https://github.com/abetusk/neatocal
https://abetusk.github.io/neatocal/ (demo)
URL parameters can be used to alter behavior. Here's a highlight of some of them:
https://abetusk.github.io/neatocal/?layout=aligned-weekdays&... (weekend highlighted, aligned)
https://abetusk.github.io/neatocal/?start_month=7 (academic)
https://abetusk.github.io/neatocal/?start_month=6&n_month=6 (second half, 6 month)
https://abetusk.github.io/neatocal/?month_code=1%E6%9C%88,2%... (chinese month and day)
There's also a data file option for more complex date notes.
If you want something for your examples, this would be the German-localized version for 2026: https://abetusk.github.io/neatocal/?year=2026&weekday_code=S...
[0] https://github.com/abetusk/neatocal?tab=readme-ov-file#prese...
d = new Date();
console.log(d.toLocaleString(window.navigator.language, {
weekday: 'short'
}));
I have since fallen off the productivity wagon unfortunately.
For many years past I have printed and used stacks of the Emergent Task Planner.
He has a Compact Calendar that has somewhat similar layout as OP.
Edit to add link:
https://davidseah.com/node/compact-calendar/
The website domain seems to have changed a bit.
Later in life, I realize that too much reliance on tools is not something I’m fond of. DSri’s tools (printables) are good and I usually do it when I’m helping out team members, and others looking for guardrails for their productivity. For me now, the tools are too tool-focused and I no longer need them. I have printed and used them for product groups, and even a few times for my daughter’s projects with her friends.
I ask in full seriousness, as someone struggling decades with how to plan and then do personal and professional tasks. I ask as a question, not as a criticism.
Otherwise, you were working on a task and something fail in your terminal; by evening you realize you spent the last 4 hours fixing your entire dotfiles, fixing environment, shell, and what-not to move easily between machines smoothly (you also realized you are not moving machines anytime soon).
The Frog to Eat that you wrote down yesterday for today, and the other tasks that has to be done today is there for you to see - bright, and clear - helps you steer back when your minds starts to wander, phone distracts, and HN is tempting for more comments.
> Writing down is a sign-post for you to stay in your lane.
> #git commit -m "Foo the bar"
You are working on something, but a cool/new/interesting thing pops into your brain or someone pings/calls/texts to tell you about something; your default is to do that first lest you forget about it. No, Don’t Do That. Instead, write it down so you don’t forget, but no need to worry for now. Empathetically, if that item was from someone (even in person), seeing you writing it down suggests to the person that you care about it and will definitely come back to it.
At the end of your day, during your break, or after your task-at-hand is complete, visit and “decide” when/how you want to do it, whether you need to do it, or if it has solved on its own in the time you have ignored.
I do use Project Managers, Calendars, Apple Notes/Obsidian, Phone Apps, etc., but if I use that as “defaults” (not on physical pen/paper), I might get tempted to finish something else along with it. That note-taking in the same format as my primary work will likely tempt me to do more and make it look like work or productivity.
With a physical pen/paper, it is a clean, minimal, simple UX that never distracts. That is how it is. I’m still learning and experimenting, but so far I write as usual in a notebook and kinda bullet-journal[1] backwards (mine is simplified), starting from the last page of the same notebook for tasks and to-dos. That one notebook is the one that I carry around.
Quite often the people making these tools are not particularly productive themselves. And nobody I know has ever stuck to one productivity system for very long outside of "todo list text file"
Planning shouldn’t take that long
Do it while you’re doing something else. You can plan when you have your morning coffee, or while you commute or walk isn’t Apple voice memos and then copy the transcript and paste it into ChatGPT and have it make you a todo list from that messy memo
It shouldn’t take you any additional time if you don’t want it to.
If you don't mind sharing, what was the reason? I'm asking coz these things and also note taking isn't sustainable for me at all.
I stopped when I realized I could just... Not, and still thrive in my life. Simplify my systems.
I set myself a goal to workout every morning. Sometimes I miss it because my infant daughter decides to wake up at 4am instead of 5am. I give myself grace.
We eat largely the same meals every day. Some cooked protein, some cooked veggies, and a grain (rice or pasta).
And I just have a regular routine at work where I work on work and also do explorative education for myself during breaks. Look into different frameworks, patterns, etc.
I didn't need to meticulously plan out every second of my day, month, year. I just needed systems that made things predictable. Sometimes I drop the ball and it's fine. I get back on the horse when I can.
The year is split in two (ample space for notes) and it has week numbers. At work I print the year on two A3.
[0] https://barish.me/blog/make-your-website-printable-with-css/
However, while these rules apply for web pages, I would like to... let's say warn all developers expecting CSS is a good option for accurate printing.
It may work for single page printouts or "make this page more printable" approaches, but don't expect it to be an easy opt out of providing PDFs for every single use case.
CSS for printing gets annoying pretty quick as soon as you have some more sophisticated requirements. You should probably also know that print-CSS is not fully cross browser compatible - there are quirks and caveats for every single one of them regarding font sizing, margin, padding and page-layouts.
