Re: clocking into an inline task before any headings

[Myles English <mylesenglish@gmail.com>]

Hi Carsten,

Carsten Dominik writes:

> On 14.8.2013, at 16:36, Myles English <mylesenglish@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Are inline tasks allowed to be used before any other headings?  (I hope
>> they are.)
>
> No, they are not.
>
> Why don't you just make it a normal headline?

Okay, I can put the inline task under a normal headline with a
:noheading: tag that causes a filter to omit the headline itself, and
this is good enough for my needs:

* Like This                       :noheading:

*************** TODO Something inline
*************** END

Just to explain what I am doing though: writing a report, e.g.:

* Introduction
* Method
* Conclusions

Adding tasks as headings breaks up the structure undesirably:

* TODO Decide on a layout for the whole document
* Introduction
* TODO Finish writing the introduction
* Method
* Conclusions

Alternatively, using inline tasks, the document structure is still easy
to see (scanning down the left side) and they fold nicely:

*************** TODO Decide on a layout for the whole document...
* Introduction
*************** TODO Finish writing the introduction...
* Method
* Conclusions

Labouring the point at bit, I see the headlines as the fingers on my
left hand and the inline tasks are the fingers on my right hand and they
interleave:

*************** TODO Decide on a layout for the whole document...
* Introduction
*************** TODO Finish writing the introduction...
* Method
** Setup
*** Safety
*************** TODO Add fire exits...
**** Insurance
*************** TODO Ring broker...
* Conclusions

Changing the inline task before the Introduction to be under a headline
works but breaks up the document a little at the start:

* First task                                       :noheading:
*************** TODO Decide on a layout for the whole document...
* Introduction
*************** TODO Finish writing the introduction...
* Method
** Setup
*** Safety
*************** TODO Add fire exits...
**** Insurance
*************** TODO Ring broker...
* Conclusions

(Another issue that may be related to this is that the preamble in a
complicated document for LaTeX export takes up a whole screen and it
would be nice to be able to fold it.)

Thanks,

Myles