and the second being the ability to keep track of your to-do list using RSS. RSS support was missing for the 3 services discussed above.

As far as the usage of technology goes it uses both Uses both script.aculo.us and prototype javascript libraries. Great part about this service is that is supported on iPhone as well. Tadalist is a 37signalsventure which has the popular backpack organizer service for small business and runs over intranet.

5. Remember The Milk

Last and probably my favorite is Remember The Milk. Getting back to my good old logical reasoning, I think the philosophy behind having that name is because traditionally forgetting to buy milk has been a ritual. So in order not to forget buying milk you need a to-do list and what better than the name Remember The Milk.

Remember The Milk has a beautiful user interface. Probably the most advanced user interface. Let’s see screenshot of each section and features it has.

In the above image the two important features (marked by a red arrow) are offline mode and locations. Using the offline mode requires you to have Google Gears installed. The locations feature means that you can associate a particular task to a particular location (city). The location feature is being backed by Google Maps.

All the features in the above screenshot are pretty self explanatory. The orange arrow indicate marking tasks with different color codes suggesting the priority associated with each of them. Sharing and collaboration is the most easiest compared to other services. A little more advanced that the other similar services with a lot of features makes RTM (Remember The Milk) the best to do list and organizer service available online. You can also integrate RTM with outlook calendar or Thunderbird. You can also sync your RTM account with your blackberry and windows mobile. Also, there is a Firefox extension available for RTM.

I am hope this list helps you chose a service that you like. However, there are other services out there which are more than to-do lists like Google Calendar which can be used as a complete organizer. Also, there are more online to-do list services. You can find a good article on the same at solutionwatch by Brian Benzinger.