I would not recommend to use HTML + CSS for something that really needs to be exactly the same layout in every browser.
FWIW, I also have had also success with running a server-side headless chromium instance on an app where I was generating nicely formatted exam from provided questions.
I typically imagine time as a line, so I wondered what it would look like if days were rects in one line, just word-wrapped. It doesn't auto-adjust to page size, but 75% zoom works fine for printing in my case.
I like your layout a lot though so I might adapt that and there is still probably room to add the month label at the beginning of each month.
One suggestion: would it be possible to add a quarterly version? Like three months per page, or separate pages for each quarter? It'd be great for shorter-term goals without everything feeling so crammed on one sheet.
Thanks for making and sharing this!
Should be able to one shot that in Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude
Here is the template from last year that I shared with friends. If you are looking at it, take this as a base or an idea and build on it — finances, big life events, travel, etc.
The “Year” tab is kinda like a big-picture plan of where family members are in their years, education, and, hence, significant life events. As the months go by in the year, just fold/hide that portion.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YwAf8vgVR0FbTU6n1dVO...
PS. I’m tinkering with moving to a plainer text format this year, in MarkDown planning for a 10-year, 20-year, 30-years, and then kinda brain-simulation of what might be in 50 or even 100 years after I’m gone. I plan for the family/generation as an entity and I just insert myself as one of the role in it. ;-)
When printed, "2026" at the top is cut in half and at the bottom "31st" cells are cut right through the slab of 1. On the left side all but last few pixels of dates are cut off, and the last column is visibly narrower than the rest.
This is in Firefox on Windows.
This is how almost all calendars do it when there is only one letter for the day, so it's pretty standard.
This proves once and for all that civilization will not last until the decamillenium and you're just doing octal.
The older I am, the more I use good old fashion analogue tools like pencil and paper.
I doubt HN is your market. Everything about that page made me want to run in fear. And I don't trust your download link.
I expected some dude's blog with an .xlsx upload or something. I would have a lot more trust there.
What am I giving up by using yours? What's in it for you?
I took the complete opposite approach with Wiseday, giving each day its own page (and each waking hour some space too.)
Example: https://imgur.com/a/LjSDPw9
V1 releasing on iOS as soon as Apple finishes reviewing if anyone wants to try (waitlist at https://wisedayplanner.com/waitlist/)
It's hard to write on such small boxes.
We ran out of real work and real problems.
Tech and machinery is far ahead of the needs of humanity. Yes, you can create and print a single page calendar or carve out a phone holder, but when you think of it's usage, you are not going to need it - YAGNI.
Digital tools are great. They're why they're here. But a lot of people want paper for good reasons, and it's a very different experience to wanting a wooden holder for your phone.
When information finds its natural habitat in the digital space, we need to re-orient ourselves.
I guess there's katakana Sa サ and Su ス, if that's an improvement.
I like the katakana idea, I wonder if I can train myself to recognize the Su one enough to start using that when I'm handwriting days of the week places
Monday - "понедельник", which is coming from the "day after the (previous) week", i.e. after the Sunday Tuesday - "вторник", true here, has "second" in the name Wednesday - "среда", has "middle" in the name Thursday - "четверг", also true, has "fourth" in the name Friday - "пятница", also true, has "fifth" in the name Saturday - "суббота", derived from the Hebrew "shabbat" Sunday - "воскресенье", almost the same word as "воскресение", which is the Christian Church word for the Resurrection (of Jesus Christ)
P.S. Maybe I should just remove the part in parentheses, since a number of people are completely ignoring it.
[0]: Surely you know what printing and paper are, and how someone would jot something down, so that part comes across as ridiculing the idea.
I attempted to jocularly make a point (e.g., I don't carry a pen or pencil and I almost never print anything, and I'm far from the only person who has made this sort of change in life practice) and the parenthetical was supposed to help to understand what it was and ward off the sort of criticism you're making, but apparently it was futile or even backfired, as it seems that a lot of people missed it and lashed out with hostility ... they should consider https://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/6k68hi/the_prin....
> Surely you know what printing and paper are, and how someone would jot something down, so that part comes across as ridiculing the idea.
See, you completely and uncharitably misunderstood what I was attempting to convey. Yes, of course I know what those things are, but I no longer use them. People would jot things down with a pen or pencil, but that requires having a pen or pencil handy ... I almost never do, as a matter of ==> my <== work habits. That's the whole point of the parenthetical--that this is ==> my <== perspective. It doesn't "ridicule" people who do things differently, but it does allude to the fact that the world has changed (radically, speaking as a lifelong early adopter and a pioneer developer [I'm mentioned in RFC #57] for the last 3/4 century ... so much for insults that get thrown my way--including on HN today--as a "boomer" on a regular basis).
I won't comment on this again.
Why doesn’t every month have 30 days with the last day of the quarter having 31? Ohh leap year? December 32nd or January 0.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar
Vive la révolution!
https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-02/svbftvto_elon-musk-elon-musk-v...
