Replace Checkboxes on Your To-Do List with Hexagons
I spent 9 months building a gamification extension. Then I looked at my own tasks and realized: They still felt boring. One small change turned that around. Now I almost can’t help but do them. There’s a saying: “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” That’s especially true for me as a developer. If I can’t put a problem into words, I probably don’t understand it well enough yet. But…
For developers, a simple yet effective way to boost motivation and keep tasks engaging is to replace traditional checkboxes with hexagonal progress indicators. This idea emerged after the author spent nine months developing a gamification extension, only to find their own to-do list still unexciting. The key insight was that the mere act of clearly defining a task's title and description already represents progress.
By introducing a hexagon, the author aimed to visually demonstrate this initial progress, making the task feel more tangible. Unlike a checkbox, which merely indicates completion, the hexagon showcases the completion of individual steps within a task, each with customizable opacity levels to represent finer gradations of completion.
As the developer works on the task, the hexagon fills up progressively, providing a clear, tangible sense of advancement. This subtle change transforms the task from a mundane, unchecked item into a visually rewarding, almost addictive experience. The author has even created a VS Code extension called "Cortex - Working Memory for Developers" to enable this hexagonal progress system, allowing developers to test and benefit from this gamified approach to task management.
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