YesYouKan - Kanban plugin for Joplin

YesYouKan is a Kanban plugin for Joplin. To begin, install the plugin, then go to the menu and select Tools => Create Kanban Board.

This is still quite new so there are probably a few issues here and there and some features are missing. Feedback is welcome!

YesYouKan converts a note into a Kanban board format. An H1 heading represents a stack (or column), while an H2 heading serves as a card within that stack. Any text below the H2 heading acts as the card's description.

To identify a note as a Kanban board, it must include a kanban-settings code block at the end. This block is required, even if left empty, to ensure the note is recognised as a Kanban board.

Example

This is how a board would look like:

For a note like this:

# ⏰ To Do

## πŸ’° Secure funding

Research loans or investors to finance the business.

## 🏬 Find a retail location

Identify a suitable shop space with good foot traffic and visibility.

## 🎹 Choose piano brands

Decide on the brands of pianos and accessories to stock based on market demand.

# πŸš€ In Progress

## 🧾 Negotiate lease

Finalize the lease agreement with the property owner, ensuring terms are favorable.

## πŸ“š Order initial inventory

Place orders for pianos, accessories, and other essentials to stock the store.

# πŸŽ‰ Done

## πŸ“’ Register the business

Complete legal paperwork to officially establish the business.

## πŸ“‹ Create business plan

Draft a comprehensive plan outlining business strategy, target market, and financial projections.

```kanban-settings
# Do not remove this block
```

To do

  • Allow using an existing note as a card
  • Implement support for a few options
  • Create an option dialog to change the options
20 Likes

+1 for the cool name.

Thank you for this and all your dedication to the project.

3 Likes

Brilliant plugin :clap:

I work mainly on a laptop so to view the board properly i have to hide the side bar, hide the note list, toggle editor to shut off split view & make the editor window as narrow as possible by dragging.....

Is there a better way to view the "board" only?

1 Like

For now, that's indeed the way to go - you can also use the shortcuts to hide/show the sidebar and note list more easily. Eventually, it would be nice to have the concept of editor view for plugins - so the Kanban board would be a view and you can switch between this and the Markdown editor for example. Or maybe being allowed to create new windows from plugin would help.

3 Likes

Thanks for helping. Shortcuts really makes this a lot easier than I thought.

How does it compare against the other kanban plugin, created a few years ago?

The name is cool, and it looks pretty neat. Thanks for this plugin!

However, I have a problem. Let's say I have 5-6 columns that are longer than the window width. How can I scroll the list horizontally? It doesn't seem to respond to drag or mouse wheel events.

Hi @PackElend
Although I haven’t spent much time to compare them, from my point of view and how it applies to my workflow, I can write:
Kanban plugin
I have dealt with some issues during my use, not always work as I expect may be the developer no longer maintains it, although I think someone has tried to improve or fixed it. Its strength is that it handles any note in Joplin as Kanban Cards.

YesYouKan plugin
Simpler, from this aspect expect less problem, the output is visually better. However, the Kanban card in fact is a title within the same note (although I can add a Note Markdown link below any title). Lastly, it has a very attractive plugin name.

1 Like

Yes! This is fantastic and so SO much better than the old unmaintained Kanban plugin. Simpler and just works. The other implementation achieved neither of those things.

Wishlist after using it for five whole minutes:

  1. Publish a CSS chart of elements for it so we can customize the look and feel. The first kanban card/stanza I implemented has a link. In dark mode, the link is this dark blue that renders it nearly unreadable. Yes, I can use developer mode to introspect and all that, but … PITA. And maybe just improve the default CSS? (Mind you, my CSS is so customized, maybe I hosed it up somehow.)
  2. These righthand panels need a better way to toggle their visibility. Or make this one, in particular, visible in the main panel? (Cuz, you don't want to see the PDF/HTML rendered version of the Kanban note, right? You want to see the chart.) The righthand panel management in Joplin needs a deep re-think, IMHO.
  3. How the heck do you scroll right when you have a number of kanban stacks? (Fedora, Linux, GNOME)
  4. Need a means to select a pile of notes and to-dos and add them to the Kanban.

Anyway. Kudos! This is such an improvement.

P.S. An aside: Laurent, I was in London a few weeks ago. I was hoping to carve out time to invite you to go grab a beer but just couldn't swing it. Family obligations and all that. Cheers to you, though. -t

1 Like

Yes this is actually already fixed and it will be part of the next release. A workaround in the meantime could be to reduce the width of the column in the settings

2 Likes

In a future version I plan to add support for using an existing note as a card.

3 Likes

I'm not sure I would publish a chart of elements, unless there's really a strong interest for it. In the meantime, one option is to check the plugin CSS file, which contains all the elements: plugin-yesyoukan/src/style/main.css at master Β· joplin/plugin-yesyoukan Β· GitHub (In there, a "stack" is basically a column)

Yes I'll add support for something like this. I'm still not sure what form it will take - I think I'd still want a central Markdown note that represent a board, and the linked notes would be cards.

No problem, and hopefully some other times then!